When the Smoke Clears in Gaza by YOUSEF MUNAYYER

Yousef Munayyer directs the Jerusalem Fund in Washington, D.C., and its educational program, the Palestine Center.

Yousef Munayyer has written a penetrating article on Gaza and Israel in the magazine, The New Yorker. It is a relief to read something that manages to take an alternative point of view on the difficult conflict which is unfolding and has been unfolding in the Middle East. A two state solution is rightly questioned and should be considered seriously.  You find the link to the article below.

When the Smoke Clears in Gaza

Gaza

English version

Once again Israel is bombing the Gaza Strip.  It's sadly symptomatic of the suppressive regime of Israel that buildings, housing democratic and public institutions, are being bombed.  And no consideration for people who happen to be in, or near the buildings.  These buildings have been considered important by other nations for the democratic development in Gaza.  And much positive development was unfolding.

And the Israeli "democracy" is in free fall for the time being.  The Israelis have too long only taken care of themselves and bulldozed homes and houses of the Palestinians on the West Bank.  They have into the bargain also constructed a huge WALL between themselves and the West Bank so that they don´t need to be bothered by their nabours.  Slowly Israel is eating up (stealing) all the land belonging to the Palestinians, and in Jerusalem they pester Palestinians to make them leave town and go somewhere else.  We have witnessed something like this before, but we are too polite to mention where it was.  In addition Israel has decided that Palestinians living on the Gaza Strip are not allowed to have direct contact with the world.  They even kill people who are coming by sea visiting.  This must be accepted of course.  Israel has decided that they have the right to control the coastal area outside Gaza. 

Of course there are Israelis who think this behaviour is detestable and feel shamed by the Apartheid rule of Israel.  But no one listens to them.  Some choose to leave the country.

As the bombs are dropping and the drones are droning over Gaza, people have to cope as best they can. Israel has called in the reserves, and tanks are already lined up on the border.  Last time Israel conducted their killing spree, four years ago,  Gaza was totally isolated.  This time Gaza fares better as the border to Egypt is open.  But I suspect that Israel will not be satisfied until they have chased all the Palestinians out of Gaza and into Egypt.  Then one must truly say they have done a good job! 

No, I haven´t forgotten that they send rockets from Gaza as well,  but the Palestinians are not to be compared with the systematic terror that Israel is conducting.  Do study the map: Okkupasjon av palestinsk land etter 1947

Norsk
Så er Israel i gang igjen med systematisk bombing av Gazastipa. Det er symptomatisk for det undertrykkande regimet, Israel, at alle bygningar som huser demokratiske og offisielle institusjonar vert bomba. Så får det gå som det vil med dei sivile som er så uheldige at dei er i, eller i nærleiken av desse bygningane. Slike bygningar har av andre nasjonar vorte sett på som viktige for demokratiutviklinga i Gaza.  Og mykje positivt var på gang.

Demokratiet i Israel står det dårleg til med for tida. Dei har alt for lenge berre teke omsyn til seg sjølve og buldosa hus og heim til palestinarane på Vestbredden. Dei har til og med bygd mur mellom seg og omverda fordi dei ikkje skal bli plaga av naboane sine. Sakte men sikkert et dei opp landområda til palestinarane og i Jerusalem syrgjer dei for at livet til palestinarane vert så ille at dei vel å fare derifrå. Vi har jo sett slikt før, men vi er for danna til å nemne kor desse var.  Så har Israel også syrgd for at palestinarane som bur på Gazastripa ikkje får ha kontakt med omverda. Dei drep til og med folk som kjem på vitjing frå sjøsida. Dette må dei jo få lov til må vite. Israel har bestemt at det er dei som har overherredøme over havet utanfor Gaza.

Så skal vi ikkje gløyme at det finnast israelarar som tykkjer alt dette er utåleleg og skjems over at Israel driv apartheidstyre.  Men dei har ikkje noko dei skulle ha sagt. Nokre vel å emigrere til andre land. 

Medan bombene haglar og dronene summar over Gaza, må folk greie seg som best dei kan. Israel har kalla inn reservestyrkane og tanks står oppmarsjert på grensa til Gaza. Under siste åtaket på Gaza, for fire år sidan, var området isolert. Denne gongen står det betre til då grensa til Egypt er åpen. Men Israel gjev seg vel ikkje før dei har jaga alle som bur i Gaza over til nabolandet. Då kan dei retteleg seie at dei har gjort jobben sin!

Nei, eg har ikkje gløymt at det har vorte sendt rakettar frå Gazastripa, men palestinarane kjem ikkje i nærleiken eingong av den systematiske terroren som Israel held på med.

Speech at Cunda Workshop 2012:

Translating Latife Tekin´s Dear Shameless Death

Life is full of surprises, and being at a workshop in Turkey was certainly one of the twists and turns of life. I would like to thank the Steering Committee of the 6^th Cunda International Workshop for Translators of Turkish Literature for inviting me. I´m very grateful, and hope I have managed to contribute with some points of view, although not a professional translator.

Personal background/CV

My academic background is from the University of Oslo and the University of Cambridge. My thesis was The Thematic Function of the Social Structure in Shakespeare´s Plays, submitted in 1973.
After leaving University, my work experience is connected to primary and secondary education, first as a teacher. For a spell in the 80´s I was involved in union work at county and national level. The last 20 years I have been the principal of a middle sized secondary school, project leader and finally adviser for the Director of Secondary Education in The County of Nordland. Being heavily involved in school development from the 80s, I have written heaps of papers on various aspects of education. The last 8 years of my professional career, I wrote documents to be presented at the political assembly of the County of Nordland.

My road to Cunda

I met Saliha Paker way back in 1970 when both of us were studying in Cambridge. Finally, I visited Saliha in Cunda last summer, and luckily Saliha introduced me to Dear Shameless Death and Latife Tekin´s universe. Reading the novel while being in Turkey, talking with the translator of the novel, and meeting the author, made a stong impact on me.
To my surprise I couldn´t get the novel out of my head. It made me uneasy until I realized the novel had to be translated into Norwegian. I tried to figure out whom to contact, and how to get someone interested in translating Dear Shamless Death. But living far away from Oslo where the publishing houses are located, doesn´t make it easy.
Just for the fun of it, I tried to translate the first few paragraphs into bokmål. I immediately got stuck, and thought the language of Latife Tekin too difficult to transfer to Norwegian. However, the text was nagging me until I suddenly realized it demanded to be translated into nynorsk (New Norwegian). Before I knew it I had translated the first "chapter".
Here I need to make two important digressions: