Israeli politics

I have been a derelict blogger for the last week or so, mainly because few notable things have happened to me personally in the past week. But notable changes have certainly occurred within the Israeli government, which I will briefly explain and reflect upon.

[Background information: Israel’s Parliament, known as the Knesset, consists of 120 seats. In national elections, each voter casts his/her vote for one of many political parties, and the percentage of votes that a party receives dictates the number of Knesset seats allotted to that particular party. Since no one party in Israel has ever received a majority of Knesset seats through this system of proportional representation, a coalition government is formed after each election. This coalition, which is headed by the party receiving the most votes, must consist of at least 61 seats. The leader of the party that receives the most votes becomes Prime Minister of Israel. The two largest parties in the Knesset for the last several decades have been Labour and Likud. In terms of political orientation, Labour is considered left-of-center and Likud is considered right-of-center.]

Until last week, Ariel Sharon (Israel’s current Prime Minister) was the leader of the Likud party, which he helped found three decades ago. However, due to an array of political and ideological rifts within the Likud party, Sharon announced on November 21 that he would leave the Likud party and form a new party, which he recently christened Kadima (trans: Forward). As a result, national elections have been scheduled to take place at the end of March, and they will be hotly contested.

Much of the strife within Likud surrounds the issue of unilateral disengagement (i.e. Israel’s military and civilian departure from the Gaza Strip and outlying West Bank settlements) sans concessions from the Palestinian Authority. Sharon presents himself as a centrist who wants to finalize the borders of Israel once and for all, regardless of whether the Palestinian Authority gets its act together to partner in the process. In other words, if Sharon and his supporters have their way, Palestinian statehood may become a de-facto reality.

David Brooks, a New York Times columnist, wrote an excellent op-ed on Nov. 17 that I think accurately reflects Israelis’ current disengagement mentality. (Unfortunately I can’t link to the article since it’s only available to subscribers, but I’ve included an excerpt.) Brooks writes, “The second intifada, coming on the heels of Yasir Arafat's rejection of a deal at Camp David, cut some visceral bond that used to join the two peoples. The Israelis are separating themselves from the Middle East emotionally and psychologically…The dream of peace has been replaced by another dream, the dream of disengagement…The security barrier has not only reduced suicide bombings; it has also helped change the nation's psychology. On the Israeli side of the barrier, there is increasing safety, prosperity and normalcy.”

After reading Brook’s op-ed, I realized to my surprise that I have hardly heard Israelis talk about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, much less the peace process. My guess is that the vast majority of Israelis are too busy living their own lives to waste any more time or energy working towards a bilateral peace process that, sadly, doesn’t seem likely to progress any time soon.

Miri Messika

Tonight I went to a concert given by Miri Messika, a popular Israeli singer who released her first albumn this year. I was a little skeptical about buying a ticket since I knew I wouldn't be able to understand the lyrics, but one of my suitemates is a huge fan and insisted I come to the concert. I'm so glad I did! I really enjoyed the music. We sat in the third row, and afterwards my friend convinced the stage manager to let us go backstage to meet Miri. She was friendly and totally unpretentious. When she found out I was American, she asked me to help her write to a fan in English! To listen to audio-clips from Miri Messika's CD, click on the link below:
http://www.israel-music.com/miri_messika/miri_messika/

Frustrations

Soccer practice this afternoon was pretty intense. My teammates seem like nice people for the most part, but some of them play quite aggressively. For example, a couple of them shoot on goal as if the purpose is to kill the goalie; even if they’re only a few feet from goal, they’ll slam the ball with as much force as they can muster. (And forget shin-guards or goalie gloves - I mean, who needs protective gear when you’ve served in the Israeli military?)

After soccer I went to a yoga class, which was conducted in Hebrew, of course. I was managing fine by copying my classmates, but then the instructor insisted we close our eyes...big problem since I don’t understand yoga instructions in Hebrew! Later in the evening I decided to give an Israeli folk dancing class a try, but I quickly discovered that it’s not much fun when you can’t understand the instructions and everyone else is already familiar with the steps. I walked home feeling pretty defeated and plopped down on a kitchen chair; which promptly and spectacularly collapsed beneath me. I gazed up from the floor at a concerned suitemate who, after disposing of the remnants of the chair, asked if I would help her decipher an essay in English she needed to read for homework.

