"Albert good morning" "What do you want?" "... where from?" "What do you want from me?" "Hananaia, have you been here already?" "MEDITARAENIAN BUILDING IN THE MARINA 4-5 ROOM APARTMENTS, PENTHOUSES" "Wasn't it easier with Arab workers from Gaza?" "Yes, but you can't count on them." "After a terrorist attack, there's closure." "One Arab worker is worth four Chinese." " Do you communicate with them?" " No..." "I mean yes, I do." " It works?" " Pretty much." "Some understand a bit, others don't." "How many workers do you have?" "About 300." "Depends on their visas" "We treat them well, they are human..." " Where were you born?" " Kurdistan." " And you?" " Morocco." "Marakesh" " Were you born there?" " yes" " Was it good back then?" " Yes it was." "I mean it was good 40-50 years ago?" " I mean for Jews it was good" " It still is." "Nonsense!" "There's anti-Semites everywhere." "Everyone hates us." "Christians, Shiites..." "no one likes the Jews." "You say Arabs were better?" "What?" "No it was just easier, not that they were better." "There are no good Arabs, but it's easier." "They'd always go back home." "We didn't have to give transportation, lodging, hospitals..." "They'd arrive in the morning and go home at night." "We always say a good Arab is a dead Arab." "Dead, he's OK." "Alive, forget it..." "We're waiting for these two clowns to finish marking the parcel." "They're Bedouins, Israeli Arabs, from here." "Do you know this land belongs to refugees in Gaza?" "Forget that." "What was here before?" "We had land in Kurdistan too." "Can I get it back?" "They started a war, invaded and lost." "End of story." "How many times 1, 2, 3, 4 times?" "If they were decent they'd have stayed but they're animals, not human." "That's harsh - a man calling other human beings animals?" "It's the truth, what can you do?" "We gave them, everything taught them to build, repair cars..." "What was in Gaza before the 1967 occupation?" "Nothing." "Just peasants!" "Look now, roads, sewers..." "we did everything for them!" "But they just want to kill us." "That's it." "Killing soldiers, fine." "War, fighting for your land..." "I understand that." "But killing kids on a bus!" "Why do they do that?" "Why?" "They say it's their land." "That's why." "We're surrounded by millions don't they have space?" "They've got enough desert!" "Let an Arab country take them." "How many are there?" "2 to 3 million?" "Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq have plenty of space." "They should give it to them." "There was a Palestinian town here." "I didn't know." "What?" "Here?" "I didn't know." "I didn't know there were Palestinian lands here." "I don't care." "You really don't care?" "Why should I?" " What was it called?" " Nabi Yunis." "Nabi Yunis..." "Too bad." "This was Nabi Yunis." "These points indicate demolished villages." "Hang on a minute." "What happened to you?" "In Eilabun, during the occupation, they shot and killed 14 people for nothing." "Lined them up and shot them." "Their names are at the cemetery." "Some fled to Lebanon, others say:" """If ever we get Palestine back...""" "Israel should at least leave them in peace." "Does a young guy like you have a chance of going out with Israeli girls?" "Plenty." "It's really easy." "With which girls is it easiest to get a date?" "Russian girls." "Emigrés." "Then Jewish girls." "Local girls, not foreigners who have taken Israeli nationality." "The hardest are Arab girls." "They're scared of their parents." "They're really strict with them." "They're forbidden to do anything, talk to boys, go out..." "In a couple of months, I'm leaving." "To the US." "Why?" "My brother and sister live there." " Foreman Hani's there." " Youngsters are leaving." " What - they exchange you with Russians?" "That's not the reason." "How do I put it in Arabic?" "Speak in Arabic." "Speak to him in Arabic?" "I know what I am here, I can't realize my ambition." " Are you from Eilabun too?" " Yes." "What does Palestine mean to you two?" "For me, nothing." "The most important thing is to enjoy life." "Palestine, sure." "I sympathize with them, I think they're right." "They're oppressed, subjected to terrorism, but we can't help them." "Arab countries could but they don't act, they do nothing." "Arab politics are a total fiasco." "We'll never have peace here." "What about that massacre?" "It's ancient history." "I live among Jews." "My mentality is closer to that of the Jews than of the Arabs." "Yours too?" " Did you do military service?" " No." "My brother did." "I'd like to, but I started studying in the Technion." "Also losing 3 years in the army..." "Why did you want to do it?" "To serve my country." "Military service is good." "It gives you pride, makes you a man." "So are Israelis manlier?" "No." "Because of the army?" "No way." "It's just fun in the army." "and I want to serve the country." "I live here, so I want to serve." "Hello?" "Okay, okay, yes." "Me?" "No way... bye..." "I've got to get back to work." "WE WAVE THE FLAG WE CONTINU TO LIVE THE DREAM" "What's that house over there?" "An archeological site." "They did a dig not long ago." "It's the tomb of a sheik." "What did they find?" "Bones, apparently." "Skeletons." "Was there an Arab village here before?" "Yes, there was." "This little point." " Gan Yavneh." " Yes." " Gedera." " And the Arab village Barka." "The village was here." "and who had the houses?" "As you say, "had"." "They're gone now." "Not being able to go home as you please, it isn't right." "Everyone should be able to have his own home." "But it's not a problem we can solve." "Who are "we"?" "We, the citizens." "We can't solve it." "What if international law lets them back?" "It wouldn't let them live here with the Israelis." "How do you feel?" "It wouldn't bother me." "If we could live together in peace." "But it's not likely." "How can there be peace?" "We used to get on fine." "That's what my folks told me." "They arrived in 1948." "I was born in 52." "They told me what life used to be like." "What did they say?" "They had good relations with the Arab neighbors a good life." "Do you feel closer to the Russians or the Arabs?" "You can't generalize." "The Russians are Jews like me." "I'm not racist or anti-Semitic." "I've lived with them, but by nature I'm closer to Arabs." "But the Russians are Russian, the Arabs are Arab." "It's a different culture, another way of life." "I wouldn't say I prefer Arabs to Russians, or vice versa." "Each lives his own life and his own culture." "They're all human beings." " Hi." "Do you live here?" " Yes." "I'm an Arab, an Israeli and a Palestinian." "How old's this house?" "80 or 90 years old." "Are there other Palestinians around here?" "There were 3 families before." " Where's Masmiye?" " This whole area is Masmiye." "The whole region from Bnei Re'em to Kfar Harim." " Were there many Arabs here?" " Lots." " Was the village razed?" " After the war." "When the Muslims left, the Jews moved in." "Ashkenazi Jews," "Moroccan Jews, Yemeni Jews..." "All kinds of Jews." "We lived together." "Life was beautiful." "Today, they surround us." " Why?" " To build a road." "There's a housing project." "They're building over there." "They want to pay me to leave." "But if I leave, where can I live?" "In the town?" "Never!" "And the road?" "It will cross my parents' land, which has been registered in our name since the Ottomans." "Do your neighbors help out?" "They help each other." "Do you get along better with the Russians or the Yemenites?" "They're as bad as each other." "Before, the State wasn't against me." "Now they're nervous about what's happening and about the Muslims." "They even hate Israeli Arabs." "I'll sleep in a tent if they destroy my home." "A constitutional state wouldn't do that." "Do they have no shame?" "They came here and we welcomed them." " Is your family gone?" " All of them." "Only my father, brothers and sisters stayed." "Some live in Bethlehem, others in Jordan," "Egypt." "In Iraq." "They've scattered everywhere." " Do they come to visit?" " No." "They're stuck where they are." "How would they get here?" "Did you see the sign?" """Transfer means peace. " Palestinians to Jordan."" "I don't pay attention anymore." "What do you think?" "It's been going on so long I'm used to it." "Am I going to weep each time I see "Death to Arabs!"