JERUSALEM, JERUSALEM

BENVENISTI, MERON

JERUSALEM, JERUSALEM MERON BENVENISTI The experience connected with the reunification of Jerusalem united the Jewish people and simultaneously created a barrier between it and other peoples....

...Outsiders' political views and assessments were taken to extremes: favorable ones were en- thusiastically received, while negative ones were defined as hostile acts, betrayal, or...
...The Israeli reactions to the Yom Kippur War also contributed to this feeling of polarization and to the shattering of the illusion that the Arabs had made peace with their lot...
...Liberal as one's views might be, Israeli hegemony was a basic assumption...
...By the mere fact of being here, we shall remind you every day that the problem of Jerusalem has yet to be solved...
...What was their hope, they asked, of achieving a similar status in Israel...
...Some of the Arabs began to think that they must prepare for a long period of occupation and learn to live as a minority, locked into their own neighborhoods...
...Those facts which fitted their sub- jective viewpoint were absorbed...
...Therefore, they had no right to demand that the city be restored to them...
...There is an agreement between the leaders and the responsible parties—Jews and Arabs—that life in one basket demands a modus vivendi, not as an enforced value but as a realistic necessity...
...There was no doubt in their minds that the day of liberation was close upon them...
...The general Arab and Muslim ferment over Jerusalem encouraged the leaders of the local population, but they alone were obliged to take steps against what they regarded as the danger of a Zionist takeover...
...Faced with this "rejection of our outstretched hand," these circles could have the best of both worlds: they had made a generous, liberal proposal while knowing very well that they would not have to deal with new citizen-voters who might blur the state's Jewish character...
...The strength of the Arabs' love for their city did not rest on the assessment of others...
...Sensitivity to injustice, aversion to oppression, refusal to regard themselves as hated conquerors, and a true desire for peace and reconciliation, kept them from identifying fully with the policies of their own people...
...Perhaps most important of all is the fact that both sides became fully aware of the existence of the other, an existence which one had tried to ignore and the other had seen merely as something to be overcome...
...Another common approach was the paternalistic and philanthropic one, which insisted that the Arab hatred of Jews was rooted in their inferior culture and their poor economic state...
...Copyright © 1976 by the University of Minnesota Press...
...In 1948, they chose Amman...
...In the course of trying to decide on a plan of action, the Arab leaders divided into three camps: extremists, moderates, and the undecided...
...A clear trend emerged to abandon the traditional Israeli view of independent Arab organization...
...Poets began to write laments...
...It was exactly this attitude that molded the outlook toward the Arab population and the modes of dealing with it...
...From the outset, the moderates had directed their efforts to ensuring that the Arab population would "hold out...
...Their attempts to choose a leader failed...
...The common denominator which had been attained—the lessening of hatreds, the personal and public relationships which had been established—was not affected...
...The inhabitants of Jerusalem, like all Palestinians, have more of an emotional and religious attachment to Jerusalem than to any other place...
...Political factors were also a part of the Arab attachment to Jerusalem...
...unwittingly gave poetic expression to the secret feeling of exclusivity that ignores the existence of those who do not share those yearnings...
...they were prepared to give Israeli citizenship "to every Arab who wants it...
...They too were tired of war, and they really had no choice...
...The Egyptian and Syrian failures in the last stages of the war and the Israeli victory which brought about the cease-fire did not dull their feelings of victory...
...As one East Jeru-salemite put it: Let us suppose, for a moment, that I agree to become an Israeli citizen...
...Terrorist acts increased, articles in the Arabic press became more critical, and political strikes and violent demonstrations became more frequent...
...Perhaps the reality in Jerusalem, so the Israelis thought, was not a total "success story," but it was, undoubtedly, "an attempt that did not fail...
...If, heaven forbid, we are fated to undergo 2,000 years of exile, we too will write poems full of yearnings for Jerusalem no less profound than yours...
...The practical settlements which they had achieved up to the Yom Kippur War were preserved, but they were not developed further...
...The Arab leadership had to take all these characteristics into account, in addition to another potent factor—the Israeli reaction...
...When several Palestinian leaders, including Kamal Nasser, were killed during an Israel Army raid on Beirut, the Arabs reacted with open and bitter resistance...
...Nevertheless, being men of peace and goodwill, they wished to do something to reduce tensions and to achieve fraternal coexistence...
