"We have opened a crack in the wall of ignorance," writes an Arab student of her visit to Auschwitz with a group led by Professor Mohammed S. Dajani Daoudi. This is the language of the Redemption.
The Atlantic (excerpts from...)
"When we returned from Poland, the condemnation of our trip...was deafening."
In March, I was one of 27 Palestinian students who visited the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camps with Professor Mohammed S. Dajani Daoudi. When we returned from Poland, the condemnation of our trip—and of Professor Dajani himself—in the media, and on Facebook and Twitter, was deafening. Equally deafening was the silence of my fellow travelers, who were so cowed into muteness by the virulence of the criticism that only a couple came to Professor Dajani’s defense.
"Our experience reminds me of
Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave.” The great philosopher asks you to imagine that
you have been imprisoned all your life in a dark cave… Finally, you are allowed
out of the cave and into the sunlit world, where you see the fullness of
reality. But if you go back to the cave and tell others what you saw, will they
believe you? No,…That is what happened to us,….We simply left the cave." - Zeina M. Barakat
The Atlantic (excerpts from...)
A Palestinian Student Defends Her Visit to
Auschwitz
APR 28 2014, 11:35 AM ET
 |
A view of the former Nazi concentration camp
of
Auschwitz-Birkenau. (Kacper Pempel/Reuters)
|
In March, I was one of 27 Palestinian students who visited the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camps with Professor Mohammed S. Dajani Daoudi. When we returned from Poland, the condemnation of our trip—and of Professor Dajani himself—in the media, and on Facebook and Twitter, was deafening. Equally deafening was the silence of my fellow travelers, who were so cowed into muteness by the virulence of the criticism that only a couple came to Professor Dajani’s defense.
As the coordinator of the
Palestinian team, I am now breaking this silence.
* * * *
* * * *
This was not solely a Palestinian
affair. Our program, titled “From Stone to Flesh,” was a joint effort of three
institutions—Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, Tel Aviv University, and
Ben Gurion University of the Negev—along with a Palestinian civil-society group
founded by Professor Dajani called “al-Wasatia,” which means “moderation” in
Arabic. The weeklong trip to Poland was funded by the German Research
Foundation. Al-Quds University played no role in the program.
When we Palestinians returned from
the unprecedented visit, a voyage that broke historic barriers of ignorance and
misunderstanding, we were welcomed not with thanks and congratulations but with
an explosion of criticism. Professor Dajani was the target of especially
vicious attack by extreme Palestinian nationalists, who accused him of “selling out” to the Jews.
* * * *
* * * *
"As a doctoral student, it is impossible for me to make believe that there was no human tragedy perpetrated against millions of Jews..."
As a doctoral student, it is impossible for me to make believe that there was no human tragedy perpetrated against millions of Jews and non-Jews during the Second World War. The Holocaust is a fact, and we all have a sacred responsibility to ensure that it never happens again to Jews or any other group. I believe our trip made a big crack in the Palestinian wall of ignorance and indifference about the Holocaust. The recent statement by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas recognizing the Holocaust as the “most heinous crime” against humanity in modern history made another crack. Perhaps one day soon this wall will collapse.
As a doctoral student, it is impossible for me to make believe that there was no human tragedy perpetrated against millions of Jews and non-Jews during the Second World War. The Holocaust is a fact, and we all have a sacred responsibility to ensure that it never happens again to Jews or any other group. I believe our trip made a big crack in the Palestinian wall of ignorance and indifference about the Holocaust. The recent statement by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas recognizing the Holocaust as the “most heinous crime” against humanity in modern history made another crack. Perhaps one day soon this wall will collapse.
I was born in Jerusalem in an Arab
culture that, to put it mildly, ignores the Holocaust and avoids discussing it.
As a young girl, I had to overcome social and educational restrictions to learn
more about these closed chapters of history. Not only were books on the subject
unavailable, but we were told that our responsibility as Palestinians was to
memorize only what teachers told us, so as to reinforce our collective memory
of loss and grievance and support our national identity and quest for a
homeland.
* * * *
When my fellow Palestinian
travelers talk among themselves and with friends and family about the
accusation that they “sold out to the Jews” by visiting Auschwitz, they tend to
cite their love for their country, noting that their travel makes them no less
patriotic or nationalistic than their critics. Although the public outcry has
silenced most of them, they all went to Auschwitz out of the belief that
deepening their knowledge of the Holocaust could help pave the road to peace.
Not only did they choose to reject ignorance, but they displayed remarkable
moral courage by choosing to respect the past suffering of “the other.”
Our experience reminds me of
Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave.” The great philosopher asks you to imagine that
you have been imprisoned all your life in a dark cave, with your hands and feet
shackled and your head restrained so that you can only look at the wall in
front of you. Behind you is a blazing fire, and between you and the fire there
is a walkway where others move back and forth. The shadows cast on the wall by
those objects are the only things you see. Those shadows become your reality.
Suppose you are released from your shackles and freed to walk around the cave.
Dazzled at first by the fire, you would gradually come to understand the origin
of the shadows that you thought were real. Finally, you are allowed out of the
cave and into the sunlit world, where you see the fullness of reality. But if
you go back to the cave and tell others what you saw, will they believe you?
No, they will condemn you. That is what happened to us, the Palestinian
students who dared to visit Auschwitz. We simply left the cave.
"We have made (the Arabs) talk publicly about a topic that was once taboo."
Some of Professor Dajani’s colleagues believe this entire exercise has been a curse, given the attacks and criticism we have suffered since we returned home. Yet Professor Dajani, the eternal optimist, sees only a blessing in what we have done. We have opened a crack in the wall of ignorance. We have made Palestinians talk publicly about a topic that was once taboo.
Some of Professor Dajani’s colleagues believe this entire exercise has been a curse, given the attacks and criticism we have suffered since we returned home. Yet Professor Dajani, the eternal optimist, sees only a blessing in what we have done. We have opened a crack in the wall of ignorance. We have made Palestinians talk publicly about a topic that was once taboo.
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