?" "It's what they all think." "Write "Death to Jews!" once on the road to see what happens." "It would be all over the TV." "Death to Arabs." "They all think it." "They all write it." "They don't call this Masmiye, but Masmiah." "My address isn't Masmiye, but Bnei Re'em." "They won't say Masmiye." "They change all the place names." "It's legal here." "Would you say the Jewish or Israeli people are inhuman?" "Or that their laws are inhuman?" "Are the people bad or just their laws?" "The people accept the laws." "The State should be disbanded." " Is there racism?" " Every single day." "I have no Jewish friends anymore." "Isn't that racism?" "There's not one Arab home here." "Where are our Jewish friends?" "They hurt us without realizing." "Because basically, they don't treat us like human beings." "You do your 8 hours, you share a joke and then you go home." "We know each other well." "Call this a life?" "Palestinians lived simply, with bread and olives." "With a good and pure heart." "They helped everyone." "That's how Arabs lived." "All Jews seem to care about is work and money." "The State takes the bread from our mouths to give to the Jews." "That's not a life." "When I lived with them" "I did them no harm, but they harm me." "I was here when Jews and Arabs lived together." "I treated my neighbors well." "If they fought, I stepped in and reconciled them." "Even today, I separated two Jews." "They wanted to fight." "I stepped in and the aggressor backed down." "Now they do me harm." "This plot of land where I live with my goats and cows..." "They're taking it from me due to a so-called law on the administration of land." "But it's registered in my name." "If they take it, where can I go?" "Why are they building this wall to separate them from Palestinians?" "Can't they live among Palestinians?" "They lived among Arabs for years in various countries." "The problem isn't between Jews and Arabs, but between occupiers and occupied." "That's the problem." "They say, "Arabs hate us and want to throw us into the sea!"" "But that hasn't happened in Yemen or Iraq." "Others threw them out, not us." "Arabs haven't done that." "On the contrary." "I dreamed they took my land by trickery and force." "The very next day, terrible rains fell and the deluge destroyed everything." "Even the jeeps were washed away." "I said, "Go to hell and never come back!"" "I took it out on them." "I want to live on my land, just the right distance from others." "I'm happy here." "I won't leave here, even if they demolish my house on top of me or lay siege to me." "It won't do them any good." "I'm at my wits' end." "VARDA'S INN." "KOSHER DISCOUNTS FOR SOLDIERS" "Why so many war pictures?" "That's life here." "You think it's over?" "Never." "I don't feel like it's war," "I feel safe when I see them." "When I die, I'll have my favorite photos placed on my grave." "What is Masmiye?" "It's the Arab name." "Muslim." "In Hebrew it's called Re'em Junction." "It's in the Bible." "They come here looking for their old homes!" "I hope they don't come for the restaurant one day" "It was all Arabs here." "Arab houses." "They should be demolished." "They shouldn't be left, because the old people come looking." "Any Arabs living nearby?" "There are two families." "They're not from here, they're squatters." "One of them was offered housing but wouldn't leave." "Several times." " Do you have contact with them?" " Me?" "With them?" "Oh, I just love them so!" "We should get rid of them." "Send them packing!" "Pay them if necessary, but rid this land of that cancer!" "They all have to go." "Even the Israeli ones." "That's for sure." "Don't hold that against me." "I know that you side more with the Arabs." "All the media do." "But we need some censorship." "It would be better." "We're too easy on them." "Ant they're..." "Arabs" "If you're weak, you're done for." "I'm telling you You're still young." "The ones that will end up taking over the world are the Muslims, because everyone welcome them everywhere in the world." " So, there'll never be peace?" " Never." "Not as long as we're here." "JORDAN IS THE PALESTINIAN STATE" "TRANSFER = PEACE AND SECURITY" "KASTINA" "We came here in the 1950s." "It was just a transit camp, a few tents." "We were given iron beds." "We paid 2 liras for an iron bed and a mattress." "Of straw!" "We started working hard getting ahead." " Where are you from?" " Iraq." "Do you remember Iraq?" "So... so... sure." "Tell us what you remember." "I was at school, life trundled along," "until we went to Israel." "Why?" "What suddenly changed?" "The creation of Israel, Zionism and so on." "Everyone emigrated." "Was life good in Iraq?" "You ask me that now?" "It was ages ago." "We were kids." "For us wherever... was good." " What did you speak?" " Arabic." "But now, only Hebrew." "Have you forgotten Arabic?" "There's now Arabs who fled Iraq." "I can speak Iraqi Arabic like it was yesterday." "We learned it at school, it's hard to forget." "What's the origin of Qiryat Mal'achi?" "When it started it was called Kastina." "It was an Arab name." "All the names were Arab," "Masmiye, Kastina, among others." "Gradually the names changed." "Where did the Arabs of Kastina go?" "They were taken to Gaza and other places like Ramleh..." "They were moved." "There was an Arab village 2 km away." "An abandoned village, a ghost town." "There were Arabs in the whole region." "I'd have happily lived with them and vice versa." "Who comes now?" "People from the ex-USSR, not just Russians." "and some from Argentina." "They live better than I do, and I work!" "I work hard." "I'm self-employed." "Every month they go to the social services." "and get their check." "Will peace come?" "We hope so." "If we..." "If our big people, not you or I, but the big people on both sides - want peace, they can do it." "You know who I mean?" "Both sides." "Us and them." "If they want peace." "Some people in this country - and tell me if I'm crazy - possibly don't want peace." "They don't want peace." "Otherwise they'd have nothing to do, nothing to get up in arms about." "We have people like that." "This co-operative village, the Shafir moshav, is Hungarian." "It was founded in 1949 by Hungarian Jews - one was my grandpa " "There were 2 waves of immigration, in 49 and in 57." "I continue the dynasty." "I work in hi-tech." "There are few farmers left here." " Who works the land?" " Mostly Thais." "Before the Intifada, Arabs mostly from Gaza did." "But now, with the lock-down, we can't count on that." "Did your grandpa buy the land?" "No, they were given it." "There was an Arab village called Sawafir." "The name Shafir is mentioned in the Bible." "In the Book of Amos, if I'm not mistaken." "The ancient name of this place is Sawafir." "When we came here there were wells." "You could see the original lay-out." "But basically, they were destroyed" "Why the flag?" "The flag?" "Why not?" "They gave them out in Kastina yesterday to boost morale." "Not that my morale is low." "I'm just proud to be Jewish and proud to wave my flag." "If we want to preserve the Jewish State." "Most people do." "At least 80% of Jews living in Israel." "If so, It'll be hard to give up..." "To gives the expelled Arabs the right of return." "Allowing them back here won't solve their problems." "It's not in the interests of the Jewish people." "The State would no longer be a Jewish State." "Palestinian problem or not, many people think they should be expelled to an Arab country, that once back they would start wanting more." "I'm against expulsion." "I just think it's not feasible." "Trouble is, the Jews are divided." "Some think this, others think that." "But essentially, there's no other realistic solution." "There's nothing we can do." "And that's that." "We have to live with it." "As best we can." ""Despite the siege," ""we prepared for attack." ""We had ten protected positions, like these." ""At night we evacuated children in Palmach armored cars" ""to the kibbutz Ruhama kibbutz." ""The Egyptian infantry regiment that attacked us" ""numbered 2500 men." ""They had heavy artillery, tanks," ""field artillery and two planes."" "First we built a fence." "They didn't call it settlements then." "We just settled down somewhere." "We don't really like the settlements of today." "Today's settlements displace Arabs." "We didn't expel them, we came as neighbors." "There was an Arab village here, another over there, and we settled in between." "Look - we built the buildings and planted trees." "There was nothing." "It was empty." "We put that up in a single day." " Where are you from?" " From Poland, from Ukraine." " When did you come here?" " In 38, I was 22." "On an illegal boat." "I came here straight from the sea." "There was a big Arab village here 3000 inhabitants." "In 1948, they fled." "They became refugees in Gaza." "We didn't want them anymore." "All the Gaza refugees are from these villages." "There was a railway station before the border, before Erez, was an Arab village." "This map shows how they decided at the United Nations to partition the country between Israel and an Arab State." "If the Arabs had been smart, they'd have founded an Arab State where it was decided." "Here." "The Arab State." "Yad Mordekhai should have been in the Arab State." "But they didn't want to." "They wanted to throw us into the sea." "But you ended up throwing them out." "Yes, we threw them out." "They went to Gaza." "If they hadn't declared war, we wouldn't be here, but there." "But they wouldn't