I’m back to recovering my faith in humanity and in Israel, too. See this great video of Israeli soldiers partying Gangnam style with Palestinians:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9boSJdZ8gFQ#t=18
This is the great power of art. Or what young people see as art. Here is what happened:
The soldiers entered the club while on patrol on Monday, after hearing the song Gangnam Style by Psy coming from the building.
So they heard the music and simply couldn’t resist joining the fun. These soldiers are just kids who should be dancing and partying together instead of waging a fratricidal war that serves somebody else’s interests.
Of course, the soldiers’ behavior was not appreciated by the army:
The army has suspended the soldiers from duty until the end of the investigation, the television station said, quoting the IDF as saying that it views the incident with utmost gravity.
The army is terrified that the soldiers will not be able to shoot at the people with whom they have managed to share a human experience instead of seeing them as vicious enemies.
Here is a comment from the linked article that makes a lot of sense:
it proves one thing that underneath the fake identities we are assigned from birth , like religion, nationalism, ethinicities, and politics, everyone enjoys a good party and proximity to people makes them build trust.
Yes. Let’s forget all this collective identities crap and just have ourselves a grand old time.
Clarissa's Blog 
I loved this. Thanks for sharing. It made me feel hopeful too.
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A Ukrainian-Canadian-American blogger writing about Palestinians dancing with Israelis to a Korean song.
The modern world is brilliant.
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“A Ukrainian-Canadian-American blogger writing about Palestinians dancing with Israelis to a Korean song”
– . . . writing in English while preparing to go teach Spanish and talking on the phone in Russian. 🙂 🙂
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// A Ukrainian-Canadian-American blogger
Jewish too.
I liked another comment:
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In our volatile situation, in a choice between heart and head, I think we need to allow the head to rule.
I was touched by the fact that despite our differences, we could find common ground in music and dance, and happy that our soldiers could even enjoy the festive atmosphere of our Arab neighbors, and that in that festive atmosphere, they could even dance with soldiers they consider the enemy. That’s my heart speaking.
But my head trumps it. A couple of soldiers in a closed building with the enemy that they are patrolling against. With that soldier on the shoulders of the Arab, it was apparent that they could easily have taken his weapon and killed or kidnapped them. That is simply inexcusable. The person who posted that we paid 1000 terrorists for another soldier (Gilad Shalit), and we must never be in that position again, is correct.
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A Ukrainian-Canadian-American blogger
Jewish too.(el)
Yep, a mutt like the rest of us on this spinning rock. 😉
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“A couple of soldiers in a closed building with the enemy that they are patrolling against. ”
– So every Palestinian is an enemy by default?? The soldiers are “patrolling against” peaceful people?? I hope this is not the commonly shared position because it is not very heartening.
‘With that soldier on the shoulders of the Arab, it was apparent that they could easily have taken his weapon and killed or kidnapped them.’
– And every time you get into a car you have a higher risk of dying than in any other daily situation. Except when you get in the shower. Let’s not drive or wash ourselves!
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// – So every Palestinian is an enemy by default??
Our peoples are at war. Hebron is a hot spot. Unfortunately, but true.
I began googling and found something interesting and disturbing:
In English one can google “settlers attack palestinians” and see “Jews being bad”. Or “Israeli settler violence” at wiki.
Surprisingly even for cynical me, one can’t easily find the opposite direction. But, believe me, it’s always going on: settlers’ cars being stoned and shot at, terror acts being planned and (rarely because of Israeli superior army) even succeed, like in murder of Fogel family including their three-month-old infant (“Itamar attack” in wiki).
In English I found only this from August 2010, but it’s constantly going on (it is in Israeli papers, but not really in English press, as I see):
Four Israeli settlers shot dead on eve of White House talks
Hamas gunmen open fire on car along main road to West Bank city of Hebron in incident that could jeopardise vital peace talks
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/aug/31/israelis-shot-dead-west-bank
// The soldiers are “patrolling against” peaceful people??
Read more to find out how “peaceful” Hebron is.
// – And every time you get into a car you have a higher risk of dying than in any other daily situation.
You surely understand the difference yourself. This is too serious to joke about for me.
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“Our peoples are at war.”
– What would constitute a victory in the war? Or is this war meant to go on forever?
