Arriving at the door of the Cinematheque, I stripped off my soaking pants and rain jacket. Underneath I was wearing a pair of jeans, pajamas, and an “outer coat,” a sweatshirt, a thin hoodie, and a t-shirt. I walked down the stairs to Theater #2 hoping to see 77 Steps, a documentary by a Palestinian-Israeli filmmaker about coming of age, identity, Palestine, and Israel… The catalogue read “subtitled in English.” Three minutes before the movie began, a lady announced that it would only be in Hebrew and Arabic- no English subtitles. So I picked up my jacket and dripping wet outer pants, which I had carefully spread over two seats, and set off for Abu Tor.

 

My day up until then had not been that tiresome.

Figuring out the two buses I needed to get to the Israel Museum was fairly easy. When the driver said he didn’t speak English, I addressed the entire bus with: “Does anyone speak English?” A nice girl from Atlanta moved over, so I could join her. While chatting and not thinking, I managed to say Palestinian-Israeli art (as an interest of mine). Now, there are many variations and labels for what this area of the world and the people are called- Israel, Israel-Palestine, Israel/ Palestine, Israel and the West Bank, Israel and the Occupied Territories. Then there are the Jews, Arabs, Muslims, Christians, Druze, Palestinians, Israelis, Israeli-Palestinians, Arab-Israelis, but no one says Palestinian-Israelis. Oh well. As I said the girl, a piano teacher, was very nice.

 

Where else can you go to see the Dead Sea Scrolls, a Japanese Zen garden, Impressionist paintings, a magic lantern exhibit, and several synagogues? The Israel Museum is one of the “best” in the world. In 2008 when I was last in Israel, it was undergoing a multi- million dollar overhaul. I joined the 2:00 tour of the Contemporary Art gallery. I joined it with Barbara, our South African, former pharmacist guide who made aliyah 35 years ago, and one other man, an American at the end of his trip to Israel. Barbara’s docent training consisted of an extensive course on art history and constant updating of her art history background. A delightful combination of erudition, charm and colorful anecdote, she led the two of us through the gallery explaining museum policy, giving interesting context to each representative work she stopped at, and adding colorful bits about donors and decadent artists.

 

After saying good-bye to Barbara and Sam, I headed to the Israeli galleries and watched the short film: Israeli Art the First 100
Years. Perfect for my project, “Teaching Israeli and Palestinian Identity through Arts,” the documentary explained the beginning of Israeli art with Bezalel movement and then showed how each war (beginning with the 1929 Arab riots) or major change in Israeli society shifted the nature of art and the artists’ attitudes especially toward Arabs as portrayed through art. Although the film did not include much Palestinian art, it did have extensive and interesting commentary about the Israeli artists who were and are reflecting Palestinian identity and treatment.

To complete the day’s visit, I watched Sharif Waked’s remarkable seven minute video “Chic Point: Fashion for Israeli Checkpoints” http://universes-in-universe.org/eng/nafas/articles/2005/waked.” The installation contains a series of documented pictures of Arab men at check points in such places as Jenin, Ramallah, Bethlehem, Kalandiya, Jerusalem, Hebron, Nablus, and Gaza City. All stand at gunpoint with exposed chests and stomachs. Then the fashion show begins with a series of incredibly handsome Arab men walking the runway and wearing clothing that either comes apart, is unzipped, or rolled up to reveal vulnerable torsos, and it looked to me, like tiny bullet holes.

I intend to visit the Umm el-Fahem art gallery http://umelfahemgallery.org/ curated and founded by Said Abu Shakra http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/23/arts/23iht-rartisrael23.html?pagewanted=all. It is in the Arab city of Umm el-Fahem which lies in the eastern part of Israel, near the seam line separating the State of Israel from the Palestinian Authority.

 

I do have a membership. Next Monday is the guided tour of the Israeli Galleries. And I really need to find a copy of that movie!