Newspaper Page Text
Friday, Aug. 6, 1971
THI SOUTHERN ISRAHJTC
CARL ALPERT
Guest Columnist
(EDITOR’S NOTE: WHILE MR.
ALPERT IS ON VACATION,
HIS COLUMN THIS WEEK IS
WRITTEN BY HIS DAUGH
TER, RUTH.)
HAIFA — Besides being Carl
Alpert’s daughter, I’m also a
second year student in the Ara
bic Department at Haifa Uni
versity. Many people think the
Arabic Department should be
an ideal place for bringing
Arabs and Jews together peace
fully. Instead it serves to mag
nify the differences.
“I’m going abroad,” one of my
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Arab classmates told me. “To
settle?” “Of course not”, he
answered, “this is my home, my
family has lived here for. gener
ations.” The implication being,
of course, you — do not belong
here.
As usual in my conversations
with my Arab friends what was
really meant was never actually
said. I saw his point of view and
tried to make him see mine.
Not to deny his rights, but at
least to show him that my claim
to the country was as good as
his. I talked about Russian Jew
ry and their wish to return
home, to Israel. I felt that I had
to make him understand some
thing of the mystical relation
ship between the Jews and Is
rael.
“Nonsense,” said he, “all this
talk about Russian Jews is just
polities.” So I gave up the idea
of making a Zionist out of
Mahmund and he did not raise
the subject again; it had just
been classified as politics, and
that is taboo.
Only after class, when Jews
form their separate groups, do
they air their views freely. In
most classes, Jews and Arabs
sit on different sides of the
room. Nothing intentional, it
just happens.
“Where is David?” the teach
er asks, and the answer comes
from the Jewish side of the
room: “He’s on reserve duty for
20 days.” The teacher nods; he
is going on his reserve duty
next month (40 days because he
is an officer). “And where is
Ahmed?” the teacher asks. The
Jews smile; the unspoken bitter
joke is old. “Oh, he is on re
serve duty for his terrorist or
ganization.”
Too many Arab students in
Jerusalem have been accused of
collaborating with the terrorist
organizations for us to believe
in the calm, misleading exter
ior. Often a blank face hides be
hind it resentment and hate. A
thousand little incidents show
us every day that we are living
with this problem of the Arab
minority.
It starts in the morning when
il enter university with an
Arab classmate. Our bags are
checked at the gate, ever since
Arab students planted explo
sives in the Hebrew University
cafeteria. The' guard searches
the Arab’s bag thoroughly but
glances only perfunctorily at
mine. After all, in spite of my
complaints about’ the terrible
food, it is obvious that I have
no plans to blow up the cafe
teria. Most Arab students are
innocent of such plans too, but
there is always a minority, and
therefore, all Arab students are
potential suspects.
In order not to end on this
pessimistic note, I would like to
relate an incident I witnessed a
few days ago. A group of Arab
and Jewish girls in mini, mini
skirts passed by an orthodox
Jewish student and an orthodox
Muslim wearing the traditional
Arab headdress. They turned a
scandalized look at the girls.
“It’s disgusting,” they both
agreed, and walked away to
gether. Being one of the girls,
I did not accept their reaction
too kindly at the time, and re
marked to my Arab girl friend
about people, Jew or Arab, who
had no sense of fashion.
Now, when I look back on it,
I realize that nationality 1 barri
ers vanished when an orthodox
Jew and an Orthodox Muslim
had more in common with each
other than the orthodox Mus
lim had with the mini-clad Arab
girl. Even that could serve as a
beginning.
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