Radio Interview

I left in plenty of time to get to An-Najah University, it's just a short walk from Project Hope, though I wasn't convinced I would be inside the gates on time. When I tried to go there with my students on Saturday we had been told only myself and one student were permitted to enter. Security is always tight and you walk past security guards and metal detectors on the way in. That wan't the problem though. The difficulty was trying to explain to the guys on the gate why I was there and who I wanted to see. I showed them a business card but this was of course in English and I wasn't having much success explaining in Arabic. They phoned through to the main reception and handed me the phone. The first person I spoke to didn't speak English so passed me on to someone else and the second had no idea who the person I was trying to meet was. I had a flash of inspiration and asked if I could borrow the phone to ring the professor's mobile. Instead one of the guards used his mobile to phone and gave it to me when there was an answer. Two minutes later the professor arrived and he was laughing and joking with the guys on the gate.

I have talked about the professor before and shown videos of his testimony about the death of his mother when he himself was shot:
http://lifeunderoccupation.wordpress.com/2008/09/09/25/
Considering what he has been through he is a remarkably cheerful character. As we walk through the university he is like a whirlwind shaking hands and speaking to everyone. I have a lot of respect for him and am glad to be able to speak on his radio show. Knowing that he has read my blog before I should be careful what I write!

The show itself went well and will be broadcast in Nablus and on line (http://www.najah.edu/index.php?page=2079&lang=en) two weeks today. Lasting for about half an hour myself and another PH volunteer chatted with the professor about life in Nablus and life back home. The show is called global perspectives and hopes to provide a window to the outside world. I spoke mainly about human rights and we talked about me doing a seminar for the students at the university in the future. I would love to do this and it made a nice change to speak with someone who knows what the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is and believes in its power. I hope to keep in touch with the university and return at a later date to do some work there. Maybe this will become easier with the introduction of low cost flights to Tel Aviv. Coming here to spend a few days at An-Najah would be much more viable.

Another group who believe in human rights are the Shia women of Afghanistan. They are clearly paying attention to my blog and my new found belief in universal human rights. They don't subscribe to cultural relativism as espoused by the powerful clerics who claim to speak for them:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/04/2009415121510610460.html
Very brave women indeed.

I am very glad that I came here even though it was for such a short time. I've learnt a lot from being in Nablus again and I've managed to do some useful stuff. Tomorrow will be my last day in the city as I leave it for the third time! I'm not sure when I will be back again but I'm sure that I will be. Palestine is very important to me and as I said in the radio interview I think that I am addicted to the place now. This isn't necessarily a good thing as the addiction is a true one. It has its highs and lows. I find it very depressing to be here but also uplifting at the same time. There are plenty worse things I could be addicted to.