Lee, I think that Noreen is absolutely right to be upset, as every word in this missive is an expression of sick anti-Jewish and, as you correctly pointed, a libel.
Arabs, be they residing in the Land of Israel or outside, read relatively very little to start with. When they do know how to read (standard Arabic differs significantly from the local dialects), their choice leans heavily towards the translations of Nazi literature (Mein Kampf is very popular) and Christian as well as secular European (specifically Swedish) anti-Semitism. much of it is published in the Arab "cultural" capital, Beirut. Still, as you noted, Israel does not block Arab books or censor them. If there are any difficulties with its availability, it is because of difficulties created by the Arab countries. Alex -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Lee Jaffe Sent: Thursday, October 24, 2013 4:47 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [ha-Safran] libraries in Palestine 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. > > > > __ > Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the > individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association > of Jewish Libraries (AJL) ================================== > Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: > [email protected] > To join Ha-Safran, update or change your subscription, etc. - click > here: https://lists.service.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran > Questions, problems, complaints, compliments send to: [email protected] > Ha-Safran Archives: > Current: > http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.service.ohio-state.edu/ma > illist.html > Earlier Listserver: > http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/mailli > st.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org > -- > Hasafran mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.service.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran > __ Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) ================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: [email protected] To join Ha-Safran, update or change your subscription, etc. - click here: https://lists.service.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran Questions, problems, complaints, compliments send to: [email protected] Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.service.ohio-state.edu/maillist .html Earlier Listserver: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.htm l AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org -- Hasafran mailing list [email protected] https://lists.service.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran __ Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) ================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: [email protected] To join Ha-Safran, update or change your subscription, etc. - click here: https://lists.service.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran Questions, problems, complaints, compliments send to: [email protected] Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.service.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html Earlier Listserver: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org -- Hasafran mailing list [email protected] https://lists.service.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran
