Heartbeat Jerusalem

Heartbeat Jerusalem is a Fullbright funded program started by a young American musician. The program seeks to, "utilize music’s power to build trust between the Israeli and Palestinian communities by amplifying Israeli and Palestinian youth voices for change and reconciliation. Heartbeat began in 2007 and brought together 12 Israeli and Palestinian teenaged musicians for a weekly musical-dialogue.

By listening, playing and writing music together, the students learned about each other’s communities, histories, political views, identities, and hopes and developed new tools for self-expression and social change. The youth members seemed more than hopeful that the people of Jerusalem will find peace one day. One student said music was the international language of the world and all can communicate with one another through the medium.

The dialogue coming from the youth involved in the program was not only convincing, but also inspirationally moving. The program brings the Jerusalemite youth community together, in a safe and neutral space, to create music. I am sure the youth involved in this program feel more of an impact from Heartbeat than most peace movements that have sprung up and fizzled out in the region.

outline of project

I will research different ways in which music is used as an alternative dialogue in Jerusalem. In the video about the Heartbeat foundation, I found it quite moving how the youth interviewed where quite optimistic about the future of peace. I believe this optimism arise from the musical outlet an organization such as Heartbeat provides to the youth of Jerusalem. One teenager said music was an international language which enabled them to see past cleavages which arise from defining identity in an ethnic and national context.

I will use a medium such as blogger or prezi to provide a learner with the ability to hear the music coming out of Jerusalem along with articles, interviews, and video clips which help to give a 360 degree view of the music emerging and its influence on the conflicted region.

http://prezi.com/



 

question for Palestinian Students from PAYLARA

When you see the wall, on an average day, what emotions do you feel? Is is the same feeling every time you look at it, or does it change from day to day, depending on how your demeanor or the environmental factors around you?

street art

"One could read the battles of the walls much the way archeologists read stratigraphy- layer by layer- each layer of paint indicating a partial or temporary victory in an ongoing battle."

Peteet, 1996, article was really wonderful. The analogy she makes of unarmed people using stones as a weapon and walls as a medium was right on point. I also think it is important how she shows how writing on a wall uses the time in the same pace and style as the technological media which influences us today. Short quick messages and images of occupation develops intellectual thoughts and discussions in the community organically, everyday. One women Peteet interviewed said that walking to work everyday, she reads the graffiti on the walls. The young women tells Peteet that the walls are as informative and relevant as reading the newspaper everyday and it continues to show the community that people are still fighting the occupation.

I also enjoyed looking through the website which continues the discussion from Petees article and shows photos and videos of graffiti. The video of Banksy's work was really interesting as well. I liked that the website tries to show both sides of the opinion on his work on the Western wall. The following text is an example of a negative opinion of his work.

However, in a much publicized encounter, Banksy reported that he was approached by an elderly Palestinian man who told him that he was making the wall beautiful. Banksy thanked the older man, presuming this to be a compliment, only to be told "We don't want this wall to be beautiful, we hate this wall. Go home." 

This statement is a hard to take in. I really believe the graffiti movement has many positive aspects, but as always, anything that has to do with Jerusalem is complicated. I understand where this man is coming from and he has a valid point as well. I believe that the best thing to do with this wall, while it is still standing, is to cover it was writings and images which exploit the issue. I believe the graffiti movement places power in the hands of the people who do not have the political tools necessary to place pressure on the governments and empower their own voices at the same time.

new challenges

The challenges for the Jerusalem Project in 2011 will be using previous knowledge gathered on the issues and applying it usefully to current events. As of the last month, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is back in the spot light of the UN with Palestine is pressing the Security Council for statehood. Israel has had the upper hand for many years with the US as an ally of their plight. Palestine is changing the rules of the game by going directly to the UN to ask for statehood, rather than having bilateral negotiations with Israel and the US as an critical mediator.

I believe the most challenging part of the Jerusalem Project will always be keeping up-to-date on all aspects of the issues surrounding Jerusalem in order to be a reliable source of information for all who use the project as a mode of information.

resolving the conflict

I believe Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abba, is taking the right steps by formally seeking membership for a state of Palestine from the United Nations Security Council. Continually sourcing the pre-1967 borders of the UN mandate is not relevant today. Palestine realizes it must present itself as a legitimate entity to the international community in order to obtain its sovereignty. I believe they are taking the right steps by seeking membership from the UN and not negotiating with Israel and the United States. The US and Israel use their strength to push the terms of negotiation in their favor. Palestine will have a much more favorable outcome if it involves the entire international community. This will allow for more transparency in negotiations and less back door deals cut between allies of either Palestine or Israel.

As for Jerusalem being the capital of either state...I do not believe Jerusalem should be the capital of either state. I believe the city should be owned by no country and should be an international city. The residents of Jerusalem can choose either to be a Israeli or Palestinian resident for their citizenship and pay into that state. As for running and retaining the city of Jerusalem, a body will be elected democratically to run the city and the people who do live in the area of Jerusalem will not only pay into the state they live in, but will also pay a residential tax for living in the city of Jerusalem.

ideas for final project

My final project will have to do with the identity of Jerusalem. I will focus on the music which is created and celebrated in the city. I will research music from a variety of religious, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds. My objective is to describe the city of Jerusalem, acoustically. Music is a mode of expression which is loved universally among people. It is one of the only outlets in the world which all people can relate to in one way or another. I believe presenting identity through this mode of expression will enable me to show an encompassing and hopeful view of Jerusalem.   

Question for Naomi...

In Armstrong's text she tells that on 31 July 1988, King Hussein made a declaration in which he relinquished Jordan's claim to the West Bank and East Jerusalem. This relinquished territory was then turned into Arab hands and became the Palestinian nation. From a political stand point, what was Jordan’s reasoning for handing over the territory?

Can we begin to think of Jerusalem in terms of her own identity?

I will focus on the concluding chapter, Zion, to share my final thoughts of “Jerusalem, One City, Three Faiths”.  In my Foundations of Modern Political Thought class we have just finished reading Plato’s “The Republic”. I find Armstrong’s comments in the chapter Zion quite relatable to Plato’s statements in “The Republic”. Plato says a city must have its pieces in a harmonious balance, in order to function; but first the individuals, who live within the society, must harmonize their souls. Without focusing on balancing the soul of the citizens, the city will fail, for the people will act unjustly, even though the institutions are set up for success.

Armstrong strongly asserts that the “deep fissure within Israeli society’ (Page 408) has deeply hurt the Jewish people individually and as a whole. She points to the Holocaust as a major reason why the Jewish people felt so torn. “The Nazi catastrophe had inflicted a wound that was too deep to be healed by more cerebral consolidations.  The old myths- an ancient form of psychology-could reach to a deeper, less rationally articulate level of the soul. The new Jewish passion for the holiness for Jerusalem… was powerful not because it was legal or reasonable but precisely because it was a myth.” (Page 406)

Although the Jews had possession of Israel, they have not found wholeness within themselves. Within a few months of the ‘unification’ of the city, there was a new ‘partition’ at the Western Wall. The southern end was now a historic, ‘secular’ zone; the old praying area was the domain of the religious; and in between was a neutral zone- a new No Man’s Land. On two occasions in the summer of 1969, the worshippers actually charged through the barbed-wire fence in order to liberate this neutral area for god. (Page 409) From the disputes between the Orthodox and Secular Jews on how to build their Zion and treat their sacred places, to how to treat the Palestinians and their sacred places, different sects of Jews where constantly disputing the future. A major a defining blow came to many Israelis when in November 1995; Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was murdered after speaking at a peace rally in Tel Aviv. “Israelis learned that the assassin was another Jew, who declared that he had acted under God’s direction and that is was permissible to kill anybody who was prepared to give sacred land of Israel to the enemy.” (Page 425) Armstrong makes a moving comment on these travesties by saying, “as soon as the prime duty to respect the divinity enshrined in other human beings is forgotten, ‘God’ can be made to give a divine seal of absolute approval to our own prejudices and desires. (424)

