Wednesday, February 22, 2006

From the opinion desk of the Spartan Daily

I will be writing a response to this poorly argued editorial. Look for it on Wed. March 8 in the Spartan Daily.

Israel's measures on Hamas government are destructive - Opinion

Israel's measures on Hamas government are destructive
The Shape of What's to Come
By Banks Albach
Date: 2/22/06 Section: Opinion

Rather than driving toward a brighter horizon after a new Hamas-led Palestinian legislature was sworn in with 73 of 132 seats on Saturday, Israel seems poised to drive the prospect of peace in the region off a cliff rather than down the "Road Map to Peace."

Maybe that's Acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's intention - his government's plan to sanction the Palestinians can hardly be viewed as constructive. It will not force Hamas to abandon its charter and accept Israel's right to exist. Nor will it buttonhole the extremists in Hamas to give up their guns or the use of suicide terrorism against Israeli citizens.

Nevertheless, Israel is halting about $50 million per month in tax transfers to the new Palestinian Authority; it will tighten border crossings between Gaza and the West Bank, claiming that the heightened measures will be directed at Hamas affiliates only; and the Israeli government plans to lobby the international community into halting funds to the Palestinian Authority.

On Saturday, Israel launched a military campaign in the Palestinian city of Nablus and the Balata refugee camp. As of Tuesday night, three Palestinians had been killed and 30 injured, according to the Palestinian Information Center.

To top it off, Israel wouldn't allow Hamas politicians from Gaza to travel to the West Bank for the swearing in of the new government. Instead, the Palestinians used a video conferencing system that broke down repeatedly.

Granted, Hamas must renounce violence and accept Israel's existence if it plans to embrace peace. Punishing the Palestinians, however, after their first successful election in a decade is beyond counterproductive - it's masochism on the part of Israel.

Yes, the terrorist wing of Hamas has murdered innocent Israelis, but Hamas has abided by the current ceasefire with Israel, which both sides agreed on more than a year ago. And the Palestinians did not elect Hamas because of the blood that its suicide bombers have shed in Tel Aviv and elsewhere. They swept the group to power because Hamas fills a massive gap in the Palestinian Territories, providing the medical care and other social services that the inept and corrupt Fatah party has missed throughout the years.

The appointment of Ismail Haniyeh, supposedly a Hamas pragmatist, to be prime minister is also a hopeful sign. But his first few months will be difficult. Besides trying to build a consensus with the Fatah party, which still holds 43 of 132 seats in the legislature, Haniyeh faces a $110 million budget shortfall without the tax transfers from Israel.

This means that thousands of Palestinian civil service and security employees will be broke. According to a Sunday piece in the New York Times, many members of the Palestinian security services have already staged demonstrations demanding their pay, revealing that Israel's decision is destabilizing the process.

That's why it's masochistic. Wouldn't Olmert and his Likud government prefer to deal with Palestinians who have cash in their pockets? Wouldn't Olmert prefer to deal with a Palestinian Authority that can maintain some sort of functioning infrastructure, rather than one without workers?

With Ariel Sharon on his deathbed, it's useless to ponder how the hawk-turned-pragmatist would have dealt with a Hamas-led Palestine. But some of his recent decisions - pulling out of Gaza and restoring travel between there and Egypt through the Rafah border - prove that Sharon was willing to make some difficult and unpopular decisions. In a nutshell, the situation was taking a turn for the better.

And it could turn back, though this requires Israel and Hamas to make painful departures from policies that are not only self-harming, but are the fuels that fire the cycle of violence that consumes them.

This can only be done through mutual incrementalism, or piece-by-piece trade-offs from both sides. It's fair to say that Hamas has taken a step by sticking to the current ceasefire framework. Likewise, the Gaza pullout was a step. So was opening up its border.

Hopefully Israelis will vote in the March 28 elections for Sharon's new centrist party, Kadima, or "Forward," instead of reinstating a Likud government led by the extreme hawk, Benjamin Netanyahu.

Most importantly, though, Israel politicians must stand up to the settler community and continue to dismantle their projects in the West Bank.

