Week One Readings

Hello, my name is Amer Khader, senior student at OSU, majoring in Human Nutrition and Community Health. I was born and raised in Jerusalem, Palestine for 18 years, I have lived during the hardest times the city of Jerusalem was passing through. The main reason that I took this class is because it talks about my hometown, it talks about the holiest city in the world, yet the most divided and displaced city in modern history. I am expecting to learn about the history of the city, to learn about Jerusalem or Al-Quds from a perspective that might be a bit different that politics. I am expecting to see some different perspectives and opinions by my classmates that will stay parallel to my perspectives, beliefs and opinions, this is not new to me, as I am used to hear and listen to opposing opinions and beliefs, they are difficult to admit sometimes, but are realities, that I usually face by respect and discussion.

The first reading about the “The Folk Festival that Was Not” is an interesting reading. My first thought regarding the participation of “Jerusalem” in the Washington Festival was that of happiness, to be honest, because whenever Jerusalem as a city of identity is represented in an American festival, it is represented from one side, which is the Israeli side, and as Rokem mentioned in the article:” possibility for the Palestinians to fully express their cultural, political, economic and human rights IN Jerusalem has been questioned and denied by the Israeli governments”, and in here he is talking about expressing their beliefs and thoughts as citizens in the city, so imagine expressing their culture or political views in a place like the US! In this article, it was obvious that no matter how things might go around, but the question of Jerusalem is always the circle and base of the cause. The question of Jerusalem could never be solved even at the level of representation UNLESS a just and equal peace is spread and find light within the Palestinian – Israeli conflict.

The second article, “Researching East Jerusalem” is a very interesting article, while I was reading it I went back in time, remembering the Sabt Al Noor, the Sundays I used to go pray, the Fridays where I witnessed young Muslims denied access to the Dome of the Rock to pray, the Palestinian ladies and farmers trying to sell their things at Damascus Gate, I felt that it was me who is narrating this story. Two comments I wanted to add is that as Al-Amiry mentioned “Palestinians do not recognize the Jerusalem municipality”, and this is because Palestinians have no presence in such a municipality and have no representations. The other point, which I always hate to see or read, is the phrase “Arabs East Jerusalem and Israeli West Jerusalem”, It is Palestinian East Jerusalem and Israeli West Jerusalem, this is a matter of identity, and yes we are Arabs as ethnicities but Palestinians in origins.

The paper written by Amy Horowitz explains the difficulties in representing both the Palestinian and Israeli cultures within different communities in the Festival in DC. She mentions that beside the difficulties, the budget was also limited. What I liked most in the article is that she mentioned about the women role in the program and peace process, she also mentioned some of the most known and important cultural aspects of the Palestinian and Israeli culture. In the interview with Suad Al-Amiry, she mentioned the problems they as Palestinian team faced, the rich cultures that the Palestinians have, and main goal of the festival in DC. I think that she made it clear by responding to the questions directed to her how hard is it to fairly and equally representing the Palestinian side in such a festival. One thing to add is that all we saw in these articles was in the 1990s. Today, Jerusalem is facing harder times especially for the Palestinians living there, from restriction in house permits, to depletion of the Arab and Palestinian culture in East Jerusalem by the Israeli government, to restriction in the access for schools, health, hospitals, etc. Jerusalem has not been divided as today.