Stay / leave

Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Sitting at the airport in Amman. Stealing wi-fi. Spent the morning running around picking up my flight ticket from my harangued travel agent who got me off the Gulf Air waiting list and on a flight for today, shopping, eating at Hashem, meeting people, answering phone calls and arguing with cab drivers. Apart from the travel agent and airport, this could be any day in the life that was mine until I stepped through the gate.

This doesn't seem right, and it doesn't seem wrong either. I'm just waiting for my real life (version 2) to begin, yet again, I suppose.

Labels: , ,

 
posted by saba at 9:16 PM, | 0 comments

60 years later..

Monday, June 09, 2008

perspective
60 years later…
Palestine has been an unsolved issue for so long that the world often seems to think it doesn’t exist. Now, documentary filmmakers are at the forefront of keeping it alive.

By Saba Imtiaz
in Amman, Jordan


Amman, the capital of Jordan - may not have the fantastic architecture, the centuries old lanes, or the other landmarks that are the hallmark of other Middle Eastern capitals like Cairo or Damascus, but what it certainly does have is a fantastic social itinerary. Darat al Funun, an art gallery/working space for artists regularly showcases exhibits featuring artists from the Middle East, as well as documentaries focusing on the region. Two of the most notable ones I have had the chance to see lately include The Iron Wall and Occupation 101, both part of a series of films being screened to commemorate Nabka (Arabic for Catastrophe), marking 60 years of occupation by Israel.

The Iron Wall was an eye opener - even to someone used to having seen/heard so much about the conflict through Pakistan’s pro Palestinian media. The Iron Wall is an eye opener, because it coldly details how, over the past 6 decades, Israel has systematically obliterated any possibility of there ever existing as of a viable Palestinian state.

The wall, a shocking symbol of what can only be defined as apartheid in the 21st century, is there for a reason: to create small pockets of Palestinian villages, cut off from the infrastructure, housing and sources of income for Palestinians. Using graphs and maps, The Iron Wall shows how the settlements built by Israel have consumed the major part of the West Bank.

It delves into Zionist beliefs, coupled by how successive Israeli governments have used the policy of settlement building to strengthen their presence throughout Occupied Palestine, and to cement those settlements, have built - what is indeed an iron wall - to fence off those settlements from the Palestinian villages. They cut through viable agricultural land, houses, water sources - and in the opinion of the experts interviewed for the film, is not a security measure, but the last bolt in the coffin of a dream of a Palestine free from occupation. Coupled with heart rending stories - of families clutching their olive trees and crying desperately in a vain attempt to prevent Israeli bulldozers.

The documentary includes testimonials of Israeli soldiers of how Palestinian towns in the West Bank are virtually under a siege from extremist settlers who believe that all of the land mentioned in the Bible is theirs for the taking, replete with scenes of places that are ghost towns because of the constant state of curfew and violence. Pieced in with this havoc, are quotes from an Israeli woman who, like hundreds of other Israeli families are heavily incentivized by the government to move to the new housing areas. The guilt rings out in her voice as she feels trapped between the luxurious setting of the new housing areas, and the realization that she is living on someone else’s land.

Occupation 101, on the other hand, while focusing on the same issues, is specifically geared to an American audience, which, using the same testimonials and settlement issues as The Iron Wall, also presents an overview of how, despite the Oslo Peace Process continuing in the 1990s, the settlements and violence increased. It also provides an insight into how the US Government has supported Israel financially since the creation of the state, comparing it with US aid given to developing countries.

Occupation 101 also delves into the conditions in Gaza, which few media outlets have been able to gain access to or covered, highlighting the story of an American citizen who was killed in 2003 by an Israeli bulldozer in Rafah. While the documentary has received accolades at various film festivals in the US, it remains to be seen what the impact of a documentary such as this has had, given how one-sided news coverage from the Middle East appears to be.

It is commendable of the gallery to screen the documentaries - but these stories are meant for a wider audience, for an audience in a country that is not a stone’s throw away from Occupied Palestine and Israel, but for those that are completely unaware to the nature of the conflict and what this means to the daily life of Israelis and Palestinians who live in this state, day in and day out.

- For The News on Sunday.

 
posted by saba at 5:32 PM, | 0 comments

random random!

Wednesday, June 04, 2008
It won't hit me that I'm supposed to be home in a little less than 2 weeks until I actually have a ticket in my hand, absolute proof that the streets, sights and sounds of Amman will be a part of my past, will be remembered in fragments and anecdotes, from pictures that will soon be relegated to an obscure folder on my laptop. I don't want to write a 'reflecting-back-on-my-year' post just yet, I want time to stop still and let me live and breathe each moment - and for the past few weeks I have been doing exactly that.

In other news & randomness..
  • My successor, Akos Szakaly, arrived from Hungary a couple of days ago! In true tradition, he had to wait for 25 minutes at the airport, and I took him to Hashem and Danesi on his first day here (and felt like I've been living here for centuries as he stared wide-eyed at everything, and I argued with cab drivers and talked to all the afternoon staff at Hashem)
  • I randomly chanced upon EP 18 for Gossip Girl (I thought the season had ended at 17!) You know you love me..xoxo.
  • Weekend conversations (or weekday ones for that matter) with people from home are the bestest. Thats why I now know all of the gossip and news from Karachi courtesy Emad, and how Adeel Naeem's room in Singapore looks like, or what he bought on his last shopping trip :P
  • Shops in Amman have strange mannequins. Enough said.
  • The AIESEC Lahore video is the coolest! And now I have 'Get down tonight' stuck in my head..but oh well, I miss those guys!
  • Last weekend was the most fun I've had in a long time! If someone had told me a few years ago that I'd be cooking biryani, watching Rang De Basanti with an American (who went to school in India) and Canadian (Iranian/Brit actually..), and dancing in a gay bar on a weekend..I'd have thought they were repeating a sitcom outline..
  • On that note - I'm going to miss Laura and Nadim and Shamsy! And if my picture is in Layaleena's next issue..I'd better get a scanned copy.
  • Random events in Amman can turn out to be pretty cool. For e.g. the Syrian film @ the Royal Film Commission was rather boring..but what a gorgeous venue, replete with free popcorn & drinks..score. And despite how long it took us to find Cups & Kilos in Al Rabieh today, the jazz gig there was absolutely fabulous.
And as a last note: Laura's blogpost on Amman has this great quote on life here, which even a year later - still rings true for me:
"What an unexpected night....and one that brought so many interesting realities into light. Everytime I think I've finally come to understand something about Jordanian (or more accurately, Amman) society, something comes along and completely contradicts it. I still haven't figured out Jordan, and I don't know if I ever will."

Labels: , ,

 
posted by saba at 2:15 AM, | 1 comments