Meanwhile, Olmert should reinstate the tax-transfer, just to ease tensions for Israel, not to mention the Palestinians. Hinging its entire Palestinian policy on Hamas recognizing the right of Israel to exist is admirable, but it's foolish, and more symbolic than anything.

Taking this statement out of Hamas's charter will not stop the violence. For this to happen, both sides need to renounce violence. This means a ceasefire that includes air strikes and suicide bombings. The charter amendments can come later.

The new Palestinian Authority would be wise to divide its government according to expertise: Fatah should handle diplomacy and Hamas should concentrate on infrastructure, education and health. Incorporating Hamas's military wing into the Palestinian security forces might curb their extremist tendencies as well.

Many on the right and left have already taken sides. Some of you reading this probably have too. This is as much of a trap as the one that the Palestinians and Israelis find themselves in now.

It may seem hard to swallow, and you don't have to like it, but there is no right and wrong side in this conflict - there are only extremists and pragmatists. The road to peace only has room for the latter.

Banks Albach is a Spartan Daily co-opinion editor. "The Shape of What's to Come" appears every Wednesday.

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Israeli comic finds humor in hardships

From the Spartan Daily.

Israeli comedian and actor Yossi Vassa humored a crowd of around 200 students and community members Monday afternoon with a show about his 440-mile trek out of Ethiopia.

The show, "It Sounds Better in Amharic," has played to sold-out audiences during a Bay Area tour, according to Yarden Schneider, cultural director for the Israel Center of San Francisco, who organized the event.

The actor used jokes and comedy to compare Western Israeli culture to life in his Ethiopian village, comparing mathematics, rituals such as courtship and Jewish practices.

"The differences between Israel and Ethiopia can be confusing," Vassa said in his show. "It's not easy to flirt with a girl in the village."

Vassa said that in Israel, the first step during courtship is asking for a girl's phone number, followed by dating, marriage and divorce.

"They tell me it's no big deal," he said. "Try to do all that with no telephone."

Naama Shani, an Israeli student at San Jose State University, said she hasn't met many Ethiopian-Israelis.

"I really like the concept of bringing Ethiopians to Israel," Shani said.

The show turned to a more somber note as Vassa told the story of his emigration from Ethiopia to army staging camps in Sudan, which he wished could have been an eight-hour trip in a Ferrari. Instead he and his fellow emigrants had donkeys.

"During the day we had to hide from robbers and soldiers," Vassa said. "At night we walked quickly."

After three months of traveling by foot, Vassa said his family and others arrived at the Sudanese border where they were transported in a crowded truck to an army camp.

"Someone asked, 'what do we do now?' Wait," Vassa said.

After nine months and many deaths, including those of his grandmother and two of his brothers, the camp was "a city inside the desert that was one big graveyard," Vassa said.

Once in Israel, Vassa said he had other difficulties such as being a new immigrant, not having an Israeli name and struggling with school.

"I'm not going to call myself Anda Argi-it'll totally give away that I'm Ethiopian," Vassa said. He adopted the name Yossi because it was the name of the man who was in charge of assigning Hebrew names and who failed to give Vassa one.

In math class, the only thing that helped Vassa was envisioning sheep-five lines of three sheep each. When he got to fractions, "there were some hurt sheep."

"I'm torn between two cultures, between Ferraris and donkeys, between sheep and mathematics," Vassa said at the end of the hour-long show.

Abel Habtegeorgis, the African-American diversity advocate at Mosaic Cross-cultural Center, said he hoped the show would bring greater awareness between the Jewish and Ethiopian communities.

"He was able to take such a tragic story and make it into an inspirational comedy," Habtegeorgis said.

In a discussion after the show, Vassa said that even 20 years after his journey, it is still not easy for new Ethiopian immigrants in Israel.

Vassa said there's hope for blacks and whites to live together because "everybody feels Jewish."

