Moreover / A language everyone understands
By Gideon Levy

Ha’aretz, Israel
Aug 19 2005

Sunday, Gemona, Italy

So who danced better? The Croat woman or the Czech woman? The argument
went on into the night, for as long as the party lasted. The Croat
was more stylish but the Czech was more rhythmic; the Czech more
modern, the Croat a little old-fashioned. The Maltese woman has an
unforgettable body, if you like broad women, like the Polish woman. The
two Armenian women were sexy, too, the Bulgarian was a bit vulgar. The
Guatemalan woman huddled with the Albanian woman in Italian. Simona,
the curly-headed Italian, changed her skirt for tight pants to dance
better. But the most beautiful of all, by general consensus, was Anna,
the tall Russian woman, always wearing a hat and a white dress and
sporting a dreamy look.

A hundred young people from around the world, 80 girls and 20 boys,
came for a month to Gemona, a town at the foot of the Italian Alps
that was totally devastated in a 1976 earthquake, lying not far from
the border with Austria and Slovenia. The International Laboratory for
Communications, a combination of a serious seminar on Italian culture
with a little Club Med in the evenings, is an impressive project,
which has also produced more than a few trans-oceanic weddings and
heartrending romances that were born and died in the 40 years of its
existence. It was only from the Arab states that no one came this
year: the Italians do not issue visas to citizens of those countries,
because of terrorism.

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This evening there is a prize ceremony. The international singer Noa
is receiving the seminar’s annual prize for her activity on behalf
of understanding and peace. It’s 4,000 euros. She arrived at 7:15,
Ahinoam Nini, of Israel, like a true superstar, to judge by the fact
she is 45 minutes late and by the excitement her arrival causes. Her
children, Eineha, a Hebrew name, and Ayehli, an Indian name, stayed
in the hotel in Venice with their grandmother and the nanny; her
husband, a pediatrician, was on duty in a hospital in Israel. The
previous day she appeared in Germany, the next day she will sing in
Venice and next week in Spain. She is an honorary citizen of half
the cities in Italy – there is no other Israeli singer of this era
who has enjoyed a comparable international success. Only Bassem Eid,
from Jericho, has never heard her name before.

Her success seems to sit well on her. In a half-open black blouse,
black pants stuffed deep into brown boots, a beautiful necklace
(designed by Michal Negrin), she won the hearts of the seminar
participants in no time. Sitting with legs crossed on the chair,
flowing American English, tons of self-confidence and personal charm,
even for those who are not wild about her mannerisms. Motherhood and
territories, Israel and America, career and occupation, singing and
journalists – she talked about everything articulately, touching the
hearts of her listeners.

Afterward they stood in line to get her autograph and went to dance
until dawn in the student dorms. Hala Khoury, a beautiful young
woman from Fasuta, in Galilee, danced to Arab music. During her month
in Gemona she is staying at the estate of the physician Dr. Shalom
Silberschmidt, a former Israeli from Moshav Yogev – a childhood friend
of Major General (res.) Uzi Dayan and a friend of Hala’s mother, Jerais
Khoury – who for 30 years has been healing backaches and headaches
in Gemona by means of jaw treatment. Nini returned to Venice, to the
children, and in the alleys of Gemona a torch procession was held as
part of a medieval festival taking place here. “Fire to purify the
world,” cried the costumed marchers.