...Progress and an improved economic standard was of greater interest to the masses than hollow political slogans...
...we'll make use of your democracy and your moral sensitivity to improve our living conditions...
...Astonishment was followed by the recognition that their adversary was stronger and better developed, while they were weak because of their lag in all fields of modern technology...
...These ambivalent feelings were overcome in a number of ways...
...They thought that social work, in the manner of communal action among the underprivileged classes in New York or Boston, would lead to a reduction of tension between Jews and Arabs in Jerusalem...
...They were not prepared to concede to the Israelis what they had refused to concede to the Jordanians...
...There was no great difficulty in applying this policy...
...Convinced that Israel's connection to Jerusalem was an exclusive one, the extreme nationalists insisted that any compromise or hesitation weakened the credibility of Israel's uncompromising stand over Jerusalem and was, therefore, dangerous...
...They led to an atmosphere of optimism among the Arabs which aroused anticipation about the possibility of a swift political settlement...
...For the Arabs, Jerusalem was simply home, the city where they had been born, like their ancestors for 1,300 years...
...Should they employ all possible force to break the Arabs or should they compromise on matters that did not conflict with direct Israeli interests...
...The united city has a Jewish majority, which has the right to decide on its future by dint of constituting a democratic majority...
...The only path open to them was to deal with problems of a neutral character in the hope that their solution would, in some miraculous manner, dissipate the underlying conflict...
...There was yet another line of thinking that tried to justify the city's unification by the benefits it had brought to the Arabs...
...But they could not accept being absorbed by a majority with a different cultural, national, and social background...
...During the early period, not only was no form of political organization permitted, but even Arab social clubs, such as the Rotary or the Lions, were not allowed to continue their activities...
...They neglected Jerusalem and allowed the city to deteriorate...
...Their profound shock underwent several stages of modification...
...All these decisions were adopted unanimously and implemented in a spirit of harmony between all the political factions...
...The desire to depict the conflict as non-political—whether eco- nomic, social or emotional—was very common...
...The Arabs were objects to be overcome, not negotiated with...
...But, despite everything, the hope for change remained...
...Perhaps they could not share the emotional experience of a reunited Jerusalem, but they would eventually accept it because the new situation was also to their advantage...
...What can you offer me...
...The extremist leaders usually held the upper hand, taking control of all the executive bodies, insofar as they existed, by threatening to denounce the moderates as traitors, and by taking advantage of the front organizations that they controlled...
...No one writes poems about that kind of attachment, but it is no less deep than that you display in your poems...
...At the moment of their triumph, the Israelis felt that the Arabs, too, would of necessity feel that the millennium had come...
...Quiet reigned in the city...
...The residents of Jerusalem began to fear the loss of Arab Jerusalem...
...They could not, in any manner or circumstance, accept the annexation of Jerusalem...
...They were aware of, and sensitive to, Arab feelings of frustration and injustice, but could do nothing to remove them, because the causes of these feelings were the national policies of Israel, with which they themselves identified...
...The number of issues that had previously been considered vital for the preservation of Israeli national interests was reduced, while those areas in which compromise arrangements were permissible were extended...
...They were sure that the Arabs valued the economic development, the lack of any outward signs of conquest, the attempts to equalize municipal services, and the benefits of the Israeli welfare state...
...The number of high school graduates, students, pupils of vocational schools, and of various Hebrew courses, grew enormously...
...It was clear, however, that the two nations living in Jerusalem had no desire to return to the point at which they had started...
...The deep belief, shared by every Arab, that it was Israel's intention to drive the Arabs into the desert and take control of the whole of the Fertile Crescent, in accordance with a preconceived plan, emerged again...
...Every rumor of a new settlement possibility was exaggerated into a definite peace plan which, according to "those in the know" would be put into effect "in exactly two weeks...
...As we have seen, the Arabs distinguished between conquest and annexation...
...When one of them was asked to define this character, he answered: The Arab character (of Jerusalem) consists of architecture, customs, religion, language, and inhabitants...
...Only he who has lost his beloved, or is far away from her, is forced to give poetic expression to his longings...
...JERUSALEM, JERUSALEM MERON BENVENISTI The experience connected with the reunification of Jerusalem united the Jewish people and simultaneously created a barrier between it and other peoples...