have it." "They fought and we sent them here and here." "That's the story." "Did you see people leave in 1948?" "Yes." "Did all Arabs take up arms against you?" "Only the activists." "Not everybody, most Arabs wanted to live peacefully farming their land." "The activists fought." "There used to be 1000 dunams here." "That's 400 hectares of vineyards." "It's all gone now." "Can't make a living from grapes." "We don't work for sentiment we work for money." "It stayed while it was profitable." "In Poland my name was Katz." "Here I changed it to Katzir." "Why did you change your name?" "All Israeli patriots take a Hebrew name." "I went to Cuba." "I didn't want to be Katz there nor be asked if I was Jewish." "I just wanted to be Israeli." "20% of Israel's current population is Arab." "In 20 years, it will be 50% and there'll be no State of Israel." "What's the problem?" "The problem is, they have many kids." "We have two per family." "They have eight." "So we need Jewish immigration." "Even American Jews could come." " When?" " We'd have to ask them." "If life's good for them, they won't want to come." "If Israel is strong, there won't be war." "This is a border." "It's supposed to block." "It's our invention." "It's unloaded from a truck." "It's a method that we've patented." "We're the only producers in the world." "The Army has already bought huge quantities and we're about to receive an order for 120 km more." "This barbed wire is used for borders and in prisons." "In South Africa they fence their homes with it." "Israel has launched a huge operation to close off the whole demarcation line." "The first section is 120 km." "The next two are optional, allowing for a total of 390 km." "This fence has particularly large blades." "Other armies don't use it." "Maybe for humanitarian reasons." "It's mostly used in prisons and for property fences." "In the US, it's used to protect industrial yards and car yards." "But not at borders, for humanitarian reasons." "The blades are particularly long and cut deep." "I think that's why it's not used for borders." "And yet, it's an uncrossable barrier." "It's very effective." "Maybe international law forbids it." "Today, the main use is in Gaza, where soldiers can't go or stay in the open too long to lay classic barbed wire." "They use armored vehicles with trailers loaded with pyramids like these." "They place it on the ground, cut the bindings, start the vehicle, step on it, and it unwinds." "The State has bought enough for 120 km of border, at 600 million shekels." "That's 5 million per km, not including electronic protection, which would cost another 5 million per km, if not more." "This factory was facing closure in 95 or 96 after the peace agreement." "There are fences for for peacetime" "But the factory was almost shut down." "In the present climate this product brings business." "NIR AM RESERVOIR" "GAZA NIR AM" "Our avocado farm is that green strip." "Erez is next to it, the checkpoint's there." "You get water from here?" "Is there enough for everyone?" "We fight over it." "After the Oslo Accords" "The Palestinian Authority built a lot here" "They had to house officers who came from Algeria." "They also planned to re-house the refugees in these homes." "In the Beit Hanun area, close to the Erez checkpoint." "The Gaza Strip was full of skyscrapers back then." "They stopped building since the Intifada." "They're out of money." "Lovely fresh air!" "NIR AM KIBBUTZ, NEGEV MUSEM OF WATER AND SECURITY" "You're on the border." "The orchards on the coastal strip belong to the Arab village" "Beit Hanun." "The low houses are Beit Hanun." "The higher buildings are Jebalyia." "The floor is in reinforced glass." "You can see water running under your feet." "It stresses the fact that the museum is dedicated to water." "We settled here in 1943." "I was the officer in charge of this place, which was secret then." "The Effendi of Beit Hanun dug a well here." "He found water at 130 m." "An Arab from Beit Hanun!" "He planted an orange orchard." "But the digging was done by some Jews." "They did a botched job." "There was continual rubbing and it wore out the pump." "The Effendi had to have it repaired five times." "In Tel-Aviv." "It would work a few weeks, then break again." "Repaired five times!" "Meanwhile the orange trees dried up." "He sold the land to our Jewish National Fund." "Our national fund." "They told us, "Move there, the bore will be fixed and you'll have water." """It's a capital national mission.""" "because the British decided..." "This is Lord Peel's partition, 17% of the land for the Jews, the rest for the Arabs." "The red area between Jerusalem and Jaffa, was to remain under British control." "That's when our land was bought and we settled here." "The Negev was to go to the Arabs and the north to the Jews." "The 17%, as you saw." "Was it to ensure the Peel Commission failed?" "Yes, because of its partition proposal." "We wanted it otherwise." "We wanted a Jewish State like the one we have." "And we got it." "We fought for it." " You were soldiers?" " No." "We were underground, in the Hagana." "Underground, but we founded settlements." "I was an officer in charge of armaments, but I also planted vegetables." "We created 11 in one night throughout the Negev." "We bought land in the Negev up to Eilat." "We knew what we wanted." "How much land did the Jewish National Fund buy?" "Listen!" "Ask questions when I'm done!" "The British got fed up and left and the UN arrived." "The UN created a special committee composed of 11 members from neutral countries and presided over by a Swedish judge, Sandstrom." "They arrived in July 1947." "We took them to the Negev." "Imagine!" "The middle of the desert!" "Mitzpe Revivim in the middle of the desert!" "There was a Jew, who still lives there." "He grew gladioli." "Sandstrom said, "You're having me on."" ""These are artificial."" "The guy came over with some shears and said," "Sir, would you like a bunch?" "Look, that's the Swedish judge." "He's holding his gladiola." "The Swedish judge, the Yugoslavian delegate, and me in between." "Recognize me?" "You don't?" "The ladies always recognize me immediately." "Do you know how?" "My ears!" "My ears stick out a bit." "They voted." "Some were for, some against." "They finally decided... the Negev would go to the Jews." "On top of the 17% the British gave, another 16% for Israel." "But what happened then?" "The US President Harry Truman decided the Negev wouldn't go to the Jewish State." "What did they do?" "The head of the World Zionist Organization," "Dr Chaim Weizmann, went to Washington to try to explain to Truman how important it was for the UN to stick to its committee's decision." "But he wasn't seen." "He waited a day, a week, ten days..." "So they contacted a Jew who had done business with Harry Truman and who called him sometimes, Harry, how're things?" "They explained to him and he phoned Harry Truman, saying, "Hi, Harry, how're things?" """The head of the " World Zionist Organization," ""representing the world's Jews," ""has been waiting 10 days" """for you to give him 15 minutes. " Shame on you!"" "And he hung up." "Truman thought, then told his secretary to fix up a meeting with Chaim Weizmann." "A meeting was fixed." "30 minutes after meeting Weizmann," "Truman called the US delegation at the UN." "He said," """The UN is meeting in 10 days " on November 29." """Do all you can to ensure " that those who are against" """vote for the committee's decision " to be adopted." """The UN must vote for the Negev " to go to the Jews."" "That's how the decision got voted." "The great story of the Negev." "Then the war started and shook everything up." "The Jewish State wasn't formed according to UN partition." "The war helped us." "Palestine disappeared." "Why Palestine and not Eretz Yisrael?" "We bought the land from its owners." "We paid good money for it." "But they didn't know you had plans to form a State." "When they sold?" "just business." "Normally if you sell you can stay." "We didn't declare war." "Who invaded Israel on May 15?" "You asked a question." "Here's the answer!" "Who invaded whom?" "Sorry, where's the Mefalsim kibbutz?" "What?" "not here?" "Take the main road, it goes to Mefalsim." "How far along is it?" "What?" "After Nir Am, you get to Mefalsim." "OK, thanks." "Can you tell us about Gaza?" "What for?" "Why?" "Go and see for yourself." "Why should I tell you?" "Gaza was already a big city when we settled here." "A big Arab city." "Is there water in Gaza Strip?" "All along the coast." "There's water at 20 to 50 meters deep." "Hence the Jewish settlements?" "Yes, we've started settling in the north, and along the coastal strip." "Wherever there's water, until it runs out." "The Jewish settlements get water and then it runs out." "There are no Jewish settlements." "Not in the Gaza Strip." " None?" " Some, but they're negligible." "Like Nir Am was in 