[thechat] War Zone

[Ashok Hariharan]

 Hi Hershel:

sorry to read about your situation.  i hope you'll be able to get back home
soon.

coincidentally, an acquaintance of mine just got back from israel, and he
had
a certain impression of israel...
this guy i know, a black kenyan - a born-again ('saved') christian. he was a
person with
extreme political views...for example on the middle east conflict, he would
say:
 "Israelites have a historical right to the holy land, it is written in the
bible...." or
"...who are these gay people ? they are demonic...." etc... point being,
he had a
rabidly pro-israeli stance... so much so, that he saved up money to make a
pilgrimage
to israel (to visit the holy sites, and see for himself the holy land....)

so a few months back he finally flew to israel.
when i met him now, i asked him how his trip was, expecting a postive reply,
but
the guy is very silent for a while, and then he tells me wht happened...

Lands, in Tel-Aviv, checks in to a hotel, but finds everyone looking at him
oddly.  In
Jersualem, walking on the street, a boy comes up and asks him why  hasnt he
washed his face?  Later, in a cafe, a young man approaches him.  Are you
from
Africa? he asks him.  my friend answers affirmatively. In the brief
conversation that
ensues, he is asked questions like: did he live on a tree? were his parents
monkeys? and so on, all with dead seriousness.  The guy visits all the holy
sites,
but somehow his mind is not in it anymore.

he has travelled a lot in europe, and has seen racism in different places,
 but he said the
scale of discrimination in israel was a bit over the top.  Now, i dont have
much sympathy
for this guy, becuase he is a bigot himself, but i do feel sorry for him, as
he seems to
 have lost of belief in himself....all he wanted to do was be a faithful
tourist....

some years back i met a falahsha (the jews from ethiopia) in a small town in
ethiopia...this guy
and his family were living in israel but had some business interests in
ethiopia...they said much
the same - they felt like second class citizens in israel....
of course, all this is anecdotal, and someones subjective point of view...
i am not a muslim/christian/jew...nor do i really care about either sides
stand on the conflict....
but i am certainly intrigued by this racial dynamic within the country...?
might you have an israeli point of view on this?

thanks
 ashok


On 7/13/06, Hershel Robinson <hershel at galleryrobinson.com> wrote:
>
> My sleepy little town in the North of Israel is under attack. Rockets
> have landed within a few hundred meters of my home.
>
> News:
> http://www.topix.net/il/safed
> http://www.jpost.com/
> http://arutzsheva.com/
>
> My town is known in English as Safed, Tzfat, Zefat or a few other names.
>
> We can hear and feel when a rocket lands. Part of the town has lost
> power, but not here. :)
>
> May we hear only good news.
>
> Hershel
>