Drag Against the Occupation

From Haaretz (in Israel)

Drag against the occupation
By Tamara Traubman

A full dance floor in a South Tel Aviv nightclub, replete with its share of drag queens. Ostensibly another Friday night of gay men having a good time. But this is not an ordinary party of this sort. Palestinians and Jews are dancing together, the music is Arabic, several of the drag performances have a political content, and even the time of night - from the early evening until before midnight - is designed so the celebrants can get home at a reasonable hour without being asked too many questions.

The party is taking place as part of the activities of a new association, Al-Qaws [The Rainbow] for Sexual and Gender Diversity in Palestinian Society. The dance parties, which take place once every two months, characterize the organization's nature: Political activism can be more than just demonstrations and serious slogans. You can surely dance while fighting for civil rights.

The association's members, who come from all over the country, began operating in 2000 in the context of the Open House gay organization in Jerusalem. But lately they realized they had to take another step to meet the special needs of the Arab gay and lesbian community in Israel, and to preserve their uniqueness and political character. Al-Qaws registered as an independent association, and on March 1 will celebrate the launch of its operations.

The association's director, 29-year-old Haneen Maikey from Jerusalem, says the parties are only one aspect of the group's activities, which include local support groups. "We also provide a personal response to people who come for advice, information and a sympathetic ear, and we organize events as well," she says.

'Badge of shame'

Al-Qaws is the first Palestinian-Israeli organization to cater to the entire gay and lesbian Palestinian population. About five years ago the organization Aswat (Voices) was founded for lesbian, bisexual and transsexual Palestinian women. The organization's members are involved in a variety of feminist and political activities. Last year, when they wanted to hold a large convention in Haifa, the Islamic Movement published a condemnation of the convention and called it a "a badge of shame."

An Arab gay man or lesbian in Israel is doubly excluded: In Arab society they suffer from oppression and discrimination because of their sexual orientation, while in Jewish society they suffer from discrimination for nationalist reasons. Maikey says the Arab gay or lesbian in Israel "remains a stranger even in an accepting environment." Usually their relationships are conducted in Hebrew in an environment different from their original cultural milieu. "So even if it's an accepting environment, you remain a stranger, a kind of 'guest of the culture,' and you have to behave according to rules determined by the other," she says.

According to Maikey, "At the parties many people say that it's important to them that there is finally a framework where you can speak Arabic without fear." At the parties there is a sense of freedom and liberation, one reason being the variety that is celebrated. "There's everything here, and everything is accepted," says one of the female participants. "Arabs, Jews, men, women, lesbians, gays, trans, straights." Another reason for the feeling of liberation is that the parties are a meeting place for many identities, mainly gender and national identities.

"I see the parties as both a path and a goal," says Samira, an activist at Al-Qaws and Aswat. "As far as I'm concerned the parties are part of a way to build a community. It's a social meeting place and the beginning of creating a community. It's also a place where you don't apologize for anything about your identity. In the nightclubs and at other parties we are asked to leave the Palestinian aspect outside the club before we enter. Here it's a place that doesn't ask for that. On the contrary, it nurtures our identity."

Songs of love, and struggle

On the stage the performances are beginning. A drag queen sings a love song by the singer Fairuz, another begins a belly dance. A black drag queen with a dark blond wig, wearing a tunic sewn from a keffiyeh, gets onstage. "I don't care what they say," she sings to her beloved. "Every day I'll be what I want to be."

Later the installation artist R. appears. He is active in the Al-Qaws Tel Aviv-Jaffa branch and organizes exhibitions, but he prefers not to be identified by name. R.'s installations are political and very moving. One can often see people in the audience crying. To the strains of songs of struggle, for the most part by classic singers such as Fairuz or Majida al Romi, he appears as a character he created: "Arus Falastin," The Bride of Palestine. "It reminds people of who they really are," he says.

