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By Anis Hamadeh*
12 July 2002 The Israeli Palestinian struggle has lasted for more than 50 years now, the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza for 35 years. The world is fed up with it, as are the news people, the Americans, the Europeans, the Arabs, and the Israelis. And yet all these groups cannot change the situation. So used we have got to the reality of stagnation in the Middle East that many of us hardly believe in a solution any more. The plenitude of disappointments is discouraging. Yet if you ask a Palestinian about what he or she wants, they will answer: Palestine. And they will mean: freedom and hope. So let us step into a vision and project a possible future after the war, because as sure as war is as old as man, no war in history lasted forever.
We are walking through the streets of Nablus with Sahar, a Palestinian writer who writes novels about the society of Nablus. She is excited about the new time. She belongs to those who experienced the horror of both the out-group violence and the in-group pressure. Now she is pointing to some kids in the street who are on their way home after school, laughing and talking in loud voices as they pass by. It is the first generation of Palestinian pupils to have uninterrupted school terms. And over there in the fields there are farmers working. There is life in the Souq and in the university. The city is new, like most of Palestine's cities and villages. So much of the infrastructure had been destroyed in the war, but when it became clear that the aggressions are over, other Arab states started to invest in Palestine with the participation of the diaspora Palestinians and the European Union. There was an astonishing number of groups who had an interest in building up this country.
I ask Sahar how the change came about and she tells me that there were different factors. One was economic. At a certain stage, Israel had to give up the idea of being an island within a sea of hostility. When the Arabs showed them that they really wanted a way out of the war, through the initiative of the Saudi crown prince, it took the Israelis some time to believe it. After all that they had done they also feared the punishment. Then some of the major Arab companies offered economic ties and that was the beginning. Another reason for the ending of the war was the growing Palestinian identity and self-awareness. It was fostered by progressive Palestinian individuals and groups in Palestine and in the world who learnt and taught the power of cooperation. Artists would manifest the Palestinian identity in their works. A generation found a voice that declared: "I am Palestinian and I am proud." The internet was essential in this process.
We are walking the streets of Nablus. The sun is shining. There is no war and there is no fear. No tanks. There are no soldiers. No guns. "Is it the same in Jerusalem?" I ask my companion. And she says yes. There are some soldiers around, but they are not threatening. The world had recognized that peace in Jerusalem was an international responsibility. All the important media in the world have a branch in Jerusalem today. After that occupation had ended, and subsequently the bombings, too, Jerusalem became the most interesting city in the world, especially when the exchange between Palestinian and Israeli peace groups, writers and artists started. All this happened parallel with the awareness that the Middle East conflict is deeply rooted in World War II and the trauma of the Jews, and parallel also with the decreasing reputation of the USA.
We are standing in front of an old building, which Sahar tells me had been a hammam in the Ottoman Empire, and that it had been rebuilt after the war. But I can hardly listen to her words as I see a couple standing in front of a cinema (there is a new film out by Elia Sulaiman) and they are... holding hands! Look at this! Sahar smiles. This is the new time, she says. The Palestinian establishment has changed. It was quite strange in the beginning, especially for the older people, but it was the new Palestinian youth who made Palestine the most progressive Arab country. This was good for the economy, so they got by. Some of them started with things like talking to Israeli peace groups or walking hand in hand in the street, first as a demonstration of peace and love, then as a provocative fashion, and today it is normal. Palestinian film-makers and writers had projected the new society, also. This has little to do with the PLO society, she says, still smiling. But in the hammam? I ask. No, she replies, the hammam is one of the few places where the gender segregation is still respected. And the schools? I ask. No segregation, she answers. This new Palestinian generation just has some good answers. There still is a lot of social pressure on the new educational system, but the kids really learn a lot. They know that it will be their job to create a future, values and norms, and it became a major task of the schools to open up the potentials of the individual pupil and student. They also learn Hebrew. A new approach. Even the Israelis are copying the system now.
We are sitting in an outdoor coffee shop and we talk about Birzeit, which had become one of the most interesting universities in the world as it comprises the whole range of attitudes and opinions. This Palestine is no wonderland, but it is a home. A state. Things are built, not destroyed. Stability and creativity. I am still wondering how all this could come about. Maybe you cannot beat your enemy, Sahar says, but there is nothing in the world that can prevent an identity.
*Anis Hamadeh is a German Palestinian musician and writer.
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