Response to readings of Tamari

Questions:
1. When traveling to do your research in Israel/Palestine, did you have trouble with emigration? I know that often times depending on the passport, some travelers would have significant trouble trying to cross from parts of the West Bank to different cities in Israel.

2. What do you think defines a person as an Jewish Arab? In reality, which is the dominant characteristic of that person? Or is that something defined by oneself?

3. Would you be in favor of a two state solution or combining both the West Bank and Israel into one state, to preserve the two distinct cultures that currently fall in this land or put them together under one flag and mix the culture?



I am going to do my final project/presentation on the establishment of the state of Israel. I plan to start with events in 1948 and discuss the wars between the Arabs and the Israelis. I also plan to include information about the peace treaty signed by Jordan and Egypt and Israel and some other important events in the founding of the state. I realize that I only have 10 minutes, and a discussion of Israel could go on for a lifetime with no solution. However, I want to get the most accurate FACTS and present them. My mission is to educate myself, primarily, on this issue. I feel like I have a broad knowledge about the founding of Israel, but a closer look at details would be awesome.

I found these articles had an interesting perspective based off of the type of work that Mr. Tamari did. I read the articles: "Lepers, Lunatics, and Saints" and "The predicament of the Arab Jews in Palestine." I find that the study of culture to be very interesting and this author studied, in Palestine/Israel, how the hill-people "Fullaaheen" interact with one another.

I enjoyed the one reference of how the Muslim Palestinians gave a basket of goat meat and bread to the Jews on the last day of Passover and then how the Jewish recipients of the kindness returned the baskets with Matza and Jam. This is a great example of how cultures should interact especially when there are deep seated religious differences in the mix.

I felt it was kind of strange when the author began talking about leprosy and ended up talking about the cultural mix amongst the rural "Fullaheen." He said that Leprosy has been cured in the rest of the world and even in the west bank but he uses the disease to discuss the culture in Palestine.