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Speech given by Daniel Barenboim upon receiving
the Buber-Rosenzweig-Medal at the Week of Fraternity 2004
Bad Nauheim, Germany, March 2004
Ladies and Gentlemen,
This praise has deeply moved me. Moreover I'm hesitant to believe
that I can meet these expectations. Many of the things I did, and
still am doing, I do them, believe it or not, simply because I enjoy
them. As it was mentioned before, I was born in Argentina. I then
moved to Israel at the age of ten together with my family, and like
other young people of my generation, I perceived the history of the
Israeli-Palestinian Conflict as it was told to us back then. Of course,
the tale told in Israel was quite different from the one told in the
Arab world. Today we know that both of them are false. A historical
account should be clear, unambiguous and in a certain way unemotional,
in order to ensure its continuity.
Like music, history requires no interpretations. Yet both of them
need an honest, albeit sometimes painful narrative. I never even intended
to do something in these lines; rather I always carried it inside
of me, and, in the beginning, I was almost exclusively curious to
get to know the "other". Nevertheless, I believe that one
should exercise caution when describing this conflict, because the
conflict between Israel and the Arab states (like Egypt, Syria or
Lebanon) is not comparable to others. Even though there are diplomatic
relations with Egypt, they resemble an ice-cold peace. In fact, relations
are so ice-cold that in the past it has happened that many of the
young musicians which you saw in the short movie-presentation, feared
to even attend our Workshop, because doing so is perceived negatively
in their home country. In the Arab world any kind of cooperation,
even if it is connected to music, is regarded - not by everybody,
but by several people - as a sign of normalisation, which is generally
unwanted. But this is only one chapter of the story, the other is
the conflict between Israel and Palestine. No conflict should be considered
as normal, and this one is especially horrid, because it is eating
up both sides from the inside. And that of course, leads us to Martin
Buber. I had the great privilege - and this is why I'm so thankful
and so touched here, today - to attend several lectures given by Martin
Buber at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. And likewise in private
- I was unfortunately acquainted to him only vaguely - he spoke about
this history, this tale of ours, the Jewish people. Already in Karlsruhe
in 1921, he was a strong advocate of honest negotiations with our
Arab neighbours. He really was a true "Spiritual Zionist",
not a Nationalist. He thought that the duty of the Jewish people and
their nation, Israel, was to compensate for the mistakes that were
made and to exercise readiness to reconcile towards the hostile neighbours.
And they are hostile indeed. No doubt about that. But the Israel/Palestine
problem is not a problem of two nations. It is a problem between people
that have ironically managed to live together as long as another nation,
namely the British, controlled the country. After the withdrawal of
the British, the confrontation escalated. Back then, we were all Palestinians.
Martin Buber too was a Palestinian. Palestine is a very literal term
indeed. The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, which you have probably
often heard, was founded in 1936 by Hubermann as the Palestine Philharmonic
Orchestra. And Toscanini led this orchestra as its first conductor.
We mustn't forget this, for the paths of these tales sometimes move
in parallel and sometimes against one another. I personally met many
Palestinians, not those who came to Palestine from Tunis for political
purposes for example, but those who lived in Palestine and who are
not able to comprehend why Jews, Muslims and Christians, in fact all
of them Palestinians, could live in relative peace prior to 1948,
and why one part of this population, namely the Jewish part of the
Palestinians, now demanded its independence.
Jewish history though, is a whole different tale. But I have to tell
you honestly, that I don't have the feeling that all of us, that are
or were living in Israel, regardless of political convictions, really
did do everything possible to explain to those people why it is the
way it is, and why we think the way we think. And we even failed to
explain it to ourselves and to understand it in an adequate way. Namely
that since 1948, since the very day the State of Israel was created,
Jews around the world were no longer a minority like they had been
for 2000 years, sometimes tolerated, sometimes treated with cruelty
so inhumane that it is beyond any description. At present however,
this persecuted minority has become not only a people, but a nation.
