Thanks for pointing this out. When the original post went by, I didn't
pay it much attention.
I have two reactions/observations. First, as there is no legitimate
entity known as "Palestine" currently, the term is suspect and
provocative. It's the term given to the region after the Roman conquest
and it referred to a much larger area – including Lebanon, Syria and
Jordan - than the tiny parcels that are now the State of Israel and the
disputed territories claimed by the Palestinian authority. The Roman
territory of Palestina, Ottoman Palestine, the Palestinian Mandate are
all historical terms for pretty much the same area. Under the British
Mandate, "Palestinian" referred to Jewish settlers; the Palestine Post
is now the Jerusalem Post and the Palestine Symphony Orchestra is now
the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. If you watch the film "Exodus,"
there is a scene early in the film where the British officer in charge
of the internment camps on Cyprus calls for the "Palestinian
representative" and Paul Newman appears on behalf of the Jewish
community. When the Palestinian people, the Palestinian Authority, and
the many factions claiming to represent their interests engage in a
peace process that results in a two state solution, they may very well
name the new country "Palestine."
Sadly, many people who claim to support the national aspirations of the
Palestinian people use the term "Palestine" to include the State of
Israel. In other words, the notion of Palestine in the modern context
implies the end of the State of Israel.
My second point: When someone sends out a report from a fantasy land
called "Palestine" everything they say needs to be taken with a grain of
salt. I've heard many stories about draconian measures Israel wages
against non-Jews/non-citizens living in the occupied/disputed
territories. Some of this material may well be true but often it turns
out that the "facts" are actually half-truths and even complete lies.
In this case, there does seem to be kernel of truth to the claim, as
evidenced in an article in Haaretz:
Bashir told Haaretz that most of the Arab-language books sold in Israel
are imported from Lebanon, and that the authorities frequently overlook
the law banning book trade with enemy states. He said the customs
authorities often slap expensive duties on imported Arabic books, so
Arab-language volumes are usually more expensive in Israel than
elsewhere in the Middle East. "Israel bans Lebanese edition of Jewish
philosophical work," May 15, 2012
In this case it's a half-truth: Israel bans all trade with "enemy
states" but makes exceptions for books. Israel and Lebanon have been
technically at war since 1948. (One pro-Arab blog claims that Israel
has banned books from Lebanon and Syria since 1939; quite a trick since
Israel didn't exist until 1948.)
On the other hand, Lebanon bans and criminalizes anything Israeli. The
Diary of Anne Frank is banned there for portraying "Jews, Israel or
Zionism favorably" (Wikipedia). No one is admitted Lebanon if they have
an Israeli stamp in their passport. And Lebanese citizens can be jailed
for talking to Israelis they meet when they are abroad.
It's unfortunate that the state of war between Lebanon and Israel means
that goods from Lebanon – which is a major publishing center in the Arab
world – means that Arabic books aren't available in Israel. The fact
that Israel makes an exception for books in a mutually hostile situation
suggests to me that Israel is doing exactly the opposite of what the
report claims. And that the Mermelstein piece is essentially a lie and
a libel.
Lee
On 10/24/13, 11:50 AM, Noreen Wachs wrote:
Dear Safranim,
I belong to a library organization called the Hudson Valley Library
Association (HVLA). Most of the Independent schools in the New York City
area belong to this organization. They recently send out this blog post
on their website about libraries in Palestine by Hannah Mermelstein, a
librarian in the St. Anne’s school in Brooklyn.
I was upset about this post which I felt was very biased against Israel.
I would be very interested in hearing from other safranim about the
accuracy of the facts and the political bias expressed in the article.
Thank you.
Noreen Wachs
Librarian
Ramaz Middle School
114 East 85 Street
New York, NY 10028
Librarians and Archivists to Palestine
Below this note is a guest post by Hannah Mermelstein, a librarian at
Saint Ann’s School in Brooklyn. In the summer of 2013, she led the
Librarians and Archivists to Palestine
<http://librarians2palestine.wordpress.com/> delegation.
