A View from the Ground: The New York Times correspondant from Gaza

A fascinating and highly informative interview with Taghreed El-Khodary, the New York Times correspondent in Gaza and International Crisis Group analyst. (Middle East Bulletin)

Some Key points:

1) The Siege and Economic Blockage benefit Hamas

-The private sector in Gaza has been completely destroyed, there is a complete lack of liquidity at banks, and unemployment is increasing.

-Hamas has set up its own bank to pay civil servants. (PA teachers have been replaced with Hamas teachers, who mainly focus on religious studies)

-Hamas builds recreational infrastructure to impress the population:

"I was in one of the settlements that Israel evacuated where Hamas built a park, planted apple trees and filled a pool with fish for the kids. I talked to people and asked them why they liked going there. They said ‘there is a zoo, a pool full of fish.’ So I went there and it’s the saddest thing I’ve ever seen. The zoo was one cage of monkeys. And imagine, these people were so impressed that they called it an amusement park. You go there and it’s so bad, but they’ve never seen anything else. For them, one cage of monkeys was a zoo. You go to the fish farm that they created, and it’s smelly, but for the children it was meaningful and exciting. It’s a place to sit, a place to barbeque."

2) There are a number of discourses within Gaza society allowed by Hamas, some of them critical of killing Israeli civilians and firing rockets (at Sderot, presumably):

"They are producing films, too. The latest one was about Emad Akel, who was 23 when he was killed by Israel in 1993. He was a fighter that Hamas portrays as establishing a whole military philosophy. Why? Because he managed to target Israeli soldiers only. So they made a story about him. And who wrote the script? Mahmoud Zahar, a senior Hamas leader. And that will be shown to the public starting August 1. And everybody, whether they like Hamas or not, wants to go because it’s entertainment, and because there are no other movie theaters. Then you have a play by an independent writer. In the play they mock the firing of the rockets as useless—the fighters fire them just for the sake of firing."

3) Hamas is interested in engagement with the international community and wants to be recognized as in control of Gaza.

"I was the one who did the interview for The New York Times. I sat with Meshaal for many hours, for two days, and the sense is that Hamas is very keen to engage in international politics. Meshaal told me that they are willing to be part of a solution when it comes to a peace process, and that they are not going to be the one obstructing an agreement. The international community must really read between the lines. There has to be an understanding, because after all, on the ground, Hamas is in Gaza, Fatah is in the West Bank, completely isolated from each other. I think you also need to learn from Oslo. Hamas was out of the game, therefore they obstructed. At that time they obstructed through a series of suicide bombings. This disequilibrium will always be there if the international community strives to marginalize a party that is too influential."

Good Morning America, How are ya?

There are benefits to jet-lag. One of these is waking up naturally at 6:30am for a leisurely coffee. With stable internet access, I spent my morning reading the New York Times (goodbye International Herald Tribune), eating carb-loaded pastries at a D.C. coffeeshop, and chatting with the manager, a mustached French-Lebanese judeophile who said he'd rather be in Mykonos.

On my first day back in the States, the news is surreal.

-A giant corruption scandal involving rabbis, government contractors, mayors, israelis, and a Swiss banker has been exposed.

-The New York times reports that Hamid Karzai's challenger is "A dapper dresser." The opthamologist (the eyes are the windows of a nation's soul" is taken to "wearing traditional Afghan clothes under a variety of Western tailored jackets."

Heading North

The Aegan Airlines flight from Athens to Berlin is almost three hours, most of which I spent asleep. The stewardesses generally ignored me, except to offer and remove my meal and tell me to open my windows for take-off and landing. The airline claims to have won some European airline award for 2008/2009. They should be glad that i'm not giving out the awards: I waited almost an hour to check-in and stood on a bus for another 10 waiting to be taken to the plane.

It was disorienting to wake up in Germany: an orderly exit from the plane into a quiet reception area arranged just for our flight. As the bags unloaded onto the cargo belt, it began to rain, and my second bag arrived in almost-soaked condition.

I was met at the Tegel airport by J, a family friend. It was the first time on my trip where i'd been "picked up" upon arrival. The experience is decicedly differant, arriving in a differant country alone provokes certain cognitive processes which get suppressed when you are met (how is this environment differant from the last one I was in? What do I I like or dislike about the new environment? Are the people moving, speaking, and dressing differantly? Etc).

The change from Greece to Germany is noticeable and disorienting. There is something wonderful about being knocked out of one's comfort zone.

Turkey: You will get used it it in time

"WELCOME TO TURKEY" reads the hotel handout, WE WISH YOU TO RETURN TO YOUR COUNTRY WITH HAPPY MEMORIES.

Here in Istanbul, rumors of Turkish hospitality live up to expectations. I have been served tea three times, queried about my ancestry, invited to go drinking, and given an extensive lesson on the knotting in Turkish Carpets (a double knot weave is better than single knot, and older enhances the tones of the natural dyes).

OUR CURRENCY IS CALLED AS "NEWTURKISHLIRE (YTL)" YOU WILL GET USED TO IT IN TIME.

The exchange rate to dollars is roughly 1.5, so i'm spending like a european on holiday. There are an enormous number of things to buy: this is a city of trade. The grand bazaar is endless, the city has a decicedly mercantile feel.

PLEASE BE CAREFUL ABOUT THE PEOPLE YOU MEET ON THE STREETS IN TURKEY...THERE IS AN INCREASE ON THEAF BY NON-TURKISH PEOPLE AGAINST TOURISTS.

People on the streets are very aggressive, though it's impossible to tell who is or isn't Turkish. Sellers and restaurant stringers establish eye contact and feign insult ("I was just talking to you").