1943?" "That's negligible." "Netzarim, Dugit, Hofit, Eilei-Sinai" "They're on water sources." "Where there's water..." "We don't want to expel Arabs." "But we already did in 48." "No, they'll stay." "In 48, we chased them out and razed their villages." "You keep saying that nonsense." "I explain and you keep repeating that nonsense!" " Isn't it true?" " Listen to me!" "The Arab neighbors need to understand that in the war against Israel they will not taste victory." "Okay?" "They will not win." "It will only lead to Arab extermination." "much worse than any previous ones." "Then there'll be peace." "This is the amphitheater." "There'll be benches all along these rows of trees." "Behind this tree, there's a small well." "They bore down to 800 m looking for oil and found water." "I have a dream of doing something like this." "I saw it in Buchart Gardens in Canada." "There was a great water jet." "If I ever got hold of a million dollars... the water would fall back down into a swimming pool." "Is that you with Ariel Sharon?" "No, this is Ariel Sharon." "Inside the museum." " With you?" " Yes." "We have lots of albums with photos of Arik Sharon." "I need a million dollars for this project." "It would be grand." "If a Jewish community or donor were to give it" "It would be named after the donor." """A million dollars for a geyser " to be named after me."" "Over there, a hot-water swimming pool." "Yes, a pool!" "The water would be recycled to fish farms then to olive orchards." "It's a vast project." "And if I find the money to do it it'll be magnificent." "If I find a million for this my dream will come true." ""Give us water We haven't drunk yet"" """Give us water " And some newly-pressed wine..."" "Send me a tape?" "God knows how you'll turn this into a film!" "You can't film here." "Why not?" "We don't want pictures, of this base getting into the wrong hands." "But go further along, you can film there." "That's the border." "Further down you can see the homes that were built for the officers of Force 17." "That's Jebaliya to the north-west." "See that white line?" "It's an electronic fence." "It runs along the whole strip." "It's open to the sea but closed inland." "The Gaza Strip is cut into zones." "The Netzarim Zone, the North Zone and the Central Zone." "Here to the sea is a 5 to 7-minute drive." "Is this the international border?" "There's no international border." "There's no border as there's no State." "What's Israel?" "There's no Palestinian State." "NO ENTRANCE BORDER" "We've been settling Israeli land for 100 years." "Since the Age of the Patriarchs." "It has never been a wilderness." "The Middle-East was never empty." "It's always been inhabited." "I don't deny the original place names." "Kids used to call this the White House." "I call it Khirbet Naim, after the family that lived here before 1948, members of the Abu Sita tribe." "Their grandchildren live in Khan Yunes." "We should keep calling it Khirbet Naim." "This house belonged to a sheik." "The Army occupied it." "I want to make it an art gallery." "I offered people from Gaza to come to work here." "They said no, but they might change their minds." "Works of art, paintings, sculptures..." "Next to the world's biggest ghetto?" "What then?" "leave?" "Should we flee?" "What would it do for to the ghetto?" "Would a humanitarian gesture ease my conscience?" "No." "I can't change people's minds, their politics." "It's difficult." "It's become extremely difficult." "Do you have contact with them?" "Palestinians?" "I did." "With two guys from Gaza who worked at for us." "We'd speak on the phone." "What can I say?" "You can't turn back time." "You have to think of the future not the past." "I don't get it." "Living together is the future, not the past." "Depends what you mean." "Living together with territorial or financial compensations?" "How do we do it?" "What does "living together" mean?" "Who's closer to you?" "A Palestinian from Galilee, or a Belgian or Dutchman?" "It's a different type of closeness." "My own identity and cultural background, are western." "I can be good friends with an Arab from Galilee, but he has a different culture I must respect." "I don't know if I do, since I'm totally ignorant of his culture." "But the roots of my culture are western." " It's a paradox." " What can I do?" "Go to Paris and go fishing..." "Cacti mark the edge of the village." "There's the well." "It's still usable." "The water's a bit salty, but drinkable." "See our sorting chain?" "At the end is the border." "South Africa is the settler's model." "A white minority dominates a black majority." "Here, it's the Arabs, who have no rights." "They'll be well treated as long as they don't rise up." "They'll have water and we won't beat them." "But no civic rights." "And that's the moderates' view!" "The Army felled all the trees." "We're coming to a point..." "Let's go that way instead." "I don't want to cross the tree-line." "Otherwise..." "See, they're already here." "They fired on a patrol here." "The Army don't like trees." "They fell them." "The driver was killed, so they felled the trees." "They call it "stripping"." "Arabs lived here." "The British dug the Bir Gara'a well." "Across there is Hourza'a." "It was inhabited here." "Look." "People lived here." "Or lower." "I suppose it was in this little pocket." "There was no fence when the Egyptians were in Gaza." "Just a 10-cm ditch and every 2 km, a sentry box with blue-berets completely stoned." "But no fence." "We passed sacks of wheat to guys from Khuza'a." "There was no fence." "The fence is the ultimate absurdity." "Take the fence " "The settlements there were, the more we built." "As they got more settled the fence goes up." "From a little fence, to a big one, then barbed, then double, then electronic, and so on." "The fence is the symbol." "The fence is Zionism." ""We will hear in the hills of Judea" ""And in the streets of Jerusalem" """The cries of joy " and the cheers of elation" """The voice of the groom " and the voice of the bride"" "Each happy event is an occasion to pray for Jerusalem to rise up in our time and for us to say like the exiles of Babylon..." """If I forget, Jerusalem, " may my right hand shrivel," """may my tongue stick " to my palette," ""if I forget, Jerusalem," ""that you are my greatest joy."" "WELCOME TO THE LOD INTEGRATION CENTER" "Hello, everyone." "Do you understand?" "Do you speak Hebrew?" "Of course!" "Show us what you know!" "Very well." "The integration center symbolizes the durability of Zionism." "The fact that it's in the heart of Israel, 5 minutes from the planes that bring in new immigrants every week clearly shows the importance it has for us and for the city of Lod." "We wish everyone an end to their troubles and a very happy new year." "I'd like to invite" "Mayor Maxime Levy, who will greet you." "I'd like to thank the people who truly put Zionism into practice, by taking care of immigrants, integrating them, and giving them a warm welcome." "I hope, God willing, that Israel continues to integrate immigrants, since that is the noble mission of the Jewish people today." "I'd like to wish us all a year of safety, peace and health." "Now, all together, you and us, let's open the bottles and pour out the wine." "Everyone." "The guest of honor, too." "If you don't have a cup, ask Tamar and she'll give you one." "Do you all have wine?" "Let's raise our glasses." """Bless the vine " and the fruit of the vine," ""this great, good and beautiful country" """that You gave " to us and our forefathers," """so that we may taste " its fruits and benefits."" "Let's put down our glasses." "Dip the apple in the honey." "Everyone, quickly!" "We say the blessing." ""If You so grant us, then today begins" ""a good and sweet year for us."" "FROM ETHIOPIATO ISRAEL" "STOP ISRAELI OCCUPATION IN SRAEL" "Brothers!" "Sisters!" "Today our homes are threatened by destruction." "We claim only our rights, and that here in Lod everyone be treated equally." "20 minutes from Tel-Aviv and 30 from Jerusalem, apartheid has reigned for 50 years." "A so-called mixed town like Lod is governed according to ethnic criteria that make life impossible for the Arab population, as it's ensured that Arabs do not exceed 20% of the population." "Since 1948, the number of Arabs in Lod has tripled." "They live in run-down ghettos." "The policy in Lod is purely and simply one of apartheid." "I say to our governors, even if you put two cops on every Arab, it will be of no use." "Give people space, respect them, and we'll all live together, Jews and Arabs, "Ta'ayush"." "Illegal construction is the bane of this town." "Mister Mayor, this town is in danger." "Policies must change if we want the Jewish population to stay and order re-established." "This is the pet subject of those who want to rouse people against the Arab population and encourage discrimination." "I don't see this on the agenda." "He