Art in occupied Palestine

It has been i week now i left the middle east, sailing on the Ostsee, near to the place i was born has given me some space inside to work my impressions of the conflict area. Especially difficult for me to see my israeli friends suffer from emotions of pain and self-pity, because they are leftist israeli’s. This means that even the most intelligent and cultured israeli’s are not seeing really what their country is doing. Although i don’t oppose the fact that jews should have a place in the world where they can live and be safe from anti-semitism, i do oppose zionistic colonialism as it is expressed now in the west bank. So i will tell you my final impressions of the palestine trip: On my last day i went to friends in Israel to make a reflection of my experiences in Palestine. Arriving tired, dirty and hungry, they took care of me and made me ready for my travel trough the highly secured Ben Gurion Airport. Which is an experience in itself… Anyway, at th

Rehearsing with the orchestra. So i was so sad that i wanted to give up my blog. But i had a good cry with my palestinian friends about the situation here. To feel the situation during the anniversairy of the installment of the metaldetectors in front of the all aksha mosque, the second most holy place for the muslims. The sadness, the anger and the desperation was so thick in the air that you could cut it with a knife. The old city was full of armed soldiers and teargas was shot at the screaming crowd. At the same time we are rehearsing the beethoven, and the hoboist gave me very interesting information about the 4th movement, and how the singers are always accompanied by a certain instrument group. So the trombones sing with the tenors for a while for example. The conductors work is to make sure the different instrumentgroups know where to listen, with whom they play the tune and with whom they contrast for example. It is very rewarding if the instruments start breathing

A fully grown democracy is actually comparable to a good functioning orchestra. We had a nice discussion tonight about palestine and it's religious side. Which does not allow for too much secular individuality but at the same time garantuees a civil harmony you don't find in any western state. In an orchestra, for example the orchestra we have now for beethoven 9th symphony. We have choir and orchestra. Where the choir, the 4 voice groups are actually like 4 big instruments that sometimes play together and sometimes individual, is composed of singers that need to function together in perfect harmony like in an organised religion. In front of the choir the orchestra is composed of the winds and brass, wo need to carry a lot of individuality to be able to play solo parts. Acousticly they carry a big responsability, because errors are very easily heard. The same goes for percussion. The strings are somewhat similair to the choir. A part from section leaders. They also bre

Alle menschen werden bruder The world is not a fair place, how do you come to terms with that. Especially if this unfairness is so in your face like in Jerusalem. The athmosphere here in east jerusalem is quite tense, much more then in Ramallah. Because the israeli police very unpredictable. And you can sense the insecurity and the potential for escalation. Basically you sense the absence of a functional jurisdiction. It must have been similair for the jewish in the ghetto's. To feel constantly this insecurity really eats you from the inside. At the same time we keep rehearsing for the beethoven 9 concerts. The different families of the orchestra. Woodwinds, brass, choir, strings divided in 4 different sections. It is very interesting to see the different styles of leading. Some people have more of a solid personality, and other musicians are more spiritual or open. It think both are needed, technical skill and a very open personality that allows the music

After being held like a little child by the beautiful palestinian people and their culture. I am back in the western world. As soon as you cross the checkpoint, you enter the west again. Feelingwise, here you don't constantly greet people. Here there's a different level of hygiene. Here people are more in the heads and less in their bellies. In Palestine children are everywhere on the street, here it is quiet. You could say the ageold conflict of jerusalem is culturally going on. Although in a different jacket with a different story. Like samuel huntington's clash of civilizations describes. In Jeruzalem you can feel it. Crossing the checkpoint you can feel the muscle of the israeli's. It is similair to our european borders, if you don't have the right passport. They make you feel that you have less rights by being palestinian, you have to make an extra mile by stepping out of the vehicle and walking trough the checkpoint. Today i got the conduct the woodw

Beduins Tonight we went to the beduins that are living in the south of Palestine. We went to see them because also they are under threat of occupation. There is a big line of settlements, just under jerusalem and they want to connect these settlements with other settlements more east. If israel does that, they can isolate jerusalem from the rest of Palestine and this would mean a big loss for the palestinians. But beduins live in this area. So a month ago a demolision truck arrived, but the beduins formed a human chain to stop the truck. Today we went to see them, with mu friend shehada and his family. You can find a nice picture on my wall. Shehada's family is originally from Hebron, although they uses to live as beduins, since 3 generations they are landowners and farmers. Both shehada and his father studied abroad, and their hospitality is very warm and nice. Shehada's mother said today that i was like a son for her. And it is true that working here on the viol