{"id":4930,"date":"2006-06-21T19:33:00","date_gmt":"2006-06-21T16:33:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2024-12-14T19:13:29","modified_gmt":"2024-12-14T17:13:29","slug":"epalestine-palestinians-dance-for","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/2006\/06\/epalestine-palestinians-dance-for\/","title":{"rendered":"Palestinians dance for peace in USA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dear friends,  <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

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My nephew, Yanal Hamodah, is part of the Al-Raja Debkha Dance Group<\/strong>.  Their schedule may be found at: <\/span><\/font>http:\/\/www.holyland-lutherans.org\/news.htm<\/span><\/font><\/a> .  Do try to attend one of their performances.  You will not be let down.  They are in the States till Aug 1.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

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Saluting cultural resistance,<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

Sam<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

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chicagotribune.com         <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

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Palestinians dance for peace  <\/strong><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

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A student troupe from Ramallah on tour in the U.S. is using dance to share their culture and help ease tensions in the Middle East<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

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By Manya A. Brachear<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

Tribune staff reporter  <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

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June 16, 2006  <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

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For generations, Saba Nader’s Palestinian ancestors have ushered in harvests, marriages and new babies with the traditional dance steps of "debka."  <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

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As a student at the Evangelical Lutheran School of Hope in Ramallah, in the West Bank, Nader, 17, now hopes her folkloric footwork will usher in a new era of peace in the Middle East.  <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

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Launching their first American tour at Concordia University in River Forest earlier this week, Nader and other members of Al Raja, the school’s traditional dance troupe, presented Palestinian love stories of courtship, betrayal and reconciliation through song and dance.  <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

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"We want to show the world that Palestinians can love," said Nader, a Muslim who has attended the Lutheran school for six years. "The big message is peace and love. Although we have a bad situation back there in Palestine, we’re trying to keep our faith alive."  <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

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The invitation to Al Raja from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is part of a churchwide campaign called "Peace Not Walls," one of several attempts by mainline Protestant denominations to engage in the Middle East. The Presbyterian Church USA will decide next week, for example, whether to continue its process of divesting stocks in companies that they say enable Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories. Episcopalians also are weighing options this week at their General Convention.  <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

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Divestment plans have drawn criticism from U.S. Jews, who welcome the churches’ efforts to promote peace in the Middle East but question whether some of the chosen methods, divestment in particular, will achieve that effect.  <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

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The Evangelical Lutheran campaign does not include a financial component but does denounce the concrete barrier built to separate Israeli and Palestinian territories. Church officials say the wall keeps patients from entering the Lutheran World Federation’s Augusta Victoria Hospital, which provides basic health care to Palestinian patients. The wall also has impeded children from attending Lutheran schools in the region.  <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

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The campaign addresses the fate of Palestinian Christians in the Holy Land by funding a housing project that will provide affordable apartments to Palestinian Christians.  <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

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Currently, Christians make up only 2 percent of the Palestinian population and emigration continues to deplete that number, said Palestinian Bishop Munib Younan, leader of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land. In fact, most of the dancers will be able to connect with relatives during their U.S. visit.  <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

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It is important for the dancers to show Americans how they benefit from Lutheran ministries and how they can co-exist with people of other faiths, Younan said. The dance troupe includes both Muslims and Christians. It does not include Israelis, Younan said, because Israelis do not attend schools in Palestinian territory.  <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

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"After 20 years, if there are no Palestinian Christians, we will ask [Americans]: `Why didn’t you help us stay in the country?’" said Younan, who was in Chicago for the dancers’ American debut. "What is a Holy Land without Christians who have been there for the last 2,000 years?"  <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

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Christoph Schneider-Yattara, the church’s associate director for companionship, education and advocacy for the Middle East, said altering the U.S. perception of Palestinians is one of the church’s global missions.  <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

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"For us, bringing people to share their stories, share their art and their dance with us is a way to give people an opportunity to engage and give Americans a chance to know Palestinians," he said. The message is not pro-Israel or pro-Palestinian, he said. It is pro-peace.  <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

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Emily Soloff, executive director of the Chicago chapter of the American Jewish Committee, applauds the tour as a celebration of Palestinian identity and culture. She also emphasizes the importance of preserving the indigenous Christian community, but she questions how helpful it is to portray the Palestinian dancers as victims of Israeli-imposed restrictions.  <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

