OUT OF ISRAEL

Discourse Analysis in Action

I am currently in the middle of the analysis of the discourse on water in Palestine. And this is what it looks like "on paper" - just to give you an impression of what my office looks like...this is just one small part of the discourse:
This is a collection and prioritisation of topics mentioned in the fragments I am looking at - not a full list, as mentioned above.

Didactics

I have taken a break from PhD frenzy to participate in a workshop that was concerned with university didactics. What's knowledge, how does it get inside our heads, and what can a teacher do to facilitate this? Very interesting, and in a sense a psychological question, since the most important issue in my opinion is to reduce the students' fear or embarrassement. One of the most memorable sentences of the last four days has been "If I don't speak in the first two or three sessions of a seminar, I won't open my mouth in the rest". Luckily, there are a couple of methods which help to break the ice, to involve the students in active learning, and which motivate to try out new things and to think differently.
However, now I am back to work, which is an adventure in itself. The essence of discourse analysis is that you have no idea what is going to be the result of your analysis; you may have a working hypothesis, but are required to be as open as possible to different outcomes of the very close look you are taking on - in my case - oral data. This is highly fascinating on the one hand, and highly frightening on the other, since of course there's the possibility that everything's totally different from what you thought it would be like. So we will see what the Israeli and the Palestinian water discourses have in common ... or not.

PhD frenzy

I am currently working on my third and fourth chapters, having finished the theory chapter (No. 2) a while ago. The theoretical approach is critical discourse analysis combined with identity theories, and no, I cannot explain that in two sentences. The third chapter deals with the context in which the discourses I analyse are situated and from which they developed, starting with the first aliya 1882 and spanning the entire 20th century until today. Not an easy task, if anyone was wondering, and requires a lot of assiduity. Well. The fourth chapter is the heart of the thesis, the analysis of the interviews I conducted in Israel and Palestine last year. This is what I like to do best, due to my background in philology and linguistics. It is getting somewhere now, which is good. Even though my view on the thing differs from day to day, really. However, knowing that we are moving back to Hamburg next year, I have a lot of motivation to finish the project until the end of the year...

Interview and more

For those of you who are interested, here you can listen to an interview that was broadcasted on SWR 2 on the water issue both in the current Lebanon crisis and in general. The file includes the whole show (in German), the interview is roughly in the middle.
On a different note, and quite unlike this blog, really, I would like to recommend a movie. George Clooney's Good Night, and Good Luck about famous journalist Ed Murrow who had the courage to face Senator McCarthy in a fight that was not at all a sure win in the 50s is highly recommended. A lot of the things that were an issue back then, like censorship, influence of the media, particularly television, and the fact that accusation is not proof, are at the forefront of the news right now, regardless whether it's about Lebanon, Muslim extremists, the war on Iraq or any fact we do not hear much about and have to rely on so-called "reliable" sources for. It is up to us to look if there is something uncomfortable to know.

Being a reservist in the Israeli army

I have talked to the young father yesterday, who has been called in to serve as a reservist two days after I had left the country. Fortunately, he did not have to go up north, but is deployed close to Jerusalem. "It is part of living in this country", he said, rather laconically, when confronted with my problems to grasp his situation. As I noted earlier, my frame of reference for war or any situation like it stems from my grandfather's few statements about the second world war (even though a colleague of mine rightly pointed out that the war in ex-yugoslavia had been much closer in terms of time and space). In any case, the thought of my husband being called in to serve as a reservist in a war is something I find rather difficult to imagine. Nevertheless, I think that his statement may help to understand the Israeli public discourse or perception of the crisis up north. Living in Israel, regardless whether one was born there or has immigrated from some other place, includes to become part of or rather, to embrace the national myth of Israel as the David who has to fight against the Arab Goliath and cannot lose, not even once, since that would mean the end of the country. This myth has its roots in the origins of the Israeli state, but does it still fit reality? I don't think so. First of all, Israel is by no means comparable to the biblical David anymore. The country's political and military dominance has become almost proverbial in the last decades. Secondly, even if Israel were to "lose" the ongoing war against Hizb'Allah, the existence of the country would not be doubted. Or rather, and I am not intending to be cynical here, people like Ahmadineschad will say what they were saying before, but they will, because of this, remain on the periphery of the international political scene. The international community has accepted and welcomed Israel in its midth a long time ago.
It will take some time for this to be reflected in Israeli mythology, but I firmly believe that the variables with which the country had to deal when it was founded have changed profoundly in the last 25 years. There may even be the chance to find a kind of peaceful normality, even in the Middle East, where "normality", as a friend from Egypt has noted in a comment on this blog, is synonymous with insecurity, irrationality, and change. Rather postmodern, I would say.

News from Beirut

I have just talked to a friend who is working for the World Health Organisation, currently in Beirut. He was flown into Lebanon when everybody else had already been evacuated (I am of course talking about the internationals, since most Lebanese do not have the chance to leave the country, many of them can't even leave the South). The WHO's office has been attacked by demonstrators in his first week, and the staff has been evacuated to North Beirut. It's about 140 people of UN staff all in all, he says, and they are trying to recruit more every day. There are about 60 people waiting to be let into the country in Damascus, all set on the task to build a new base in Tyrus.
It does not feel good to have a friend in North Beirut, even if he keeps telling me that the Israeli attacks are locally limited. On the other hand, I think it is necessary to show the Lebanese that the international community does care enough to send people to help rebuild the country. Because this is what has to and doubtless will happen. Maybe the UN resolution France and the US have worked out this weekend will at least stop the hardship of both peoples.
I would also like to bring to your attention that the current pope has been rather outspoken on the conflict between Israel and the Hizb'Allah (read about it here). I am not writing this because I am a big fan of the Roman Catholic church, but because I think spiritual leaders of all denominations taking a stance on what is happening may actually help. Perhaps people like Chamenei would listen to them rather than to politicians?