built without permission, that's all." "Tell me, as you seem to know the answer, where we can build legally in Arab districts." "You can demolish..." "Arabs have gone from 7% to 27% since 48." "They inhabit new districts." "How many illegal buildings are there?" "How many have you built?" "They have the Mefunim district, 50% of Ramat Eshkol, 40% of Hashmonaim." "They all have a roof." "No one is homeless." "You're not a victim." " I didn't say I was." " You want our pity." ""The Arabs of Lod are in the street!"" " Carry on." " Tell him!" "7% to 27%." "Is that normal?" "I'm not a victim." "I was born in Lod." "It's my home." "I didn't come from Morocco." "Don't mention Morocco." "Stick to the subject." "The State of Israel doesn't belong to you." "You speak as if the Arabs of this town were refugees." "Lod also belongs to us, we were born here." "Everyone is welcome," "There's no need to be rude." "The Arabs have the right to live here." "Like it or not, they're staying." " Respect the law!" " Let me finish!" "You broke the law first." "You build homes without permission and then come and play the victim." "It isn't fair." "Have you nothing to say?" "Hear what he dares to say?" "Ensuring that the Arabs can't build legally and demanding that they don't build is unrealistic." "They have to build." "They need homes." "Not every Jew has one!" "Young Jewish couples can't find homes." "That's enough now." " Have you finished?" " I'm being cut off." "Then hurry up and stop provoking everyone." "While they were building illegally, he was in the town hall." "And where were you?" "This is the third time I've called you to order." "Your behavior is unworthy of a town councilor!" "Enough!" "I can raise my voice, too!" "Don't be like that." "If you think we can progress by pushing towards extremism one side or the other, then you're wrong!" "People whose aim is to poison" "Jewish-Arab relations, people putting up posters to demand Arab expulsion, and people promoting anti-Jewish sentiment won't solve anything." "This town needs good relations between Jews and Arabs." "Who brought 600 officers from the army?" "Not you, not them." "It was me, wasn't it?" "We bought this house to live in." "We sought an extension permit." "3 years of non-stop bureaucracy." "I didn't give up despite the documents." "I even paid for a lawyer." "Eight of us live here." "The extension is now subject to demolition." "Those collaborators can build three floors." "And we have the right to a hole, a proper grave, without windows." "Isn't that right, Buthaina?" "I built it for my brother who's homeless." "He sleeps in the street or the cemetery." "I don't want to lose my brothers." "If the government wants my death or my house," "I may as well die for my brothers." "We're refused the most basic rights." "Israeli Arabs are considered neither Palestinian nor Israeli." "What do you feel?" "Palestinian." "I was born in this land." "What if you were expelled?" "Expelled?" "They'll never expel me." "They'll kill me first." "Then I'll be buried here beside my parents." " You were in jail?" " 6 and a half years." "I went blind." "I'm infirm." "I can barely care for my children." " Why jail?" " Possessing a gun and belonging to a prohibited organization." "My brother's in for life." "There's no way out for him." " Do you visit him?" " I'm not allowed." "When did you last see him?" "Long ago." "Almost 5 years, I think." "Do they want an apology?" "Apologize?" "To people who made me go blind?" "To who?" "My family and I have paid dearly." "I have no regrets." "I'm devoted to my children and to our home, that's all." "What if you apologized?" "Why apologize?" "I paid with my life." "Apologize for what?" "For my sick mother, my ill-reputed daughter, my blindness?" "Apologize for that?" "Were you tortured?" "Do you think they spoil us?" "I'm nearly blind!" "I have only 5-10% vision, according to the doctors." "What did they do to you?" "I was beaten." "All the women were thoroughly beaten." " Are you Myriam's neighbor?" " Yes." "Since when?" "Myriam's been here 5 years." "Me, 13." "Do you get along well?" "We have a chat every day." "We never sit at table together but we get along." " Not ever?" " No." "We're Jewish, they're not." "Is it forbidden to drink with them?" "We're not of the same religion." "Were you born here?" "No." "I was born in Iraq." "I emigrated to Israel with my parents." "We lived on a moshav in Galilee." "We didn't like it so we came to Ramleh." "My kids are married, I live alone." " They don't live here?" " No." "They live outside Ramleh." "I stayed here alone." "There used to be only Jews in this street." "People are selling up." "It's always Arabs that buy." "The Jews move elsewhere, leave town." "No one wants to live in a mixed district anymore." "It's hard." "The children go to the same school." "What do you teach them in, Arabic or Hebrew?" " What do you think?" " Both." "They can try if they like." "Do you speak Arabic?" "Not really." "A bit." " How about your parents?" " No." "I have no parents." "I'm all alone." "Any other questions?" "Good health!" "What's this district called?" "The whole area is called the ghetto." "I've heard it called the ghetto since I was little." "What does "ghetto" mean?" "It's an Arab district, right?" "But the Jews called it the ghetto too." "You can't change the name of a district!" "What did it used to be called?" "The Old Town." "The Jews named it the ghetto." " Why?" " No idea." "How did you get in?" "It was surrounded by a fence." " Show me where the entrance was." " Come on then." "The gate was there." "The guard sat there." "There were old houses like that one." "There was an olive press so you could make olive oil and soap." "And to get out?" "The guard wouldn't let you." "You needed a special pass." "After a year, they took the fence down and we could go out." "You stayed in here a year?" "No." "I stayed until 1956." " What did you live on?" " We traded." " Despite being enclosed?" " We bought and sold." " And money?" " There was some." "When our savings ran out we traded with Red Cross parcels." "The bells were ringing." "We were afraid." "The Arabs ran up there thinking it was safer." "The Jews came in." " How?" " Via the east district." "Where were you?" "We were up there when they arrived." "We were going to the church." "The next day, a plane bombarded Lod with leaflets." "They said, "Surrender!"" "What day was it?" "I remember it clearly." "It began on a Sunday, a little before ten." "We were coming from Askalan." "I was a kid." "About 4 or 5." "The fence was still there in the early 50s." "The Israeli army requisitioned a building." "The school." "In 48, I didn't finish the school year." "A thousand old folk stayed here." "I remember clearly, they stayed till 54." "Everyone helped them." "When my mother cooked, she'd give some to them." "We all gave them something." "50,000 refugees from the Lod region were expelled to Jordan." "Ygal Alon wrote that the people of Lod emigrated or fled of their own accord." "But in reality they were forcibly expelled." "General Alon's a liar." "His book is a whole web of lies." "He read the book and knows the facts." "It's all lies." "There were people killed." "We cremated the bodies." "300 people were shot down in the mosque, and he buried them." "In 1948, I was 19." "They shot everyone in the mosque." "They locked them in one room... and shot them all through the windows." "Where could they run to?" "Didn't they fight back?" "They didn't even have food, let alone arms." "They were locked in a mosque!" "They were packed in." "Just ordinary folk." "They had no guns." "They were... how can I put it?" "Civilians." "I brought the bodies out 2 weeks later." "They stayed in there until the army told us to bury them, and we cremated them." "My hands are my witness." "How did you feel?" "Look..." "Bodies swell up after a few days." "I saw him when I came to get the keys." "He was carrying a corpse and an arm dropped off it." "I saw it." "The stench was unbearable." "We burned them." " Burned them?" " Right." "Many of those who fled died of thirst." "It was July 7 and scorching hot." "A heatwave." "They had all their belongings stolen." "The women had all their jewelry taken." "They were left with nothing." "Anyone who resisted was shot." " Who stole things?" " The army." "The Israeli army." "This State is built on..." "How can I put it?" "What happened to your homes in the ghetto?" "Confiscated." "They stayed empty for a while." "Then the Jews came and moved into them." "When they dismantled the ghetto, we could go elsewhere." "But we stayed in the ghetto." "We were afraid to leave." "There were gangs pillaging everything." "Some took sewing-machines, others bathtubs." "Each had its specialty." "Poor Jews stole from poor Palestinians." "They took everything left in town." "They only left the fruit on the trees." "Were there rapes?" "Many." "When we