I eagerly agreed. But an hour later I was forced to admit that I could not understand even a single paragraph in the entire essay. The essay was some metaphysical rumination on sexual expression, and I wasn’t even familiar with much of the vocabulary. My suitemate stared at me with disbelief when I apologized and admitted that I couldn't understand the essay, muchless explain it to her. "But it’s written in English!" she exclaimed. "Sort of" I replied, and retreated to my room, where I promptly called my mother and announced I was coming home, just in time for Thanksgiving.

[end note: I'm not really coming home of course. But I am just crossing my fingers (& toes) that things go a little easier tomorrow.]

weekend in Haifa

My weekend was relatively uneventful since I stayed in Haifa and caught up on work and sleep. On Friday night I went to services at a Reform synagogue called Or Hadash (i.e. New Light), then out to dinner and to a bar with friends. On Saturday I went for a run in the park and felt my heart leap to my throat when I noticed that the young boy I passed was playing with a gun. I realize the gun must have been a toy (really, it must have been a toy, right?), but I question the judgment of any parent who would allow a little boy to run around with such a realistic-looking firearm. I mean, the Middle East has plenty of real weapons; I see no need to add fake ones to the equation.

Today I went to a local hospital to take a physical fitness test, which is a required procedure for anyone who intends to play a team sport. The doctor I met was from Uruguay, so we spoke in some combination of rudimentary Spanish and English. The fitness test turned out to be a treadmill-based endurance test. During the test my thorax was decorated with a handful of sticky electrodes that were hooked up to a loud, beeping monitor. I guess my heart passed the test since the technician said something in Hebrew and then sent me on my way.

As I returned home in the dark, one of my feline nemeses slipped through my legs and into the suite. Unfortunately this occurs with some regularity, and it usually takes me several minutes of prodding to get the cat out. But I simply could not convince this one to leave without risking bodily injury to myself, so I had to sacrifice a rather expensive can of tuna to lure him out onto the patio. The same cat sits outside and hisses so loudly some nights that I am unable to sleep. I guess I am no longer the indiscriminating animal-lover that I used to be.

Shabbat

It’s been a loooong week, but luckily the weekend starts early here. There are no classes on Friday or Saturday because of Shabbat, and Sunday is a regular work day in Israel. During Shabbat, which begins at sundown on Friday and ends at sundown on Saturday, almost everything shuts down in Israel, including stores, facilities, and even public transportation. Compared to most cities in Israel, Haifa is relatively functional during Shabbat since some restaurants and cafes stay open, and there is limited bus service. The majority of Israelis don’t actually observe Shabbat according to Orthodox religious law, but Shabbat is nevertheless an important cultural phenomenon. Regardless of their religiosity, most families have Friday night dinner together, and peoples’ schedules revolve around this weekly event.

Families in Israel tend to be close-knit, at least in comparison to families in America. Israel is a small country (approximately the size of New Jersey), so even families that are geographically dispersed within Israel don’t actually live very far apart. But extended families often choose to live in the same vicinity anyway. Israeli society is very child-oriented, and emotional independence from one’s family is not cultivated to the same extent that it is in America. For example, my Israeli acquaintances are shocked to hear that I spent entire summers away from home starting in elementary school and that I only returned home from college during extended breaks.

Last week I have the privilege of meeting with a psychiatrist who is well-known in Israel for his work on anxiety disorders, including posttraumatic stress disorder. He has practiced for many years in Manhattan as well as Israel, so I asked him what he thought the main differences are between practicing psychiatry in Israel versus in New York City. He explained that main difference has to do with his patients’ ties to their family. In New York he said that his patients often complained of loneliness and alienation, whereas in Israel his patients complain more often of suffocation. He explained that because his Israeli patients have fewer degrees of personal freedom, their behavior is generally less neurotic than the behavior of his NYC patients, who can easily assume anonymity.