Another moving comment made by Armstrong is when she says, “Sometimes when confronting a shrine Jews, Christians, and Muslims have felt that they have had a startling and moving encounter with themselves. This can make it very difficult for them to see Jerusalem and its problems objectively. Many of the difficulties arise when religion is seen primarily as a quest for identity. One of the functions of faith is to help us build up a sense of self: to explain where we have come from and why our traditions are distinctive and special. But that is not the sole purpose of religion.” (Page 423) I believe this comment parallels nicely with Naomi Chazan’s article, Owning Our Identity. Chazan says the Israeli state of today should be striving for the right of self-determination, not self-definition because introducing a loyalty oath and demanding external recognition of a ‘Jewish State’ is not sufficient way to legitimize the state of Israel.

From the text which has been read thus far in this course, I have become much more knowledgeable of the history of this region. Although I am more knowledgeable, this does not make the question of peace within the region a more attainable answer. On the contrary, it generates more difficultly.  At this point, I believe that re-defining, re-thinking what this territory is and what it means for the many people who call it home is of major importance. Can we begin to think of Jerusalem in terms of her own identity, not defining her by the majority population who possess at the present time?  Jerusalem has a rich religious, cultural, and ethnic heritage which should not be over burdened by manmade entities such as political power and borders.  

Armstrong ends the text with mixed image, that of violence and hope. Violence has been a re-occurring theme in this land since its birth, but if peace can be found, “Zion would indeed become a beacon of hope for the whole world-a light to the nations.” (430)

Owning Our Identity

Naomi Chazan’s article, Owning Our Identity, had a rational tone, which I appreciated when reading her argument for an Israeli state. She speaks of the Prime Minister’s demands for Palestinians and the international community to recognize a Jewish state. She responds to this by pointing out that instituting a loyalty oath and demanding external recognition of a "Jewish state" is not a sufficient way to legitimize the state of Israel. She says this strategy ignores the complexities of the conflict and such recognition is both useless and impossible.  Chazan argues using majority population, as the defining element of its political system, is a problematic concept of a state.  Chazan says, “The fact that Israel has no straightforward route to citizenship for non-Jews and no viable immigration policy mirrors the contradictions and inequities of a ‘Jewish state,’ in which the machinery of government is geared to the well-being primarily of the majority population.” The point I believe Chazan is trying to make is that the Israeli state should be striving for the right of self-determination not the self-definition and recognition.  This self-determination should be held by all citizens of the state (majority and minority) so as to remain an open, egalitarian, and just democracy.

comments on the video conference

I really enjoyed our video conference with Salim Tamari. Two things which really triggered my interest during the discussion were identity building and international involvement in the peace agreement. I have always been interested in the way that people perceive themselves and others. I found it interesting when Salim pointed out that many of the people in Jerusalem come from the same genealogies and blood lines, but categories themselves as different. The differences they see in themselves has to do with the religion they practice. This religion tells the story of different histories, although in reality, their ancestors where and are interconnected.

I also found it interesting when we spoke of what identity is built from or shifted by. The examples we came up with deal with time and space; war, travel, feeling of loss, ect.

Lastly, I enjoyed Salim's perspective on the international's community’s influence on the peace talks. I agree with Salim that mediating counties should lend a helping hand in diplomacy, rather than military resources. Also I found in interesting that Salim pointed out we must understand that Palestine and Israel do not have equal resources and leverage in the situation. I liked the image he created, of Palestine and Israel forced to stay in a room, alone, until they came up with a viable solution. The image helps us understand that it is ignorant to look at the situation in a elementary way and mediating countries must understand the complexities in order to offer a true helping hand.