Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: in territorio nemico

Najem Wali, dissidente irakeno, ha fatto un viaggio in Israele. Ecco
le sue impressioni.
http://www.signandsight.com/features/1698.html
A journey into the heart of the enemy
Exiled Iraqi writer Najem Wali travelled to Israel to uncover some
uncomfortable truths about the Arab leaders
When a child is born in Israel or to us in the Arab world, the history
of the Arab-Israeli conflict is flowing in its umbilical cord. Since
the declaration of the state of Israel on May 14 1948, Israel has been
the official enemy number one for the Arab states.
But even as a child I found the rhetoric didn't add up. How could this
somehow "all-powerful" country so successfully "let the Arab nations
sink into lethargy", as the official speeches would have us believe?
And why, at the same time, were they so confident that the "small
state of Zionist gangs" would inevitably "disappear from the map"? I
never found a convincing answer. Nor did I ever make the connection
between the "Jew question" and the "Palestine question", between the
victims of the Holocaust and the victims of Israel's foundation.
Maybe I needed to wait for French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre to
visit Israel before I could discover his key existentialist principle:
get to know the other before you form an opinion of him! Did following
this path not involve more than honouring the call to recognise
Israel? Did it not mean accepting the other and welcoming him as a
partner? This would mean acknowledging the fact that Jews and Arabs
live side by side in Palestine and both are obliged to find a solution
which is acceptable to both peoples, without third-party intervention.
There can be no peace without talking directly with the other side and
learning about their way of life.
Why do our leaders fear this truth? They are scared that their
countrymen would recognise that the only link between the standstill
and devastation of Arab societies and the Arab-Israeli conflict is
this: peace with Israel would bring an end to the opium high with
which Arab leaders keep their nations in a state of inertia. This is
the cause of the problems for which Israel is being blamed.
The sustained absence of economic recovery, the drop in education
levels, the spread of fundamentalist ideology are all linked with a
lack of democracy and the corrupt ruling families, with their
pompousness and contempt for their peoples – not with Israel. There
are plenty of raw materials and human resources to kickstart the Arab
economy. But what are we seeing? A political stranglehold on personal
freedom which is eroding the middle classes. Bribery and favouritism
force the virtuous and the educated to emigrate. What has Israel got
to do with this?
In the meantime Israel, which is embroiled in the same conflict as the
Arabs, has built up a modern society of astounding scientific and
economic strength. Yes there is militarism in Israel. Its brutal
policy of occupation must be addressed. But I will leave this to the
Israeli intellectuals. They should fight for peace, just as some Arab
intellectuals are starting to do.
When I travelled through Israel in 2007, it dawned on me why the Arab
states are so reluctant to let their countrymen cross over into
Israel. They fear that the traveller might make comparisons – between
the civil rights in Israel and those in their homeland, for example.
He might meet the "Arabs of '48", the Palestinians whom Israel's army
was unable to drive out. He would see that these Palestinians
basically enjoy the same rights as all other citizens. That they are
allowed to express their views and live their traditions without fear
of imprisonment. He would meet Palestinians who are allowed to vote
for their representatives and found their own political parties. When
the traveller compares the situation of these people with his own, or
with the situation of the Palestinians who live in his country – he
might suddenly see the injustice, the betrayal, to which the Arabs in
his homeland have had a lifetime's exposure in the name of "occupied
Palestine".
Israel has not overturned democracy even under the pressure of war.
But the citizens in Arab countries are worth nothing to their leaders.
My "journey into the heart of the enemy" was an attempt to pursue the
direction which Egyptian literary Nobel Prize laureate, Naguib
Mahfouz, laid out in 1978 in a letter to his Israeli colleague Sasson
Somekh: "I dream of the day when, thanks to the collaboration among
us, this region will become a home overflowing with the light of
learning and science, and blessed by the highest principles of
heaven."
He didn't live to see his dream fulfilled. Naguib Mahfouz died in
1996. In 1994 he survived an Islamist assassination attempt. A year
later Yitzhak Rabin, the Israeli premier, was murdered by an Israeli
extremist for his contribution to the peace process.
I hope people on both sides will continue to defy intimidation,
risking their lives in the unrelenting fight for peace. Sixty years
after the founding of Israel, I want to believe in Mahfouz's vision.

nahum ha scritto:
cut
ciao zanardo,
che ne pensi dei roghi di libri?
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