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Satirical and compelling insight into the Arab American experience. A collection of essays to help you better understand the Arabs in America. By Award winning author, Ray Hanania

Role of humor
in Arab society.
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Book excerpt:
    "I am not a terrorist. But to run from the word 'terrorist' is wrong. I am glad I look like a terrorist because it gives me a special sword to help destroy the stereotype that continues to injure my people, distort our image and to cause otherwise compassionate Americans to engage in hateful acts of bias."
--  Ray Hanania
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Haaretz Newspaper
Tuesday Nov. 2, 2004

Laughing through the tears

By Zipi Shohat

`Humor is a powerful way to pierce hatred,' says Palestinian-American Ray Hanania, who is trying to stage a `Comedy for Peace' tour with Palestinian, Israeli and American comedians throughout Israel and the territories.

He arrived two weeks ago with an inspiring and insane idea.

Hanania's visit was documented for a film about the proposed tour, with the intention of screening it all over the world. "As tragic as events are and as painful as they may be for Israelis and Palestinians on both sides, we cannot give up on the dedication for peace," he says. "Humor is a powerful way to pierce hatred. The idea is that if we can laugh together, we can live together." Hanania aspires to "improve relations between Arabs and Jews" through his writing and performing. Is he an idealist, a romantic or merely passionate about his subject? It would seem that all of these descriptions fit.

Pill against anti-Semitism

Hanania was born in 1953 in Chicago. His father is from Jerusalem, his mother from Bethlehem, and he tries to visit relatives "in both countries" often. He has been married since 1997 to Alison, a Jewish woman whom, he says, also supports a two-state solution. They have a young son.

The raw material for his performances is partly based on his biography, his experiences as an Arab growing up in the United States and his marriage to a Jew. "There are people on both sides who find this marriage unconventional," he says. "Some call me pro-Jewish, because I am married to a Jew."

Hanania speaks with a certain nostalgia about the days of his youth, when "Jews and Arabs in America lived together." As he puts it, "We shared together not only a love for the same land, but also a similar culture and interest in food. And we are so close, as true cousins."

After his honorable discharge from the U.S. Army, he attended college in Chicago, where he studied political science and communications, "believing that the Palestinians and Arabs were doing a very poor job of communicating both with the Americans but more specifically with the Jewish Americans and Israelis."

His interest in these issues is reflected in his literary and journalistic writing. His newspaper columns, which have garnered him numerous prizes, including one from the Chicago Press Association, focus on a variety of subjects: analysis of events in the Middle East, local Chicago politics and humor aimed at Arabs and Muslims.

Hanania currently writes a weekly political column in a local paper in Chicago, as well as a column syndicated by the Los Angeles-based Creators Syndicate, in which he analyses events in the Middle East. His books include "I'm Glad I Look Like a Terrorist: Growing Up Arab in America." His most recent book is entitled "The Moral Jihad." Among his public endeavors, he has been active in Arab-American organizations, and 10 years ago was elected national president of the Palestinian American Congress, which supports the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians.

Q. How can humor and comedy serve the Palestinian-Jewish conflict?

"I based my comedy on research I did reading several books about the history of the Jewish-American comedian, and I realized that the Jewish people in America were able to use humor and comedy as a shield to help protect them against the hatred of anti-Semitism. I had always used humor in my writing, but never as an event by itself or an entire message. I believe, if we can laugh together, we can live together. And as bad as the events in the world - and more importantly between Palestinians and Israelis - are, we must be reminded that despite the terrible events we both see every day, inside all of us is a genuine desire to live together in peace. When I make a Jewish person laugh, maybe it will make them him and think and see me as a human being and judge me for my views and not because of the actions of some extremists and fanatics. When I make a Palestinian laugh, maybe it will make him see that inside us, despite the pain and anger, we are people and human beings and remind them that we want peace and coexistence with the Israeli people."

Death threat from a neighbor

The idea of "Comedy for Peace" was conceived after the attacks on the Twin Towers. A few days after September 11, he received an e-mail from a man who said he wanted to kill him. He signed his name and put his home address. It was his neighbor.

"The local police went to his home and asked him why he did this, and he said he was angry about what Arabs did to America and that he was an American veteran of World War II," recalls Hanania. "I realized that I had to do something to reach a person like that who didn't even know me but who hated me so much that he wanted to do something so terrible. But what could I do? Should I keep trying to write political columns, as I have been doing? Or should I try to do something else?

He decided to try something else. The decision was made a few weeks later, at a luncheon that was held with several Jewish journalist friends. "`Why did your people do this?' my friend asked me," he recalls. "I thought it was absurd to blame an entire race of people for the hateful violence of a fanatic monster like Osama bin Laden. I responded with jokes. The humor changed their attitudes, and we could talk seriously about the events and understand that I, as an Arab, was not involved in the horrible attacks.

Who will perform in "Comedy for Peace"?

"Right now my main partner is Aaron Freeman, who is a well-known African-American Jewish comedian based in Chicago. Aaron does a comedy act that strictly focuses on humor with a strong Jewish edge. I also have reached out to many Jewish comedians in Israel but have so far only succeeded in connecting with a very inspirational humorist name Lenny Ravich in Tel Aviv."

Lenny Ravich is an Israeli stand-up comic of American descent who facilitates workshops on laughter and humor. In his stand-up routines, he looks at Israeliness through American eyes. Ravich himself tried to develop an idea that he has not yet been able to realize - laughter workshops for Jewish and Palestinian children. "Hanania is the only Palestinian with whom I can talk about a Jewish-Palestinian comedy show," says Ravich, "and he told me that I'm the only Jew with whom he can talk about this kind of show. We agreed that if he puts on his comedy on stage, I would appear. It puts my future in Israel at risk, but the objective is larger than me."

Hanania is trying to encourage Israeli comics to "set aside their personal political views and join me and perform comedy on a stage together. I think that every Palestinian and every Israeli must use their talents, whatever they are - in dance, music or the stage arts, to make a good change in the relations between the peoples. Those people who are silent or are afraid are just as wrong as those who are responsible for the violence."

I'm Glad I Look Like a Terrorist:

Growing Up Arab in America

Humor & Reality in the Ethnic American Experience

By Ray Hanania

(C) 1996 - 2003, USG Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved

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 Last Updated 11/02/04

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