Idiot in the Airport

Yeah, so I had my first encounter with general American ignorance on the Arab-Israeli conflict. It happened today in the Chicago Midway Airport. Here I am on my way to my best friend's wedding in Oakland, CA. I had a layover in Chicago. I brought with me a book called, "The Lemon Tree."

Highly recommended read, I've only gotten through about 100 pages. It's a well written non-fiction account of a Palestinian who returns to his house in al-Ramla, and meets the Jewish lady who lives there. It goes through the whole history, from the early Zionists, up through at least the six-day war, and I think it will continue even after, through the second intifada in 2000. The best part about this book is the narration is mostly objective. I feel compassion towards both of the main characters, the Jewish girl and the Arab boy, and deep sadness/anger towards both sides' leaders. The book is helping me formulate specific opinions about specific leaders. For example, I think that Ben-Gurion is one of the most wicked and corrupt men of the 20th century, right along with Mufti Mohammad Al-Hussein. Sick. The book is very real, very alive for me; filled with references to places I've been, and phrases in Arabic that I understand, and just general cultural knowledge that I have lived. I can really put myself into this book.

So, I was sitting there, "putting myself into this book", and the lady next to me started asking me about it. First of all, who talks to a stranger in an airport who is in the middle of reading a book? I mean, somewhat elementary, when a book is opened towards a person's face, usually their mind is concentrating on the words inside, no?

She asked what the book was about, because she had seen it before, and before I could tell her she started telling me about a book she had read that she thought was like it. However, from what I could tell, the book was one of those fashion-politics books that go in and out of the print every other day. You know, that one section in Barnes and Noble with books that are meant to radicalize your viewpoints, titles like, "Why Bush Is A Horrible President."

She described this book that went through American politics from the early colonists and the stamp act, to President Bush in Iraq. So basically, the only obvious similarity between our books were that they both had to do with History. She then asked me if my book was about the six-day war, "You know, it really is incredible what the Jews were able to do! An absolute miracle, in 1967. They single-handedly defeated all the Arab armies...I mean, from a Christian perspective, this has been prophesied and prophesied."

I think I was kind of staring at her. When I finally opened my mouth, I said, "Well, this book is not really about that." She interrupted, "Oh, isn't it a story of a Palestinian and a Jew? Those Palestinians..." Before she could make some other pseudo-Crusader comment, I jumped in, "The book is quite well researched, it's a non-fiction account of a Jew and a Palestinian who meet because the Jew is living in the Palestinian's old house. You know, in 1948, when the UN gave the Jews large chunks of the land of Palestine, and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forced out of their homes..."

Here she cut in again. "But it was prophesied from the beginning. I mean, what a miracle that the Jews were able to defeat the Arabs! And now look at all the problems we have, radical Islamic terrorists everywhere..."

I was choking my rage. She wasn't even THERE, you know?

She continued, "And Israel has given back to the Palestinians everything they wanted in 1967, and there is still so much violence and hatred. I mean, every single thing they wanted, they've just given it right back."

Here, they started boarding the plane. Fortunately, the lady was in group A and I was in group B, so I didn't risk sitting next to her for four hours. I had completely had enough of her ignorant, one-sided, radical views.

In a calm stable voice, I pronounced,"I'd really like to see your source of information on that."

She kind of floundered, I guess not expecting me to confront what she must have esteemed educated and moderate opinions. "Oh, any news station!"

I have many Arab friends from many different countries, and different political views. Radicals, nationalists, communists, lovers-of-Islamic Monarchies, libertarians, NPR-loving liberal democrats - basically every different opinion possible. Despite all their differences, there is one opinion that is shared on all planes - a general disgust/disapproval for American Media.

Which I now share.

Even if NBC Nightly News, CNN, Fox etc. weren't fashion shows with a few random clips of soldiers walking around in Iraq, even if the general American public watched news stations like BBC World that are less flashy and spend more time on more relevant stories - the sad fact is that Americans are so stupid they wouldn't be able to process the information showed to them. Even if we had a more reliable media, the majority still would believe whatever felt best according to their religion - THE MAJORITY WOULDN'T CARE.

THE MAJORITY DOESN'T CARE.

I don't understand how this woman could come up with the brilliant idea that the Israeli government is suddenly sympathetic towards Palestinians, has given them back all of the rights and territories they possessed before 1967, and is advocating a two-state solution. The EXACT opposite is true, and this is something that I know because I have seen it with my eyes, I have been there, walked there, and talked with many different people - Jewish, Israeli, Palestinian...I feel like I'm going crazy.

I shouldn't have felt such anger towards this ignorant fool in the airport. I should have felt pity, even sorrow.