The conflict and distress supposedly subside at the party, mitigated by drag. R. says that "in recent years, all the drag queens I have encountered came to entertain, to make people laugh, to amuse. Although all drag is political in itself, when it is only amusing it becomes boring in a certain sense. Ordinary people - that doesn't excite anyone any longer."

At the last party R. appeared as a "drag king" in a new character he created: Ahmed Basha. His face adorned with bristles, a keffiyeh on his shoulders, he wears a black shirt with the inscription "Free Palestine."

The song he sings, by Lebanese musician Marcel Khalifa, was written during the first Lebanon war. It tells about a little boy who is playing in the yard, looking for string to fly a kite. Suddenly he sees a plane in the sky, "a kite that doesn't need string," he calls to his friends. The plane then bombs the house and turns everything into fire.

Can we expect a Palestinian gay pride march as well? Is coming out of the closet one of the goals of the association?

Samira says that coming out of the closet is not a sacred goal. She was born and grew up in the North and currently lives with her Jewish partner in Tel Aviv. Her immediate family knows about her sexual identity, but the extended family doesn't know (which is why she prefers to be interviewed without her last name). "For me the issue of visibility is important," she says. But she and Maikey stress that visibility does not necessarily require a gay pride march, but can be achieved by "creating a discourse in society."

Jerusalem Residents Brace for Presidential Entourage

Middle East Features
Jerusalem residents brace for Clear Skies whirlwind

Jan 8, 2008, 14:31 GMT

Jerusalem - Even for Jerusalem residents accustomed to making their
way though their city amid high security, 'Operation Clear Skies,'
involving about one third of all available police manpower, is
exceptional.

But then it's nearly ten years since a serving US president last came to town.

President George W Bush was slated to arrive in Israel and head
straight for Jerusalem Wednesday afternoon for a three-day visit which
will also take him to the Palestinian areas.

It is the first presidential visit since Bill Clinton came for three
days in December 1998, and while there are no specific security
warnings in connection with the trip, Police Spokesman Micky Rosenfeld
said, no one is taking any chances.

Some 10,500 police personnel will be mobilized for the duration of the
presidential stay and in addition to the visible presence, undercover
personnel will also be employed.

Spot checks will be carried out on vehicles and the odd- and possibly
odd-looking - pedestrian, and sniffer dogs will be utilized to search
for hidden explosives.

Special robots have been positioned in sewers to ensure there are no
underground surprises, snipers will take up positions on strategic
rooftops and a balloon with a camera and night-vision equipment will
hover protectively over proceedings.

The security arrangements are costing an estimated 25,000 dollars for
each hour the president is in the country.

If the police are bracing for the visit, so too are Jerusalemites,
especially those who live or work near the King David Hotel, where the
presidential entourage will be staying.

While streets the president is expected to travel on will be closed in
accordance with his schedule, those surrounding the hotel will be
sealed off for 100 metres in each direction for the duration of the
visit and people who earn their living in the vicinity are less than
enamoured with the result.

A car-rental agency located next to the King David has said it will
shut up shop until after the president leaves.

'We have other branches in town, and it will be impossible for cars to
enter the street, so why even bother,' one employee told the Jerusalem
Post daily.

Other store owners are less certain. Most plan to remain open. They
know they cannot expect many customers, but are depending on members
of the presidential entourage to stop by, although given that they are
mainly upmarket outlets, they have perhaps not taken White House
salaries into account.

Someone else affected by the presidential visit is the head chef at
the King David Hotel, who had been looking forward to displaying his
culinary skills.

But a hotel employee told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that the
president preferred relatively simple fare and had requested 'nothing
extravagant' during his stay, although he will accept the personalized
complimentary bathrobe already prepared for him.

The presidential party will be taking over the entire hotel, Israel's
most prestigious and luxurious and a Jerusalem landmark since it
opened in 1931.

Bush himself will occupy the King David's Royal suite, which, were he
a paying guest, would have set him back 2600 dollars a night.

Located on the top floor, it boasts, among other facilities, a living
room, separate bedroom and separate meeting or dining room seating 12
people, a jacuzzi bath, and a home cinema system.

