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Israeli Journalist Takes Identity
Of Palestinian Worker In Israel
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JIM FLEISCHER
38
FRIDAY, MARCH 31, 1989
C.11,-,
F
at'hi Awad wore a red
kaffiyah to show his
support for the Popular
Front for the Liberation of
Palestine. He smoked heavy,
pungent Farid cigarettes and
carried a copy of the Arabic
daily Al Biader Al Siasi
under his arm. He called
himself "a son of the camps"
— the Balata refugee camp in
Nablus.
Fat'hi Awad was Jewish.
For six months in 1986,
Israeli journalist Yoram
Binur posed as "Fat'hi Awad,"
a Palestinian laborer. Binur
chronicles his days of anger,
fear and frustration as an
Arab in Israel in his book My
Enemy, My Self, published
recently by Doubleday.
Binur was in Detroit last
week, the guest of Thmple
Shir Shalom.
For four years, Binur work-
ed as a reporter at Kol Ha'ir,
covering the West Bank and
Gaza. He saw how, because of
the occupation, "my society is
changing its face, and what a
big risk this is to democracy"
Binur was concerned about
the Palestinians' situation. In
his book, he recounts an inci-
dent during his days with the
Israel Defense Forces. Part of
a unit working in the Golan
Heights, Binur came across a
70-year-old woman who said
soldiers had stolen her
donkey.
"I was naive enough to be
shocked and — what was
worse (or better) — to go along
with the woman and lodge a
complaint, demanding that
the theft be thoroughly in-
vestigated," Binur writes.
"Needless to say, the sergeant
major of the brigade, to whom
I presented the case, was not
impressed. I was reproved in
typical military fashion .. .
and told to drop the matter."
After landing a job with a
newspaper, Binur wrote many
stories about the Palesti-
nians. "But who cares? So
another Palestinian says he's
beaten. Maybe he's lying;
maybe he's not. After awhile,
it loses impact," he said.
Yet Binur's greatest con-
cern was what is happening
to Israeli society because of
the occupation of the ter-
ritories. Although he said
most Israelis are not racist
and the country is not a police
state, he described Israel as
being destroyed by a cancer.
Israelis, Binur said, are
becoming more and more ig-
•1
—4
RN SIKaren Pete rsen
Always
ELIZABETH KAPLAN
Features Editor
Yoram Binur: 'A son of the camps'
norant about Palestinians,
while the Palestinians are
becoming stronger and more
unified and understand their
opponents well.
Binur recalled a demonstra-
tion in Gaza, where Arab
children taunted • IDF
soldiers: "Your sister is a
whore who has Arab clients!'
The reference to Arab clients
maddened the Israelis, Binur
said. "Even the children
knew exactly how to get to
the Israeli!'
Binur said he wanted to
write a book about Israel to-
day "and I couldn't write
about Masada and how
wonderful life is on the kib-
butz."
So he decided to become an
Arab. He donned a kaffiyah
and bought a pair of cheap
plastic sandals manufactured
in Gaza. Already fluent in
Arabic, Binur obtained a Jor-
danian ID card.
Binur said he learned
quickly that "the first impres-
sion is the last impression,"
and that to make the kind of
first impression he desired, he
would have to study Arab
body language and manners.
So he learned to hold a glass
of tea by placing four fingers
on the bottom, his thumb on
the rim. When he rode in an
Israeli bus or taxi, he crossed
his legs so as to take up as lit-
tle room as possible.
Binur got his first job
through the "slave market"
in Jaffa, where Arab workers
wait for Jews to pass by and
offer work. Binur secured a
position doing odd jobs in a
Aviv dining hall. He earn-
ed $10 a day.
He also found jobs as a
mechanic. Binur remembers
well changing the alternator
in an Israeli's car.
Wearing an attractive suit,
the owner of the car ap-
proached Binur. The jour- Al
nalist introduced himself as .-4
"Ali," and anticipated a plea-
sant conversation. Yet the on-
ly words the car owner ut-
tered were "Watch not to dir-
ty the car!'
Binur lived in fear he would
be discovered by the Arabs.
"The terms amil, jasus, chain,
bishtril (agent, spy, traitor, co-
worker) are in frequent use,"
Binur writes in My Enemy,
My Self "Anyone who is
suspected of collaborating
with the Israeli authorities
can expect to be knifed or -4
strangled with a twisted
towel, which serves as an im-
provised rope."
He also dreaded the