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CounterPunch
December
3, 2002
Palestinian
Children in the Night
by SAM BAHOUR
November, 29. Under curfew.
It happened last night. Ramallah was pitch dark
and the breeze was cool and brisk. For the first time in as long
as I can remember, I was out during the night with my wife and
two daughters, Areen, 8 and Nadine, 2. We were taking advantage
of the lull in nightly curfews imposed by the Israeli military
over the past year. We found ourselves in the midst of a crowd
of over 300 cheering Palestinians. Between us and another group
of a few dozen Palestinian youth were two United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) representatives. The two representatives were
clearly American, in looks and accent. A few of the Palestinians
standing behind the UNDP representatives slowly walked up behind
them and one pulled from a bag what looked like a one meter wooden
bat. Our hearts beating, and before we could clearly make out
what was happening, the Palestinian boy holding this object unraveled
a most beautiful and colorful Palestinian embroidery piece. The
embroidery was attached to a wooden rod and the Palestinian teenager
proudly held it up and presented it to the two UNDP representatives
as a gift for their support. This was the final few minutes in
what was a moving and fabulous one-hour debut of the Palestinian
Folk Vista, by Bara'em El-Funoun, a new generation of the El-Funoun
Palestinian Popular Dance Troupe.
Bara'em is Arabic for "buds".
El-Funoun is Arabic for "the arts". Bara'em El-Funoun
is the offshoot of the renowned El-Funoun Palestinian Popular
Dance Troupe (www.el-funoun.org),
a music and dance ensemble, inspired by universal elements of
folk art and their particular expression in Arab-Palestinian
popular heritage and folklore. Bara'em El-Funoun is the embodiment
of a new generation of dancers, a generation that is determined
to safeguard and advance Palestinian culture and heritage through
dance, music and song.
We are in the midst of the holy month
of Ramadan. Ramadan in Ramallah has historically been marked
by joyous evenings during the cool and breezy nights following
the breaking of daylight fast. This year is an  exception, as was last year. For the
last two years the Israeli occupation has stripped all evidence
of normal life from Palestinian streets. Whereas the city centers
would once have been open for business late into the evening
to cater to Ramadan shoppers and holiday-goers, today only a
handful of businesses venture to open their doors after nightfall,
fearing the volatile security situation and realizing that their
patrons prefer to not risk the surprise Israeli raids and patrols
within the city.
Last night was different. Over 300 Palestinians
were invited to attend the first performance of El-Funoun's youth
dance group. The mere invitation to such an event during these
troubled times sparked a deep sense of defiance toward occupation
in each of us. It was as if this youth dance group and those
organizing them were calling for popular action to counter the
Israeli military activities that have brought our cultural lives
to a standstill. The action was clearly defined and well planned
- a forceful demonstration by way of dance, music and song that
Palestinian culture is alive and well, undamaged by Israeli tanks,
armored personnel carriers and F-16's that have permanently scarred
each of our streets, neighborhoods and families.
We entered the Ramallah Municipality
Hall along with dozens of other families. Parents, children,
elders and many friends gathered together in public for the first
time in quite a while to celebrate a positive and cheerful event.
For us it was a special event too. My wife Abeer was a dancer
with the El-Funoun dance troupe back in the late 80's and my
daughter Areen is currently training in dance at classes at the
Popular Arts Center (PAC) with great hopes of one day being accepted
into the Bara'em troupe and then graduating into the El-Funoun
troupe.
This tribute to Palestinian culture came
with a story, like most events in Palestine these days. Bara'em
members rehearsed most of the Palestinian Folk Vista production
during Israeli-imposed military curfews. On one occasion, they
were all trying to reach the studio (at the PAC in Al-Bireh,
<www.popularartcentre.org>) when they suddenly saw an Israeli
armored personnel carrier (APC) parked right outside the studio
entrance. Khaled, the dance trainer, was with them, and he was
terrified that troupe members would be hurt. He bore the millstone
of responsibility. After all, it was he who had convinced the
parents to let their children challenge the curfew to get to
the rehearsals. He panicked, and suddenly, one of the Bara'em
girls decided to walk to the entrance despite the presence of
that APC. Everyone else followed and they made it to practice!
