Behind enemy lines?

One of the benefits of being a Fulbrighter is the perks. Perks like invitations to the Ambassador's residence and getting flown to African countries for conferences. Say, for instance, Tunisia.

In an effort to share our work and experiences with each other, Fulbright (or IIE, or someone) decided to have two regional conferences during April: one in Tunis, Tunisia; and the other in Amman, Jordan. I was chosen for the Tunis conference so, along with three other of my fellow Israeli Fulbrighters, we packed our bags and headed to Africa. The purpose of the conference was to share our research topics and progress with other Fulbrighters from our region, MENA (Middle East/Northern Africa), and also to talk about our host countries and our experiences living there.

Now, if you took a second to think about what constitutes the Middle East and Northern Africa, you'll realize that it means all the Arab countries plus Israel. There was, at least on my part, a trepedation walking into a group of "Arab" students. Everyone knows that Israel doesn't have the best reputation with most Arab countries, and I wasn't sure what that meant to the other Fulbrighters and how that influnced their perspectives. Had they adopted the same opinions? What did they think about us having chosen Israel to study in? And, in the bigger picture, what did it mean to be going from Israeli to an Arab country? Was this something we could talk about, or did we just say we were Americans and leave out "via Israel"?

Our arrival, via Italy as there are no direct flights from Israel to most Arab countries, was mostly uneventful. Because of he flights available, we arrived in Tunis a two days before our conference started, which allowed us time to explore Tunis. Our conference was held in a hotel in Sidi Bou Said, a small town north of the capital, Tunis. It's primarily touristy, but a lovely coastal town full of cafes and shops.

The conference was such that we were all broken into various panels centered around a topic: mine, for instance was "Women's Issues and Public Health" (I study trauma/disaster response). Everyone gave a briefy explanation of their project and time in their host country, and then the floor was opened to questions. The breadth of topics was a little astounding, ranging from chemical engineering for low-cost housing in Morocco to a theatre company in Syria. We also had a trip to Carthage to see the ruins there, and saw the largest collection of mosaics in the world at a museum (the name of which I've forgotten).

While the presentations were interesting, equally beneficial was talking with the other Fulbrighters during our down-time. While we were all associated with our host countries, we were also all Americans so we had plenty to talk about. The Israeli/Arab differences only popped up a few time, mainly in the use of slang Arab phrases during presentations that some of us didn't understand.

Not to say the topic of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict didn't come up; in fact, one of the other Fulbrighters was born in Palestine. What was nice, though, was to discuss the situation with people not directly ivolved in it. I feel like it allowed for a more neutral discussion of things, which is hard to in Israel when all of your friends are either Jews or Arabs. It was also good to learn more about how the Arabs see the conflict and what their feelings are towards it and why, and also to explain the Israeli side of things. No one was trying to justify things, but with the experience of living in the countries involved it allowed for a more rich discussion of the whole situation.

There was some button-pushing, though. I somehow doubt the guy wearing a "Save Palestine" shirt just happened to have packed that in his suitcase. But he didn't disrupt our conversation on the topic (though he tried), so...מה לעשות?

It was interesting to hear what is reported in the Arab media, though, compared to what shows up in the Israeli news. More than a few times the story the Fulbrighters outside of Israel heard was in stark contradiction to what the Israeli media reported, and none of us could say for sure which was more accurate.

The conference was topped off with a reception at the US Ambassador's residence for all of us. The residence is located on the outskirts of Sidi Bou Said, and has an amazing view of the Bay of Tunis.

Afterwards, myself and two of the other Israeli Fulbrighters (Deb and Emily), trekked through Tunisia for another four days. We took louages (like group vans/מוניות שרות) to Kairouan (the fourth holiest city in Islam) and then on to Houmt-Souk, located on the island of Djerba in southern Tunisia. After two days in Houmt-Souk, we returned to Tunis via a train up the coast to fly back to Israel.

I won't bore you with all the gritty details, except to say that Tunisia is beautiful and we had an absolutely lovely time. We even ran into some Jewish, Hebrew-speaking Tunisians in Houmt-Souk, which is known for it's large Jewish population. They take pride in that there's no animosity between the Arab and Jewish communities in Djerba; the oldest synagogue in Tunisia is on Djerba, though we didn't get to see it. While we didn't directly address people's feelings on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, no one seemed too phased by us having come from Israel. We're weren't advertising that fact either, though, so who knows for sure?

Two other fun things: the blue and white motif that is throughout Tunisia is apparently a law, or at least such a strong custom that no one dares to defy. And second: when we were in Gabes waiting to swith louages, I ducked into a cafe to buy a Coke and saw La Femme Nikita on TV! As I've mentioned before this show rates quite high on my favorites list, so I was very pleased to catch a glimpse of Nikita with Arabic subtitles.

The entire week, communication-wise, was kind of traumatic for me because I was dependant on Deb and Emily the whole time. The official language is Arabic and most people also speak French (a remnant of when Tunis was a French colony) but next to no one outside of Tunis spoke English, and since I don't speak Arabic and my French is practically non-existant...I'm pretty sure my broken Hebrew with the jewelry shop owner was my only direct conversation with a Tunisian for most of the trip. Weird.

Anyhow, check out the photo gallery for pictures from the trip. And Tunisia has the largest number of spas in the world (after France) so if you're ever looking for a relaxing get-away to the Mediterranian coast, I have a recommendation for you.