A New Children’s TV Series about the Bi-Lingual School

Last week, my husband Ron and I saw a preview of the first two episodes of the new television series called Madrassa, which is a TV series about Arab and Jewish kids studying together in a bi-lingual school in Jerusalem. This new series, written by the well-known Israeli Arab author Sayed Kashua (Dancing Arabs 2002, Track Changes 2020) and directed by Gur Alfie, an Israeli actor, comedian, writer and director, is a new joint project of Educational TV in Israel and the Arabic TV channel in Israel, called Makan 33. Ron and I wrote this review together.

While this TV series is completely fictional, it is important to state that there is a bi-lingual school in Jerusalem, from kindergarten through 12th grade, which is part of the Hand in Hand Educational Network that promotes Arab-Jewish Education in several locations in Israel.

Madrassa (in Hebrew and Arabic, as is the school that it depicts) was humorous, insightful (stereotypes notwithstanding) and even poignant.  The episodes that we viewed were very well done. They grappled with serious issues that Arab and Jewish students face, especially in their high school years, as they learn and socialize together. In addition, the series is done with a sense of humor, which is the well-known style of Sayed Kashua which we remember well from his popular television series, Arab Labor (previously reviewed on this blog), which ran for several years in Israel and which was translated into English for viewers abroad, who wanted to learn about relations between Arabs and Jews in Israel.

Following the screening of the two episodes, we listened to a panel of some of the bright, vivacious young Israeli Arab and Jewish actors in the series. Just seeing them together on the stage, so friendly and cooperative, was symbolic of their positive experience in making this series together, which they clearly all enjoyed. They are now friends from doing this.

Moreover, they had important things to say to us. For example, there was an issue raised in one of the episodes of a high school girl who decides to come to school at the beginning of the new school year wearing a hijab (a Muslim head covering) which is a great shock to the secular Arabs and Jews who are her friends in the school on the TV program. We learned from the actress who played this girl that this was based on a real story in the actual school. One of the male actors, who graduated from the Hand in Hand school in Jerusalem told us that this was an issue because most of the students who attended the school, from both sides, were secular, and it took some time for them to learn to live with a religious student in their class.

Another actress was asked about how she felt about dealing with these sensitive issues with a sense of humor. Her answer was poignant: “It is better to have love than hatred!” This basically summed up her attitude to the whole series. She sees this as the message of the series.

The young actors and actresses –who are clearly very much involved now in this show—were interviewed by an Israeli website called Serugim where they spoke similarly about how much they enjoyed making this series together and how important the message of mutual understanding is for Israeli society today. Among other things they said: “We hope that the viewers will laugh and love—it’s all permissible.” They have imbibed Sayeed Kashua’s method and message of using humor to help deal with difficult issues. Since the screening of these initial episodes, they have been interviewed in several Israeli websites and newspapers, which is an indication that this series is already beginning to make some noise in Israeli society, which is a good thing! In one of the interviews, for the website called Walla, the authors of the article say that with all the dilemmas and difficulties involved, this series “points to an alternative way” for Israeli society.

This series will now be screened on Educational TV and Arabic TV in the weeks ahead. It will also be streamed.  In these difficult days, with the rise of an extreme right-wing government in Israel, we hope it promotes greater understanding among Arabs and Jews in Israel.

The series is available from Go2Films. 

Dancing Arabs

 Dancing Arabs is the latest film by acclaimed Israeli filmmaker Eran Riklis -- well-known for his previous films -- Cup Final, Syrian Bride, Lemon Tree, The Human Resources Manager and Zaytoun.  The script is based on two semi-autobiographical novels by Sayed Kashua, Israeli Palestinian columnist and author. Kashua is also well-known to Israeli film-going audiences for his TV comedy series, Arab Labor. 

Dancing Arabs premiered at the Jerusalem Film Festival this week.  Here is a guest blog posting, written jointly by my daughters, Sari, Dahlia and Ariella Kronish and one of my sons-in-law, Josh Maudlin.   

Like Kashua himself, the main character, Iyad, is from the Palestinian Israeli town of Tira. The film begins with a humorous, somewhat slapstick, portrayal of his childhood. When he nears high school age his parents decide to send him to an elitist Jewish boarding school in West Jerusalem, where most of the film takes place. As Iyad becomes independent and matures, he faces the complexities of his multi-faceted identity.

Surrounded by people who constantly mispronounce his name, Iyad finds himself in limbo between his Israeli and Palestinian identities. This dichotomy is portrayed in depth as Iyad examines his friendships and his loyalties to both sides, and it raises serious questions about the status of the Palestinians living in Israeli society today.

One of the relationships is with a young woman in his class. On the one hand, for the majority of the film, the couple is very private about their love for each other. On the other hand, the intimate sex scene transpires on a stage perhaps suggesting the very public nature of their relationship. It is not about two individuals, but about who and what they represent. 

Considering the current situation (Summer 2014 - Rockets falling throughout Israel), one of the more chilling moments in the film, is the siren that is heard in Tira, while the family is gathered around the TV watching the first Gulf War and debating American involvement. The stereotyped characters run up to "dance on the roof" celebrating the retribution against the Zionist occupiers. Iyad and his mother connect over their ambivalent feelings. Here we realize that Iyad is an outsider even among his own family. 

The film was planned for release in cinemas around Israel parallel to its opening at the festival. However, as Riklis himself said at the post screening Q+A: "it simply made no sense to hang up huge billboards all over the country with the phrase 'Dancing Arabs' given the present situation."

