Art in occupied Palestine

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...

Intimidation Spending time here in Ramallah, is like being in a positive palestinian bubble. Because it is zone A it is governed by palestinians, so there is not so much intimidation. Yesterday evening we went to the countryside just outside of ramallah and while we sipped our chai, you could see the lights of the settlements on the hills. Searching for any intruders. Settlers always build on mountaintops apparently. And they have different techniques to take away the land illegally from palestinian people. One of the ways  is a law dating back to the ottoman occupation. In which it says that if you don't use the land for 10 years it goes back to the state. So they just close the road and then the palestinians can't go to their own land. Also because the settlers patrol with guns and dogs. This happens in the zone C, because there israel is the authority, and after 10 years they take the land and give it to the settlers.  Another tactique i have heard is that sett...

I am pretty tired, i have received so many impressions being in shehada's workshop for the week. I've met so many people, i have been invited for breakfast lunch and dinner so many times. Don't let anyone fool you about the palestinians. They are as kind as they come. The conflict with their colonizers has forged them together. Of course i understand that they have to check their borders very good. If your peoples get threathened with extinction like the jewish have experienced. But one should not use this security machine to take away land illegally! Or surpress neighbours. Yesterday i went to a palestinian wedding. Wow, what a feast! Unbelievable! Dancing in cirkles, singing and an incredible music! And i was the only foreigner, it was quite humbling to see such a nice people and culture coming together. My plan to make a violin in one week has proven to be a little idealistic. As my experienced is limited, and time was limited as well because of the daily worksho...

The frontiers of my own tolerance. Being here in Palestine, hearing the stories of their suppression is difficult. Especially when you are hosted like a foreign king. You can see them struggle with the occupation, and the emotions with the fact their land, culture and property is under pressure. It is under pressure by israel, and mostly the religious orthodox streams of power that claim on dubious historical research that they were once the inhabitants. At the same time there is a clash of culture. In a mostly muslim run society, you respect the leader does not matter what happens. He is the leader of the clan, but one should not compare this to democracy! There are no checks and balances. It is another style of leadership and control. More based on the belly. Maybe one can vote, but there are no mature institutions that can protect the individual as we know it. I met someone from Turkey today who works in a culture center and who came here in Ramallah to give funding to a...

On my first day in Palestine, right away i get confronted with the reality of an occupied state. my contactperson was not let into israel nor palestine, and put back on a plane. It could be because she was getting emotionally involved and anti-israel. And i am aware that that  can put you out of the game. We are allowed to visit here and do peacework, but the moment we get too emotionally involved and choose sides we are denied entrance. It is a sensitive balance. The al kamandjati music school who organises a festival in which we will perform beethoven 9th symphony, recently joined a boycot israel program. So the moment you choose sides in such a way, i think you lose the benefit of the doubt of the israeli authority. That is the life in an occupied state, they can abuse the power they have and they do sometimes. But you have to be intelligent and respectful to what happened to the jewish people whilst confronting them. My idea would be to involve ordinary israeli citizens and...

The biggest problem, or the deepest part of the conflict, is the lack of communication and the fear they hold against each other. Israeli's don't go to Palestine because they fear to be lynched. And of course this lack of communication is used by companies with bad intentions, like maybe weapons companies. In a few days we will start rehearsing with the choir and orchestra in Palestine, with a nationalistic perspective. That means we don't include israeli's. I think this is a big opportunity that is missed, it seems that the orchestra would be helped by some quality musicians. And jewish musicians are known to be very good at their trade. So the funny thing is, we europeans and maybe americans, are like the glue that can make an effort for peace. Because neither palestinians nor Israeli's that i have met dare to communicate or even cross the border. That is why it is very good that i have come and that more young people should come to help to create unders...

after skipping a nights sleep, i have arrived in israel without being controlled or checked by the customs. I had spent at least 10 minutes a day the past month which alternative story i had to tell against the israeli authorities. But nobody asked me anything. After i arrived we went to haifa, and while speaking to my host i learned his perspective on the conflict. The perspective of a child of holocaust survivors. I could see that israel is a modern and functioning country, clean and well organised. Fruits of the work of three different jews, the sefardic (from northern africa/spain), ashkenazi (from central europe) and the mizrachi (original to the arab peninsula). They made a modern democratic state in this desert. In which 2 million palestinians also live freely. They are the winners of many wars against their neighbours and are still besieging them, just like america still holds armybases in germany and japan. Actually the state of palestine can maybe be compared better w...