...Nevertheless, surprisingly, daily life continued on a relatively calm basis...
...Not that they wished to persecute the Arabs...
...I see this picture before me, as it quietly and fearfully moves from Jaffa to Haifa to Arab Jerusalem...
...But, when the Jews pointed out this lack of expression of feeling for Jerusalem to prove that the Arabs' love was weaker than their own, the reply was: A man who lives with his beloved feels no need to give poetic expression to his feelings, for she is tangible...
...In other words, if there are no Jews in the marketplace, it is empty: and if no Jews visit the Temple Mount, then no one visits it at all...
...These circles were very noisy and had considerable influence on public opinion, but they lacked any influence on the practical administration of the affairs of the Arab population, because those responsible for such affairs were guided by far more complex concepts and approaches...
...What can I hope for...
...A sensitive policy, flexible and enlightened, dulled the sting of those factors which would have caused tension between the conquerors and the conquered...
...These extremist circles believed that their approach was liberal and democratic...
...No one disputed Israel's right to give concrete expression to her hegemony by imposing her jurisdiction and administration, confiscating land, and building new residential quarters in East Jerusalem...
...Arabs could have their personal rights, as long as they adapted to the new state of affairs...
...The Egyptian crossing of the Suez Canal raised Arab spirits...
...The moderates were far more perplexed...
...The city was calm...
...Their deep emotional attachment to, and their desire to preserve the Arab nature of, the Holy City, totally ruled out such a possibility...
...A consensus grew that the most important political trump the Arabs possessed, for the time being, in their struggle against the Israelis was the fact that almost one hundred thousand of them lived in Jerusalem—and hundreds of thousands more in the vicinity—and they must, therefore, make every effort to prevent the population from emigrating...
...The debate over the political identity and the nature of the government which would replace that of Israel was reopened with renewed fervor...
...Songwriter Naomi Shemer...
...In clashes with the security forces, Arab demonstrators were killed, for the first time since 1967, by warning shots fired by soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces...
...Furthermore, the annexation of Jerusalem meant that the Arab inhabitants would have to agree to become a minority...
...The quiet which encompassed the city during the Yom Kippur War, in October 1973, seemed like positive proof that the Arabs had accepted the situation as a fact of life...
...This was the approach that had guided the Government in its first steps in Jerusalem...
...Copper etchings and wood engravings depicting the Dome of the Rock began to appear in Arab homes in Jerusalem, in the West Bank, and in the Arab countries...
...What counted was the desire of the majority for self-determination...
...While discriminated against as Palestinians by the Jordanian regime, Jerusalem's Arabs had nevertheless achieved a modus Vivendi with the Hashemites, who rewarded them with positions of seniority...
...They never made it into their capital, even when they could have...
...One of the song's verses (altered after the war to fit the new state of affairs) relates: "How the cisterns have dried up...
...The stress was on the words "who wants it...
...The city will lose its Arab character when the Arabs cease to be a majority in its streets...
...Gradually, however, it was recognized that the Arabs of East Jerusalem were different from Israeli Arabs...
...After some time, the Arabs began to display stubbornness in several matters that were not necessarily connected with the basic conflict, but influenced the manner in which they were to run their lives...
...Leaders and officials cooperated readily with the Israeli authorities...
...But, the next day, he would return to his non-political occupations, which were becoming more and more bound up with Jews...
...Arab attitudes, like the Jewish ones, went through several distinct stages...
...The Arabs of East Jerusalem disagreed among themselves as to who should rule the city after the Israelis left, but they agreed that the subject need only be discussed after the occupation had ended...
...By early in 1972, the general feeling was that the "liberal policy with regard to the Arabs of East Jerusalem" (the term used by the Israeli press) had borne fruit...
...Once again, the slogan Sumud ("Hold out") came into use after being drowned by the slogans of "armed struggle" and "active resistance...
...This article is adapted from his book, Jerusalem: The Torn City, to be published later this month by the University of Minnesota Press...
...This feeling of optimism easily fused with the similar feeling engendered among the Israelis by their victory, thus creating the unique atmosphere of Unification Day...
...The realization that sooner or later they would have to deal with the problem of Jerusalem, as an all-encompassing political problem, stopped the Israelis from continuing their search for a practical, day-to-day modus vivendi...
...The image of a victorious Islam, which had been shredded in 1967, was revitalized...
...As one of their leaders put it: We shall continue to live in Jerusalem...
...As educated men with experience in different professional fields, they were well able to assess Israeli ability...
...They knew perfectly well that only very few of the Arab inhabitants of Jerusalem would apply for citizenship...
...Such facts as could not be ignored were interpreted in a manner that would not upset the fundamental concept...
...Only rarely did they succeed in agreeing unanimously on a certain line of action, and only in a few cases did they implement it...
...Another outcome of this dichotomy was the Arab unwillingness to face the personal risk or economic suffering involved in a political struggle...
...It was thought, therefore, that if they were to acquire Western cultural values, if the men were taught technical professions and the women were instructed in cooking, sewing, and baby care, hatred would diminish...
...But the reaction of the Arab populace to the 1973 War, the mood of the Arabs in light of the possibility that the occupation would now end, their increased self-esteem brought about by the rising power of the Palestinian organizations, and their joy over Israel's international isolation—all these scattered the last vestiges of any illusions held by even the most naive Israelis...
...The Arab demand for self-determination was unjustified, for Arabs had always been a minority in Jerusalem...
...What could be more democratic, they contended, than agreeing to give the Arab population equal personal status with Jews...
...But they could not accept the steps resulting from annexation...
...The analysis of the situation, widely accepted during that period, was as follows: the complex problems—those that were created by unification, those that followed, and those that were anticipated—were neutralized...
...The expressions of national awakening, which came in the wake of the Yom Kippur War, were widespread...
...As noted previously, the Arabs of Jerusalem strove to enhance the status of their city under Jordanian rule, and even when they failed they did not lose their sense of pride in Jerusalem and their hopes for better days...
...They described that as "being turned into strangers in their own town...
...Now, not even the most naive Israeli could continue to indulge in pipedreams...
...whose ballad "Jerusalem of Gold" expressed the yearnings for .Jerusalem the unattainable, for the city "captive in a dream...
...The marketplace is empty, and no one visits the Tem- ple Mount in the Old City...
...They developed respect for Israel's power and were envious of her achievements, and this feeling in'spired them with fear of Israeli reactions and doubts about their ability to get the better of her...
...Their national solidarity and their readiness to stand up for themselves presented a dilemma for the authorities...
...The average Arab would be prepared, in the extreme case, to participate in a commercial shutdown, and then only after he had complained sufficiently about his feckless leaders...
...To become a Knesset member of some small Arab slate tied to a Jewish party...
...Neither did they wait for the political approval of their leaders: they just sought bread for their children...
...Politicians swore "not to rest and not to remain silent, until Jerusalem was liberated from Zionist conquest...
...Politically, the masses supported the anti-Israeli line, but, as practical people, they were prepared for economic integration with the Jewish sector...
...No wonder then that when the first general strike broke out, it came as a complete surprise to both Jewish public opinion and the security services...
...Their liberal socialist philosophy did not permit them to ignore the fact that the Jewish attachment to Jerusalem collided with an opposing Arab attachment, and that the Jewish tie was being given practical expression at the expense of the Arab one...
...For the Jews, Jerusalem is the one and only Holy City while the Arabs place Jerusalem third in their scale of sanctity, after the two holy cities of the Jijaz...
...The feeling of suffocation and despair over any possibility of change, increased with the years...
...It became necessary to confront this reality and to respond to it...
...Initially, the Arabs were convinced that everyone, or at least all the males, would simply be executed...
...Religious conventions were called to save Jerusalem...
...Meron Benvenisti is Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem...
...The conflict was still alive, not only beyond the borders but also in the heart of Jerusalem...
...Justification for Jewish hegemony, therefore, rested on the principles of democracy and self-determination, and on a stronger and more profound tie...
...Unification had resulted in economic development and considerable improvements in living conditions, full employment, better education, free access to all, and equal rights and status for Jew and Arab...
...Their meeting with the real Israel confounded them...
...During the Jordanian period, they had tended to believe Arab propaganda, which depicted Israel as a country on the verge of starvation and economic crisis, consumed by fraternal strife...
...Would you deny the love of a Greek or a Polish peasant for his land, just because he does not pour it out in verse filled with longings...
