The Pioneer, Nov 29, 2003
<b>Toughness pays</b>
Francois Gautier
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Have you ever taken an El Al flight from Mumbai? The security is drastic:
You are asked a hundred questions by young men and women, Indians, but of
Jewish origin, whose parents emigrated from the first century onwards after
the destruction of the temple of Jerusalem, to find refuge in India where
they prospered and lived in peace till many of them went back to Israel in
1948 (indeed, India is probably the only country in the world where Jews
have not been persecuted).
Why did I visit Israel? Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, the founder of the 144
countries-wide Art of Living movement, had been invited by the Government
of Israel, thanks to the efforts of Rabbi Cooper and Dr Balitzer from
Wisenthal, US-based foundation. All along our trip Rabbi Cooper and Dr
Balitzer proved invaluable. I was tagging along because I have always
believed that India and Israel have to come together. For 40 years after
Independence, India did not have relations with Israel. Yet, India and
Israel have much in common - both can learn a lot from each other. Like
Indians, Israelis are one of those "elected people of God" - of whom Sri
Aurobindo speaks in his book the Hour of God - who have managed to keep
their spirituality alive in spite of oppressions, invasions and genocides.
Indians and Israelis also share a serious problem with Muslim
fundamentalists. And India could learn a few lessons from the way Israel
handles this problem, however much it is criticised by the Western media.
Unlike India, which since Independence has chosen to deal with this problem
in the Gandhian spirit, that is, by compromising most of the time with
Islamic intransigence (if not giving in); Israel has showed that toughness
first, followed by negotiations, pays better. Basically, the concept of
"land for money" is something that India could learn from: In 1967, Israel
was under threat of getting engulfed by its fanatical neighbours, so it
stole the initiative by crushing them in a lightning Six-Day War and kept
some land which it used later as bargaining chips with Egypt and Syria.
FACT (Forum Against Continuing Terrorism), which I launched this year, was
taking to Israel an exhibition on Kashmiri Pandits, one of the biggest
genocides of the 20th century at the hands of Islamic terrorism, to see how
it could be put up at different places in Israel to create public awareness
there. Because of the hostility of Arab countries to Israel, El Al cannot
overfly any of them and a journey which should take four hours takes,
instead, seven hours, nearly the same time as a flight to Europe. We landed
in Tel Aviv early in the morning. Tel Aviv is a modern city on the
Mediterranean coast. It is much more relaxed than Jerusalem, as it is less
subject than the capital to suicide attacks. People there speak several
languages, girls look gorgeous and the affable Indian ambassador, Mr
Raminder Jassal, who has done so much to improve Israeli-relations, hosted
for Sri Sri Ravi Shankar a gracious meeting with the Indian community in
Israel.
The drive from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is short, but the impressions are
striking: The landscape is dry, rocky and arid and one wonders whether this
land is worth fighting for. But Jerusalem is a beautiful city, perched on a
hill, all constructed in white stone. As we arrived, the city was shining
against the setting sun of a cool November evening. The King David Hotel,
whe-re we stayed, is probably one of the most beautiful hotels in West
Asia:
Old world, stately and entirely furnished in mahogany. It also has a
history of violence, as it once housed British troops and was bombed by Jewish
activists. The rooms offer a view of the old city of Jerusalem and
everything looked so peaceful.
Peaceful? Not really: As soon as you step out, you can feel fear: Suicide
bombers can strike any time, anywhere and our security would not even allow
our car to stop near a bus, for fear of it being blown up! It is Friday
evening and we went to the Wailing Wall on this most holy Shabbat day. It
is an impressive sight: Hundreds of young men and women, in ancient velvet
black coats and funny fur hats, locks falling one each side, face the wall
swaying back and forth while chanting an age old prayer that their
forefathers have repeated for centuries. Sri Sri too touched the wall
reverentially and concentrated for a few minutes: Two very ancient
spiritualities met.
As in Ayodhya, Muslims have placed their mosque on the most sacred space of
the Jews, exactly where their ancient temple was built. The golden mosque
stands there as a perpetual taunt, as an unending _expression of aggression.
After the Seven-Day War, the Israelis control the entire area. But it
remains very tense: As a mark of respect to Islam, we want to meditate in
the mosque, but we are facing the wrong direction and the imam takes
objection when he sees the rishi from India in a dhoti and kurta with long
flowing beard and tells our security men that "Infidels" are not allowed to
worship there. Luckily there are not many faithful at this time and an
incident is avoided.
We met a number of dignitaries. The President of Israel, a soft-spoken
gentleman, who is very worried about the Palestinians suicide bombers - "No
religion condones that kind of barbaric act," he told us; the mayor of
Jerusalem, who proudly showed us the magnificent view of Jerusalem from his
office terrace; Mr Shimon Peres, Nobel Prize winner and Israel's best known
face, who preaches tolerance - but even he condemns the suicide bombers; or
the deputy Prime Minister of Israel, Mr Sherenzki, a well-known dissenter
from the erstwhile Soviet Union who is seen as a hawk by observers, but
appears very gentle to us.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar talked about all the marvellous work his volunteers
are doing amongst India's poor villages: Bringing housing, hygiene, human
values, and harmony in diversity. He also speaks about the stress and
post-trauma Art of Living courses - a combination of pranayama, meditation
and relaxing techniques - done to great success in Iraq and Bosnia, and how
they could also be taught in Palestine and Israel. When asked about
terrorism, Sri Sri said: "The problem is that children should be taught a
little about each religion, so that they develop a broader perspective." If
the Taliban had known even a little about the Buddha, he added, they would
not have destroyed the Bamian statues.
<b>I was surprised to note that whenever I mentioned Kashmir, neither of our
interlocutors blinked: Kashmir did not mean anything to them, although it
faces more or less the same problem that Israel does at the hands of the
Arabs</b>. Even, Mr Sherenzki, the Deputy Prime Minister, looked blank. That is
when I realised that an exhibition on Kashmiri Pandits had to come up and
we arranged for two venues, one in Tel Aviv, with the possibility of it coming
up also at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem. We thus left
with a sense that so much more has to be done so that Indian and Israel,
two ancient people sharing some of the same spiritual, cultural and
contemporary problems, really start understanding each other.
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