I met Hussein at a post office in Tel Aviv - I noticed the black man next to me writing in Arabic, and assumed he’d be Sudanese or Somali.
I ask about how his family back home in Darfur is doing: “oh, they’re fine, alhamdulillah. Some are home, some are in camps, you know how it is, not very easy”. His laid-back attitude confirms to me what I had long suspected: I know zilch about what is really taking place there.
Hussein is now legally in Israel - he entered illegally, of course, through Egypt.
“I got to Al-Arish, and from there...” he smiles as his index and middle finger wiggle, making the impression of a walking person.
“It’s great here though. They give you a 6 months visa that you can renew, and they even help you find a job”. And you can even renew this 6 months visa...” I understand he got admitted as a refugee. I guess when you come from the location of the world’s largest genocide, it’s a pretty convincing argument...
Skeptical - I blame my stint at UNHCR - I ask him whether he’s here because of the war, or to find a job. Hussein is straightforward:
“Oh no, I’m just here for work. To make money. And inshallah when I have enough money, in two or three years, I’ll go home”.
Hussein and Natacha. Seriously, you can't make this stuff up.
Hussein was in the post office to send some money home. 500 dollars. But wiring money from Israel to Sudan is impossible; the Sudanese here have to wire money to friends in a third country - often Egypt, because it’s close and cheap - who, in turn, will wire it to Sudan.
For some odd reason, Hussein was wiring money to a friend in... China! In a remote town (Niwu, or something?) that didn’t seem to appear on the Western Union database!
In a mix of broken English and Hebrew, we communicate to the Russian teller what needs to be done. Which was more tough than you'd think - a Sudanese and an Egyptian trying to give a Chinese address postal address (written in Arabic) to a Russian teller. To transfer American money. Funny world we live in..
We shake hands, promise to remain in touch without meaning it. Hussein returns to work - he cleans room in a North Tel-Aviv hotel.
8 comments:
I LOVE your blog! And I guessed rightly that you were referring to Treppenwitz, who I've read for some time and enjoy...though I often disagree with him and sometimes he makes me angry.
I imagine if he isn't exactly a "racist" he falls into something close to it from time to time.
I find that in a lot of Arabs too.
But I also find that if you just take people as you find them and discuss things where you can discuss them, you can get quite far, much further than you might at first think.
I DO think as a matter of pure justice, one can analogize the Israeli presence in the West Bank to "occupation". But I don't think it is really occupation under international law...though the Golan Heights IS. That's not a justification of what the Israelis do and have done there. I just don't like arguments--even in support of just causes--that strike me as bogus.
Anyway...my main comment is just: What a wonderful blog! You're actually LOOKING at things and DESCRIBING THEM.
God bless and Eid Mubarak!
That is so weired. Wish I was a Sudaneese from Darfour, because if I go to Areesh, the Egytians and Israelis will kick the hell out of me and return me to Jordan.
Ali pasha, go to hear from you, friend!
Well, if it makes you feel any better, the Darfur people generally get their asses kicked at the border and at several instances have been murdered.
See, being Jordanian isn't all that bad. :)
Jeff: very kind of you, many thanks for the wishes, same to you!
I very much agree with what you said - a decent discussion with people you totally disagree with is very possible.
Treppenwitz isn't one of these people, though. This guy has so much hatred that I would be unwilling to meet him because i would actually fear for my life - he happily advocates violence against Arabs and walks around stroking the gun at his side.
Thankfully though, even during this discussion i've had the chance to engage with some very interesting people, with whom i am still in touch.
In terms of occupation, the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem and the Golan heights are occupied all the same, and all are designated as occupied territories by the UN (UNSC resolutions 242, 338, for instance).
They're also considered to be occupied by every country on earth - including Israel itself!
The argument that the West Bank is not occupied because Palestine wasn't a country - as defined by something like UN membership or something - is an erroneous one. There are people in Palestine who are under the military control of another country, a country that has committed pretty much every possible crime in the book (a possible 'book' here could be the (1997?) Rome statute of the International Criminal Court that define what a war crime is; i remember reading it and essentially Israel has committed every possible crime mentioned, save for 'forced pregnancies' (and i'm not sure what that means really..)
Anyways. Long response. Once again - thank you for your visit, i'm positively DELIGHTED that you enjoy my humble blog! Keep visiting! Tell your friends! :)
mohamed, did you know why the US and Europe is intersted in the Darfour crisis?
The land has Uranioum!!
They try to show it as its a relgion thing but actualy there are only 2% Christians in this area. Makes you wonder why they are so concerend about human rights there, right?
Darfur isn't a religious conflict and i don't recall following a theory claiming that it was. The most common theory however is that it is an ethnic conflict - the inhabitants of Darfur being mainly Black African tribes (the Fur being the largest) while their foe is the Khartoum government (Arab Africans of lighter complexion) and their minions in Darfur (who happen to be black, though).
I have no doubt that natural resources (oil, uranium, copper) are an integral part of the equation - in my mind they are more at play in explaining why there is a Darfur conflict in the first place (at the intra-Sudanese level, hence).
And why someone gives a damn about Darfur.. well, i like to think that there are people out there - including myself, if i may - who are ashamed to the tears that 300,000 innoncent people have been killed. And that if we, as a civilised community, have stood like inept bitches during 1994 Rwanda and discussed whether how many "acts of genocide" constitute a genocide, we're keen on doing something this time...
Possibly Yiwu in China - I went there and it;s full of traders from the Middle East, Arab cafes, restaurants etc - even Chinese girls working as bellydancers...
Check out:
http://www.thenational.ae/article/20080701/FOREIGN/848244160/1011/ART
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomspender/2660534421/in/set-72157606123327875/
Interesting links flying pigeion, I never knew there were as many Arabs in China
Ditto. Very interesting! I'm quite sure you're right, too.
Well, maybe that's why it didn't appear in the database - we got the name wrong!
Chinese belly dancers. Hmm. Two of my fantasies in one.. Beat that. :oP
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