"The artist, Dor Guez,
30, is the son of a Palestinian Christian and a Tunisian-born Jew, and
his polemical work largely centers on narrating the experiences of the
Arab citizens of Israel. In an interview last fall, he said his work
sought to “deconstruct the Zionist master plan."...Still, there have been accommodations to campus sensitivities. Brandeis
has carefully labeled Mr. Guez “Christian Palestinian,” and has
described the exhibition, “100 Steps to the Mediterranean,” as an
exploration of “the overlooked histories of the Christian Palestinian
minority in the Middle East.” While the artist is indeed Christian and
does tell the stories of that minority, his work also delves into the
experience of Muslim Palestinians.
Savvy students have noticed differences between the Guez pieces shown at
Brandeis and the more overtly political work displayed at his
exhibitions in Israel.
“I do wonder if this was in some sense the safer route to take,” Alia Goldfarb, a Brandeis senior, said.
Rida Abu Rass, a junior from Jaffa, who said he was the only Palestinian
undergraduate student at the university, agreed.
“ It’s convenient for Brandeis, because the exhibition is not as out
there as it could have been,” he said. “So it is not as hard for public
relations.”
Nonetheless, “100 Steps to the Mediterranean,” which opened on Sept. 20 and runs through Dec. 9, is bold for Brandeis.
A video playing on a large screen spanning the back wall of the
exhibition is the show’s focal point. A rolling image of Jaffa’s
beachfront fills the screen, while a voice asks: “Why did the people
flee? They were afraid the Jews would do something to them.”
In another piece a college-age relative of the artist speaks to the
camera as if it were the screen of a confession booth. “I grew up with
all the songs that any other girl, say Jewish, grows up with,” she says.
“Sometimes it’s really scary to speak Arabic next to all kinds of
people, because I’m scared they’ll literally beat me up.”
Past efforts to encourage campus discussion of the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict have had little success, and dialogue between groups with
clashing points of view appears to be virtually nonexistent.
“I’ve never had any formal interaction with Students for Justice in
Palestine,” said Joshua Kaye, an organizer for the Brandeis Israel
Political Action Committee, speaking of a campus organization that says
on its Web site that it wants “to give a voice to those who are
interested in promoting the Palestinian perspective.” “They’ve never
talked with us,” he said, “and we’ve never talked with them, even
socially.”
Noam Lekach, a junior from Israel who leads Students for Justice in Palestine,
agreed. “My experience in trying to bring the Palestinian narrative to
campus is that people are really resistant to hear about it,” he said
“They either ignore it or dismiss it as being anti-Semitic or against
the existence of Israel.”"
PS I doubt that Brandeis would have agreed to host this exhibit if he was not half-Jewish. In fact, I am certain of that knowing the sectarianism of Brandeis. What do you expect of a campus where the token Arabs are Zionists.
