UNMIK ON AIR

JORDANIAN RESTAURANT

By Zoran CULAFIC

(February03)

SLUG:

CUT 1 – None came to say to you openly, I’m going to throw a bomb at your restaurant, but there were threats and rumors … like - you know, it will be blown up, it cannot work like that, there can be no Muslim working here … And you know, that Jordanian guy, he was living two years here in Gracanica, he was renting an apartment from a Serb police officer here.

Fifty-year-old Serb, Momcilo Josifovic of Gracanica explains with bitterness the recent incident which resulted in the closure of the Ali Baba Restaurant in Gracanica- the only restaurant specializing in Middle Eastern food in this Serb enclave, run by Palestinian Amer Yousuf As-Savalhi of Jordan.

Hello and welcome to UNMIK on Air:

Palestinian restaurateur Amer Yousuf As-Savalhi of Jordan came to Gracanica and rented the space for his restaurant- the Ali Baba-- from Momcilo Josifovic until September of 2003 (how long was the restaurant open?)… and began to notice that some members of his community weren’t as enthused about the restaurant as he was:

CUT 2 – I heard someone talking that Ali Baba should be closed, but I did not care, I was thinking that it was just talk. But on September 21st there came to me a friend, he is a Serbian, and he told me that someone was going to destroy the restaurant. I said, how is that, and he told me – I don’t know but they are really serious. So I heard that some people would destroy the restaurant or put the bomb if I don’t leave in three days.

Soon after the threats were made (WHEN?) against the Ali Baba restaurant, it emerged that a local retired Serb in Gracanica, Novica Todorovic, was behind the threats.

Todorovic, a self described guardian of Serb interests, called a meeting of Gracanica’s Serb citizens and collectively decided to shut down the Ali Baba Restaurant. To publicize the decision, a document was issued labeling any member of the community who opposed the restaurant’s closure- an enemy of Serb interests.

There could be no place for a Muslim to run a restaurant in the heart of Serbian Gracanica, Todorovic told this reporter proudly:

CUT 3 – The situation here is very risky and because of that we must think in advance and prevent the possibility to have a catastrophic situation. Where the Serbs are living we have to protect ourselves and not allow coming here something that is not for Serbs.

Novica Todorovic is proud because, as he believes, he protected Serbs from any foreign influence. By forcing Palestinian restaurateur Amer Yousuf As-Savalhi to close the restaurant, Todorovic says he is sure he is successfully preserving Serb culture in Gracanica.

Despite perceived threats to dilute Serbian culture, Novica Todorovic acknowledges that the Ali Baba Restaurant was popular amongst Serbs in Gracanica:

CUT 4 – Novica – I heard that many Serb youth were going to that restaurant, and that the service was very good. And, in the essence, maybe that restaurant was very good.

Nevertheless, the threats against the Palestinian restaurant and owner continued. One day (last September? Let’s say when?) five Serbs, (ALL?) Kosovo Police Service officers, came into the Ali Baba Restaurant, and according to Amer Yousuf As-Savalhi, the men offered him a “friendly” suggestion to change the name of the restaurant:

CUT 5 – Amer – I told them – No. I can’t. Because, I spent too much money for that, it’s not easy, you know … and if I change that time the name of Ali Baba, maybe they will ask something else. If I agree maybe they will come after a week and say – you must put in your menu Serbian food … and I made it to be oriental food, everybody knows that Ali Baba was oriental food restaurant, no Serbian, not American, not Mexican, not Spanish.

But not all Serbs in Gracanica supported the closure of the restaurant. Momcilo Josifovic who rented the space to the Ali Baba restaurant says SERB? officials in Gracanica need to react and penalize individuals who levied the threats against the Ali Baba restaurant:

CUT 6 -- Everybody condemns Novica Todorovic and what he did, I did checked the neighbors here around the restaurant if someone is against the restaurant and if the problem exists to see and to solve it. But everyone respected Amer and he was extraordinary good man. None could say that he was here with some bad intentions … or that he came here to make a mess, like Novica said. He said that our youth could be in danger when some people gather in the restaurant. He said that and someone should be responsible for that.

Amer Yousuf As-Savalhi decided to close the restaurant and to forget this dark episode in Gracanica. He said he could go to court, but he says the bottom line is you cannot work with the people who don’t like you:

CUT 7 – Amer – That people must understand this life, really.. We have the same situation at our home, I’m Palestinian and we have Israelis in front of us, but believe me – if we have a peace we could live together without any problems, and we’d forget for one minute all the problems. But here in Kosovo, I cannot imagine that people have their minds like that … they think just about politics and Muslim

Amer Yousuf As-Savalhi left Gracanica (WHEN?) with bitter feelings and now is looking for a place in Pristina to open his Ali Baba Restaurant. Meanwhile, no Serb officials reacted to the event, nor would comment for this story (did you try to get any serb official to react to the

story? If so, then let’s keep that phrase in- if not, then let us delete it).