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Last update - 14:54 08/03/2007
Family Affairs / The Jubrans
By Avner Avrahami and Reli Avrahami
Jubran and Akiko Jubran at home with Taiyo in the German Colony in Haifa.
Haifa
The cast: Jubran (35), Akiko (Aki, 33).
The home: A two-story apartment building, old, well-kept, in a quiet
neighborhood (the German Colony) with a trimmed ficus tree in front, shiny
mailboxes at the entrance; eight families.
Eight families: Four Jewish, four Arab, all of them employers of Willy
(Russian gardener, NIS 150 a month).
Up the stairs: We walk up a floor and a half. Taiyo (Japanese for sun)
sounds excited on the other side of the door. He's a Labrador Retriever
and speaks Japanese, Arabic and English.
Real estate history: The Jubran family bought the apartment 14 years
ago for the shekel equivalent of $40,000 (and renovated it for another
$12,000). It's 60 square meters and has a hall, two bedrooms, a living
room, kitchen and bathroom ("like in workers' quarters") on Lohamei
Hagettaot (Ghetto Fighters) Street.
Lohamei Hagettaot: "I would prefer 'Jasmine,'" Jubran says, "but
still, they were oppressed heroes and it's better than, say, Etzel,"
referring to the Jewish underground movement in Palestine led by Menachem
Begin. Aki: "It's a lovely name."
Entering: The tidy apartment is faintly illuminated by the reddish
coil of a kerosene heater and the winter light that enters through
yellow-tinted glass. We ask about the music. "Facing East," Jubran says.
"Arabic chill-out with Japanese motifs." In the living room is an angular
sofa whose base is a wooden crate ("We built it"), upholstered with
striped Damascene cloth (red-yellow) and adorned with big matching
cushions. Adjacent are two brown armchairs that they found on the street
("Right in the garbage"), and next to them a bookcase.
The books: Among others, An Arabic-Japanese dictionary, a three-volume
set of "Thousand and One Nights," a luxuriously bound Koran, poetry by
Samih al-Qassam, poetry by Jubran Khalil Jubran ("a relative") and kanji -
a book of Japanese typography with 50,000 signs. Most of their books, they
say, are still in cartons, as they have not finished designing the
apartment. We peek into the kitchen. On the refrigerator is a magnet in
Japanese, with a text saying: "If you persist with your dreams, you will
succeed." Time for the photograph.
The photograph: Taiyo wants to have his picture taken, too. "Taal,"
Jubran says, "swarai, sleep, mattei, stay." A cookie finally does the
trick.
Livelihoods and occupations: Jubran Jubran, who has a doctorate in law
and is an expert in international law, is an associate director of Sikkuy,
the Association for the Advancement of Civic Equality in Israel - an NGO
that works to achieve equal opportunities for Arabs and Jews in
public-sector jobs. He is concentrating, he says, on creating a lobby to
promote full civic equality. His office is in Haifa ("a three-minute walk
from the house"), and twice a week he goes to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv ("by
public transportation") for meetings. He also has a car of his own, a 1971
Volkswagen Beetle ("Well maintained and not for sale"), which he uses only
for outings with Aki to the pubs and cafes they like in Haifa.
Aki's occupation: Not actually working just now. When she gets the
chance, she translates texts from Japanese to Hebrew (such as documents
for the Israeli Police following the accident between a Zim ship and a
Japanese fishing boat). She is also a volunteer at Haifa's Tikotin Museum
of Japanese Art and is learning Hebrew at an ulpan (intensive language
course) at the University of Haifa. She usually spends her days at home.
She loves to cook; among her favorite dishes are sushi, sashimi, stuffed
grape leaves and a stuffed chicken dish. She would be happy to work for an
Israeli company that has commercial ties with Japan, she says.
Breakfast: A platter of cheeses (including Kashkaval, Emmental and
cream cheese) along with tomato bread, salami and Italian red wine
("light").
Jubran's bio: Born in Wadi Nisnas, Haifa, 1971. His family (Christian
Arab) is originally from Caesarea, where his grandfather had property
until 1948 ("Right at the entrance to the [Roman] amphitheater"); today,
he adds, he has to buy a ticket to see the land. His father, who died four
years ago, worked in a factory that makes floor tiles in Haifa Bay and
also owned a grocery store. His mother was an elementary-school teacher.
Bio (cont.): Jubran, the eldest of five brothers and sisters (one
sister is an engineer, another a psychologist and the third a medical
student; his brother is a pharmacist), attended the Arab Orthodox high
school in Haifa. He then studied law at the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem, got his degree, but did not clerk, and went to the East to find
himself. He spent three years wandering in India, Thailand, Korea, Japan
and Australia ("I'm probably the first Palestinian backpacker"), studied
Buddhism, learned the Thai language and returned to Israel.
