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December 11, 2003

Needing More than Sammy

Glenn of HipperCritical notes the interesting result of an Israeli reality TV show a la American Idol: an Arab took home first place. The young man now will have the opportunity to host a show on Israeli TV for the next year. Glenn suggests he might have a chance of becoming the Israeli Sammy Davis Jr., breaking down some of the barriers between Israelis and Arabs inside the Jewish state. I think Glenn's being overly optimistic; when Sammy became a star, blacks weren't blowing themselves up in restaurants and buses, they were just trying to get equal rights. Breaking down the Arab-Israeli barriers will take more than an entertainer or two.

Posted at December 11, 2003 03:57 PM

Andrew Olmsted

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Now this is perfect timing. I just answered another fellow blogger in my comments section after he made basically the same argument, but from the other side. I'm just going to copy what I wrote to him, but switch names to address Andrew:

"Andrew, there is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and then there is the relationship between Arabs and Jews living together in Israel. These two worlds overlap, sometimes collide. But there's no point in knocking the potential for progress in one of these worlds just because it doesn't directly adress the other. In a little way, it does that too. To effectively confront that other conflict may require getting to the children at an even earlier age, and that is also happening. Baby steps, Andrew. Baby steps."

Maybe I'm just too young, I still got that idealism in me. Ideal goals, realistic expectations. It's so easy to be a pessimist these days, no? It takes WORK to be this hopeful.

Posted by: Glenn at December 11, 2003 05:49 PM

Glenn, I see where you're coming from, but if the Palestinians wanted the conflict over, they could end it tomorrow. The Israelis would be perfectly happy to see the fighting stop immediately, but they don't have that power. Only the Palestinians can end this war, and they've shown no inclination to do so. I'll feel a lot more hopeful when a Jew wins a Palestinian reality show.

Posted by: Andrew at December 12, 2003 05:26 AM

It would be wonderful to see that happen, but don't hold your breath... Over a million Israeli Arabs live in Israel, but the Palestinians demand that all of the approximately 200,000 Jews living in the West Bank and Gaza be expelled. They want a "Judenrein" society just like most of the other Arab/Muslim countries.

But at the same time, it is nice to hear stories like this one, and the one that came out last week about Israeli doctors saving the life of an Iragi child. It makes it pretty clear who the good guys are.

Posted by: Heather at December 15, 2003 07:43 AM

Heather, you may rest assured that I won't be holding my breath to see a Jew even be tolerated among the Palestinians; my point was only that such a move would be a far better indicator of progress than the success of a Palestinian in Israel.

Posted by: Andrew at December 15, 2003 11:12 AM