The Riklis-Kashua duo has produced a hard hitting, well-paced and important film. The excellent script, written by Kashua as a self-adaptation of two of his own books, is interpreted sensitively by Riklis, as he himself reflected: "I tried to bring sense and sensitivity to the forefront - two things we need more of around here." Kashua, on the other hand, is on his way to Chicago for a hiatus from the conflict, perhaps no different than Iyad himself who contemplates whether he will be able to make a life for himself in his homeland.

Dancing Arabs is available from The Match Factory.

A Disappearing Act

The Israeli TV sitcom, Arab Labor, scripted by Sayed Kashua, has just begun its third season.  This TV series has done more than any other form of cultural expression to bring Israeli Arabs into the homes and hearts of mainstream Israel, using humor to break barriers and combat stereotypes.

The main character, Amjad, is a Palestinian journalist, living in a Jewish neighborhood in Jerusalem with his family.  In this recent episode, his neighbors are trying to sell their apartment.  Amjad goes to welcome the potential buyers, to introduce himself, and to talk to them about the wonderful tenants in the building.  This scares away the buyers and the neighbors ask him to lower his profile or disappear. 

Having invested most of his energies in trying to prove that Arabs and Jews can live together, Amjad is truly offended.  He decides to try to go on the TV show, Big Brother, in order to have an opportunity to express his feelings publicly.  Instead, Big Brother gives him a mission to hide his identity and pretend to be a Jew, while the rest of the participants must try to discover who is the Arab among them.

Thisepisode can be seen on the web in Arabic and Hebrew.

This need to hide your identity, to pretend to be someone you're not, and to disappear completely was also the main message of a brilliant short drama, The Magician (20 minutes, 1993).  This short was directed by Rashid Mashrawi, a Palestinian from Gaza who moved to Ramallah after the Oslo agreements. He has directed a number of feature films, including Haifa, Curfew, and more recently, Laila's Birthday.

 

The Magician takes place in a Tel Aviv nightclub, a short while before opening.  The owner, a blatant chauvinist, is playing backgammon with a friend, while his girlfriend sits by chewing gum. The other characters in the nightclub represent various sectors in Israeli society: there is a new immigrant from Russia, who stands by tuning his violin, a college student working as a waitress, and an Arab washing dishes in the kitchen.

A magician drops by, looking for work. His expertise is making people vanish! None of the people present in the room are willing to let the magician demonstrate this skill on them, so they ask Ahmed, the Arab kitchen worker, to volunteer. But after the magician causes him to vanish, he finds it difficult to bring him back. Instead, he manages to conjure up another Russian immigrant. The new Russian is an unemployed musician, and is also looking for work, but he is unwilling to take Ahmed’s place in the kitchen. The magician therefore makes him vanish again. Nobody seems to care that Ahmed is missing, but they do need someone to take over his job washing dishes in the kitchen.

The filmmaker is making a comment about the invisibility of Arabs within Israeli society.

When I worked with a team of people studying films for coexistence education, we discussed this film in depth and paid particular attention to this theme of the invisibility of Palestinians --

"The Arab worker, Ahmed, is present in the club only in the context of his job in the kitchen. He has no real existence – a fact that raises the subject of Israeli Arabs and their place in Israeli society. Israeli Arabs are familiar to many Jews only in the context of jobs they perform. The media pays scant attention to what is happening within Arab society in Israel, which suffers from economic, civic, political and social discrimination. All these facts, along with the very use of the term 'Arab sector,' reflect the status of Israeli Arabs as a marginalized national minority. From the point of view of the Jewish majority, they are 'transparent,' 'invisible,' 'erased'.The pub owner thus has no qualms about causing Ahmed to disappear, since he is already 'invisible,' to a large extent, by virtue of his status in the public discourse."

(excerpted from Understanding One Another – The Use of Film for Coexistence Education, published by the Interreligious Coordinating Council in Israel).

As we see from these film and TV expressions, deep down inside, Israelis wish that the Palestinians would just go away, vanish, disappear.  Last night, I heard Prof. Mohammed Dajani, Palestinian professor at Al Quds University and the founder of a moderate Muslim organization called "Wasatia"   speak to a foreign audience.  When you ask Palestinians and Israelis about their big dreams, he said, they wish the other would just disappear. But when they get realistic and talk about their small hopes, they talk about compromise, about establishing two states and sharing this land, and about getting along together. This comment gave the audience some sense of hope that perhaps continued invisibility is not the way of the future.

Sayed Kashua: Forever Scared

This documentary film, directed by Dorit Zimbalist, provides an insightful portrait of an intelligent and expressive Israeli Arab author, a man who straddles two cultures, and sees himself as a voice for Arabs who are citizens of Israel. Sayed Kashua is well-known in Israeli society. In the film, we see as he reaches out to make an impact by writing a weekly column for the weekend Ha'aretz magazine, scripting the TV series Arab Labor (which has been reviewed on this blog), and speaking at high schools and to groups of soldiers.

An important novelist and commentator, Kashua has become the voice of satire and criticism, especially dealing with how Israeli society treats the Arab minority in its midst. His TV series, which brought the portrayal of Israeli Arabs to prime time TV, is about a man who wants more than anything else to be accepted within Israeli society. But he never can be. Even though the series won an award for Best TV series at the Jerusalem Film Festival, it brought Kashua a lot of criticism from within the Arab community.

This honest documentary provides an in-depth and hard-hitting look at the man, the father, the spokesman, exposing some of his innermost and personal feelings and fears.

The film is available from Ruth Diskin Films.