And therefore, I find that we have to carry a greater responsibility
to show readiness to reconcile. This is the week of Fraternity. We
already learned about this principle from the French Revolution; yet,
prior to Fraternity came Freedom and Equality. In my eyes these three
terms from the French Revolution are not only valid, they also appear
in the right order and there are many people in that region that don't
have Freedom, and many more that don't experience Equality. Thus,
how does that allow us to speak about Fraternity? One often talks
about the necessity to feel tolerance. But what is tolerance? I can
tolerate someone that is equal to me, otherwise this would not be
tolerance. Acceptance, maybe. Acceptance means to accept that someone
can be different and perhaps, this is the reason why we managed to
live together in such a good manner. Like different musicians sitting
together in one orchestra. Just imagine everybody playing alike, those
would be the most tiresome concerts in the world. But the acceptance
that one is free to play differently is one of music's most important
rules, and this we all need to learn, just as we must also learn that
violence, which is being exerted all over the world, is unacceptable.
And this fine line between unacceptable but understandable is very
dangerous. This is why I devoted myself so much to this Workshop,
this "West-Eastern-Divan" project, together with my friend
Edward Said, who unfortunately is no longer among us. He was born
in Jerusalem and was a proper Palestinian. He did not believe in a
military solution either, and someone like him, born in Jerusalem,
spending his childhood among Muslims and Jews, himself was a Christian.
He also had difficulties understanding why the Jews needed to have
a state of their own and not the Non-Jews from former Palestine. Therefore,
our duty is to promote the dialogue between Jews and Palestinians.
Hence, and I really do mean this in all its simplicity and honesty,
I don't want to be thanked for what I'm doing with these young people,
because it is truly the greatest joy I can have as a musician, as
a human being and as an Israeli. You know, one year ago or maybe a
little more than that, during one of my visits to Ramallah, I played
in front of 300 children. Maybe 13- or 14 year old kids. And after
I played, some of them played for me. And then, after the official
closing of the event, many of these young people came to ask me for
an autograph. Just imagine, in Ramallah, which is usually off-limits
to any Israeli citizen, an Israeli comes and plays and the Palestinian
children want to have an autograph. This was already very touching.
And then a little girl, maybe 13- or 14 years of age, came up to me
and I asked her:" Do you play the piano, too?". She replied:"
No, I play the violin." Then I asked her: "Well, why didn't
you play now?", "Ah" she said, "I didn't know
that that was possible. I thought it was reserved to pianists only."
And then I told her: " On my next visit, would you like to play?"
"Oh, yes", she replied, "I'd like that very much. I'm
so happy that you are here." "Why are you so happy that
I'm here?" Whereupon she said: "Because you are the first
thing - she actually said "thing" - from Israel that is
neither a soldier, nor a tank." This concert, as you surely know
from the coverage in the newspapers, did not end the conflict. Yet,
at least for a couple of hours, it managed to reduce the level of
hatred to zero. And now, about a year ago, we began to establish a
music education program in Ramallah. There are excellent teachers
from Germany participating who went there to teach, and the children
have already advanced to such a high level of playing, that when I
will go to play there again this coming May, they will play with me.
Just imagine, a little hall with maybe 20 to 25 Palestinian children
making music together. And one should not thank me for that. What
more could I wish for or what could I love to do more? The "West-Eastern-Divan"
also developed incredibly well ever since its creation five years
ago. Last summer, we played concerts in Berlin, London and various
other places. Though this project will only reach its full dimensions
on the very day that it will be possible for us to play in all of
the countries represented in this workshop and orchestra: namely in
Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt and Israel. This is not the case yet,
though I most strongly hope that it will happen soon. As I stated
before, it is an enormous honor for me to receive this prize here
today, and allow me to express my gratitude for being awarded this
Medal and for the commendation, and thus as it is accustomed to say
in the ceremonial language of courtesy: I do not deserve it. Thank
you.
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