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If Israel has limited their freedoms, that is because Palestinian leaders have not reined in terrorists, Soloff said.  <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

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"Innocence gets caught up with the guilty, and that’s the great tragedy in this conflict," she said. "If the goal is to find peaceful solutions, then we have to find ways to bring Palestinians and Israelis together. … On neutral ground, they can do that in ways that are difficult to do in the Middle East."  <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

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Delbert Leppke, a retired engineer who serves on the Chicago Lutheran synod’s working group on the Middle East, said he thought it was important to encourage the dancers’ talents and expose them to another part of the world.  <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

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"The young people who are going to the Lutheran schools over there need some help to see the rest of the world a bit because they really are isolated under the occupation," he said.  <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

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Nader is an exception. She has studied in Italy, where she lived with a Roman Catholic family, and traveled to Norway with the dance troupe last year. She does not see these opportunities as a way to escape the gunfire and curfews.  <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

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"It’s a way to show the world the many faces of Palestinians," she said.  <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

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———-  <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

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mbrachear@tribune.com  <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

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Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune  <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

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http:\/\/www.chicagotribune.com\/news\/local\/chicago\/chi-0606160286jun16,1,1195799,print.story<\/span><\/font><\/a><\/p>\n

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———————————————————————–<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

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epalestine-subscribe@lists.riseup.net<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear friends,  My nephew, Yanal Hamodah, is part of the Al-Raja Debkha Dance Group.  Their schedule may be found at: http:\/\/www.holyland-lutherans.org\/news.htm .  Do try to attend one of their performances.  You will not be let down.  They are in the States till Aug 1. Saluting cultural resistance, Sam ——————————————————— chicagotribune.com         Palestinians dance for peace  […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":"","_ppma_block_editor_authors":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[936],"class_list":["post-4930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"authors":[{"term_id":936,"user_id":4,"is_guest":0,"slug":"sambahour","display_name":"Sam Bahour","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bca109c333bf6d8ae807746dd512adde46265d37c923f6cd0fc4aab437f8e9aa?s=96&d=mm&r=g","author_category":"1","first_name":"Sam","last_name":"Bahour","user_url":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour","job_title":"","description":"

Sam Bahour<\/strong> is a Palestinian-American business consultant, writer, and commentator based in Al-Bireh\/Ramallah, Palestine. He is the principal of Applied Information Management (AIM)<\/a>, a consultancy specializing in business development and startup advisory services.<\/p>\r\n

Bahour was instrumental in establishing two of Palestine\u2019s publicly traded companies: the Palestine Telecommunications Company (PALTEL) and the Arab Palestinian Shopping Centers (APSC). He co-founded Americans for a Vibrant Palestinian Economy (A4VPE), of which he is now an emeritus member, and served as an independent director on the board of Arab Islamic Bank P.L.C. from 2004 to 2025. He currently serves on the board of Just Vision<\/a> and The Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute (MAS)<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n

He frequently gives talks to delegations visiting Palestine on the subjects of Palestine\u2019s political economy, Palestinian Politics 101, and a general orientation to the state of affairs under Israeli military occupation.<\/p>\r\n

A prolific writer on Palestinian affairs, Bahour has been published in major international outlets including The New York Times, The Guardian, Haaretz, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times, Al Jazeera America, Le Monde diplomatique, Al-Monitor, +972 Magazine, The Hill, and Arab News. He has appeared as a commentator on NPR, CNN, BBC, and other broadcast media.<\/p>\r\n

Bahour is the co-editor of Homeland: Oral Histories of Palestine and Palestinians<\/a><\/em> (Olive Branch Press, 1993) and was profiled in the bestselling anthology Kingdom of Olives and Ash<\/a><\/em>, edited by Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman, in a chapter authored by Chabon titled \u201cThe Tallest Man in Ramallah<\/a>.\u201d He holds an Associate\u2019s and Bachelor\u2019s degree in Computer Technology from Youngstown State University, and a Kellogg-Recanati International Executive MBA \u2014 a joint program of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and the Recanati Business School at Tel Aviv University.<\/p>\r\n

He tweets at @SamBahour<\/a>, blogs at www.epalestine.ps<\/a>, and may be reached at sbahour[AT]gmail[DOT]com.<\/p>"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4930"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4930\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9936,"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4930\/revisions\/9936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4930"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=4930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}