Abbas Meets George Clooney and the Survivors

Abbas and Barak - the rerun

Abbas Meets George Clooney and the Survivors

Israelis were glued to their screens yesterday. A secret meeting in Jordan between Ehud Barak, Israel's Minister of Defense and Mahmoud Abbas, Chairman of the Palestinian Authority was pushed to the sidelines. The new long range rockets acquired by Hamas couldn't even grab a headline. Israelis were far more interested in the final episode in this season of Survivors (the Israeli Version).

Some may criticize the final episode of being a costly ceremony devoid of real content and aimed simply at entertaining the masses. Others may point out the multitude of seasons and short lived fame of reality stars as proof of the mundane nature of these over-rated events. With all the REAL news out there why do Israelis vote with their remote for reality TV?

Perhaps it is that the Peace Process or Arab-Israeli Conflict also had too many seasons. Perhaps - like so many reality stars, however successful or unsuccessful they may be, politicians are destined to be forgotten in the dusty TV archives when the season ends. My opinion is that we watch TV, to deflect from our own survival in this conflict torn region, and that the ceremonious hand-shakes and hopeful speeches at the white house simply do not achieve this end anymore.

We tune in to see dramatic events not long drawn out processes that need years or decades to take root. At the Emmy awards, the pinnacle of TV events, George Clooney conveyed it perfectly:

"The truth is, when the disaster happens, everybody wants to help, everybody in this room wants to help, everybody at home wants to help. The hard part is seven months later, five years later, when we’re on to a new story. Honestly, we fail at that…that's the fact."

Reality TV plays on our need for immediate gratification, it promises a resolution and it delivers on-time, on-prime time…And Barak and Abbas? Well… Who wants to see another rerun?

Educational Travel in Hezbollah Land

Visiting the new Hezbollah Theme park must be a very constructive experience for a child. Walking between mangled metal tanks he is inspired by the triumph of spirit over matter. Hopping between mines he strengthens his athletic abilities and lest we forget the unforgettable encounter with adult role models in the shape of camouflaged gorilla fighters.

Kind of makes Disney World look like Geneva, doesn't it?

I think it would be a difficult stretch to contend that Hezbollah won the war against Israel. Or that this war achieved anything but destruction within Lebanon's border. So it may be difficult for us to understand the idea of opening a theme park devoted to Hezbollah's Epic struggle against the Zionist forces.

However, perhaps Hezbollah's new pet project isn't as outlandish as it might seem.

Winston Churchill once said “History is written by the victors.” And perhaps in past generations the outcome of a war dictated the accepted perception of history. In this age we are learning more about the war of perception, a war of narratives, where in by writing history you crown yourself a victor.

Asked whether the park was promoting terrorist propaganda, one of the park's guides and a school teacher answered; "I believe it's our right to have our own propaganda. The important thing is that this is the sincere and true propaganda." This brings to mind yet another Churchill quote; “History will be kind to me for I intend to write it” (ABC, 2010)

Here, between the upturned tanks and confiscated weaponry, inside the malleable minds of young school children, Hezbollah is writing its own history, and kindly winning. To use yet another worn out cliché Across the Lebanon border and in other places around the world Israel is winning the battle and losing the war.

And that's how it all began

It's quite rare for blood pressure to increase like this in a body as young as mine, but the coverage of yet another Palestinian-Israeli clash on the news was really getting the best of me.

For lack of a stronger word, I was enraged. It was as if the reporter had woken up that day and managed to forget 3000 years of history and heritage. For him the story began today.

Israeli soldiers shot dead 9 activists on a boat determined to penetrate the Gaza Blockade. For the news networks, this was where the story began and where it ended.

It did not begin 2 days ago with the boat embarking from turkey in spite of the blockade, nor a year ago when Hamas rose to power and Israel started its siege of Gaza. Nor did it begin 8 years ago when rockets started flying over the Gaza border or 33 years ago when Israel Conquered the Palestinian territories.

Of course it didn't begin with Great Britain dividing the land and the subsequent Arab-Israel war in 1948 and there is definitely no connection to the Muslim conquests or to Jewish Presence in the holy land for the past 3000 years. No, the story began 2 minutes ago when a soldier on a boat shot an activist. BREAKING NEWS!

There is however a silver lining. Fueled by my vexation I decided to do something …something that would promote a deeper understanding of the historical, cultural and political aspects of the conflict. It is not about who is right or wrong it is about understanding and relating to our fellow men.

How else are we to live peacefully with one another if we do not acknowledge or at least become acquainted with the context that brought two people to clash in such a violent manner?

It is with this mission in mind, to promote understanding through travel that we founded Identity Travel.

And that's how it all began...