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    Palestinian music conservatory condemns peacebuilding with Israeli musicians

    Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik  |
             

    Palestinian music conservatory condemns

    peacebuilding with Israeli musicians

     

    After Israeli and Palestinian musicians participated in festival

    the Palestinian Edward Said National Conservatory of Music

    "condemned the deception... to which it fell victim...

    [because] an Israeli band was added

    at the last moment to the program"

     

    by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

     

    The Palestinian Authority adamantly opposes peacebuilding between Israelis and Palestinians. Whether at joint sporting events for children, women's embroidery groups, or at conferences promoting coexistence, Palestinian Media Watch has shown that the PA condemns meetings that bring Palestinians and Israelis together.

     

    In yet another example of the Palestinian aversion to what they call "normalization" with Israel, the Palestinian Edward Said National Conservatory of Music recently "condemned the deception" it had "fallen victim to" at a music festival in France when the organizers "added an Israeli band at the last moment." The Palestinian conservatory viewed this addition as something not done "innocently" but as part of a conspiracy to "promote Zionist ideology." Another cause for offense on the part of the conservatory was the fact that the festival program implied that Palestinian and Israelis met to "exchange ideas and engage in dialogue," something utterly opposed by the conservatory:

     

    "The Edward Said National Conservatory of Music condemned the deception on the part of the administration of the Aix-en-Provence Festival, to which it fell victim during a concert tour of the Palestine Youth Orchestra in France: The participation of an Israeli band was added at the last moment to the program... The wording of the program... gives the reader the impression that Palestinian and Israeli young people met in France in order to exchange ideas and engage in dialogue, something which the conservatory resolutely refuses. Even though the performance of the Palestine Youth Orchestra was not scheduled on the same day that the Israeli band performed, shoving the group into the festival was not done innocently, but was rather intended to promote Zionist ideology."

    [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 30, 2015]

     

    PMW's special reportPalestinian Authority Education: A Recipe for Hate and Terror, documents in detail the PA and Fatah's opposition to peacebuilding activities. The report was prepared by PMW for the Association of Secondary School Teachers in Israel and presented at the 7th World Congress of Education International (EI), the international organization of teachers' unions, on July 21-26, 2015, before the planned vote on several anti-Israel resolutions that included calls for boycott of Israel and support for BDS. PMW was active at the teachers' unions' congress, documenting that the real problems in the Palestinian Authority education are caused by the PA themselves, and the anti-Israel resolutions were withdrawn.

     

    Palestinian opposition to contact with Israelis is a stance shared by the Saudis. Official PA TV reported that a Saudi football team coming to the PA areas refused to have any contact with Israelis or have their passports stamped while traveling to the PA areas, and therefore could not get to their game. Eventually, the PA came up with two creative solutions:

     

    Spokesman of the Palestinian Football Association Tayseer Nasrallah: "They [the Saudis] talk about [preventing] normalization... That is the argument they presented to us, and we gave them two options. One option is that they come by land under the supervision of FIFA, so that their passports would not be stamped and so there would be no contact between them and the Israelis at the [Allenby] Bridge. The other option is that their arrival will be mediated by Jordan - and we thank the Jordanians for their efforts to solve this problem - so that they will go by plane from Marka International Airport [in Amman, Jordan] to Ramallah or Al-Ram and play." [Official PA TV, Sept. 22, 2015]

     

    Click to view more examples of the PA's rejection of coexistence with Israel.  

     

    The following are longer excerpts of the two reports on Palestinian and Saudi aversion to "normalization" with Israel:

     

    Headline: "The Edward Said Conservatory clarifies its stance regarding the deception to which it fell victim in France"

    "The Edward Said National Conservatory of Music condemned the deception on the part of the administration of the Aix-en-Provence Festival, to which it fell victim during a concert tour of the Palestine Youth Orchestra in France: The participation of an Israeli band was added at the last moment to the program of the festival, which takes place in the city of Marseilles between Aug. 21 and Sept. 4 [2015].The conservatory stated: 'After the orchestra reached France on Aug. 15 [2015] in order to begin its concert tour, the administration of the conservatory and members of the orchestra - more than 80 young Palestinians and Arabs - were surprised to discover that a new version of the festival program had been published and distributed. [The new version is] different from the first version, on the basis of which the conservatory registered its participation, as it includes the participation of an Israeli band in the festival. In addition, the wording of the program that the festival published... gives the reader the impression that Palestinian and Israeli young people met in France in order to exchange ideas and engage in dialogue, something which the conservatory resolutely refuses. Even though the performance of the Palestine Youth Orchestra was not scheduled on the same day that the Israeli band performed, shoving the group into the festival was not done innocently, but was rather intended to promote Zionist ideology, which incessantly tries - especially through cultural events - to create a mistaken impression regarding the Palestinian Nakba ("the catastrophe," the Palestinian term for the establishment of the State of Israel) and the Israeli occupation of the land of Palestine, to draw comparison between the victim and the hangman, and to beautify the image of the occupation in the eyes of the European public and the world. The [Edward Said] National Conservatory of Music, together with the entire Palestinian people, will oppose this matter now and always."
     
    [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 30, 2015]
      

    Official PA TV sports program Pulse of the Fields interviewed Tayseer Nasrallah about a football game between "Palestine" and Saudi Arabia:

     

    PA TV host:"In today's program we will talkextensivelyabout the gamebetween theteamof Palestine and theSauditeam, andwhich fateis stilluncertainbecause of thestubbornnessof the Saudi team and its managementandtheir refusalto come here, to Palestine."

     

    Spokesman of the Palestinian Football Association Tayseer Nasrallah: "Of course they have misconceptions about their coming here. They talk about normalization. In a meeting held yesterday between the Palestinian and the Saudi football associations, we clarified our position on the issue of normalization. That is the argument they presented to us, and we gave them two options. One option is that they come by land under the supervision of FIFA, so that their passports would not be stamped and so there would be no contact between them and the Israelis at the [Allenby] Bridge. The other option is that their arrival will be mediated by Jordan - and we thank the Jordanians for their efforts to solve this problem - so that they will go by plane from Marka International Airport [in Amman, Jordan] to Ramallah or Al-Ram and play. This is a flight of 20 minutes or so. They heard the point of view of brother Jibril Rajoub, head of the Palestinian Football Association, and of our delegation who met them yesterday, and they, the head of the Saudi [Football] Association, the Secretary-General and the members who participated, heard our point of view and took it back to Saudi Arabia to discuss the matter between them. I hope there will be separation between sports and politics."

     

    [Official PA TV, Sept. 22, 2015]


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