By Rick Kardonne
Tribune Correspondent
In September 2003, while the second intifada was still raging in the Middle East, London documentary playwright Robin Soans visited Israel, Gaza, Judea and Samaria, interviewing over 80 Jews and Arabs from a wide range of backgrounds, using food as a means of trying to reach a common ground while at the same time exposing their personal views of the Arab-Israeli situation. The result of this endeavour is the docu-drama The Arab-Israeli Cookbook, which, while purporting to be ‘balanced,’ for the most part avoids the common trap of moral relativism, tipping the balance in favour of Israel. This well-acted and well-conceived play can be seen at the Berkeley Street Theatre Upstairs until April 1.
The set depicts a kitchen-dining room, and the first items of conversation are favourite cuisines of both Arabs and Jews. Rina, a sophisticated New York-born Jewish woman, who with her husband Fred made aliyah to Israel, only to have him die in a car accident, explains how Israeli cuisine has evolved from European Ashkenazic to a Sephardic-Ashkenazic blend, resulting in Jerusalem being one of the world’s leading restaurant cities. Yemenite-Jewish falafels and local Arabic foods such as stuffed zucchini are also mentioned with the purpose of emphasizing that as Israeli and Arab food choices merge, so might there be in the future an Israeli-Arab coexistence.
But from the middle of Act I and especially in Act II, food, while always the underlying uniting theme of this play, gradually takes a back seat to discussions by each of the interviewees of their interpretation of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
This docudrama is not a historical analysis. It is an empirical survey of Israeli Jews, Muslim Arabs and Christian Arabs.
The Arabs are portrayed as objecting to Israeli army checkpoints and other anti-terrorist actions, especially in Act II, where Arabs complain about military crackdowns on refugee camps in the Palestinian Authority areas, which are known to breed terrorists. Arabs express sympathy with rock-throwers vis-à-vis Israeli tanks.
Early in Act I, an Arab hummous merchant complains about Israel’s security wall. One might initially be tempted to say that these interviews are just a one-sided rehash of Palestinian Arab propaganda, and on their own, they are.
However, much to his credit, Soans devotes ample time in both acts to the devastating effects that Arab suicide-homicide bombers have had on Israelis. The Yemenite-Jewish cafe owner, in Act I, describes how a 16-year-old boy with no provocation blew himself up in his cafe. A Jerusalem Jewish bus driver, at an Erev Shabbat dinner with his wife, describes how, on his #25 route, he has witnessed more than one terrible bus bomb, in which people were literally blown apart. These harrowing descriptions of Jewish suffering rationalize Israeli military self-defence and give the Arabs no excuse to engage in such murderous terror.
The role of the four Christian Arab interviewees is most perceptive and informative. A senior Christian Arab lady from Bethlehem laments the 2003 Israeli siege of the Church of the Nativity without mentioning that Muslim terrorists under Yasser Arafat had used it as a sancturary and had violated the sanctity of a holy place. She and her ageing alcoholic husband will not even leave their house out of fear, except to buy beer and food. But at the end, this lady, ably portrayed by Barbara Gordon, pleads for peace and reconciliation. Another younger Arab Christian lady from Nazareth who now lives in Haifa said that while as an Arab she sympathizes with the Palestinian Arabs, she can well understand the grassroots Israeli fear of Palestinian Arab suicide bombers.
A young Arab Christian regrets that the jointly Jewish-Arab owned Maxim’s Restaurant in Haifa was blown up by a 29-year-old woman suicide bomber, killing more than 20 Jews and Arabs. He tries to justify it by saying that this woman’s fiancé and male relatives were killed by the Israeli army in a search for terrorists. Again, this would appear to be a rationalization for Palestinian Arab terror, if not for the next speech by Rina, who is the most interesting character in the play.
“Before I left New York, I used to be a flaming liberal. Liberals back in New York got upset for five minutes when 9/11 happened. Here in Israel, we live with 9/11 all the time. I was next to Cafe Hillel in Jerusalem when it was blown up. Am I going to be next?
“But I have that will to continue. We’ll keep on going.” She emphasizes her wish to remain in Israel, even as an accident widow, due to the “quality of friendships here,” which she feels cannot be duplicated anywhere else.
While Rina is superbly portrayed by Maria Ricossa, the entire cast deserves praise: David Fox, Barbara Gordon, Mark McGrinder, Victor Ertmanis, Jeff Miller, and Kimrun Perehinec.
While the play was superbly directed by Joel Greenberg, he injected politics after the play by introducing a Peace Now activist together with a Palestine House spokesperson for a question-and-answer period. This was unnecessary. If anything, The Arab-Israeli Cookbook by fairly concentrating on the impact of Palestinian Arab terror in Israel, ultimately justifies a firm Israeli military response. Nationalistic Jews will loudly applaud Rina’s speech, which, thanks to its placement near the end of the play, implies a dramatic climax and apt conclusion.
In the past, small theatres in Toronto and elsewhere have been showcases for anti-Israel plays, as thoroughly documented by critic Ben Rose and Macleans senior writer Nomi Morris. However, since 9/11 and especially now in light of recent Muslim world terror, most recently at the sacred Hindu city of Varanasi, India, many “progressive, artistic” types are beginning to question anti-Israel pro-terror “artistic trendiness.” Hopefully, The Arab-Israeli Cookbook, by, through purely empirical interview methods, expresses sensitivity towards Israel’s long victimization by terror, will represent a long-overdue turning point as how Israel is portrayed on the ‘alternative’ stage.
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