[Peace-discuss] Highly recommended book

[David Green]

Author visits Bloomington to discuss Arab
discrimination, prejudice in Israel
Lecture draws 30 people at Monroe County Library

by Tom Kirby
Indiana Daily Student

Published Monday, November 6, 2006

Author Susan Nathan spoke to an audience of about 30
Thursday night at the Monroe County Public Library to
share the prejudices Arab people in Israel face, which
she documents in her book, "The Other Side of Israel:
My Journey Across the Jewish/Arab Divide." The IU
Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures
co-sponsored the event.

"How can people of very different kinds of traditions
and ambitions occupy the same geographical space?"
Nathan asked. "(Israel) is the most unequal state in
all of the Western world. The country is putting
people in denial of their basic human civil rights,
externally and internally."

Nathan, who's originally from England, now lives in
the northern Israeli town of Tamra, where she's the
lone Jewish person living among about 30,000
Palestinians. She used this town to document Arab
inequality in Israel.

Tamra lacks a fire department and is forced to use
emergency workers from Jewish neighboring towns. This
means for the 30,000 people there is only one
ambulance on call. 

Nathan also spoke of the inequities in the school
systems.

"There are no state-funded kindergartens for Arab
schools, and despite the heat, there are no air
conditioners in Arab schools," she said. "There are no
resources for any lessons, and there is no funding
going to them."

Nathan said Tamra and its 30,000 residents live on
1,000 acres of land while their neighboring Jewish
towns have 600 people but with three times the land.

Nathan said "The Other Side of Israel" exposes the
inequalities Arabs face, but it is merely an overview
of what is happening in her country.

"Every area of abuse is so appalling it deserves
lectures of its own. I tried to get them all into this
book," Nathan said.

When asked what would be the best solution to solving
the problems in her country, Nathan suggested that an
equality commission be put into place but emphasized
that such a commission might not be enough and that
violent behavior is looming.

"I see the situation getting worse and not better.
Nobody takes (commissions) seriously. What they take
seriously is an uprising," Nathan said. "Violence is
the only language that speaks in my country."




 
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