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By Tom Elia
April 21,2002
The New Editor
An interesting tale emerged amidst the allegations by many Europeans and Palestinians that a
massacre of hundreds, if not thousands, of Palestinian innocents occurred at the hands of the
Israeli military in the city of Jenin -- a tale that the Israelis fervently deny.
It seems that the Israeli military caught on camera what appeared to be a Palestinian burial
procession where the recently departed 'victim' of the violence miraculously leapt to his feet
and ran away from the stretcher from which he was being borne. Many interested observers,
including the Israelis, claim that the Palestinians staged fictitious events like this in order to
inflate the number of people reportedly killed in an attempt to distort the truth.
However, a group called LAW-The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights &
The Environment denied this, explaining in a press release that the Israelis "distorted" the
facts of the events captured on tape.
You see, the uncommon vigor of the recently departed victim of Israeli war atrocities was
not the result of anything but a Palestinian film producer's latest project, says this august
organization: "LAW has found evidence that at the same time an Israeli military camera shot
what it said was a fake 'burial', a Palestinian producer was shooting a film at the same site.
What was perceived as a staged 'burial' was actually acting for a film." This, where an
occupation force that had recently committed a "massacre" was operating.
What dedication to art.
It is a well-known fact that the Palestinian arts community (as well as much of the Arab
world's arts community, for that matter) is very much misunderstood. There are many
misinterpreted events that have cast a pall over those freedom-loving, free-wielding,
democratic Arab societies and their vibrant arts community -- just like the misunderstanding
in Jenin.
Here are some examples of the world's other misunderstandings of the Arab art world:
The fatwa issued by Muslim clerics on Salmon Rushdie for penning the book, "Satanic
Verses," that 'forced' the author into hiding, was misinterpreted by the uninformed West to
be a death penalty on Rushdie and not the ambitious piece of performance art in the form of
the popular Islamic game show, "Hide-and-Seek," that it actually was. According to the Arab
Organization for Kick-The-Can, Come-Over-Red-Rover, Other Fun Games, and Aluminum
Recycling, Muslim clerics weren't able to clarify that incorrect perception due to the fact that
they were "too busy counting to 10 million 'Mississippi's'" before they began their search for
the author, a spokesman for the group said. "Rushdie," the spokesman said, "didn't speak out
about the true nature of the game because he didn't want to give his hiding place away,
which I understand was really quite good."
Another lack of understanding concerns the large weapons shipment (including a ton of the
deadly explosive, C4) sent to the PLO from Iran that was intercepted recently by the Israeli
military. What seems to be an attempt at escalating the conflict in Israel was, in reality,
simply a shipment of special effects materials for the new Iranian big-screen thriller, "Jihad,
Pt. 29." According to a press release from a Syrian group called The Democracy Movement
For the Protection of the Order of the Veil, "we're just trying to create a fun atmosphere for
movie goers."
The rash of over 70 suicide bombings in Israel over the last two years is also vastly
misunderstood. These are not acts of violent political protest, but actually part of an
ambitious master's thesis by a Palestinian documentary filmmaker, comparing and
contrasting his people's struggle for independence with that of India's successful and
non-violent struggle with England about a half a century ago. The film project, which is
tentatively titled, "Why Peaceful Protests Work Best -- Proof," is underwritten, in part, by the
Taliban Royal Order of Moose and Film Academy. "Any curtailment of the special-effects
performed by our teenaged stunt men represents an unfair muzzling of the creative process
of this up-and-coming young film documentarian," said a spokesman for the group.
Likewise, reports circulating in Saudi Arabia that Jews use the blood of Muslims and
Christians in making holiday meals "was misunderstood and taken out of context," said a
spokesman for the Saudi Cooking Channel.
These simple misunderstandings of the Arab arts community (and there are many more)
reflect the lack of communication between the parties and our Philistine notion of what
makes the Arab world tick, tick, tick.
If only we would listen, we might better understand.
Tom Elia is a contributing editor for The New Editor.
Paul Geary
David Rogers