This weekend I have lots of research to do about the relationship between injury and PTSD, and on Monday I have a midterm in Hebrew. Even though I can see why Israelis embrace their Shabbat traditions, I have to admit that I find the shut-down of campus facilities, such as the library and computer labs and food sources, to be pretty frustrating. Now that I’m accustomed to the schedule though, I am able to plan my week more effectively than I could at first. There doesn’t seem to be any religious life on-campus, so ironically I attend Shabbat services less frequently in Israel than in America.

Language lessons

The tension in my suite is palpably high at the moment after an explosive argument occurred between two of my suitemates regarding kitchen hygiene. I’ve witnessed plenty of disagreements between room/suitemates in my day, but this one was especially memorable given the volume at which it was conducted, the hysteria involved, and the fact that I could understand much of what was shouted even though the argument occurred primarily in Hebrew (apparently English curse words are well entrenched in the Hebrew lexicon).

This week I went to practice with the University’s women’s soccer team for the second time. We play indoors, at least for now, and practice is only once a week, although I don’t know if it will become more frequent. I don’t understand what’s going on, so I just try to follow what other people are doing. To highlight the extend of my cluelessness, I didn’t even realize I was attending tryouts – I simply thought anyone could join the team. But apparently I made the team, and fortunately once we start to scrimmage the language requirements are pretty minimal.

I cannot communicate at all with the coach without a translator. He doesn’t speak a word of English, and I have a hard time understanding his Hebrew, which might be because he has a Russian accent. A couple of my teammates speak Spanish, so sometimes they’ll translate something into Spanish, which I can then understand. The diversity of languages spoken here is absolutely amazing (and, sometimes, incredibly confusing). Just walking down the halls of the University of Haifa I’m likely to hear Hebrew, Arabic, English, Russian and Spanish. And of course people speak other languages as well, but I can't necessarily identify them in passing.

the Negev

This weekend I went on a camping trip in the Negev desert in the south of Israel. I was one of fifty students who went on the trip, which was arranged by the Overseas Department. On our way to the Negev we made several stops, the first of which was at a huge outdoor market in Be’er Sheva. Then we visited a remote, irrigated vineyard which is part of a developing agricultural enclave in the desert. We stopped at the graves of David Ben-Gurion (the first Prime Minister of Israel) and his wife, Paula Ben-Gurion. We walked along the edge of a development town called Mitzpe Ramon, from where we had incredible views of the Ramon crater.

We spent the night in a huge, communal, Bedouin-style tent at a campsite in the middle of the desert. The following day we went hiking in the Negev, which is absolutely beautiful. The desert is strangely similar to the ocean in that both seem endlessly expansive. The weather was lovely. It’s amazing to be able to wear a t-shirt outside in November.

On our way to the Negev we drove along sections of the “security barrier” which separates Israel and the West Bank. The barrier has been an extremely controversial issue in world politics, and Israel has taken a lot of heat for constructing it. I don’t mean to minimize the controversy, but I was shocked to see how minor the barrier appeared. I was expecting to see a hulking, formidable structure, yet the fence sections were barely visible, and I would have thought the wall section was just a regular highway barrier if I hadn’t been informed otherwise.

click on the link below to view my photos of Jerusalem (you will need to log in. username: deborahhemel@yahoo.com, password: deborahhemel).

http://www.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=31812302/t_=34757088

concert

Tonight I attended an outdoor concert on campus featuring a famous Israeli singer named Rita. I’m not a huge fan of her repertoire, but I think it’s cool how she and other popular Israeli musicians integrate Western and Eastern musical styles.

I get the sense that celebrities in Israel aren’t idolized to the same extent that they are in America. I mean, it didn’t seem like Rita was on some alternate plane of existence. She appeared at ease with the audience, whose members were enthusiastic but appropriately behaved. She even meandered through the audience at one point and solicited song requests during her encore.

Blog Launch

Dear friends and family,
Thanks for checking out my blog! Launching it took longer than expected due to somewhat limited internet access, but now it's up and going - I will be adding new posts a couple of times a week. The posts are ordered chronologically, with the earlist posts at the bottom of the page and the newest posts at the top. Feel free to leave comments, questions or suggestions.