It's hard to feel sorrow for a people that willingly embraces ignorance, that clings to religious extremism instead of seeking out moderation and understanding of cultures and peoples. How can the majority of the citizens of my country stand to support such fanaticism and intolerance? Such complete disregard for the value of the Palestinian people, their religious and historical ties to the land, the blood they have spilled in this conflict? Arabs are our brothers. You claim to be Christian, yet you condone the atrocious acts of violence during the six-day war? How can anyone condone the preemptive strike of 1967? The Egyptian bodies piled in the sand?

Need to sleep.

Sacrament Meeting in Jordan

Today, in church, Virginia told us about a phone call she got from Hannah.

Several years go, there were three branches in Jordan: the Amman Branch, the Al-Husn Branch, and the Irbid Branch. Because of inactivity, lack of priesthood-holding members/full tithe-payers, and people joining the church to get humanitarian aid, money, and visas to go to the states (to serve missions), they combined the Irbid and Al-Husn branch.

Hannah was a member of the Irbid Branch. She and her family are from Iraq, and as such recieved quite a lot of persecution. Already, Christians consitute only 2% of the population of Jordan, and Mormons are a minority in that group. On top of that, there is extreme prejudice against Iraqis, and apparently most of the persecution was from other (currently inactive) branch members. Sister Bradshaw said the abuse was physical as well as verbal - fist-fights even. annah would routinely call the police.

It got to such a point that Hannah and her family couldn't stand living here anymore, so they moved back to Iraq. Hannah and her husband and kids, her sister, her brother (the former Branch President of the Irbid Branch) and his family all moved to the Kurd area of Northern Iraq. Sister Bradshaw says it was a very emotional parting. "She left with her temple recommend in hand, knowing that there would be nothing." Iraq does not currently have any organized LDS wards or branches, besides those on military bases, or perhaps in the Green Zone.

Hannah called Virginia last week to ask her to pray for her and her family. They are living in a house with three other families. Every day there are bombings around their house. Neighbors and friends die. Virginia asked the branch to pray for Hannah and her family.

I am asking you, whoever may read be reading this, to pray for Hannah, too.

It's difficult for us to put ourselves in Hannah's position, to understand the kinds of daily problems faced by her and thousands of others in Iraq. Hearing stories like Hannah's reinforces my desire to learn Arabic. Learning the language will help me learn and understand the problems of this part of the world.

"Problems in the Middle East" are not in a seperate box. They may seem very far away when you have your own car, you eat whatever you want whenever you want, take half an hour long showers multiple times a week, and have a job that pays more per week than the average Jordanian gets per month (approximately 200 JD's, or 250 USD - PER MONTH). The problems are relevant. The people here are real. They matter.

I hope that I can inspire you to learn more about this place. I want you to care about Jordan, and Iraq, and Palestine, and Israel, and the entire complex world of the Middle East.

A Flood of Political Opinions

2.23.07

Someone much wiser than me recently convinced me forcing someone to listen to your ideas, much less changing them, is impossible, but the best way to come close to achieving understanding is to listen. Historically, this has not been my forte, but since my main goal for coming to this place is to learn the culture, listening is mandatory, akeed.

So I listen. I flinch to hear some of these radical political opinions that you and I would automatically recognize as propaganda and conspiracy theories. These are some of the opinions that I have heard since arriving in Jordan sixteen days ago to study Arabic at Yarmouk University:

“I like the American people, but I don’t like American politics. I liked Clinton.”
“Jews are the cause of all the problems in the Middle East.”
“America is only interested in Iraq for economic reasons.”
“America has no right to be the World’s Policeman.”
“The most important thing is to examine the cause of the war in Iraq, the reasons for entering the country.”
“Those are American soldiers being killed, don’t you see?”
“I like Saddam Hussein, don’t you? At least he was powerful.”
“Try to IMAGINE. This is only 2% of the actual dead.”
“All Jews are liars and thieves.”
“Americans are terrorists. Do you see what they’re doing in Iraq?”
“More people have died since the start of the war in Iraq than ever died during Saddam’s regime. Therefore Saddam was better for the country than the forced ‘democracy’.”
“American doesn’t understand the Middle East, and never will.”
“I’m trying to prove to her that Saddam Hussein is a good guy.”
“Democracy can’t exist in the Muslim world.”
“If Allah told me to go and be a terrorist, I would have to submit. That’s what Islam means, “submission.” The terrorists that think like this aren’t not far from the truth.”
“Jordan First.”
“President Bush is just trying to finish what his father started.”
“Americans don’t know the truth of what’s going on in Iraq on a daily basis.”
“Jesus Christ was a terrorist.”
“Americans are the cause of all the problems in the Middle East.”
[They showed me a clip of the World Trade Center attacks on a cell phone, laughing]
“All Jews are terrorists.”
“Israel’s flag signifies the Jordan river to the Euphrates river in Iraq. They’re trying to expand it, until it is the largest power in the world, bigger even than America.”
“All Arabs are terrorists.”
“The CIA has files in their basement detailing the United State’s Government’s plan on how they are going to help Israel expand its borders to the westernmost side of Iraq.”
“Don’t talk about politics.”
“They don’t show this kind of stuff to you on American television, right?”
“The Hadith say that you can’t kill men, women, children in another country, that you don’t strike someone from behind their back, so obviously what the terrorists did in New York City was haram, was a sin, it wasn’t true Islam.”
“She’s a ‘48 Arab. She’s really strong.”
“You can’t know the truth. Everyone is liars.”
“The problem with Iraq isn’t that it had an oppressive dictator, or that it can’t be a democratic country – it’s the Iraqi people themselves. They are all two-faced liars.”
“Just kill them all. I don’t care.”
“I don’t like American politics, just Clinton.”