Hot days and dark prospects

I have spent some time with a Palestinian from Ramallah yesterday, who came to Heidelberg for a visit. We spent a couple of hours strolling through town, with the picturesque silhouette of the castle and old city contrasting sharply with the main topic of our conversation. His first-hand experience with the result of the crisis in Lebanon/northern Israel on the Palestinian Territories is on the one hand that the frequent meetings he has with Israeli academics are suffering from an atmosphere that is cooling off rapidly. On the other hand, he says the life in Ramallah has been disrupted by heightened security measures, with longer closures etc. The atmosphere is deteriorating there, too, with many sympathies flying towards Hamas and Hizbullah, even from secular people who are still working with the Israelis (the latter is something that's unique for the water sector, I might add).
The major problem with this is, however, not today, but tomorrow. The children who are now in Israel, Palestine and Lebanon, experiencing the crisis, will in five to fifteen years be the students and young professionals responsible for their countries' future. Nothing is stronger than personal experience with violence and humiliation, and nothing is more difficult to overcome in a situation of conflict. At some point, all parties in the Middle East will have to understand this, and stop putting military logic over psychology.

Statistics about Lebanon

This is just to add some background (which may be polemic at times, I admit) to the daily news of these days.

1. Lebanon has 18 religious communities.

2. It has 40 daily newspapers.

3. It has 42 universities.

4. It has over 100 banks (that is banks and not branches of a bank).

5. 70% of the students are in private schools.

6. 40% of the Lebanese people are Christians (this is the highest percent all the Arab countries).

7. There's 1 doctor per 10 people in Lebanon (In Europe & America, there's 1 doctor per 100 people).

8. The name LEBANON appears 75 times in the Old Testament.

9. The name CEDAR (Lebanon's tree) appears 75 times too in the Old Testament.

10. Beirut was destroyed and rebuilt 7 times (this is why it's compared to The Phoenix).

11. There are 3.5 Million Lebanese in Lebanon.

12. There are around 10 Million Lebanese outside Lebanon.

OTHER INTERESTING FACTS:

1. Lebanon was occupied by many countries: Egyptians-Hittites-Assyrians- Babylonians- Persians- Alexander the Great's Army- the Roman Empire-Byzantine- the Arabian Peninsula-The Crusaders-the Ottoman Empire- Britain-France- Israel- Syria.

2. Byblos (city in Lebanon) is the oldest, continuously inhabitated city in the world.

3. Lebanon's name has been around for 4,000 yrs non- stop (it's the oldest country/ nation's name in the world).

4. Lebanon is the only Asian/African country that doesn't have a desert.

5. There are 15 rivers in Lebanon (all of them coming from its own mountains).

6. Lebanon is one of the most populated countries in its archeological sites, in the world.

7. The first alphabet was created in Byblos (city in Lebanon).

8. The only remaining temple of Jupiter (the main Roman god) is in Baalbeck, Lebanon (The City of the Sun).

9. The name of BYBLOS comes from the bible.

10. Lebanon is the country that has the most books written about it.

11. Lebanon is the only non-dictatorial country in the Arab world (it has a President!).

12. According to Christianity Jesus Christ made his 1st miracle in Lebanon, in Sidon (The miracle of turning water into wine).

13. The Phoenicians (Original People of Lebanon) built the 1st boat, and they were the first to sail ever.

14. Phoenicians also reached America long before Christopher Columbus did.

15. The 1st law school in the world was built in Lebanon, in Downtown Beirut.

16. People say that the cedars were planted by God's own hands (This is why they're called "The Cedars of God", and this is why Lebanon is called by many "God's Country on Earth."

Hoping for the best

The day after I left Israel, the hydrogeologist, aka the young father, has been called to the army as a reservist. He did not, luckily, have to go up north, but is taking up the place of professional soldiers hitherto employed in the Westbank who have now presumably been relocated to southern Lebanon. The other hydrogeologist has left the country on that same day.
I also wanted to point out to you a new blog by the Israeli Arab from Haifa I have written about earlier. If you want first-hand news from the region, click here.

One happy return

After a very early start by Nesher taxi, two shaky landings and more driving, I have arrived home safely to a country that is in fact hotter than Jerusalem was these days. Given that on the flight from Tel Aviv to Istanbul, it seemed for something like 15 minutes that the crew intended to DRIVE to the Bosporus instead of fly, I was quite happy with it all only taking one day, even though I can neither recommend the food on Turkish Airlines nor the landing skills of their pilots.
The situation in Northern Israel and Southern Lebanon, and, by the way, Gaza, is not improving, even though we all very much want to believe that since Condi is coming to visit and Javier Solana and Kofi Annan are now at least talking about it. If you are interested in a very critical look on what's happening, you can listen to an interview by one Ali Abunimah, co-founder of electronicintifada.net and researcher at Chicago University, who appeared on a show called "Beneath the Surface with Jerry Quickley" on Wednesday, July 19th, to discuss the Israeli attacks on Lebanon. It is about 12 minutes long and gives a rather different look on that thing we are all reading about every day, so try it here.