A Clash of Historical Narratives

We had a group lunch at the American Colony Hotel’s Arabesque hall, where the group heard more about AIPAC’s goals and mission. Our lunch speaker – Dr. Saab Erekat, cancelled on us. Given that he is the chief negotiator for the Palestinian Authority, he would have been interesting to hear.

The wind and rain was such that several umbrellas were casualties. Later, we went to AIPAC’s office in Jerusalem for meetings with two spokespersons for the PLO. On the list of things I never expected was to meet with two representatives of the PLO (no worries, Secretary of State Clinton, I didn’t try any unilateral peace negotiations) – and I even have their business cards and glossy brochure.

Rami Dajani and Alex Kouttab were our speakers (actually, Alex furiously took notes and didn’t say a thing, but since he’s new to the job I think he tagged along to learn). Rami did his job – providing the Palestinian perspective calmly, while also condemning Hamas. He handled some tough questions (NOT to say I agreed with him, but I will give him credit for staying on message). I asked about the Security Fence – and he didn’t like the terminology, calling it a Barrier or Wall, and then derided the idea that it had anything to do with the sharp decrease in suicide bombings, instead attributing it to increased policing by both PA police and Israeli security.

The most interesting thing he said, however, was in reaction to a question by Jim Duffy. The Dem media consultant asked what Rami woud do if he could wave a magic wand to solve the problem, and what he said was very interesting. The phrase that stood out to me is that it is a “clash of historical narratives.” In other words, both sides have their stories about the land and their history, and that those stories/history are compelling to each side, but that those narratives make it difficult to reach agreements. Another observation that they made is that there is no agreements on anything until everything is agreed to – which means there are no small compromises carried out until the big picture is solved. Very fascinating.

They were followed by Attorney Daniel Reisner, who is the country’s foremost expert in International Law, particularly specializing in asymmetrical warfare. To be fair, most in the group loved him (probably because they are Dems and he criticized the US’s handling of the terrorists at Gitmo). He was a compelling speaker, but not being a lawyer, it didn’t really hold my interest.

Reisner was followed by an Israeli Palestinian named Khaled Abu Toameh, the Palestinian Affairs correspondent for the Jerusalem Post and a producer/correspondent for NBC and others. He was quite frank and critical about the problems facing the Palestinian Authority, as well as Hamas, touching on governance, corruption, and terrorism. He held my interest very well.

(Part of the challenge – after taking Ambien the first night, I didn’t the second night, and at 3am, was stone cold awake, falling back asleep for an hour only at 5am. So, I was tired after a rainy day of with just one tour and nothing but seven meetings after that..)

I rallied for dinner (shocking), which we had at an Italian restaurant (Luciana) in the German Colony. Michael Medved’s brother, Jon, was our guest, and he gave us an in-depth briefing on Israel’s strong economy, particularly focusing on innovation and the high tech sector. He was quite interesting (and had to overcome the challenge of mourning his father’s death just ten days prior).

Next door was a wine store that ships overseas. However, when I walked in, I was informed it was closed (despite being unlocked and the salesperson was helping another customer). That was kind of strange – lights on, door unlocked, customer being helped, yet they didn’t want my money. Oh well. We walked a few blocks to a funky bar still in the German Colony – Tom Sawicki’s favorite place and enjoyed a few more beers/wines. On the way over, I had a good chat with one of our security guys – they weren’t talkative unless you approached them – then they were perfectly friendly.