Born and raised in Greenwich Village, the son of a physician and civil rights activist and I presume that is a description of his two parents, not just one - and if so one, I don't know which one. As of fall 2007 he is based in Berlin writing the Abroad column for the Times on culture and society across Europe. He also contributes regularly to the New York Review of Books.
And, he is the author of this article, which claims that "culture is a central battleground for control of Gaza".
For example, he writes:
Gaza isn’t what you might imagine, culturally speaking. Like the West Bank, it occupies a special place in the Middle East: Gazans may loathe Israel but have worked there or spent years in Israeli prisons, and while they haven’t taken up Jewish culture, they’ve experienced Western life as many other Arabs haven’t. This has encouraged a sensibility that, until lately anyway, had a moderating effect on religion and society.
Fanatic religious outlook tempered with a moderating effect by Western culture? His headline is a giveaway:
Watching ‘Friends’ in Gaza: A Culture Clash
Maybe the NYTimes should try sending a female journalist next time to see how acculturated the Gazans have become (no, not Isabel Kershner. She's Jewish. Wouldn't be fair.) That would be a clash.
But read on and the truth will emerge, even from a puff piece:-
But Hamas now makes many Gazans feel insecure. Majeda Alsaqqa is the woman running the Culture and Free Thought Association, the one held at gunpoint. For the moment, she’s back in business. But Hamas not long ago took over the local library, and it stages plays about the lives of Palestinian soldiers killed by Israel, which are sometimes performed in the street just outside Ms. Alsaqqa’s garden.
“They use real explosives!” she said, laughing. “It used to be different here. I used to ride around on a bicycle wearing a dress. The raid on us was about imposing a different culture — about not liking our kind of theater, where men and woman mix. These were brainwashed kids who came with the Kalashnikovs, who are taught not to like foreigners or summer camps, where we teach children not to take anything for granted. For the first time, I’m scared.”
Raid?
The Culture and Free Thought Association, a nonprofit organization in Khan Yunis, a town in southern Gaza, with a theater, a summer camp and a variety of arts programs, was looted not long ago by Hamas security forces who held the woman in charge at gunpoint and later went to her home.
As for culture, what about the cinema? Even Hitler found that useful.
Gaza has not had any movie house since the last one burned two decades ago during the first intifada.
Oh, well.
One can always watch the girls go by, no?
No.
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