It is the same suite occupied by his father when he visited, albeit
not as president and has also housed, at one time or another, Winston
Churchill, former Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, former US presidents
Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, the late King Hussein of Jordan, former
British premiers Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair, and the Duke of
Edinburgh.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will occupy the Presidential
suite, one floor below, and the rest of the six-storey hotel's 237
rooms will be taken by other members of the entourage.

Guests who were supposed to stay in the hotel while Bush is in town
have been forced to find alternative accommodation, something they did
with good grace, the hotel said.

If Jerusalem residents can take any comfort in the upcoming
presidential whirlwind about to hit them, it is that their city is
getting a clean-up ahead of its high-profile guest.

The city's sanitation department is working 'around the clock to clean
and maintain roads' along which the president will travel, the
Jerusalem municipality said.

It also noted that 'streetlights have been repaired.'

UPDATE from Al-Qaws & JOH: Ground-Breaking Developments for the Palestinian LGBTQ Community

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Haneen Maikey <info@alqaws.org>
Date: Jan 13, 2008 5:17 AM
Subject: UPDATE from Al-Qaws & JOH: Ground-Breaking Developments for the Palestinian LGBTQ Community
To: Haneen Maikey <marhaba@joh.org.il>

 Ground-Breaking Developments for the Palestinian LGBTQ Community:

Registration of the First Independent
Palestinian LGBTQ Organization

 

Jerusalem, January, 2007- Al-Qaws, the Palestinian Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Trans and Queer (LGBTQ) community project of the Jerusalem Open House for Pride and Tolerance (JOH), has achieved a mile stone development in which it decided to become an independent entity, constituting the first-ever official Palestinian LGBTQ organization.  

 

The Al-Qaws ("Rainbow") project was initiated in December 2001 by the JOH in order to address the special needs of the Palestinian LGBTQ community in Jerusalem. The project was specifically designed to reflect the special nature of one of the most traditional communities in Jerusalem.

 

During the six years of its existence, Al-Qaws has undergone an all-embracing organizational process of development.  What started as a local professional-oriented project has grown into a national community and grassroots organization, with activist leadership. This major development has been made possible thanks to the leadership group's determined investment, the deep commitment of Al-Qaws activists and the autonomous space provided to Al-Qaws within the JOH, enabling Al-Qaws to address the needs of the Palestinian LGBTQ community.

 

This process culminated in the decision of the Al-Qaws' leadership to secede from the JOH and establish an independent organization. With this decision, our community begins a new journey with a committed leadership group and widespread local activists, friends and supporters. In November 2007, Al-Qaws received the formal status of a nonprofit organization and a new name: "Al-Qaws – for Sexual & Gender Diversity in the Palestinian Society."

 

Haneen Maikey, Al-Qaws Director, commented, "This change is incredibly exciting. This new phase presents new opportunities with promises of growth through self-definition for Palestinian LGBTQs."

 

True to its deep commitment to advancing the status of LGBTQ people in Jerusalem, the JOH has provided constant support for Al-Qaws toward this development. This has made the transition period an easy, productive and exciting stage for all those involved. The JOH will continue to host Al-Qaws in its new community center in downtown Jerusalem. The two organizations are committed to exploring wider fields of cooperation in the future towards the advancement of our common goals.

 

Noa Sattath, JOH Executive Director, stated, "The Palestinian LGBTQ community is fortunate to have such strong and capable leaders. We look forward to working together with the leadership of Al-Qaws for a better future for all our community members."

 

For further details, please contact:

Haneen Maikey

Al-Qaws – for Sexual & Gender Diversity in the Palestinian Society

info@alqaws.org      +972-2-6250502 ext 128      +972-54-4898062

Ramadan Begins in Jerusalem

Palestinian women lined up to try and cross through the Kalandia checkpoint near the West Bank town of Ramallah, on their way to pray at the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

Photo: Emilio Morenatti/Associated Press

NY Times slide show of Ramadan in Jerusalem