This weekend the Times Fashion section ran a piece on a fastgrowing trend, American students taking junior years abroad in the Middle East, reported by Jennifer Conlin. The students go to Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, "wanting to experience the Arab world." Excerpt:
Brian Reeves, 21, and Leigh Nusbaum, 20, incoming seniors at Brandeis University, are Jewish, speak Hebrew and have spent considerable time in Israel. Hoping to one day work on the peace settlement, they came to the Middle East last term wanting to explore the other side of the Arab-Israeli conflict while honing their language skills.
“Arabic is the new Russian,” said Ms. Nusbaum, who spent last spring studying at the American University in Cairo and wants to become a regional diplomat. Mr. Reeves chose the University of Jordan in Amman, where he learned the Levantine dialect spoken in the Palestinian territories, Syria and Lebanon. “I wanted to find out what Jews and Arabs have in common,” Mr. Reeves said. “A lot.”
Both students traveled extensively, including personal fact-finding visits to Palestinian refugee camps, as well as to Ramallah in the West Bank, all the while being discreet about their Jewish identity. Despite peace among Israel, Jordan and Egypt, strong feelings exist in all three countries when it comes to the Palestinian conflict.
To that end, Mr. Reeves quickly learned to speak in code when in public. “Israel became ‘Disneyland,’ Tel Aviv was ‘Epcot,’ and Jerusalem was called, ‘Cinderella’s Castle,’ ” he said. For Ms. Nusbaum, the experience of being delayed at the Israeli border for nearly five hours when she tried to cross from Jordan into the West Bank was both frustrating and enlightening. “I had stamps in my passport from Lebanon and Syria so they questioned me extensively before letting me through,” she said. “It gave me a real taste of what the Palestinians go through.”
The cynical side of me says these kids could be neocons in the making. Maybe they will evolve into something more nuanced. But what percentage of these kids would be studying the region if it weren’t for their fav country? If Disneyland was parked in the West Indies or Africa or South East Asia would they be still studying the region? I believe the answer is no.
