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Al-Ahram Weekly 14 - 20 October 1999 Issue No. 451 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 14 - 20 October 1999 Issue No. 451
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Books Features Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Send a little prayer...
By Tarek AtiaYou'd never guess from the Israeli exhibit at Disney World's Epcot Centre that any sort of controversy surrounded it. There are no clues that several organisations have called for a worldwide Muslim boycott of entertainment giant Disney because of it, or that even the Arab League was involved in the fracas for a while.
In fact, you'd probably never guess that there were any controversies in the world at all, because everything at Disney is designed to put you at ease, to lull you into feeling that the world is becoming a better place and that all the people on Earth aim to help each other secure a better future for humanity.
"Celebrate the future hand in hand" is the slogan at Disney World's Epcot, and that's also its the general attitude. It's clear that visitors to the centre's Millennium Village pavillion, home of the infamous Israeli exhibit, for the most part couldn't care less about the politics of Jerusalem, or anything related to the Israelis or the Arabs at all. They're here to see some shows, to enjoy a ride or two, and then to move on to the next show, and stock up on souvenirs.
Maybe that's why the Arab League decided not to boycott the Israeli exhibit. But maybe that is precisely why they should.
The Epcot Center's Millennium Village opened on 1 October and gathers together exhibits from nations including Sweden, Indonesia and Eritrea. In the interests of an audience with a short attention span, most participating countries are reduced to one or two gimmicks. In Brazil's interactive show, the huge country is summarised as the land of soccer and of the Amazon.
The Saudi Arabian exhibit is more informative, but also very gimmicky, with flying carpets helping to teach the kingdom's history.
The Millennium Village is actually a very small part of a very big park, the Epcot Center, which is just one part of the giant Walt Disney World complex in Orlando. So the Israeli exhibit inside the Millennium Village pavillion inside Epcot Center inside Disney World inside Orlando overall has very little impact.
But another fact to consider is that about 160-180 people enter the Millennium Village every five minutes, according to the Disney employee at the door, and the place is open from 11 am to 10 pm. Disney doesn't release attendance figures, but local newspapers estimate that Epcot brings in between 10-14 million people a year. And given that many of these people are like Lynn Richie, and his mother Zona, from North Carolina, it would seem the Israelis have won the battle here. Why? Because Lynn and Zona's comments make it clear that they pretty much believe whatever they see, as long as they're not seeing much else.
"We're never going to get the chance to go anyplace, let alone to go to a place like Israel," Lynn said, "and exhibits like this help us get a picture of what these places look like, and maybe understand them a bit better."
In this case, the main part of the Israeli exhibit -- a movie on the history of Jerusalem -- informed them that it was "the world's most dreamed about city". That it was "the capital of the millennium, and the heart of Israel."
Not once did the movie mention that there were people called Palestinians who considered Jerusalem their capital as well. Nor was mention made of the fact that Israel has only existed for 50 years or so. It is made to seem like it has been around for thousands of years.
Interestingly, Lynn and Zona had actually heard a little bit about the controversy -- they'd read about it and seen it on the "world news", and they had been talking about it as they went in, but, they admitted to me, they "really didn't understand what the whole thing was about."
Were they aware that the Palestinian side was missing from the story of Jerusalem presented by the exhibit? Zona said that it never crossed her mind. She said she was aware that Palestine was a part of that area of the world, but "didn't know the details."
Which brings us to the sad realisation that because people are ignorant when they go into the exhibit, they take whatever they hear for granted. Whether or not that sticks with them is another story.
As you wait in line to enter the Israeli exhibit's main draw, a simulator ride that rocks the viewer through a tour of Jerusalem guided by King David, there are computer screens which you can touch to get different historical and cultural tours of Jerusalem. In fact, you would have to wonder, from the contents of the exhibition, whether Israel consisted of anything other than Jerusalem.
The movie on Jerusalem conveniently glosses over the bulk of the past two millennia during which the Christian church held the Jews responsible for the persecution of Jesus, choosing instead to boast of a Christian-Jewish understanding that has lasted through the years. When Islam is mentioned, it is in terms of "a fire of faith" that spread across Arabia to eventually overtake Jerusalem.
The film also states as a fact the much-disputed notion that the Dome of the Rock was built over the Temple of Solomon.
Perhaps most ironic of all, however, is that while each of the nations participating in the pavillion gives a symbolic gift to the world, Israel's gift is the "gift of peace".
I asked a serious young man named Gal, one of 34 people brought in from Israel to help run the exhibition, why there was no mention of the Palestinians.
"There's no mention of Palestinians because it's an exhibit about history," he said, adding that they purposely tried to avoid putting in politics. "So there's no mention of Israelis, no mention of Palestinians, and that was done on purpose," he said.
Arab and Muslim-American lobbying organisations had been hoping for greater Arab League support in their call for a boycott of Disney because of the one-sided nature of the Israeli exhibit, but when that didn't come through, the groups pledged to continue the struggle by placing volunteers at the exhibit to distribute leaflets telling the other side of the story.
On the day Al-Ahram Weekly visited, however, there was no such "informational leafleting" taking place. Nihad Awad of the Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) explained that the "limited resources" of the Muslim community in the US was the main factor preventing an extended leafleting campaign. "Because of the difficulty of volunteers taking days off work, the local Muslim community was only able to do it for the first day, when the media hype was at its highest," he said.
The concession reached by the Arab League, that any reference to Jerusalem being the capital of Israel be removed, is in effect, as are the several disclaimers from Walt Disney World hung up near the pavillion entrance as a result of the controversy, but it's doubtful that anyone notices them: "We are proud that the Millennium Village advances the rich traditions of Epcot, celebrating the diverse cultures of the world. We invited each exhibitor to tell its stories in a way that would be entertaining and easily understood by our guests. The stories represent the views of our exhibitors and sponsors."
The Jerusalem exhibit makes it perfectly clear that it's sponsored by Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and that it is based on their perspective. The man welcoming the viewers to the exhibit does so "on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs," and the same thing is mentioned twice during the movie, but that still doesn't mean that viewers are aware that what they're getting is a slanted version of the truth, because in general they believe Disney would never lie to them.
After the film, visitors find themselves in a simulation of the Wailing Wall, where you look into the cracks to see pictures of Jerusalem and Israel, and right next to that there is a place where you can send a prayer to the Western Wall via the internet.
In true Disney style, I sent a prayer "to please make peace between all peoples of the world"..."May your prayers be answered..." the computer said, informing me that my note will be printed out and hand delivered in Jerusalem."
