Mar 3 2011
Only one side of the story
The email in my inbox immediately piqued my interest.
It was a message from Paideia, The European Institute for Jewish Studies in Sweden, which was putting together a delegation of foreign journalists for a week-long tour of Israel and the Palestinian Territories. They were looking for an Israeli-based journalist to join the group.
Kids with a Palestinian flag (source: Whewes)
I thought it would be interesting, and so I found myself about a month ago on a tour with 12 journalists: 9 from Sweden (4 of them Jewish and one Palestinian who’d emigrated from Syria), one from Russia, one from Turkey and one from Germany. The printed media, radio and television were all represented. The first three days were devoted to a seminar at “Yad Vashemâ€, the holocaust memorial museum. One day was spent in Hebron, another in Bethlehem, another in Tel Aviv and another in Sderot.
I quickly felt that the experience was a microcosm of everything that goes on between Israelis, Palestinians and agents of all nationalities in the international arena. I found the criticism, the accusations and the dynamics within the group to be marred with harsh intellectual violence. Naturally, I couldn’t respond and react to everything, but I put my thoughts and impressions down in writing. I am now publishing a diary of sorts for those days, which differs in essence from the format of a straightforward journalistic account, yet is of just as much value, in my opinion. (more…)
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