Beyond the Veil

The Agony and the Ecstasy

Where Politics Are Complex, Simple Joys at the Beach NYTimes

Palestinian women and girls from the West Bank at the beach in Tel Aviv, after a group of Israeli women snuck them into the country for a daylong excursion. Rina Castelnuovo for The New York Times

The Ecstasy

Twice yesterday we had stories out of the West Bank that brought tears to our eyes. The first, pictured above, is a dozen defiant Israeli women, who risked criminal prosecution, taking women from Palestine to the sea for the first time in their lives. The Palestinian women also risked being locked up by the Israelis.

I’m not sure when we last saw such a marvelous expression of pleasure coming from the region. The Palestian women have never been to the beach, never splashed in the sea or gotten knocked over by the waves.

“What we are doing here will not change the situation,” said Hanna Rubinstein, who traveled to Tel Aviv from Haifa to take part. “But it is one more activity to oppose the occupation. One day in the future, people will ask, like they did of the Germans: ‘Did you know?’ And I will be able to say, ‘I knew. And I acted.’ ”

Founded by Ilana Hammerman, the group We Will Not Obey has gained traction in small acts of civil disobedience in Israel. This artcle If there is a heaven was Hammerman’s first act of taking Palestian young women out for a day enjoying Israel, published May 13, 2010.

The day didn’t end at the beach. Hagit Aharoni, a psychotherapist and the wife of the celebrity chef Yisrael Aharoni, is a member of the organizing group. It seemed only natural then that her husband would prepare a grand dinner for the Palestinian women, who also smoked and put on joyous Palestinian music.

As the pink sun set over the Mediterranean, they danced with their Israeli friends and created joyous memories that will last a lifetime.

As we might expect, American Thinker totally condemns the NYTimes story.

It wasn’t until we posted and read Freida Pinto’s August 2011 interview with Interview that we learned about the death of her ‘Miral’ costar Juliano Mer-Khamis. Covering the upcoming film last fall in a Freida Pinto article, we understood it to be explosive.

The Agony

Freida Pinto’s GQ Photos | ‘Miral’ & ‘You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger’ Trailers AOC Fashion & Art

In “Miral”, the Indian beauty plays a Palestinian raised in a Jerusalem orphanage, “sheltered from what’s happening outside” until she visits a refugee camp in the West Bank. Watching the trailer, “serious’ may be the understatement for Freida Pinto’s role in “Miral”.

Julian Schnabel’s ‘Miral’ Trailer Starring Freida Pinto

Julian Schnabel and Rula Jebreal talk about the film ‘Miral’ The Washington Post

(Matt McClain/THE WASHINGTON POST) - Julian Schnabel and Rula Jebreal.

Murder in Jenin

Israeli peace activist Juliano Mer Khamis shot dead in Jenin The Guardian April 4, 2011

Juliano Mer-Khamis … RIP

Mer Khamis had received death threats for his work in Jenin. Photograph: Saif Dahlah/AFP/Getty ImagesKnowing that he had received death threats for his work in Jenin, the Israeli actor and peace activist who ran a drama project in Jenin continued to divided his time between Jenin and Haifa in the north of Israel.

Born to a Jewish mother and an Arab Christian father, Mer-Khamis’s mother set up a theatre group in Jenin during the first Intifada which began in 1987. Mer Khamis directed the film ‘Arna’s Children’, which celebrated her work, continued by her son after her death in 1994.

A remembrance of Juliano Mer-Khamis Foreign Policy

Juliano’s evolved sense of purpose, sorely lacking in the region on both sides of the conflict, was a result of an extraordinary, if not unorthodox, upbringing. His mother, Arna Mer, was a fighter — she was a member of the Palmach militia, later in life she battled cancer, and most importantly, she fought tirelessly on behalf of the children of Jenin. Arna began a theater school for Palestinian children during the first intifada. Juliano captured his mother’s work in his deeply moving 2004 documentary Arna’s Children. Juliano began to film his mother and the children from her theater school as they began their love of the art form. Dressed in colorful costumes with paper crowns, these fleeting moments amidst violence and terror were the few in which one could see these children reveling in their youth. Early on in the film, Arna is seen advising another teacher: “If the children make a mistake, please don’t be angry. And please don’t correct them.”

Over the span of a decade, Juliano filmed 10 of the children from Arna’s theater school and when he returned in the last year, he found that six out of the 10 children were killed as suicide bombers or in altercations with guns in Tel Aviv, two were in prison, and only two remained. As we know, and woefully ignore, the cycle of violence consumes all who continue it — even those who are taught to know better.

Green Beings

New York mayor Michael Bloomberg has put his money where his mouth is. One Republican who doesn’t mince words about the reality of global warming, Bloomberg is donating $50 million from Bloomberg Philanthropies to the Sierra Club’s grass roots campaign to block the construction of new voal-fired power plants and to shut down existing plants. (See also Sierra Club press release).

Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune thanked Bloomberg for the grant, calling it a “game changer” in the fight against coal. He also praised Bloomber’s farsighted vision and understanding of how protecting public health, developing innovative energy sources, and addressing climate change are all inextricably linked. He also welcomed his business savvy and track record for success to the campaign.

This is the mayor’s second big contribution to the evnironment in 2011. In May he promised nearly $20 million to C40, a group of the world’s largest cities that are trying to reduce greenhouse gases in urban areas.