Japan: After returning he asked the Japanese embassy in Tel Aviv for a
scholarship, and to his surprise got one ("I told them that for the 10
years in which the scholarship had been available not one Arab student had
received it"). In 1995 he went to study at the expense of the Japanese
government (and also received $2,000 living expenses per month) doing an
M.A. at Kumamoto University, in southern Japan (where he also met Aki) and
went on to do a Ph.D. at Kobe.
The Ph.D.: "The Oslo Agreements in International Law" (under the
supervision of a Japanese scholar).
Japanese: In his first year he concentrated solely on learning the
language, and after a year and a half, he says, he achieved fluency in
speaking, reading and "a little in writing." A Japanese keyboard, he
explains, is actually an English keyboard that does the adjustment by
itself.
Aki's bio: Born Aki Nakayama in 1973, in Kumamoto. Her father is a
construction engineer and her mother, a secretary in a government
ministry. She has a younger sister. She attended a Catholic high school
even though her family adheres to the Shinto creed ("which is not really a
religion"). She did a B.A. in sociology, worked as a librarian in the
municipal library and met Jubran.
The meeting: July 13, 1996. He was 25, an Arab student, alone, living
in the dorms ("in a small, but well-equipped room"); she was 23, a local
librarian, living with her parents. Until their meeting she had never met
foreigners, "and certainly not Palestinians." One day he mustered his
courage and asked her for help in ordering books ("The truth is, I had
plans for her"). She acceded happily, he invited her for coffee, she
accepted, and then they went to a restaurant and she bought him an
English-Japanese dictionary as a present. Later he met her parents.
Her parents: "I was received very well," Jubran recalls. Japanese
parents, he notes, "are like Polish parents multiplied by 10." They wait
in the schoolyard when their child has an exam, he adds.
His parents: "Both of them liked the idea" of them being together, he
says. His mother traveled to Japan immediately to meet the prospective
in-laws; his father loved Aki when he met her in Israel. They decided to
get married after dating for two years, when they were already living
together. Before the wedding, Aki, at Jubran's suggestion, lived for half
a year in his parents' home in Haifa, so that if she wished, she could
change her mind before it was too late. After the wedding Aki converted to
Christianity, over Jubran's objections. "I was absolutely against it," he
says. "I wanted her to be Japanese, not Christian." He describes himself
as an atheist.
The wedding: The first one took place in Japan in a banquet hall at
the Kumamoto University. Jubran and Aki wore kimonos, and the 250 guests
("which is a great many") brought mainly checks ("The average for a
distant acquaintance in Japan is $300"). The second wedding took place in
the Catholic church in Wadi Nisnas in Haifa, from where the celebrations
proceeded to Abu Maher banquet hall in Nazareth, with a local singer.
Culture shock: "When the Japanese were carried on people's shoulders."
Living in Israel: Jubran says that his desire to return overcame his
desire to stay in Japan. He feels he must work here for "a just solution
in this country, between equals." His mission in life, he says, is "to
advance a generation that will have the tools to reach such an agreement"
(with the Jews).
Children: "That depends on the fertility treatments." Jubran and Aki
will be content with one; he prefers a daughter.
Household chores: Aki cooks on a daily basis, Jubran on festive
occasions. The two of them wash the floor twice a day, he in the morning,
she in the evening. Jubran also cleans up around the building ("I am the
head of the house committee") and is responsible for Taiyo.
Television: Aki likes the satirical show "A Wonderful Country,"
especially Tal Friedman's imitation of the veteran news broadcaster Haim
Yavin. Jubran likes the current events program "London &
Kirschenbaum," Channel 2 news and sports (he and Aki are fans of the
Maccabi Haifa soccer team). There are also programs that really irk him:
"I'm sick of all that 'is born' stuff," he says, referring to programs
such as "A Star is Born," the Israeli version of "American Idol," "and of
presenters like Ben Caspit, who become 'thinkers.'"
Quarrels and making up: "Our quarrels are divided into two," Jubran
says. "In the first part I deliver a persuasive Middle Eastern speech, and
in the second part Aki explains where I was wrong."
Fifty years from now: "It'll be best for everyone if there is peace,"
Jubran says. He has no problem with Israel as a state, he explains, but he
does have a problem with its description as "Jewish-democratic." "Aki," he
notes, "didn't have medical insurance for a year and a half because I, her
husband, am an Arab." He is apprehensive about a Jewish state, he
explains, just as he is apprehensive about a Muslim or a Christian state.
Dreams: Jubran - to be a university lecturer and open a pub ("I have a
fantastic location"); Aki - to be fluent in Hebrew and Arabic and to write
a novel.
Happiness quotient (scale of 1-10): Aki - 8; Jubran - likewise.
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