Vassa immigrated to Israel in 1985 when he was 10 years old as part of an Israeli secret operation to evacuate Jews out of Ethiopia. The Israeli Defense Forces airlifted much of the Ethiopian Jewish population, known as "Beta Israel," out of camps in Sudan until Arab countries put pressure on Sudan to stop the emigration. Another effort in 1990 transported additional Ethiopian Jews to Israel. Three military operations evacuated an estimated 90,000 Jews out of Ethiopia and Sudan.

Vassa's performance was sponsored by the Jewish Student Union, the Ethiopian student group, Hashbesha, the history department, Mosaic Cross Cultural Center, the Israel Center of San Francisco, and Hillel International.

Monday, February 20, 2006

Israeli comedian to stop at SJSU as part of Bay Area tour


From The Spartan Daily, Mon Feb. 20

Israeli comedian and actor Yossi Vassa will perform his one-man show tonight from 4:30 to 7 p.m. in the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Joint Library.

The show, "It Sounds Better in Amharic," is Vassa's personal account of the 440-mile trek he made by foot from Ethiopia to a refugee camp in Sudan in order to escape the country and later flee to Israel.

Co-sponsoring the event are San Jose State University history department, Mosaic Cross-Cultural Center, the Jewish Student Union, Hillel International and Hashbesha, the Ethiopian student group.

"It's a chance to show students that blacks have importance not just in the United States, but all around the world, like in Israel," said Andrew Schwartz, Jewish Student Union president. "The Ethiopians in Israel are an essential part of society - there are 100,000 Ethiopians in Israel today - but on television and in the media, they don't really show that. It's a great opportunity to meet and hear the story of an Ethiopian Jew."

The show is part of Black History Month, which also included a poetry reading last Wednesday and will include a Women's Appreciation Night on Tuesday and an African Unity Fest on Feb. 28 to conclude the month's events.

"The Jewish Student Union and Hillel wanted to collaborate with the organizers of Black History Month to bring a black Jew who can tell his story," said Vanina Sandel, student life director for Hillel, an organization that aims to promote Jewish life on college campuses.

"He was a minority as a Jew in Ethiopia and he was a minority as a black in Israel," Sandel said. "He felt it twice as much."

"It Sounds Better in Amharic" has been performed in five other Bay Area locations, including UC Berkeley.

The Israel Center of San Francisco organized the Bay Area tour.

Sharon Dwek, in charge of student outreach at the Israel Center of San Francisco, has seen Vassa perform before. She said his message is effective because "you can laugh and cry at the same time."

Dwek said the performance opening at the African Diaspora Museum was so popular they had to turn people away, which is why an additional performance was added for Thursday "by popular demand."

Vassa made the journey in 1985, at age 10, taking advantage of the Law of Return, which allows any Jew become an Israeli citizen.

In late 1984 and early 1985, Israeli forces airlifted over 6,000 Ethiopian Jews out of refugee camps in Sudan. However, Vassa's family, along with many others, had to travel from Ethiopia to the camps in Sudan because the Ethiopian government would not allow the emigration to Israel.

Vassa employs two styles - stand-up comedy and narrative storytelling - in his story about the changes he and others faced as new immigrants in Israel.

"He compares Israelis to Ethiopians - that's the funny part," said Dwek, who has seen Vassa's performance many times. "The touching parts (are about) crossing Sudan and going to Israel and losing part of his family."

Sunday, February 19, 2006

My studies keep me busy

See what I am studying:

The Spartan Daily. Yes, this is a required course, but I would want to write for it regardless of this. It is taught by Prof. Craig and Jan Shaw. Both AP masters.

Journalism 132: Internet information gathering with Prof. Greene. Or "new media."

Writing for journalism and mass communications 100W. I'm taking it with the program chair, Dona Nichols. It's not exactly the easiest class. Very demanding but immensely helpful.

Journalism 133: Editing and news management with the "yoda" of J-school. I had to bully myself into this class. Well worth it.

Hebrew 10B: Beginning Hebrew, part two. Ivrit.

Beginnning social dance and self-defense. Ughhhhh. Phys. ed. requirement.

Hopefully I'll have an internship this summer with Ha'aretz, Israel's leading newspaper.