'Actions speak louder than words'

by George S. Hishmeh

Actions speak louder than words, we are always reminded, and this week this could not be truer than in the case of two persons, thousands of miles apart: one, the cinematographer daughter of a prominent Israeli leftist writer who moved out of Israel and the other, an Iraqi who was named to the new Iraqi Cabinet last Sunday. In brief, their actions rekindle hope that there is a chance for an equitable and democratic future in Middle East.

The Iraqi is Hisham Abdul Rahman Al Shibli, member of the National Democratic Party and justice minister under the US-supported Iraqi Governing Council. When Iraq's Prime Minister Ibrahim Al Jaafari announced his Shiite-dominated Cabinet earlier this month, he needed to fill six additional positions, primarily Sunnis', to occupy the important Cabinet posts of oil, defence and human rights, among others. He had 17 Shiites, eight Kurds and a Christian.

But his choice of Shibli, a Sunni, to run the ministry of human rights, a key position, fell through. For a start, the minister-designate was apparently startled when he saw his "name on the ticker, and all the (TV) channels". He disclaimed any knowledge about the choice: "Nobody asked me."

But his piece de resistance was his declaration that he would not serve because the criterion for his selection was his religious affiliation. "I don't represent Sunni people," he declared. "My party is non-sectarian." He went on to say that "concentrating on sectarian identities leads to divisions in the society and state, for that reason I respectfully decline the post".

Three cheers for Shibli. The new Iraq and its allied supporters could do well to steer away from this divisive road of confessionalism for selecting government leaders. Lebanon, which has endured a costly 15-year civil war (1975-90) and is hardly recovering in its aftermath, is a vivid example of the consequences of this poor choice that some Iraqis, with Western support, want to emulate.

The other standout in last week's events was Danae Elon, whose exquisite film about trying to reconnect after a 12-year lapse to her one-time babysitter, a Palestinian father of 11 who took care of her for 20 years, is a heartwarming, eye-opening drama about human relationships and especially the ties that linked this Israeli girl, now 34 years old, and a retiring Palestinian who had to endure daily hardships of roadblocks and curfews to reach her home in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem from his village of Battir near Bethlehem. His dream was to send his children to American where several of them are now making a successful living.

Elon does not make a political statement in the film, which won laudatory reviews in the US and even in some Jewish publications. But in her gruelling attempt to locate Musa Mohammad Obeidallah (she thought it was Abdallah), she introduces the viewer to the calamity that has befallen the Palestinians since 1948; and her sympathy for their cause was obvious. In fact, her father, prominent Israeli writer and former journalist Amos Elon, wrote several books critical of Israeli policies towards the Palestinians. Three years ago, he and his American wife packed up and left Jerusalem to settle in Tuscany, Italy, out of frustration with the sordid turn of events there.

After the "sneak" review I attended at The Palestine Centre in Washington - the film will be on public view beginning May 13 - she confessed she does not like to be identified as an Israeli. "I grew up and lived and was educated in Jerusalem. And today I live in New York and I guess that's it." She suggested that I identify her as a "Jerusalemite-New Yorker".

I pressed her about the statement she wanted to make in the film. "Besides the really common injustices (of) living under occupation - and the occupation must end - I try to show, at least on the human level, that this is not two separate stories but one. The territory is one because no matter how you want to define it or you want to see it, the two people are completely interrelated and intertwined on every possible level and whether Palestinians living within the borders of 1948 (there are one million Arabs living in Israel) or outside the (1948) borders, in reality, Palestine is Israel today and Israel is Palestine."

Through her relationship with her babysitter, she went on, "I truly try to tell the (Palestinian-Israeli) story ... of coexistence."

Elon, who said she was not a Zionist, agreed that the only way to proceed is for a one-state solution - "the only solution that is viable" - even if a two-state solution is established; and she sees that as "a necessary step" before achieving the final goal of a unified state. She also believes that Israel has to acknowledge the Palestinians' "right of return".

The achievement of the film, especially coming in the wake of Sept. 11 and the drumbeat of the American-led "war on terror" is that Palestinians (and Israelis) are depicted as normal, loving people. Her caretaker, for example, was as shocked as any Arab or Jewish mother would be to see Elon still single at 34. The other message, which I personally experienced in my public speaking, was that the best way to reach Americans is through the personal stories of individuals and not through citing various UN resolutions and other international commitments, as is often the case.

The world needs the likes of Shibli and Elon.

This article was published in the Friday-Saturday, May 13-14, 2005 edition of the Jordan Times. It is used here with permission.