Led by maestro Daniel Barenhoim, an Argentine symphony played to a crowd of 400 in the Hamas-controlled Palestinian territory of Gaza yesterday, marking the first time Gaza has hosted an orchestra. The immediate impact was stunning. “I felt I was dreaming. This concert took me out of the difficult conditions we are facing here. I forgot the blockade, the problems; the division,” said Hayam al Hayek, “I only saw this on TV before. This really made me feel like a human.”
The Jewish maestro is a well-known critic of Israeli policy. In 1999, Barenhoim co-founded a music education project in the Palestinian territories with Edward Said.
The performance can be read as the latest attempt by a well-meaning South American country to nudge the issue of Palestinian independence to the fore. However, that prickly faction that currently governs Gaza will diminish the dividend paid out by the performance. Two days ago, Hamas lamented the fall of Osama Bin Laden, the “Holy Arab warrior.” Sadly for the Palestinian people, Hamas is the poisoned thorn of statehood.
