The ESNCM Orchestra

Amidst all the political absurdities and the violence that is encompassing our region, we managed to enjoy a lovely evening last night at the Augusta Victoria Church on the Mt. of Olives, which ironically has been an area of clashes and road blocks by the Israeli occupation forces recently.  Yet all this was behind us, and we forgot all about it at least for a couple of hours, as we watched and listened to  the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music Orchestra  accompany the Singkreis Wohlen Choir from Switzerland in the first, fourth and sixth part of  Bach’s Christmas Oratorio in this beautiful and inspiring church.  And to add to the Palestinian touch of the performance we were privileged to have Mariam Tamari (the daughter of Vladimir Tamari, the renowned Palestinian artist and his Japanes wife Kyoko)  as one of the soloists along with Martin Snell,  and Dieter Wagner, who was also the conductor;  a lively and charming conductor indeed.   

After a lot of clapping and a standing ovation and an encore of the last lively section of the Oratorio, the conductor announced  that this was the last of their three performances.  The other two were at St. Francis Church in Bethlehem and at Birzeit University at the newly inaugurated  Nasib Shaheen theatre.  He also announced that the orchestra will be accompanying the Swiss choir in three different venues in Switzerland after two weeks. I just hope that music  will continue to be an expression of solidarity with our people and it will continue to uplift our spirits and give those young people some hope for the future. 

Update: Here is a video about the event

Getting Away With It

The resignation of  the Indonesian diplomat Makarim Wibisono as UN special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights in occupied Palestine seems to be due to one of the many flaws of the UN body.  Mr. Wibisono announced that he was resigning at the end of March,  because Israel refuses to give him access to the Palestinians living under a military occupation in the West Bank and Gaza.  If the UN appoints any position like that of the Rapporteur it should be able to guarantee that he or she can function, and should urge Israel to facilitate the mission of the Rapporteur, and not the other way round.  Why is it that everybody caves in when Israel is concerned and accommodates for its demands, to an extent that it often makes the UN look like a redundant body?  I should think Mr. Wibisono as a UN representative should not have resigned but used some of the UN tools to pressure Israel to facilitate his job.  

Another incident on caving in on a different level took place on January 3,  when Jewish-Israeli passengers of an Aegean flight demanded the removal of two passengers from the flight heading from Athens  to Tel Aviv simply because they were Palestinians.  One of them was a citizen of Israel, and the other had an Israeli residency and had already passed the security checks and boarded the plane.  But the passengers accused them of being “terrorists” and  insisted that they should be removed from the plane.  Although the pilot had said that anyone who does not feel safe to fly should disembark, yet he did not protect those two passengers who were eventually so harassed that they got off the plane.  

Once again Israel acts as if it is above the law.  In fact nothing it does is surprising any more, but what is surprising and disappointing is that they are allowed to get away with it with impunity.   

Happy New Year

As I watched the rains fall this morning on the last day of the year, I could not help but think of how much rain we would  need to cleanse all the atrocities of this past year.  I recalled the words of Shakespeare in Macbeth after he had murdered the king and stood looking at his bloody hands: “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood Clean from my hand?” 

We are bidding farewell to a year that has been infested with atrocities and violence as a result of grave injustices, greed, and immorality.  We have sadly watched how  money and power have  been  manipulated by world leaders to determine the destinies of peoples and deprive them of their right to live in dignity in their own country.

In our region,  where water has always been scarce, and has become more so with the draining of its resources by the Israeli occupation, I wonder whether there will ever be enough water to cleanse the atrocities of this past year, and to give hope to the people of the region that justice and peace will prevail. 

With best wishes for a peaceful New Year.