...The extremists were convinced that Israel's connection to Jerusalem was so far superior, from both a national and a moral point of view, that its implementation was not a subject for discussion, and that there was no need to take any notice of opposing positions or views...
...To concede, would be tantamount to murdering the Arab character of Jerusalem with their own hands...
...Their fears were expressed in different ways...
...Within a short time, economic improvements would moderate nationalist aspirations and lead to a recognition of the benefits of unification under Israeli rule...
...They were prepared to make any effort, in any sphere, that had no bearing on the principal Israeli effort...
...We won't give you any excuse to throw us out...
...To become a Deputy Minister of Communications...
...A song about Jerusalem and its sufferings "under the boot of the conqueror" was broadcast frequently by radio and television stations and played every night in the movie houses of Cairo and Beirut...
...The Jewish housing projects increased this choking feeling...
...In the meantime, they tended to support whomever seemed more capable of bringing about their liberation...
...At one point, the liberal Israelis began to ask themselves why the Arabs should not be left to run their lives as they wished, if such freedom could be reconciled with the requirements of law and public order...
...They did not look after the treasure that came into their possession in 1948, destroying some Jewish holy places and refusing Jews permission to visit the others...
...Jews and Arabs strove for opposing goals, but life proved stronger than ideology...
...the desire to avoid the focal point of the problem, which is a deep-seated national and political conflict and a head-on collision between two legitimate, but conflicting, attachments...
...Heaven forbid that they should be forced to accept citizenship, for that would be undemocratic...
...First, the moderates attempted to discount the symmetry of the two opposing attachments by playing down the validity of the rival ties: "The Arabs," they claimed, "are not as attached to Jerusalem as we are...
...there were no terrorist incidents...
...If the age-long dream of Jews returning to the Holy City could come true, why couldn't the dream of peace be realized...
...No decision was reached in principle, but there evolved a series of ad hoc decisions that treated each issue on its merits...
...Israeli bodies, which were not accustomed to any expression of opposition by Israeli Arabs, thought that they would be able to apply the same policy in Jerusalem without encountering opposition...
...Military defeat in 1967 and conquest were blows that descended on the Arabs with a force that is hard to over-estimate...
...The arrogance and self-assurance now gave way to feelings of insecurity and grave doubts about the future...
...Now, the Jerusalem Arabs thought, the strongest of Arab leaders has adopted the task of liberation...
...The Arabs did not express their love for Jerusalem in great works of poetry or by developing a cultural treasure centered around it...
...In such an event, the Arabs were entitled to appropriate financial compensation...
...At this point they came into head-on collision with traditional Israeli policy in the Arab sector, which was based on the view that any independent Arab organization must, of necessity, be of an anti-Israeli character...
...The masses had been following it since the 1967 War, without even sensing that, in maintaining a livelihood and making the most of its economic boom, they were fulfilling a national duty...
...The feelings of relief that overcame the population when they discovered that no one was going to harm them were similar to those of a man who had been reprieved at the eleventh hour...
...There can be no talk of the national self-determination of a small minority...
...Their fate was no longer in the hands of the weak Hashemite leader, or in the hands of the Palestinian organizations...
...But everyone now realized how limited was their relationship, how thin and vulnerable...
...They progressed a bit on the road to peace, though they were still very far from any point of no return...
...The dec- laration by King Faisal of Saudi Arabia that the purpose of the war was "the liberation of Jerusalem" raised hopes for an end to the occupation...
...These quarters were built] in order to form a wide dividing strip which will encircle the Arab quarters . . . I see before me the picture of the Arab quarters in Jaffa, Haifa, or Acre, which have become old quarters in which the Arab residents close themselves in as if afraid that if they don't stick together they will disappear completely...
...those which did not fit were rejected as though they did not exist...
...The Arab sense of time, so different from that of any Westerner, allowed them to preserve their hopes throughout the long days...
...It turned the Israelis' attention inward, making them impervious to everything outside themselves...
...Into this atmosphere of self-satisfaction suddenly burst the evidence of Arab political discontent and resistance, revealed in mid-1973, scattering the sweet illusions...
...Accordingly, there was no room for the consideration of Arab demands or for responding to their declarations, for these were attacks on the State of Israel and did not have to be treated on their merits...
...we shall take advantage of your freedom of speech to call to our people to hold out...