Democracy in Iraq: Class Discussion

After listening to three Turks and a Spaniard tell their opinions about why the United States' war with Iraq is a disaster, President Bush is crazy, the motivation behind the war is purely economical, and how the states should pull out troops immediately, this is what I said.

Nobody has access to the truth. You see one thing in the Turkish Media, you see another thing in the Spanish Media, I see something else in the American Media. The fact is, unless we see it with our own eyes, we can't determine exactly what is happening. We can't know for sure how many people died today, who started what fight with who, or what the good consequences of the American presence in Iraq are. All media is biased. There is no way of knowing the actual truth.

Democracy is the only way to peace in the Arab world. I am not saying that America should or is even able to transpose our own ideas of democracy and put them onto a people whose culture, religion, and lifestyle is completely different from our own. The fact is, without a democracy, you will end up with another dictator like Saddam Hussein, who kills his own people for the mere fact of their race, or religion. Democracy is freedom of speech, freedom of religion, multi-partisan politics, a free-market economy, safety, governmental protection - democracy means that the person who gets elected doesn't have enough power to screw everything up. Democracy recognizes the basic rights of humankind. Every culture, every people, every country need democracy.

Thousands of more people have died since the beginning of the war in Iraq than were ever killed during Saddam's regime, but I would rather that millions die fighting for democracy than one person die because of somebody else's unlawful dictatorial rule. I would die for democracy, I would kill for democracy.

It may not be pointless to argue over whether or not the American presence is justified in Iraq, but it is much MORE important to discuss "What do we do now?" It's the same thing in Israel; yeah, sure, we can complain all day long about how the UN resolution of 1948 was unlawful and unjust, but you can't send three-four generations of Palestinians who have lived their whole lives as refugees in Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan (although technically the "refugees" of Jordan have Jordanian citizenship, making them not real refugees in the true sense of the word) back to Israel; there is a whole country there! It's not a question of kicking out the Israelis anymore, it's a question of, 'Where do we go from here?" or "What do we do now?"

So what do we do now in Iraq? I am not saying that I agree with the way the American occupation is working. I think the structure is not good. In a perfect world, the Americans would be there to protect the people, so the people themselves could form their own NGO's, schools, and ESPECIALLY their own democratic governmental system. Unfortunately, this is impossible with the increasing violence, car bombing, and radification of political thought amongst the general public.

I think the main problem lies with a general misunderstanding on both sides. The Americans can't expect a country to just sprout a flourishing democracy. The non-Iraqi Arabs, and the REST of the world can't expect that the United States will just let country like Iraq alone. I am not saying that the United States has the right to be the world's policeman, but I am definitely saying that without the largest world power's financial, military, and intellectual help, Iraq will inevitably fall into the hands of another Saddam, and then another, and another.

We need to focus on what to do NOW. I think Tony Blair is making a mistake by pulling out troops. I think it's a cunning political move, but it will not be beneficial to the Iraqi's in the long run. I think President Bush was right to have increased the troops in Iraq. I think that it's fairly obvious that if the United States pulls out of Iraq now, it will be a gigantic bloody disaster.

At this point, everybody in the class exploded into accusations, arguments, and lost of Arabic vocabulary I didn't understand.

At one point in the conversation, one of the Turkish girls said that the United States is the cause of all of the problems in the Middle East, and I said, "I'm sorry, but I don't agree with you." She said, "Well, everybody has the right to their own opinion!" I said, "That's the main idea of democracy!" "Then why are you shouting at me?" Because...I'm...stupid," I said, and then burst into tears. That made the class turn into a, "Kate, don't cry!" party, which made me feel even more stupid.

I believe in the reasons that I came to Jordan with all my heart. I know that learning the language, culture, and religion is the ONLY way that real progress can be made towards a peace process. My country is tied up in this part of the world, and this place NEEDS my country's resources and power. If we can't even speak the same language, how can we get anywhere?