The soldiers did not interfere this time, luckily.
Bara'em's performance was stunning. The
smiles of the dancers were refreshing. As Omar Barghouti, one
of the proud choreographers, told me following the event: "Those
children became real dancers with power, passion and a very convincing
ability to convey the choreographed themes, to entertain and
to impress. Our children are not reduced to mere victims, who
solicit sympathy; they have a presence that demands solidarity
and support. This has been El-Funoun's direction for decades
now, and we can finally take pride in passing it on to our next
generation of El- Funoun members, Bara'em."
In the middle of the performance my nephew,
Yacoub, 14, took the stage to present a musical solo on the Qanun,
a zither-like musical instrument with 26 triple courses of strings
and one of the oldest oriental string instruments in Arabic music.
As Yacoub fine-tuned his instrument, you could have heard a pin
drop while the audience waited in anticipation. My two-year-old
daughter seized the opportunity to yell out to her cousin from
the middle of the hall, "Yacoub!" It was her way of
expressing her excitement of the moment and she brought the entire
audience to a warm laugh.
Dance after dance, these young boys and
girls dazzled the audience with their agility and outstanding
ability to synchronize with the traditional songs depicting the
love of life that resides in all Palestinians, a love that appreciates
the wonders of nature, respects land and refuses to forget those
living in poverty and exile. Each girl dancer wore a traditional
embroidered Arabic dress, full of color and full of life. The
young boy dancers each wore a simple loose traditional garment
reflecting those worn by Palestinian peasants and farmers for
hundreds of years.
A scan of the audience brought sadness
and hope. A friend, and one of the El-Funoun choreographers,
Mrs. Lana Abu Hijleh, sat close to the stage and looked on with
a bright smile. This performance was an accomplishment she had
a right to be proud of. To see her smile brought hope, especially
given that it was only a few weeks ago we paid our respects to
her and her family after her mother was murdered by an Israeli
solider in the Palestinian City of Nablus as she sat on the porch
inside her home stitching an embroidery. I watched other friends
enjoying the performance as well, knowing that many of their
loved ones were missing from their sides. Instead of being in
the audience watching their children culturally flourish, many
fathers, brothers and sons instead were languishing in Israeli
jails, part of the 7,000 Palestinians arbitrarily arrested over
the past two years.
The UNDP, sponsors of this fabulous performance,
accepted a gift of embroidery at the end of the event. In making
his closing remarks, the UNDP representative was clearly moved
by what he had seen - a drop of hope in a sea of despair.
While sitting and watching the performance
with my youngest daughter on my lap violently clapping after
every dance, I thought to myself, if only our Israeli neighbors
could see and feel what we were seeing and feeling. If only the
parents of those Israeli soldiers -- not much older than the
young Palestinian dancers on stage -- patrolling and occupying
our cities could see the energy and determination that was on
stage and in the audience. If only my Israeli neighbors could
remove the artificial blinders placed on them by their leadership,
they would quickly realize that we are a people whose spirit
cannot be broken by military occupation. A people whose culture
and traditions are deeper than the roots of the olive tress that
the Israel bulldozers continue to uproot. If they could only
see! If they could only feel!
Before we reached home last night it
was announced by the Israeli military that for the next two days
Ramallah would be placed under 24-hr military curfew, yet again.
It was as if the entire city was being collectively punished
for the act of displaying Palestinian culture. Nevertheless,
when the curfew is lifted we will send our daughter Areen for
her next weekly dance lesson, for we have no time to waste in
ending this occupation, so disastrous for us all. Maybe the dance
weapon will succeed where everything else so far has failed.
Sam Bahour
is a Palestinian-American businessman living in the besieged
Palestinian City of Al-Bireh in the West Bank. He is co-author
of HOMELAND:
Oral Histories of Palestine and Palestinians (1994).
He can be reached at sbahour@palnet.com.
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