...But the Arabs not only had to give up their national aspirations and their communal independence, they also had to concede that the Israeli attachment to Jerusalem had precedence over theirs and that they must not resist when some expression of this attachment came at their expense...
...If these revelations had come in 1968, the Israelis would/have reacted calmly...
...Israel's Arabs were entitled to personal freedom and equal rights, but solely as individuals...
...we shall do business with you and make money...
...During the first week of the occupation, Arab leaders proposed calling a convention of Arab notables in Jerusalem to discuss a peace settlement between Palestinians and Israelis...
...They recognized the legality of Israeli occupation, and were prepared for far-reaching cooperation, if the Israelis were ready to revoke the imposition of their administration in East Jerusalem...
...The euphoria accompanying the realization of a distant dream gave rise to the most optimistic hopes concerning the chances of solving the Arab-Israeli conflict...
...The first signs of opposition were interpreted as sacrilege and punished severely...
...But in mid-1973 their reaction was sharp, not because of the seriousness of the demonstrations, but because they caused a painful awakening...
...In these circumstances, the leadership's ability to mobilize the masses for practical acts of disobedience, such as boycotting Jewish employers or Israeli institutions, was extremely limited...
...Even when, at long last, they agreed on someone, gossip about him would start to spread the moment he was elected...
...Such fear and respect did not deter them from the contest, but they wanted to be prepared...
...It has been noted earlier that Israelis tried to diminish Jerusalem's importance to the Muslims, claiming that the city was third in the scale of sanctity for Islam...
...the leaders of the Arab community had put aside their expressions of opposition, and the extremist Jewish groups voiced no disagreement with the careful policies of the Government...
...This was a variation on the theme of "The White Man's Burden," allegedly adapted to the Twentieth Century and applied to the conditions prevailing in Jerusalem...
...Since the Arab-Israel confrontation was total, it seemed out of the question to permit any form of Arab identification, even of a non-political nature...
...All of these approaches shared a common element...
...Many of those active in these spheres were Jews from English-speaking countries who tried to apply their experience in dealing with racial conflicts abroad, to the realities of Jerusalem...
...But Israel's decision to annex Jerusalem shattered their optimism, and fears of Israeli expansionism again took over...
...All those who adhered to these views wanted to neutralize Arab national aspirations and divert the energies of the Arab community into non-political channels...
...Yet, it was still hard to shake off the illusions...
...In June 1970, the reality of Jerusalem was described by an Arab writer in these terms: The image of the (Arab) city has not essentially changed . . . while, at the same time, the housing projects in the Jewish quarters have reached the walls...
...The encounter with modern Israel was one of the causes of the tremendous urge to study and acquire knowledge, that overtook all strata of Arab Jerusalem society...
...Improved economic conditions, as well as living together on terms of social and cultural equality, would lead to the emergence of a new generation of Arabs who would take over the leadership and work for a peaceful settlement...
...we shall educate them at your expense...
...At the same time, however, there was a significant difference in the ideological justification for these steps...
...The 1973 Yom Kippur War broke suddenly into this complex of feelings and, just as suddenly, changed everything...
...They believed their own propaganda, which had depicted the Jews as blood-thirsty vampires who would exterminate the entire Arab nation after they triumphed...
...The thousands of Arabs who filled the marketplace and the Temple Mount did not exist...
...we shall beget children and take your National Insurance grants for them...
...But this was self-delusion...
...The frustration increased, not only because of their inability to fight the stronger and more numerous Jews, but also because of the pervading feeling that the Arab world had abandoned the Arabs of Jerusalem...
...at the very least, tragic misunderstandings...
...So great was the importance of remaining in Jerusalem that the leadership believed it necessary to preserve law and order to rob the Israelis of any pretext for repression or intimidation...
...The Arabs decided to exploit every opportunity to better their economic situation, accumulate economic power, build homes and maintain religious institutions...
...The readiness to achieve limited compromises from a position of strength was replaced by extreme caution and the lack of political direction...
...We are attached to the stone fence father built, or to the fig tree great-grandfather planted...
...The euphoria rampant after the Six Day War ended and was replaced by frustrations...
...Stress was placed on sports activities, bi-national get-togethers, the study of Hebrew and Arabic, encouragement of youth clubs and communal centers...

Vol. 2 • December 1976 • No. 3


 
Developed by
Kanda Sofware
  Kanda Software, Inc.