Sunday, February 11, 2007
jerusalem
Amman is so much like Jerusalem. It confirms all of my original instincts: Israel is a Middle Eastern country. Although now (that I've been brainwashed to think it isn't?) I'm actually surprised by how culturally Middle Eastern Israel is, given the high percentage of immigrants of European origin (a fuzzy word in context). Is it geography--building materials and available foods? Did the pioneers culturally conform? And yet...that doesn't explain why Israelis look more like Arabs that Europeans. (If you doubt me, consider this: even I, who has all Jewish ancestry as far back as I can trace, wouldn't pass for Israeli.) I mean, Jerusalem is clearly more Western/liberal/modernized (whatever the hell that means) than Amman. But it's clearly on a continuum with Amman, not American cities. Also, it's only natural that it be at the Western-friendly end of the continuum: Israel has a tourist economy.
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If I remember correctly, there are substantially more Sephardim and Mizrahim than Ashkenazim in Israel, which would explain the population looking more Arab than pale European. However, politics are dominated by the European-descended people for various reasons of economics and early history. An exercise in contrasts: compare the pictures of Israeli politicians in the news, as a whole, to what you've seen of the Israeli population.
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