Research troubles

The process of doing research at the University of Haifa is much more difficult and costly than this pampered Williams graduate would have imagined. To begin with, the library is only open until 7:45pm Sun-Thurs, until 1:00pm on Friday, and not at all on Saturday. Printer function/availabilty is unreliable, and you have to pay to print! The University library doesn't have an extensive collection of medical journals, which means I'll have to use the InterLibrary Loan system a lot (as in the states, the InterLibrary Loan system enables you to access journal articles and books that your home library doesn't have in its physical or online collection). To my shock, I discovered that you have to pay for each ILL request!! At Williams I was accustomed to accessing nearly anything ever printed, almost immediately, for free. Clearly I'm not at Williams anymore (but then again, I'm not paying Williams tuition either).

inspiring Israelis

Last night I met up with an Israeli friend who I know from Nesiya, a summer program in Israel for American and Israeli high school students. I was amazed by all she has done since I last saw her. She served in the military after high school and is starting her third year of studies at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, which is generally considered the best university in Israel for the social sciences. She has traveled all over the world working for various Jewish and Israeli organizations, and she recently returned from visiting Ethiopia, where she was born. Not to mention that she speaks three languages fluently (Hebrew, English, and Amharic)!

This afternoon I met with the Director of Women’s Programming at the Koby Mandell Foundation (http://www.kobymandell.org/index.html), a therapeutically-oriented nonprofit that is dedicated to helping family members who have lost relatives in terrorist attacks. I learned more about her role as a group therapist for bereaved mothers, and she gave me the names of several people to contact who may be able to help me with my research.

Walk on Water

Once a week on Wednesday afternoons I attend an Honors Psychology Seminar (in English) with four other American students. The seminar has proven fascinating so far – this week we discussed the intergenerational transmission of trauma between Holocaust survivors and their descendents.

Tonight there was a showing of the Israeli movie "Walk on Water" in the student center. The movie is in Hebrew, German and English (with English subtitles during the Hebrew and German parts). The protagonist is a good-looking, undercover mossad agent whose parents survived the Holocaust. He is ordered to befriend the grandchildren of a Nazi in order to discover his hiding place. The ending seemed a bit contrived in my opinion, but the movie was thought-provoking on many levels. Among other things, the movie reinforced the ongoing influence of collective memory in contemporary Israeli society.

integration

My living situation has greatly improved with the addition of my three new suitemates. Not only is the suite more lively, but several of us spent hours scrubbing the kitchen/living area, which is now relatively functional. We also made it clear to another suitemate that dishes must be cleaned in a timely manner and that cats need to be fed OUTside. So now it is more pleasant to spend time in the suite, which is beginning to feel more like a home away from home.

This afternoon I met up with a friend from Scarsdale who is also living in Israel for the year. It was great to hear about her experiences and to be able to relate to someone from a similar background. Her boyfriend is a student at the University of Haifa, and he seems like a really nice guy. He emigrated from Argentina three or four years ago knowing only limited Hebrew, and within a year he had started taking a full load of university courses in Hebrew! I am amazed at how quickly new immigrants seem to integrate into Israeli society. Israel may be one of the few countries in the world where immigrants (albet Jewish immigrants) are genuinely welcomed by the government and the populace.

new suitemates

I have three new Israeli suitemates, all of whom seem quite nice. Of my five suitemates, four are Israeli and one is from Holland. Two of the Israelis study communication disorders, one studies psychology, and one studies Literature and English. I am surprised by how many hours of scheduled classes the Israeli students have. Many have upwards of thirty class hours a week! And most complete their BA in only three years. The students here apparently work very hard.

The Israeli university system is more like the European system than the American system. Israeli undergraduates study one or two subjects, and the university system is state-financed. There are increasing numbers of private colleges, but public universities still dominate. Tuition at the University of Haifa and other public universities is incredibly cheap by American standards (about $2000 for the year), but many students are financially independent, and salaries are lower here than in the US. Israelis are absolutely shocked to hear how much money American undergraduates pay for private, much less public, university education.