peace not walls

so last week we had three teenage boy houseguests from ramallah., palestine. they are members of the al raja dance troupe, here on a seven-week trip to share some of their culture with us. it was an interesting, tiring and ultimately rewarding experience.

pictured are the three young men who stayed at our house, in a well-executed boy-girl sitdown near the michigan league during summer festival which, fortuitously, was taking place during their visit. the festival was a good place for everyone to loosen up a bit, have some popcorn and hear live music.

between performances and scheduled picnics and whatnot, it was difficult to find much down time when we could simply hang out, but we did what we could. language was not difficult as they had all been studying english “since kindergarten” (an interesting turn of phrase), and of course there were some opportunities to spend time down in the music room where all languages meet fairly comfortably. they all stayed up terrifically late and one evening i took them on a shopping trip to meijer’s, around 11:00 or so. on the way out there we passed a young man who had his car stereo blaring while wearing headphones; they found this as funny as i did, which was reassuring in a small-world sort of way.

the only thing resembling an incident took place before saturday’s performance at king of kings (an elca congregation). there is a group that persistently demonstrates every saturday at various synagogues in ann arbor, urging an end to all u.s. support of israel in an effort to promote peace in the middle east. whether their purpose is well-served by haranguing jews on their way in and out of temple each week is debatable (although please not here). two of them showed up at king of kings on saturday, and while one remained silent the other took it upon himself to interrupt the minister from texas (who was traveling with the group) to take her, and indeed anyone else who could hear, to task over the elca’s “investment” in israel, and how we were just “pretending to help” by bringing these people here. “divest in israel!” he shouted again and again, and while divesture is no doubt an important part of the overall process, if one recalls the situation with arpartheid and south africa it is not a simple matter of picking up the phone and telling your broker to transfer the money out of the israel fund. the man has a legitimate beef; he should take it to the synod where he might actually make a difference, instead of trying to raise a ruckus in a church. anyway his true integrity was revealed when we attempted to lead him out: his shout changed to “take your hands off me, that’s assault!” and then, almost comically, “where’s a camera?” - i held mine up, still in its case, not there to take pictures of some clown who has never gotten over missing the 1968 democratic convention.

so his companion convinced him to go outside and while i felt angry and upset at the disturbance, i admired the troupe for their ability to put it behind them and give their performance. then it occurred to me: growing up in palestine it would probably take much more than one shouting gentleman to unnerve you. afterward we took them on one last ann arbor experience and painted the rock, with a suitable message; this we did along with a couple of the elder son's pals to shore up the teen connection. the american boys rode home separately and we were treated, in our minivan, to some impromptu drumming and singing in arabic (of course). it was an unguarded moment and ms. cicadashell and i felt honored, again in a very small-world sort of way.