"Double Take at the General Assembly"
Gregory Levey, The Jerusalem Report, July 2005

On the second day of the annual "model United Nations" competition in late May, 16-year-old Osia Razvi, dressed in full Muslim religious attire, including a hijab covering her head, comes charging out of one of the conference rooms at U.N. headquarters in New York. Agitated and upset, she rushes to her group's supervisor. "Why does everyone hate us?" she demands.

Saffiya Sarkin, a 40-ish Muslim American, smiles. "Now you know what it feels like to represent Israel at the United Nations."

Osia is a 10th-grade student at the religious Muslim Al-Iman school in Queens, where students are required to wear traditional Muslim dress and devote as much time to studying the tenets of Islam as to general studies. "I was very surprised when we were told that we would be representing Israel," says Osia, who is petite and giggles frequently, adjusting her headscarf as she talks. "It seemed strange that a Muslim group would be playing Israel, and when I told my parents, they were shocked."

But their assignment of country was no mere chance. Sarkin, who used to teach at the school and now works with it on special projects, fought very hard for the students to represent Israel, essentially begging the organizers, the United Nations Association of the U.S.A., in the months leading up to the event. "It wasn't just the challenge for the group that I wanted," she says, "although that was part of it, too. They are all sharp kids and I knew they could handle it. It was also that I wanted them to see the other perspective. They are exposed to one side of the political debate about Israel and I felt it was important for them to really understand the other side."

Sarkin knows the United Nations well. She has worked with several different organizations affiliated with it, such as the Committee of Religious Non-Governmental Organizations, dealing mostly with human rights issues, and has traveled widely, especially in Africa, in the service of human rights organizations. "The model U.N. gives these kids the opportunity to do what the real diplomats often can't do. The only way to eliminate hatred is for people to understand each other's viewpoints," she says, without indicating her own opinions. "Preparing for this has been a totally positive experience for the students."

Not everyone agrees. Over coffee at a U.N. basement cafe, while the students participate in negotiations in their respective committees, the principal of Al-Iman, Reza Nagvi, a quiet, circumspect man who came from Pakistan only a few years ago, recalls that some of the parents had objected. "They did not want their children to defend Israel's actions. I had to speak with them and try to convince them. They wanted us to switch countries. Some of them are still not at all happy that their children are involved in this," he adds.

But the children themselves seem generally delighted by the experience.

Fifteen-year-old Mohammed Razvi, representing Israel in the mock General Assembly while wearing a pin that reads "I Love the U.N.," says reassuringly that it was both healthy and positive. Razvi, who came from Pakistan four years ago, notes that, as in the rest of the Muslim world, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was constantly in the news there. "Ideas were put into my head," he says - "what my parents wanted them to be." Osia adds, "At family gatherings, you always hear about the conflict, about the way that Israel uses advanced military equipment and the Palestinians just use stones." She pauses, looking at scores of other delegates walking by, then says, "But now I understand a little more. It is surrounded by hostile nations, so now I see Israel's military necessity."

One of her young colleagues, Romena Ashique, 15, from Bangladesh, is even more emphatic. She has just emerged from a meeting where the Palestinian delegation, speaking in thick Mexican accents - the conference includes school delegations from around the world - were particularly hostile. In response, she declares that "we in Israel have to be good at self-defense, ready to defend ourselves at any time." She clearly recognizes how strange this must sound coming from a religious Muslim and adds, "By assuming another viewpoint, you make a stranger out of yourself, but at this moment, I am an Israeli."

The members of the delegation have separate responsibilities, each handling debates on such diverse topics as financing, disarmament, refugees and health issues. Much of the conference takes place at the United Nations building when the U.N. is not in session, with students using actual conference rooms and the General Assembly hall. The Al-Iman delegates have prepared for months for these few days, familiarizing themselves with U.N. procedures, researching Israel's positions on various issues and even contacting members of Israel's delegation for help in preparing. (Surprisingly, no Jewish schools were represented, perhaps because the three-day conference included a Shabbat.)

In a letter of congratulations to the students, Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Dan Gillerman lauded the initiative, stating that "the students of Al-Iman demonstrated that true intercultural understanding can be fostered only by mutual respect and recognition." Though this is undoubtedly true, the exercise also seemed to show that the harmful stereotypes and divisions that haunt the debate about the Middle East are not easily exorcised. During the course of the simulation, the students faithfully tried to represent Israel's interests and agenda, but in breaks between sessions, their words reverted to what they have learned throughout their lives. "Jews have a right to a country," Osia says, "but why does it have to be in Palestine? Why do they have to be intruders?"

One of her schoolmates, who asked not to be named, says that her father was one of the parents who tried to have their participation as Israel stopped. "He is very angry that I am doing this," she says, "because Israel kills Muslims." Asked if they have any Jewish friends in New York, both girls shake their heads. "Honestly," Osia tells me as she prepares to resume her seat at the General Assembly to hear the final results of the competition, "I think you are the first one I have ever really met."

Some critics charge that this sort of feel-good recreating of the U.N. is unrealistic. During the course of the three days, the Israeli delegation managed to cooperate with the Saudi Arabians on a resolution about health issues, for example, whereas in the real world there is no cooperation between these delegations. They also debated "disarmament" with the United States, another very unlikely scenario in today's United Nations.

When the results for the model U.N. come in - judges evaluate the debating performance of individuals and committees across dozens of categories - the Israelis score no wins at all. Dropping their facades as diplomats, the students from Al-Iman look heartbroken; a few burst into tears.

"Why was Israel treated so badly?" one of them asks Sarkin, who doesn't seem to know exactly how to respond.