The people i've met are wonderfully locquacious, knowledgeable, and internationally aware... more so than in any other city in the world.

When in Jerusalem, Take the Bus

Spent the morning relocating from the Old City hostel to the Inbal Hotel, with an hour of frappucinoed Internet access at Aroma Cafe in the Jerusalem's fancy new mall, complete with a Versace.

I spent the afternoon bus jumping on the way to Beit Hakerem, to meet some long-lost members of the Magarik clan. The two boys, F and M, are talented artists (separate post forthcoming), and all three members of the family are fluently tri-lingual in Russian, Hebrew, and English.

Transmigration is a funny thing, particularly for the Jews.

I spent the evening at the Shalom Hartman Center, and heard Rabbi David Hartman lecture, in a rare and brilliant appearance. He spoke on Contingency in Jewish texts, focusing on the Joseph story, with frequent and wonderful detours into his life, personal and intellectual relationships, contemporary jewish practice, and current Israeli politics.

It was a very moving lecture; he told wonderful stories about his mother, shared his pluralistic and progressive vision for the Jewish people (defending egalitarianism, the Reform movement, and taking a page from Obama's book in speaking of the need for realistic hope), and confronted his mortality and physical pain.

I had a second dinner with D, an old Israeli friend of mine who is engaged in dialogue work in Israel. While he continues to bring Palestinians and Israelis together for dialogue, he is not optimistic about current prospects for peace. I ate shakshuka (cooked eggs with tomato sauce) and shared life plans.

I leave for the West Bank tommorow morning.

The Old City Revisited

I write from the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, after hours wandering around the Muslim, Christian, and Armenian Quarters. My previous visits here have been on group tours, the the freedom is quite frightening- I am almost entirely unable to navigate the alleys and streets, and many of the merchants and people on the streets are incredibly unfriendly. There is a sense of deep hostility and resentment in the Muslim Quarter, which I have not encountered before in Israel... it is disturbing, and after two hours I feel angry myself. Why was I not taken here on previous trips? In a sense, I have been completely shielded from an entire side of the place.

Walking down one of the narrow streets in the muslim quarter, I walk past a small military post, and onto a wide, clean, white plaza where people are moving slowly and deliberately. My curiosity is piqued- I have never seen this before. I move slowly and carefully, until I am stopped harshly by an arabic-speaking guard, who escorts me back to the soldiers.

I find my way into the Jewish Quarter, and am overwhelmed with relief and familiarity.

ROI: Live from Kfar Macciabiah

I've come to Israel to attend ROI120, a leadership summit sponsored by the Center for Leadership Initiatives, a project of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Foundation.

The best aspect of the conference are its participants, who hail from 29 differant countries (40 from the US, 40 from Israel, 40 from Europe/Latin America/other). I suspect that they were not chosen based on prestige or pedigree, but rather on being innovative/risk-friendly. They are wonderful people to be around professionall- young people with passion, vision, and sincere interest in changing the world through collaborative projects, organizations, artwork, and discourse. The geographic diversity brings together whole sets of Jews who would not otherwise know each other: i've met young jews from Austria, Luxembourg, India, Mexico, etc. Artists, journalists, bankers, storytellers, technology entrepreneurs... even comedians!

It is almost impossible to get any sleep- there are too many people to meet.

On Eagles Wings: Arriving in Israel

I arrived in the Ben Gurion Airport on Sunday morning, at roughly 4:00am. The LOT Polish flight was a grey journey: old plane, odd meal, full of random poles/russian/israelis...nothing special.

Was greeted by passport control officer who joylessly cross-examined me... my complicated and somewhat evasive replies were met with a frusturated plea/assertion of authority: "you know, I am the customs officer, so it is MY job to ask YOU the questions." She then proceeded to take my boarding pass (I later returned to retrieve it).

The "new" Ben-Gurion Airport is quite impressive, I get the impression that the number of carriers which now fly to Israel has doubled or even tripled since last I was here in 2003.

This was an Israeli arrival unlike any other: in previous trips, i'd been with a group from a New York El-Al Flight: this time I arrived alone, from Poland.

After an hour or two of wandering around the airport, I took the first morning train to the Tel Aviv Bus station, and walked a few blocks to board the 35 bus. The bus moved through a working class neighborhood (an Israeli later referred to the area as slums, the first time i'd heard this phrase uttered in Israel), with morning commuters who treated me and my suitcases as tolerable nuisances. They moved me around based on the boarding and exiting of other passengers, and the bus driver pointed out Kfar Macciabiah, the site of the conference.

I arrived at roughly 7:30am, checked into the lovely hotel, took a shower, and went promptly to bed.

Back in Warsaw

I took a 14:00 train from Gdansk to Warsaw, and arrived back in city slightly after 19:00, to the setting sun- the nicest weather i've seen in Warsaw.

Am flying direct to Tel Aviv tonight, from 10:55 to 3:55. I am very curious to see who else will be on a flight from Poland to Israel: for Jews, from the old world to the new.

Polish Trains

Polish Trains were a pleasure, I took

-the intercity super-express from Warsaw to Krakow (lovely, new cars with AC and free tea, with a laptop plugs).., back.

-the first class warsaw->gdansk, (long ride, not as modern a train)

-the express gdansk-warsaw (very long ride, poorly air conditioned, no free tea, old dining cars with tableclothes and frequent unexplained stops).

On no occaisons did I engaged in conversation with other passengers. Most refused to move when I passed through aisles, but when I moved for others or held car doors open, I got smiles and thank yous.

All in all, traveling by train poland is a pleasant experience.