Coexistence Exists

January 4, 2009 - 4:38 PM by Molly · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Blogging, General, History and Culture, Israeliness, Life, Politics, Religion, coexistence

It’s no surprise that main stream news is focusing on the current situation in Gaza and southern Israel. Watching CNN’s coverage Israel looks like a battlefield right out of any epic war movie. The images are constantly played over and over again—which means I get worried phone calls from America, over and over again.

But there is more to life than the images on the news. In Jerusalem, all is pretty much quiet. Yes, tensions are high and I feel the added stress, but life is still not the media’s picture of Israel. In fact there is more coexistence happening on a daily basis than most people are aware of.

Here is Jerusalem Jews and Arabs work together building fancy new high rises or the new light rail train across the city. Today I spoke with an Arab-Israeli who was taking a five-minute-break from his moving job. He sat drinking coffee with his co-workers, both Arabs and Jews, and spoke about the weather (the very cold Jerusalem winter) and my dog’s funny looking sweater (I though he might be cold, but the dog clothing thing is just not for me). The point is that small talk still exists—talking still exists and not all forms of communication are from one rocket to another.

On a larger scale, I think back to the recent coexistence projects I filmed in the Israeli mixed cities of Acre and Lod. Again, the news’s projection is all about violence and crime in these areas, rather than focusing on the positive stories taking place.

Most people now think of Acre as that city that had riots this past Yom Kippur. But Acre quickly recovered from the fighting and both sides remain relatively calm during the current military operations. When I was there in November, I didn’t feel tensions, but rather found the coexistence projects’ efforts really taking effect. The Israel21c video below shows some of the projects, sponsored by the Jewish Agency, that are taking place in Acre.

Last month, I filmed a story about a new coexistence project in Lod. Aviv Wasserman, a native Israeli, founded The Lod Community Foundation about six months ago with the goal of getting this poverty-stricken city back on its feet. Aviv is hardcore, and now lives in Lod where he has set up shop in his apartment. From his office-apartment to monthly meetings, he has built a network of concerned citizens that want to rebuild the city together. Lod is a very diverse city (Jews, Arabs, Russians, Ethiopians, Bedouins, Christians, etc.), but Aviv has managed to have representatives from each community take part in the committees and meetings. Again, you can watch the video below to learn more about his incredible project.

So, there you have it, the other side of conflict. It does exist, even if it doesn’t make the news.

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Tags: acre, Arabs, christians, cnn, coexistence, Gaza, hamas, international community, Israel, israel21c, Israelis, jewish agency, jews, lod, media, Muslims, news, projects, terrorism

Ho Ho Ho! Christmas in Nazareth

December 24, 2008 - 12:15 PM by Molly · 3 Comments
Filed under: History and Culture, Holidays, Israeliness, Life, Religion, Travel, coexistence

I think it was only appropriate that my first trip to Nazareth be during the holiday season. This year, ISRAEL21c decided to cover Christmas in the Holy Land. Nazareth is known as Jesus’ childhood home and today it has the largest community of Christians in the country. Visiting the city just days before Christmas was the perfect place to see how the holiday is celebrated among Christians in Israel.

Traveling through the main streets of the city (you have plenty of time to look around since there are endless traffic jams), you’ll find tons of Christmas decoration shops, with Christmas trees, lights, Santa Clauses and even a red cowboy Christmas hat. I was actually surprised at how much these shops looked identical to those in America.

That’s the modern side of things, over in the Old City there are the Christian historical sites and lots of Churches. It was amazing to walk through the churches and learn about Nazareth’s history. A Nazareth resident, who has belonged to his church for over 80 years, told me that he sees thousands of Christian pilgrimages come through Nazareth each year.

From the old city to the new city, we ventured over to a restaurant owned by a Nazareth Christian resident, Mary Abu Jaber, who told us that she never planned on owning a restaurant but wanted to show the Nazareth community the true potential of the city. Her restaurant, “Coincidence,” is featured in the video and was one of the most beautiful restaurants I have been to in Israel. She used an old structure of an abandoned building, to create the main dining area and also built an art gallery. In fact she told us that they’re currently building a book shop to add to the facility. If you are ever in Nazareth I highly recommend checking it out.

My first trip to Nazareth was an awesome experience and I got to capture that feeling in this video. Unfortunately being there before Christmas, I wasn’t able to see their huge parade which is held in the afternoon of Christmas Eve, but then again there is always next year.

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