Palestinian youth orchestra shut down
Palestinian authorities disbanded a youth orchestra from a West Bank refugee camp after it played for a group of Holocaust survivors in Israel, a local official said on Sunday.
Adnan Hindi of the Jenin camp called the Holocaust a "political issue" and accused conductor Wafa Younis of unknowingly dragging the children into a political dispute.
He added that Younis has been barred from the camp and the apartment where she taught the 13-member Strings of Freedom orchestra has been boarded up.
"She exploited the children," said Hindi, the head of the camp's "popular committee," which takes on municipal duties. "She will be forbidden from doing any activities ... We have to protect our children and our community."
The move highlights the sensitivity of many Palestinians over acknowledging Jewish suffering, fearing it would weaken their own historical grievances against Israel.
"The Holocaust happened, but we are facing a similar massacre by the Jews themselves," Hindi said. "We lost our land, and we were forced to flee and we've lived in refugee camps for the past 50 years."
Some 6 million Jews were killed in the Nazi campaign to wipe out European genocide. The urgent need to find a sanctuary for hundreds of thousands of Holocaust survivors catalyzed the creation of the Jewish state after World War II.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians either fled or were expelled from their homes in the war that followed Israel's creation — an event known by Palestinians as the Naqba, or catastrophe.
Hindi said Palestinians — especially in his hardscrabble cinder block refugee camp — had suffered at the hands of Israel and demanded their grievances be acknowledged first.
The refugee camp in the northern West Bank was the scene of a deadly April 2002 battle where 23 Israeli soldiers were killed, alongside 53 Palestinian militants and civilians, in several days of battle. The clash destroyed large swathes of the refugee camp.
The camp's residents are descendants of Palestinians who were displaced during Israel's war of independence.
The youths, aged 11 to 18, of the modest orchestra performed for elderly survivors in the Israeli town of Holon on Wednesday.
Hindi said the children's parents were not aware that the orchestra would play for Holocaust survivors.
Younis was not immediately available for comment Sunday. But as the controversy erupted over the weekend, she said Saturday that her intention was purely to perform music. "We didn't do anything wrong," she said.
At last Wednesday's performance, most of the Holocaust survivors did not know the youths were Palestinians from the West Bank, a rare sight in Israel these days. And the youths had no idea they were performing for people who lived through Nazi genocide — or even what the Holocaust was.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090329/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_palestinians_orche...
Is it just me, or does it seem like Hindi is the one who politicized things? It saddens me to think that he shut down this orchestra for his own political aims and purposes when it was probably one of the few things that these kids had as a creative outlet.
Initiatives are all well and good but you know what they say about the best intention being laid to waste. I agree with the facts of what you say but its Wafas intentions that we need to examine.
Seen as she knew what/who the event was for and also knew of the sensitivity of the issue especially now with eveything go on this must and could only have been a stunt. Its clear to me that all she wanted was musically publicity but ended getting a different type of publicity.
I cant personally comment of Wafas cacophonic skills its just some Ive heard :-)
I don't think she did anything wrong here. She scheduled the orchestra for a concert. It was a community member AFTER the fact who got his panties in a bunch because he discovered the kids played for a bunch of Holocaust survivors.
The kids had no clue about anything and were just happy to be playing music (didn't even know what the Holocaust was). Most of the audience wasn't aware that the orchestra was comprised of Palestinian children from Jenin.
There are so few initiatives that aren't already poisoned by hatred from one side or another in this conflict. Here was an example of one such initiative, when people from both sides were able to join together briefly for a few moments without politics or religion or anything else coloring their time together. And some guy comes along and has to crap all over things...
That's my view of the situation at least...
I can't speak to Ms. Younis's directing or musical talents...perhaps you know more about that than I do...
"Most plain girls are virtuous because of the scarcity of opportunity to be otherwise."
-- Maya Angelou
Wafa Younis has abused her position and placed children indirectly in the line of fire. I think she should resign - which according to some music buffs out there wouldnt be a bad thing for the classical scene.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7978544.stm
Now the orchestra leader has been ordered to leave the West Bank, ostensibly for her own safety.
"Most plain girls are virtuous because of the scarcity of opportunity to be otherwise."
-- Maya Angelou
Oh this very sad news. Why they do that? is only music and music is good for the soul.
I hope both side can find a way to find peace. My prays goes to those who lost their son/husband/broter/daughter/mother/sister people in Palestine and Israel.
Everybody is right everybody is wrong, it depend where you stand
this is news from 18th march 09
"Jenin music center torched
Directors believe fundamentalist elements set fire to center providing music lessons to some 80 kids from town and area
A Jenin music center operated by the Ramallah-based al-Kamanjati organization was set on fire Monday night. The center's directors said that they did not know who was behind the arson.
The center, which ordinarily provides various music lessons for some 80 children, will be forced to shut down due to the severe damage to the structure and the musical instruments.
Students arrive to the center from the Jenin refugee camp, the town of Jenin, and other neighboring communities.
A statement to the press issued by the center defined the fire as "a crime against humanity and against the right of the Palestinian children and Palestinian society to culture and education.
"Such acts will not deter us from continuing with our work, because music touches the soul and mind and helps them evolve, instead of materialism and walls."
Juliano Mer-Khamis, the founder and director of the Freedom Theater in Jenin, told Ynet: "This is part of an anti-cultural wave of arsons, from which we at the Freedom Theater also suffered." Mer-Khamis was referring to a recent failed attempt to set the theater ablaze.
"This feels like an assault on everything that represents culture and open thought. We at the theater received threats about a month ago, threats that were now realized at al-Kamanjati. There is a lot of tension here," he stated.
According to Mer-Khamis, the pressure has been mounting lately due to the recent boom in cultural endeavors in the area. In about six months a first cinema house is scheduled to open in Jenin, sponsored by the German government.
Some fundamentalist elements feel threatened by this, he said. "The Palestinian Authority is making great efforts to catch the perpetrators. I assume that they have a religious affiliation, although the imam of Jenin stands behind us.
"But there are quite a few elements, within Fatah as well, who believe that music and theater are a distraction. We've reached a critical junction, which I saw coming but feared from, and we will have to deal with it," he concluded."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3688276,00.html
"Deaths in the Bible. God - 2,270,365
not including the victims of Noah's flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, or the
many plagues, famines, fiery serpents, etc because no specific numbers
were given. Satan - 10."
when art is politicized!there are many stories from west bank & Israel where both ordinary peaceful Palestinians & Israeli bond to coexist.