Last summer I traveled to Palestine with a group of sixteen librarians
and archivists in order to connect with Palestinian colleagues in
libraries, archives, and related projects and institutions and to gain
mutual benefit through information exchange and skill-sharing. For the
past ten years, I have been working in Palestine in various capacities,
including with many delegations, but this was the first time I was
fortunate enough to be able to merge my two worlds – Palestine and
librarianship. What I’d like to share with you is some of what I learned
from Palestinian school librarians and youth services librarians in
particular, both in the West Bank and inside Israel.
Near Ramallah, in the central West Bank, we spoke with staff from Al
Bireh Public Library and from the Tamer Institute about the obstacles to
obtaining quality children’s literature in Arabic. Much of the best
Arabic kids’ literature these days is published in Beirut, and the
Israeli government (which controls all borders of the West Bank) does
not let books in from Lebanon. Even when libraries try to obtain
Arabic-language books through third parties, the books are often held up
in Customs for months. Whether they’re ultimately allowed in or not
seems somewhat arbitrary, and the libraries are required to pay for the
costs of holding them in Customs. A Swedish librarian who was on our
delegation commented that at the Madaa Silwan Creative Center in
Jerusalem, she saw more books translated from Swedish into Arabic than
originally written in Arabic, and she has more books originally written
in Arabic in her library in Stockholm than they do at the center! The
Tamer Institute for Community Education has tried to mitigate the
negative effects of these Israeli restrictions by co-publishing a few
titles with publishers in Beirut, and by publishing a few of their own
as well, but their efforts are not adequate to meet the needs of the
children they’re serving.
In Haifa, the situation is even more difficult. Although supposedly a
“mixed city” of Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel, Haifa has 22
public library branches that primarily serve the Jewish community, and
only one that serves the Palestinian community. Even this one branch is
privately funded by an NGO, rather than by the Israeli government. We
spoke to a number of Palestinian school and public librarians in Haifa
who, because of difficulty traveling between Israel and the West Bank,
are largely unable to supplement their collections with books put out by
the Tamer Institute. Instead, most of their Arabic language books are
low-quality translations of Hebrew books, effectively denying
Palestinian citizens of Israel their literary heritage. This must be
seen in its larger context, librarians told us, in which the Israeli
government has for decades tried to erase Palestinian identity by
calling Palestinians inside Israel “Israeli Arabs” or “Arab Israelis.”
So whereas the availability of quality Arabic children’s literature
could be a powerful way to preserve Palestinian identity and culture,
the lack of availability further demoralizes the community.
I’ve shared these stories with a few people upon return from Palestine,
and they’ve been moved to try to organize book deliveries to Palestine.
Our delegation has had similar thoughts, but we must be careful how we
approach this. Librarians in Palestine made it clear to us that they are
not looking for a charity model. Not only can charity easily be
accompanied by a colonialist attitude, but it simply won’t work. Large
shipments of books would be held up at Customs for months, and smaller
deliveries would do more to make us feel good about ourselves than make
any significant dent in a system designed to prevent such a project.
Palestinian libraries in the West Bank and inside Israel face a
political problem that is at the core of any economic or humanitarian
problems we might more easily address. But this should not stall our
work. We are beginning conversations about effective follow-up, and we
hope others will join us in these efforts. In the meantime, we can
support some of the amazing organizations that are doing such important
work on the ground. Here are a few:
The Tamer Institute for Community Education <http://www.tamerinst.org/>
– based in Ramallah with partners throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip
Lajee Center <http://www.lajee.org/> in Aida refugee camp, Bethlehem –
youth center that has, among other things, conducted workshops with
children in which they have written and illustrated their own children’s
books
Madaa Silwan Creative Center <http://www.madaasilwan.org/> in Jerusalem
– many amazing programs, including a library. They even published their
own Palestinian cookbook!
To keep in touch with the delegation:
Our website <http://librarians2palestine.wordpress.com/> – Here you can
read more and see the statement we put out shortly after we returned.
Like us on Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/Librarians2Palestine>.
Follow us on Twitter <https://twitter.com/Librarians2Pal>.
Email [email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]> to join our (very!)
low-volume email list.
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==================================
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Questions, problems, complaints, compliments send to: [email protected]
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