Peace and Conflict Studies - Spring 2014

Peace and Conflict Studies Volume 21, Number 1 16 factor. The Israeli soldier Alex of A Trumpet in the Wadi dies as he goes to war. While going to fight against his lover’s brothers he is killed, leaving the Arab Huda pregnant and not knowing how she will be able to raise a half-Jewish/half-Arab baby (Michael, 1987). In A Good Arab , Chava, supposedly a national hero, dies when she takes the wheel from her peace-seeking Arab husband and roles their car over (Kaniuk, 1984). Yuad in The Secret Life of Saeed the Pessoptimist by Emile Habibi (1984), Katzman in The Smile of The Lamb (Grossman, 1983), the child Anton Shammas in Arabesques (Shammas, 1986), Khaled in the movie Heat-Wave ( Hamsin ), Rauf in Ricochet , almost all the Arab characters in the movie Cup Final, and more – all die. The crucial role assumed by death is not only evidence of the horrors of the conflict, but also of the inability to end it. The texts tell a story in which the conflict is not only tragic but also offers no future hope. The authors, screenplay writers, and filmmakers could, at least theoretically, have written texts with happy endings. They are, one should remember, not obligated to the “truth” or to a mimetic representation of the conflict; yet they all chose to end their texts with death, tragedy and no hope. While Israelis started to see how at least parts of the conflict can be resolved, the texts told stories in which conflict does not end, not even when the texts’ producers have the liberty to choose any ending they want. 4. Jewish and Arab characters in these texts cannot establish normal relationships or romantic relationships in Israel/Palestine. The characters can have such relationships outside the holy land, but not in it. Anyone who is seen as too close to someone from the out-group is immediately condemned. The only places in which Jewish and Arab protagonists do meet in these texts are, therefore, outside of Israel or in extra- territorial Heterotopian venues (Foucault, 1997) such as hospitals, isolated spots, or mental institutions. For example, A Good Arab tells a story in which individuals from the opposing sides can be friends and lovers outside of Israel but not in it. In Germany, the Arab Azuri is involved in a love-triangle with the Jewish couple Kita and Franz. It ends when they arrive in Israel. Azuri meets Kita and Franz’s daughter, Chava, and they marry, but are unsuccessful in establishing a normal life in Israel and so they move to France; when they return to Israel their relationship fails again. Their son, Yosef, half-Arab--half-Jew, fails in establishing any kind of intimate relationship, either with Jews or with Arabs (Kaniuk, 1984).