Avi's Point of View

Avi came to Israel in the 1960s from South Africa. He identifies himself as a Zionist. To Avi this means, "the future of the Jewish people is here [Israel}."

Avi calls himself a peace pacifist, different than a peace activist. He used to write for both the Jerusalem Post and the Jerusalem Report. Finished with the Jerusalem Post, Avi came to the Palestine Israel Journal in search of work. He is now the managing editor for the Israeli side.

Avi is an older gentleman with a younger wife and when I finally met his three sons aged 19-12, I made the embarassing mistake of asking if they were his grandchildren. His oldest son assured me it's a common mistake. I can tell that Avi enjoys his sons tremendously and in our conversations, it is clear that he takes great interest in the forming of their identities, including their national identities.

At the Jerusalem book fair Avi and I shared a long shift,which gave me the opportunity to understand his very different point of view on the work of the journal and the situation here in Israel/Palestine.

The next issue of the journal will focus on Jerusalem in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the unification of the City of Gold. For the Palestinians, it is the 40th anniversary of the annexation of Jerusalem, or the "Naqba"-- catastrophe.

Avi takes issue with the historical canon on the effects of the 1967 war on Jerusalem, from the Palestinian point of view. According to Avi, prior to 1967 Jerusalem was under Jordanian rule and no one had freedom of movement, not Jews, not Palestians-- Muslim or Christian. When Israel entered Jerusalem and declared East Jerusalem as a part of Israeli territory, the era following that monumentous event was one of unparalleled and unrepeated openness. In fact, Avi claims that the street I now live on, Azzahra Street, was one of the most happening haunts of Israel. After he and his colleagues finished at the Jerusalem Post around midnight, they'd go in search of beer and women. While Azzahra Street offered few women socializing in the pubs, there was a lot of beer and late-night hours, unlike the neighborhoods of West Jerusalem.

Today on Azzahra Street, every shop closes its shutters and doors by night fall and few if any people are found on the streets. I'm still investigating the commonly agreed upon reasons that this is so...

Continuing with Avi, because we were conversing at the bookfair and had attend first to passersby, the conversation was rather jolted. I haven't had too much time to think and compare all he said, because he spoke more of history and not so much personal experience.

Here are some of the thought-provoking highlights:

Avi says the wall of separation is a direct response to suicide bombers.

http://www.unitedjerusalem.org/index2.asp?id=412158
http://www.jcpa.org/jl/vp513.htm

Avi says no Palestinian-led anti-terror group exists that protests the practice of suicide bombers.

http://www.cnsnews.com/ForeignBureaus/Archive/200401/FOR20040105f.html
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=45509
http://www.ihrc.org.uk/show.php?id=31
http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/06/02/saudi.terror/index.html

Avi says had the Palestinians accepted and not attacked the declared state of Israel in 1948, the partition plan for Palestine included much more territory than what is possible today. The original plan included parts of the Galilee and the Negev.

http://www.ifamericansknew.org/history/origin.html
http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_maps.php
http://www.representativepress.org/IsraelHistory.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/world/2001/israel_and_palestinians/key_maps/6.stm

Avi says Ben Gurion took a genius chance in declaring a State of Israel inspired by the pressure of absorbing thousands of Jewish refugee Holocaust survivors when the world was rejecting these people left and right.

Avi says there is no free press of Palestine.
http://archives.cjr.org/year/93/6/palestine.asp

Avi laments that in this region the extremists on both sides have one, citing Yigal Amir, murderer of Yitzhak Rabin as the most successful assassin in history.

Avi believes that if the Palestinians within Israel would mobilize their electorate and vote in elections in Jerusalem, they may actually have their demands met and possibly elect a mayor of Jerusalem. Work within the system.

Avi points out that the most prominently recognized leader of the Palestinian people in 1948 was Muhammed Amin al-Husseini , the Grand Mufti of Jersualem, and one of Hitler's allies in the Middle East.

http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_mandate_grand_mufti.php
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/mufti.html
http://www.tellthechildrenthetruth.com/gallery/
http://www.tellthechildrenthetruth.com/ourmessage.html


Avi says indeed today Israel is the Goliath and Palestine the David.

Avi says Palestinian children are given five shekel to carry, unknowingly, explosive-rigged packages through checkpoints.

Avi told me about a pregnant Irish woman going through a security check on ELAL, who stated she was en route to meet her Palestinian fiance and father of her child, in Israel, specifically the West Bank. ELAL employees became suspicious and searched her bag, finding her suitcase included an explosive set up to explode mid-air. She was unaware that her entire relationship and the child in her womb were part of a plot of to terrorize Israel.

Avi states the self-destruction mentality of this region paralyzes the peace process.

With regard to the alleged Sabra/Shatila massacre of 1982, Israel is responsible fo Arabs killing Arabs when Israel thought it had an ally in the Phalangists of Lebanon, who clashed with the Lebanese Muslims.

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/Sabra_&_Shatila.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2255902.stm
http://www.indictsharon.net/
http://electronicintifada.net/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi/7/1929
http://www.sabra-shatila.be/english/

Avi resents the comparison of Israel to South Africa in terms of apartheid. He points out anti-miscegenation laws in which South African police were ordered to go house to house to find mixed race couples in the act of having sex and punishing them accordingly. He's familiar with apartheid and firmly believes that Israel cannot be accused of practicing such a system of government.

http://www.africanaencyclopedia.com/apartheid/apartheid.html
http://www.zmag.org/Sustainers/Content/2003-08/13beal.cfm

Listening to Avi throws me into another confusion frenzy. When Avi recounts the horror stories of successful and failed suicide bomb attempts, in my mind I understand very well why Israel practices the policies it does. Security policy that is so strict that Israelis and visitors are aware of this reality at every entrace to every cafe, mall, or bus station. Just Friday on my way to Tel Aviv, I went through two security checks at the Jerusalem Central Bus Station and two more upon arrival in Tel Aviv. There is a police person on every single bus I ride and one stationed at most if not all bus stops.

Somewhere in all of this security, however, structural violence, profiling and angst has resulted on both sides. This is the stuff that I need to understand more of.