PEACE IS A LAUGHING MATTER
A good Friday would be a great Friday if we could put the ‘holy’ back in the Holy Land. It is also the middle of the Passover season, and yet there seems to be no escape from the stalemate between Israel and the Palestinians, one that impacts the entire Middle East as well as the United States.
Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice just returned from the Mideast in hopes of bringing the two sides together. While diplomats in finely tailored suits argue about borders, broken promises, who did what to whom, maybe Rice could get everyone’s attention with a well-executed joke.
Hey--is that a Hezbollah rocket in your pants or are you just happy to see us?
What? I’m not kidding. Short of dragging Mahmoud Abbas and Edhud Olmert to a strip club and getting farshikkert, I don’t see much chance of getting anyone to open up.
But perhaps Chicagoans Ray Hanania and Aaron Freeman can. They are doing the modern day version of McCartney and Wonder's 1982 number-one single, “Ebony & Ivory.” Hanania is Arab. Freeman is Jewish. They’re living together “in perfect harmony” albeit on the “west bank” of Lake Michigan. They recently performed their stand-up comedy tour together in Israel.
“I am the Condi Rice of comedy,” Freeman said. “We want to resolve the conflict in six shows, and on the seventh show, we will rest.”
I imagine this little comedy tour could be counter-productive for the movement, if not dangerous for Hanania and Freeman. Judging by the video clips on the news, the descendants of the sons of Abraham don’t seem to have much of a sense of humor these days.
FREEMAN: “The [Jews and Arabs] will be laughing and angry at the same time. I think we are genuinely funny enough to overcome the animosity
HANANIA: ”What’s really cool about this is that you put the [Jews] and Palestinians on the same stage. Putting a Palestinian and a Jew in the same room? We really just want to argue about hummus and tabouli. We invented it—you stole it.”
FREEMAN: [“The Jews] look at Ray and wonder if this is somebody they are going to be afraid of; they look at me and they say ‘Is it going to be OK?’”
HANANIA: “The first five rows are usually empty. Everyone sits in the back when I’m on stage.”
FREEMAN: “We are the people that make the change that you want to see in the world. When you want to be ‘the change,’ you are not only having a good time, you are making money. That’s what everybody wants. It’s funny, because Ray actually owns property in Israel. But, I can come and take it over any time.”
HANANIA: “I keep using him to come see my property.”
FREEMAN: That’s the only chance he has! And, I was born in Kankakee!”
It will take creativity to bring Peace to the middle east. I remember hearing Ellie Weisel offer his ideas. One was to get all the leaders in a room and just talk about their favorite books. Another idea was to do an exchange program where Jewish teachers would mentor Palestinian children and Palestinian teachers would spend time with Jewish kids. The bottom line---both sides need to do more than sacrifice chips at a bargaining table; they need to give of themselves. Perhaps only then will each side begin to empathize with the other’s pain.
Hanania has seen this strategy work first hand. He married a woman who is Jewish.
“She thinks I am Puerto Rican.”
I am not sure if Condi Rice is funny but perhaps Hanania and Freeman would give this professional advice to her and her Israeli and Palestinian negotiators. Before taking a seat at the bargaining table, a little self-deprication might go a long way in breaking down barriers that impede accords and cease-fires.
“Nobody is offended if they are laughing,” Freeman said. “If we can laugh together, we can live together.”