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Sometimes art mimicks life………
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// I’m back to recovering my faith … in Israel
One of commenters also thought about Israeli PR:
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No matter how (very) risky their behavior was, it was also highly positive for Israel. Imagine it had turned sour, what a glorious media event this would have been: Israeli soldiers kidnapped or killed by Pali mob for having been dancing – dancing!!! – with them! For me these guys are nothing short of heroes, ready to give their lives for Israel and for peace … – Shalom.
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Another right comment:
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Chilling out as a hopeful sign for peace? However, I wonder what some of their more violent Arab compatriots will do to those identified dancing with an Israeli soldier…
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A curious historical fact:
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Reminds of a true incident during World War I when on Christmas Eve British and German troops put down their arms, left their trenches, and joined in no-man’s land to sing Christmas songs and play soccer. The next day the two armies’ high commands were so outraged, that they broke up the units and transferred the soldiers into different units. I believe Paul McCartney wrote a song about this and had an MTV video on it.
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But it hasn’t changed anithing in WW1. So, I don’t have any bigger hopes in anything.
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// what a glorious media event this would have been: Israeli soldiers kidnapped or killed by Pali mob for having been dancing – dancing!!! – with them!
To be clear, I think this comment is horribly cynical. Simply found it very ironic that he exactly thought about PR effect of the video, which you mentioned experiencing in the post.
I don’t think it woud’ve been “a glorious media event”. The world wouldn’t care untill Israel would react by attacking, then the world would – against Israel. In the end, we would release more terrorists with “blood on their hands” (Hebrew expression), like in Shalit case.
Btw, tomorrow Yediot paper will include a long interview with Shalit about his return to normal life and future plans. Imagine how “interesting / glorious” paper could’ve been, if it included the story of 2 new “Shalits.”
An article I read today compared the difference between US and Israeli treatment of their captive soldiers. Unlike Israel, US doesn’t go to great lengths to free them. Thus, when Israeli soldiers unnecessary endanger themselves, they endanger all Israeli Jews because of the future price paid for their release.
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Shalit was a pretext. If needed, a dozen more can be organized with ease.
Now you have gone and made me cynical. 🙂
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@el: so do you believe that the soldiers were in the wrong and this was a bad thing? I personally found the video very moving.
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“// I’m back to recovering my faith … in Israel
One of commenters also thought about Israeli PR”
– And now I’m back to losing the faith. 🙂 This will make me psychotic. 🙂 🙂
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// – And now I’m back to losing the faith. 🙂 This will make me psychotic.
This is the price of being an intellectual.
Hard thoughts – in, naive blind optimism – out.
Reminded of one poem I like:
91 To each his sufferings: all are men,
92 Condemned alike to groan;
93 The tender for another’s pain,
94 The unfeeling for his own.
95 Yet ah! why should they know their fate?
96 Since sorrow never comes too late,
97 And happiness too swiftly flies.
98 Thought would destroy their paradise.
99 No more; where ignorance is bliss,
100 ‘Tis folly to be wise.
http://www.thomasgray.org/cgi-bin/display.cgi?text=odec
For some reason, most poems I like are melancholy, similar to this one.
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“This is the price of being an intellectual.
Hard thoughts – in, naive blind optimism – out.”
– You are right but I have 13 days to go before delivery so I’m euphoric.
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// @el: so do you believe that the soldiers were in the wrong and this was a bad thing? I personally found the video very moving.
They were in the wrong. And the video is moving, if you don’t stop to think more about it. Both can be true at once.
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// – What would constitute a victory in the war? Or is this war meant to go on forever?
Real peace treaty, which I think will include the creation of Palestinian state. But peace won’t come immediately after its creation. It most likely will get much worse before it gets better.
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One can’t demand of Israel to be for Palestinian state creation since even people like me, who don’t support “Greater Israel” view ( territory, “from the river to the sea”) , can’t be for it. Two things:
1) if after the state’s creation things will get much worse for Israel, why should I be for many Israeli Jews dying now, when I can die too?
2) Currently Palestinians don’t seem to be organized and willing to follow a treaty, which Israel would be able to accept. F.e. without “right of return” of Palestinians and agreeing to stop demands for more land, once a treaty is signed. If all peoples, religions and countries evolve gradually, Palestinians may not be able yet to be peaceful neighbors. Look at Syria today. Palestinians aren’t so bad, according to my understanding, but have their own bitter inner conflicts in quantities: Muslim vs Christian Arabs, Hamas vs Fatah, more vs less religious.
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