PALESTINIANS JOIN ISRAELIS IN BEAUTY PAGEANT
By Jonathan Saul

Reuters
09/21/05 11:08 ET

JERUSALEM, Sept 21 (Reuters) – In skimpy swimsuits and high heels,
Israeli, Palestinian and Armenian women came together in a Jewish
settlement for a beauty pageant billed by its Israeli organiser as
a bid to cross Middle East barriers.

It was staged on Tuesday night in Gilo, which Israel calls part of
Jerusalem but which is deemed a settlement under international law.

The venue — on land captured in a 1967 war and annexed in a move
only Israel recognises — failed to impress Palestinian officials and
most Palestinian women, required by Muslim piety to dress modestly,
would shun any scantily clad pageant.

Last year, eight Palestinians from nearby Bethlehem and Beit Jala in
the West Bank dropped out of a similar pageant in Gilo after receiving
death threats from Palestinian militants.

But this time, two Palestinian girls from Beit Jala, a centre of
the minority Christian community in the mainly Muslim Palestinian
population, took part along with 17 Israelis and an Armenian from
Jerusalem’s walled Old City.

The winner was an Israeli, Shira Fadida, and Mary Farah, a Palestinian
from Beit Jala, was runner-up.

“We need peace and we really need to stop killing each other,”
Farah, 19, told Reuters. “This event is not really about beauty of
the body, but a way to bring out the beauty between us (Israelis
and Palestinians).”

“I hope next year more Palestinians will take part. This is really
about forging co-existence,” said organiser Azi Nagar.

A Gilo businessman, he has promoted other projects with Palestinian
participation such as football tournaments and public discussions.

GAZA PULLOUT

Last month, Israel withdrew all settlers from the Gaza Strip and
pulled out military forces last week in a step diplomats hope will
improve the atmosphere for Middle East peace talks.

Gilo came under fire from militants from the nearby West Bank town of
Beit Jala in the early part of a Palestinian uprising that erupted
in 2000. But the area has been largely calm for three years and a
ceasefire took effect in February.

“What better place to foster peace than Gilo,” Nagar said.

But Israel continues to expand larger settlements in the West Bank,
a policy Palestinians say is destroying peace prospects.

The pageant, called “Miss Seam Line”, was named after Israel’s
controversial barrier being built inside the West Bank.

Israel bills the barrier as a security bulwark against suicide bombers
reaching its cities. Palestinians call the barrier a land grab as
it is being routed to take in settlements, particularly those around
Jerusalem, that Israel intends to keep under any future peace treaty.

“Next time, if they really want to have a beauty pageant and talk
about equality (of contestants), they should have it in a place where
Palestinians and Israelis are genuinely treated as equals and not
on occupied territory,” said Diana Buttu, an adviser to Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas.

“To call it a ‘seam line pageant’ seems like a bid to legitimise this
barrier. It’s not a seam line since Gilo is clearly a settlement,
where Israel is trying to create border on occupied land that should
be part of a Palestinian state.”

Israelis taking part in the beauty contest live in what they call
“seam line communities” encompassed by the barrier, including Gilo,
that are considered settlements abroad.

An Israeli Arab musical troupe, Sounds of Peace, played at the pageant
and one of its members said Israel’s handover of Gaza, which it also
captured in 1967, to Palestinian rule was a positive step towards
peace.

“Everyone must clear out their hearts. We want to live out our
days quietly,” said musician Shaban Nasser, 35, a Palestinian from
Jerusalem’s Old City.

(Writing by Jonathan Saul and Mark Heinrich)