It started one year ago, following an article that Bloom, editor-in-chief of De Vrijdagavond, asked me to write about the debate between Hanna Luden and Laila Al-Zwaini, a debate that was hosted at Moroccan cultural center Argan, in Amsterdam’s Nieuw West (see Yes, We Can (Talk!), published on 24-10-2023).
I came to that event with some understandable fears but came out of it with renewed hopes about the inevitability of peaceful co-existence.
Events all over the world – not only in Israel – didn’t cease to try to make us all lose hope.
But they didn’t deter us, a small but growing group of people, from trying to bring about opportunities for more events that would bring more hopes.
One of these opportunities is our planned musical Middle East Side Stories.
Together with the director Hagai Saharai, and the storry-teller Sobhi Khatib, encouraged by Argan and supported by the City of Amsterdam, and more – we are brave to prove them wrong: all those voices that claim that there’s no partner for peaceful co-existence. Not in the Middle East, and not in the Netherlands. We believe, we know, that they are wrong.
Arab village
For me, it all started when my mother initiated a visit of our family to an Arab village in the Galilee, Israel. As a teenager who grew up in naïve Israel, certain that we live in a righteous country, that the Israeli army is a moral army, that our government cares about us, that we stretch our hand to our neighbors, for peace – it was very natural to me to practice these values by creating friendships with our cousins, the Arabs.
That is why I was surprised and saddened to realize how backward the Arab village was: while all Jewish villages had modern infrastructure, the Arab village had no sewage system, and we had to hide in the garden, when nature was calling. I was also wondering, I remember, about the place of women in that society – all girls wore skirts on top of their pants. A fashion unknown in Tel Aviv. I was also pondering the power of the head of the Hamula (tribe), whose one word sent all children to the fields, to help pick up the ripe cucumbers…
Goodwill of all
But despite all these differences, thanks to the warm hospitality, evident gratitude and goodwill of all, we managed to connect deeply. Even my five years old brother, who played with the Arab kids, managed to communicate with them, inventing their own children’s language.
We’re friends till this day, all these years. That is why I know that it is possible.
If we succeed in ignoring those politicians who tell us that all Arabs want to kill us, only then will we realize who the real enemy is. After that first visit to the Arab village, many more followed, and also their visits to our home in Tel Aviv.
Israeli Sesame Street
When I grew up, I wrote scripts for the Israeli Sesame Street about co-existence, with messages suitable to four years old and up. Indeed, since you can’t start too early to keep people’s minds’ open. Working with the director Izzy Abrahami z”l, we produced numerous documentaries about the good relationships between Jews and Arabs in Israel (see www.antv-amsterdam.com), many of them won awards.
Last year in November, the Israeli Drama Group staged a relevant adaptation of Lysistrata, an ancient Greek comedy by Aristophanes. We worked on it for a whole year, but had to change it significantly, following the terrible October 7th events.
Still, we believe that co-existence is possible. No. It is essential. With no co-existence, all of us will have NO existence.
And to bring this message across, yet again, we invite you to join our Middle East Side Stories.
Come, hear all about it!
Pilot Middle East Side Stories
We plan a pilot project of 12 weeks, with 12 meetings of 2 hours each week, during which we’ll learn and practice different theatre techniques, music, and movement.
We aim to have a mixed group of varied ages, Jews, Arabs, Christians – Dutch.
On Tuesday, December 10th, there will be the very first introduction meeting in Café Belcampo, to tell about this project and invite theater, dance and music lovers to join us.
You’re welcome to come! The number of participants is limited, so please register beforehand by sending an email to me: erga.netz@gmail.com
The opening Prologue from the 10-time Academy Award-winning musical film West Side Story,
celebrating its 50th Anniversary, November 2011
cover: West Side Story, MGM, 1961 with Tony (Richard Beymer) and Maria’s (Natalie Wood), screenshot Bloom
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