returned..." "It happened in front of our house, before the police came." "There was a young woman with a 6 to 8-week-old baby." "Six men went into her home and raped her." "She fled, leaving her baby all alone." "The army brought us the baby so we'd look after it." "The mother told us everything when we saw her again." "She told us what had happened." "She couldn't bear to see her child anymore." "Not one, but six men raped her." "One poor woman." " You witnessed it?" " Yes." "We gave her the child back later." "Soldiers do what they like when no one's watching." "What memory pains you or angers you most?" "That all the people we knew went away." "Life went with them." "Each demolished house is a memory lost forever." "Hello." "Gezer?" "Turn right and follow the dirt track." "Past the hill you'll see the Gezer kibbutz." "It was Abu Shusha, right?" "El-Qubab?" "Yes, opposite." "There, on the hill..." "With the fir trees." "That was Abu Shusha." "It's a lovely view." "You should film it." "When did you move here?" "14 years ago." "Where from?" "What's your origin?" "Of undetermined origin." "Where are you from?" "I used to live in Yehud." "And before that?" "I didn't decide to come here." "I followed my parents." "If I'd had my way, I'd have said no." " Where are you parents from?" " Russia." " Where's this?" " Ein Yarka." "The Yarka spring." " Is that its Arab name?" " That's what we say in Arabic." " Where was Ein Yarka?" " The spring is up there." "Do you drink from it?" "No." "But hikers do." "The path leads there." "Was that an Arab village opposite?" "I don't know, I'm new here." "The Jewish National Fund drops us, we graze, then go home." "It's a way of making a living." "Who are you?" " Did you do military service?" " Next year, I hope." "As a border guard." " So you can beat Arabs?" " Arabs are dogs!" "Why?" "Because you're not of the same religion?" "Or are you not an Arab?" "Arabs and Jews are cousins." "It goes without saying." "The way I see it, they're both rotten." "They're all the same, raving mad!" "Any friends or family in the army?" "My brother's a border guard." "The sheep..." "DANGER POTHOLES AND LANDSLIPS" ""We thank You, Almighty God," ""creator of all in the world," """for the beautiful trees " You make grow" ""for man's pleasure."" "We're looking for a place called Kfar Inan." "Where is it?" "Juma, you know it?" "Kufur Inan." "It rings a bell." "There was Abu Shusha." "The villages had different names." "It's totally unrealistic for all those who lived here before to return." "Where there's a will there's a way" "I've nothing against it in theory." "But is it possible in practice?" "It's a discussion." "I'd like to keep the memory of the villages alive." "Palestinians have the right to return here but rights can't always be honored." "You can't go back to the past." "Is it morally right for someone born in New York or Paris to be on the land of another person who can't be there?" "I wouldn't say that." "This land doesn't belong to another person, but to me." "I'm Jewish, and the Jewish people have an eternal link with Israel." "We found these ancient stones." "You have to admire the stonemasons." "I cut stone, but easy stuff." "This precision is remarkable." "These very hard stones were hand-cut with very rudimentary tools." "Generation after generation of stone-cutters worked here." "I'm just one of them." "A link in a long chain of stone-cutters, working on the same stone." "Here's the result." "The old map shows Qubab and Abu Shusha." " El Qubab and Abu Shusha." " Where are they?" "Geographically speaking?" "El Qubab was the village north of here." "Abu Shusha was to the south." "Where Karmei Yossef is today." "The people known as the refugees of 48... were replaced by other refugees." "But we're getting onto politics." "In Israel, it's the same all over." "It's the same story everywhere." "It's better to forget politics and focus on achievements." "My place is an example." "I'm neither talented nor an expert in any field." "Imagine what experts could have done." "I'm a pure product of Zionism, the son of European refugees, who came empty-handed with nothing but motivation." "There was nothing here, no civilization." "We started with nothing." "The hell my mother experienced as a 10-year-old when she lived in Europe, hiding in cellars..." "She had to be sweet with the local police officer so he'd turn a blind eye." "She never spoke of it." "I found out after she died." "Her friends... told me about it..." "Excuse me." "It's not like me." "I discovered what my mother had been through." "It makes her achievements here even greater." "Thinking of the life my children and I have," "Bottom line she won big time." "It makes our hold on this land even more valid." "If anyone comes here..." "I'm sorry if I'm already onto politics." "But if anyone thinks they can come here and do something to move us off this land, they're wrong." "Let's not worry about borders." "Earlier, we spoke about your traumas and what your folks went through." "My folks' traumas are always with me." "They shape my life." "It won't happen again." "I'm aware of that." "The Shoah has totally shaped the way I think." "Does it help you to understand the trauma of those from the two villages that disappeared?" "Let's just say... my conscience is clear." "I don't feel the slightest guilt." "Besides, many Jews who came here were chased out of Arab countries." "So I have no problems with my conscience." "No problems at all." "The Jewish National Fund" " Keren Kayemet Le'Israel - collected money for the Zionist movement to prepare land for the future State." "It bought the land where we are now, for example." "After World War 1, the Fund continued buying land and collecting money for the Zionist movement." "It also took other action, like planting trees." "For agricultural, ecological and political reasons." "To materialize ownership of the land destined for Jewish settlement and to show the land belonged to the Jewish people." "Building and settlement were paid for by donors." "A Jew who had fought in the War of Independence financed the building of this house." "Factories were also built with the donations." "Likewise, universities and public buildings which have plaques to remind us who the donors were." "I now suggest we go in to see inside" "Nothing here is authentic." "Nearby was the old railway linking Jaffa to Jerusalem." "It dates from 1892." "The idea was to build Jewish settlements up to Jerusalem." "They built all along, wherever it was possible." "The aim was to increase Jewish presence in the region." "The Jewish National Fund obtained money from collection boxes, selling stamps and donations to buy as much land as possible." "Then they would find ways to create Jewish settlements and extend Jewish ownership through the country until the creation of the Jewish State of Israel in 1948." "How much land did the Fund buy before 48?" "No idea." "I'd have to check." "I don't have the figure in my head." "So I don't make a mistake, I'll check." "The first institution to buy land was APAC, the Anglo-Palestinian Company." "It was a kind of bank for the Zionist movement." "In 1907, APAC sold land to the Jewish National Fund." " Who did they buy from?" " The Arab inhabitants of the neighboring village Kfar Huldeh." "There was an Arab village here before 1948 called Kfar Huldeh." "It hasn't existed since the War of Independence." "You want to know where this land came from?" "It was the land of Arab villages." "After the conquest, they fled or were chased out." "The State took over the land." "Part of it became the Hulda kibbutz and the rest settlements after independence." "The land was legally bought and paid for in hard cash." "Abraham himself bought the Cave of Machpelah and paid a good price." "I'd go as far as saying an exorbitant price." "But let's leave all that..." "How far back in history can you go?" "You just went back 3000 years." "You brought up Abraham." "But that doesn't mean..." "There's a limit you have to..." "It's politics." "Maybe there'll be a day..." "Rabin said he'd like to wake up one day to find Gaza engulfed by the sea." "He was criticized for that remark." "It wasn't politically correct." "But if ever such a miracle were to happen," "I don't think I'd be sorry." "On a human level, I would, but not on a national level." "It would get rid of a serious problem." "One that preoccupies us." "If we had done in 1948 as the Americans did to the Indians, then for everyone it'd be..." "One lot would be gone and couldn't complain, and the others, us, would be living in peace." "It would have been better." "But it was different and we must live with it." "But now let's get back to the Zionist view, to our memorial." """According to the Defense Minister, " the killing of Salah Shehade" ""has prevented many deaths from Hamas attacks." ""This morning, Hezbollah fired" ""anti-aircraft missiles in the north." ""There were no victims or damage." """The police and the government " want to organize expulsion of foreign workers without papers." """Exports decreased by 2.5% " in the second quarter." ""The dollar is presently" ""at 4.66 shekels..."" "CRUSH PALESTINIANS END THE WAR" "Hey!" "Really?" "I thought you had to say "please"." "Don't shout out "Hey!" Who are you?" " I own this checkpoint." " You "own" it?" " Show me your permit." " What permit?" "Call an officer and tell him you said, "Hey."" "Tell him you call dogs with "Hey!" not people." " Papers!" " "Papers, please."" " Please." "Happy now?" " "Your papers, please."" "You're teaching me Hebrew?" "Papers!" "I said please." "Say "Please show my your papers"" "No need for good manners here." "Oh yes there is." " show your ID" " Show me your ID card, please." "Stop filming." "Your papers, please." "How's that?" "Thank you." "Was that so hard?" "Was that so hard to say please?" "If you were at this checkpoint for a year like me you'd be fed up." " You chose it." " No, I didn't." "It wasn't me." "Who then?" "Is there a brain under that helmet?" "I do what the army tells me." "That's how I serve my country." "That's what soldiers who commit atrocities say." "Do you ever think about what you do?" "I'm not doing any harm." " No harm?" " I didn't insult you." "I said "Hey" because I didn't know you." "Otherwise I'd have used your name." "I respect the reporters I know." "Like that Karl from American TV." "Isn't your job to respect people?" "I do respect them." "Did you see me do any harm?" "You being here hurts does harm." "Really?" "I'm protecting my country from terrorists." "The attacks are due to the occupation." "Would you always like to be controlled at checkpoints?" "So why them?" "I don't like attacks either." "I didn't ask about attacks." "I did." "Love thy neighbour I don't want attacks." "You're not filming me?" "The occupation started before." "Young men, as regards you, we'll finish today." " Completely?" " If your parents come." " Wael!" " That's me." "There are other witnesses and we're not done." "You know the witnesses?" "Yes, but not the last four statements." " You didn't get them?" " No." "I'll go over it with you as you have a heavy caseload." " Are there suicide bombers?" " A few." "Come in and we'll see." "No touching." "What did we agreed?" "Jihad, you're a man, keep your head up, dear." "Go sit down." "He's not allowed to touch her!" "Prison doesn't mean the end, Jihad." "No touching." "Don't cry." "How are you, Abdallah?" "Let me get close to him." "She can shake his hand, can't she?" "You're going too far." "They can't touch." "Period!" "You can speak to each other." "Now sit down." "No touching." "Don't touch him." "Talk without touching." "It's his kid brother." "No touching allowed." "God be with you, sweetie." "Everyone back!" "Where are you going with that cart?" "Go round." "Do you hear me?" "I've been here 2 hours." "See, I'm in order." "Come." "Put the camera down." "It's annoying me." "There, that's better." "Where are you from?" "So you speak Hebrew?" "Not as well as me, but still..." "That's the problem." " Hey budy, go a way - whay" "I said so" "So tart moving" "I've a press card." "Don't give a fuck." "Scram!" " Why?" " Because I said so." "Is this a military zone?" "Can I see your orders?" "My presence is enough." "Reporter or not..." " Fly away" " Whay I can't film?" "I don't want you to film." " I'm telling you nicely." " But why not?" " I just don't want to - why?" "I didn't spruce myself up today." "A reporter with a card has the right to film." "In Tel-Aviv or Jerusalem maybe, but not here." "I have army permission." "Just turn around." "Pull his camera down" "Camera off, please." " Stop kidding!" " Are you a couple?" "What if we are?" " When's the wedding?" " When I'm de-mobbed." "If it's a boy we'll name him Ram a girl" " Kalandia" " Are you Arab?" " Jewish, from Yemen." "There are Jewish Arabs, Christian Arabs and Muslim Arabs." "If so, I'm a Jewish Arab from Yemen." " Do you have a piercing?" " No." " Why not?" " It's forbidden in the army." "But you have one." "Show us." "We've both got one." "We've got work to do." "People are waiting." "Old people." "This map shows the UN partition." "The Jews built Greater Jerusalem in contravention of the 1947 resolution." "They were given land more to the west." "But Israel wanted to spread towards the east and divide the West Bank, isolating Ramallah from Bethlehem." "They didn't want refugee camps in Greater Jerusalem." "They wanted to clear Jerusalem of its Arab population and have Arabs at 22% maximum." "Their border is wherever the latest settlement is." "That's their policy." "The goal of intensified Israeli colonization is to prevent the dividing up of historic Palestine, to make it impossible." "A city usually grows in concentric circles, from the inside out." "But they began, as early as 1914, building settlements to the north of Jerusalem, and from 1925 in Nabi Yacub and Ma'aleh Adomim in the east." "Their strategy consisted of extending these settlements until they met and joined others." "The first settlement dates from 1850." "Jewish colonization started along the old Jaffa road linking Jerusalem to Jaffa." "That's where they were centered." "They took advantage of the financial crisis of the Orthodox Church, which sold them its land." "That was the first thing." "Besides, the British Mandate helped the Jews to acquire land." "But it was mainly in the corridor linking Jerusalem to Tel-Aviv that they built settlements and razed Arab homes." "Sharon has adopted a new strategy of the security line in the west to control water." "It involves widening the bottleneck between Qalqilia and Netanya, widening this narrow strip and controlling water, assuring security at the vital main airport of Lod and in the Jordan Valley." "Since the Gulf War, due to the missiles, notions of security have changed." "But Israel's major problem remains the Palestinian population." "In 1948, they expelled a large number of Palestinians and destroyed 425 Palestinian towns and villages." "But in 1967, the Palestinians remained where they were, posing a problem for Israel." "There are two solutions, either a federal state for the whole country, which the Jews would refuse, or an exchange, a compromise on the rights of the return of refugees." "They won't want that." "There's no other solution." "Today, by building the Separation Wall, they find themselves stuck with Palestinians with whom they don't know what to do." "Israel has worsened its population problem by wanting to protect settlements." " Do you know the way?" " Not at all." "Do you have room?" "Is this your house?" "It's a relation's." " What relation?" " A distant cousin's." " How distant?" " Well, my cousin." "THEY WON'T DESTROY OUR DETERMINATION" " When did they come?" " At night." "We had 15 minutes to leave." "We salvaged what we could." "We took the kids out asleep." "15 children, big and small." " Do you work?" " No." "70% of Palestinians are unemployed." "We're broke." "But better to die here than to go and be humiliated in Arab countries." "Our son didn't die a martyr for money." "All the oil isn't worth a hair on his head." "The death of a son is dreadful, a catastrophe." "The most noble of all things is life." "A human being, not a house." "Are you the father of a martyr?" "His uncle." "My son's also a martyr, as are my father and my three uncles." "Under which regime did it happen?" "Israel's?" "Which regime?" "Israel's." "It's terrible." "Sharon has killed us since 1948." "Like at Deir Yassin." "Why?" "Suicide bombers don't kill themselves for fun." "I, an old woman, would do it if I could." "I'd put on a belt and boom!" "Who can accept their son carrying out a suicide bombing?" "Would you want your son to die?" "Of course not." "Humiliation pushes them into it." "I was sick, and at the roadblock the guard mistreated me in public for no reason." "Where do we live?" "Sick and repressed." "My son's wife is expecting." "We don't know if there is a road open to us to get her to hospital." "What can we do?" "We're poor people, with no tanks or planes." "They have tanks, guns, missiles, planes..." "They bombard us from land, sea and sky." "And us?" "Frustrated and humiliated sons who blow themselves up!" "The demolitions are a collective punishment." "This week they demolished six houses." "The guilty party should be judged if he breaks the law." "Others shouldn't be tried in absentia or punished collectively." "I fight for human rights." "International law, the 4th Geneva Convention and the United Nations all condemn the occupation and legitimize the fight against the occupation." "What's been happening for the past two years is the collective rape of an entire population." "There's no way this is self-defense, as Israel claims." "The shortest path to a solution is to end the occupation." "Do you speak to Israelis?" "Last night I spoke to his Jewish boss." "He has stayed with us." "He worked with them." "But when he puts on his two-starred uniform and wears his braid, he's unrecognizable." "In jail, he'd soon beat you." "Here, every soldier is a little boss unto himself." "They say that we send our children to die" "What about their military service?" "They have an army." "We have neither a state nor an army." "We're not given the possibility to have one." "Who will come and defend us?" "Nobody." "There's occupation, colonization." "Youngsters today, the generation of the first Intifada, won't let themselves be thrown onto buses and expelled." "We'd rather die than leave." "The events of 1948 and 1967 won't be repeated." "In the partition plan, Abu Dis is part of Jerusalem." "We're from Jerusalem, from the East Gate." "In the partition plan," "Abu Dis streches as far as Al-Fashkha and the Dead Sea." "Israel claims that this land belongs to their state." "But each family still possesses its property deeds." "All the surrounding settlements are built on land bought, according to them, from Abu Dis Palestinians." "Under a pretext of security, the Israelis summoned people and got them to sign a conditional freedom slip stipulating the sale of their land." "All these Israeli documents were forged." "I have 500 dunams - 50 hectares - in Abu Dis." "I can't farm a single dunam." "Who sold them my land?" "I neither signed nor sold." "Who did it for me?" "WE'RE ON THE MAPTO STAY" "Nothing comes through even with authorization." "Everything's closed off." "You, back the tractor up!" "I want to say something for TV." "We're Jews." "We're merciful." "But since the attacks began, forget it." "Today there was an attack in Jerusalem, yesterday in Itamar." "It can't go on." "So our job is to stop Arabs circulating." "It's not fair, trying to show us as cruel." "Jews, Israelis, aren't cruel." "We're merciful, unlike the Arabs." "Look, I have a nice gun." "I don't fire it on innocent people but on those who attack me." "You say that without being asked." "I want you to know." "No interviews!" "You need authorization." "When is it on TV?" " I'm driving my mother." " What's wrong with her?" "I have to get her to hospital." "Wait here." "What did you say?" "Turn around and leave." "I don't want trouble." "Imagine being shut in for a month." "Shut indoors?" "I'd love it." "I'd think." "I'd love to be shut in for a month with twenty good books." "I'd gladly read "The Trial" again." "Have you read it?" "It corresponds well to the present situation in the world and in Israel." "Our world is Kafkaesque." "And "Before the Law"?" "Have you read it?" "It's about a man who confronts a guard of a door that exists only for him." "Kafka's a giant, one of the greatest." "He waits at the door." "He waits until he's about to die and the guard says that the door is for him alone and that he must break the law to enter." "But there is no law." "It's important being here." "Being a Zionist means being a soldier." "Descartes..." "Greek philosophers... 19th century philosophy..." "Not very consistent." "20th-century philosophy, Levinas," "Buber..." "You know Buber?" "Did they call us?" "What else?" "I'm religious, I read a lot on these subjects." "Maimonides... all those who speak of that." "That's all." "You know "The Banality of Evil"?" "Who's it by?" "Is it a book or a concept?" "The concept of the banality of evil." "Who said that?" "In what context?" " Hannah Arendt." " Never heard of her." "The banality of evil is when normal people, people who read philosophy," " commit acts..." " That are extreme." " No." " What then?" "A series of small acts that add up to great evil." "What kind of acts?" "What acts?" "Stay in your car, this place is forbidden." "I was just told you couldn't pass." ""And here's the news." ""In Ramallah, 20 Palestinians" ""surrendered to the Army" """after being encircled " in the Mouqata'a." """An officer of the Presidential Guard " was killed." ""Suspects are being arrested." ""The curfew ..."" " Is it a wedding?" " Yes, at the Everest Hotel." "How will you get there?" "On this dirt track." "Across mounds of sand." "Through roadblocks." " Is it forbidden to come here?" " Yes." " Are you from Beit Jala?" " From Bethlehem." "The only way out of Zone A is to walk through the dust." "What if the Israelis catch you?" "Nothing." "They'll keep us a couple of hours or arrest us, depending on the mood of the guard." " You're not allowed to be here?" " No." "Sometimes they let you pass, other times no." "There's a big military base near here." "It's where they keep their reinforcements." "It's on land expropriated from Beit Jala." "Some guests won't make it because of the road and the exclusion zone." "Can the Occupation spoil your parties?" "No way." "We'll still go out despite the occupation and exclusion zone." "See, we do it right under the army's nose." "We continue celebrating despite the occupation." "Welcome!" "Welcome, honorable friends!" "They confiscated our ID cards." "Sorry for the trouble getting here." "We would have walked here." "We all made it here." "The bride's here." "She's leaving a noble house for another, equally noble." "I am entrusting you with my daughter" "May God multiply your wealth and your children." "Lovely building!" "Yes, it's beautiful." "It's called Migdal Tzedek." "There was digging here." "Further up I found some graves." "The gravestones have inscriptions on them." "It must be the cemetery for the people who lived here." "The inscriptions are in Arabic." "It's like Yemen." "It resembles Yemen?" "My folks are from there." "From Yemen." "I don't know who was here." "They're ancient." "When I came there was nothing." "There's room for everyone in this land." "If one wants, there's room." "Depends how you do it." "In Europe too, wherever there's war there are losers." "It's like poker, players know there's a chance they might lose." "These people had 20 wonderful years after 1967." "Sure, no identity, no nationality." "But a good economy, they'll tell you." "Their economic situation was good." "That of the Yemeni Jews too." "Excellent, according to my folks." "But they had no right to take part in politics." "German Jews, and Jews from elsewhere didn't care for politics, only business." "They were well behaved, we liked them." "It was because they were smart that the holocaust happened." "Was this inhabited?" " People lived here." " Did they evaporate?" "Evaporate?" "People don't evaporate." "They left because of the war." "I explained what war is." "What do you hope to prove by filming ruins?" "There were no Arabs here." "Do you see any houses?" "Show me where the demolished ones are." "Do you have a dog?" "I do." "I had trouble with my neighbor." "My dog coupled with his bitch." "He was livid because it's a pedigree." "My dog gave it wolf cubs!" "See the problem?" "You can't stop a dog going after a bitch." "He built a wall but his bitch comes looking for my dog." "That's the conflict!" "Is Qalqiliya an old town?" "It's an ancient town!" " It dates from the Romans." " It's a mosaic." "Little colored squares." "A mosaic floor." "And this wall?" "It surrounds the West Bank." "It separates the West Bank from Israel." " We can't go in." " And your relations?" "Some are inside." "My mother's in the Jenin refugee camp." "And the transfer?" "They've threatened us for years with transfer." "They're capable of it." " How would you react?" " How can I?" " Like sheep." " No way!" "Even important people are powerless." "It's our land, it's hard to leave it." "Who owns it?" "It used to be ours, now it's theirs." " It was Palestinian." " It was Arab." "No tyrant can last long on this land." "We're here." "This is the UN map." "The UN partition map." "If this is it, it's a botched job." "If the Arabs had accepted, then today there'd be a Palestinian State." "Do you know Solomon's Judgement?" "Who refused to cut the child in two?" "The adoptive mother." " Who?" " The real mother." "The real mother." "She refused and her baby was given back." "You got me!" "Here it's the opposite." " We accepted partition." " Who did?" "The adoptive mother." " Why?" " It wasn't hers." "Here it's the opposite to the Judgment of Solomon." "Why?" "In the Bible, she who accepted partition got nothing." "Here, they who accepted partition got the lot!" " It's the opposite." " The baby was spared." "Yes, but land isn't a living being." "Who's the robber and who's the robbed?" "Did the Jews take the land?" "Sure." "So?" "With the Intifada, the left-wing realized peace was impossible." "It's all talk now." "I was very left-wing." "Ready to give everything." "Historic right is something you belief." "Arabs believe in Mohammed." "Jews, in historic right." "Whoever it applies to." "It's their belief." " Do you believe?" " Not at all." "Do you believe in Jewish rights?" "Yes, but it's nothing to do with belief." "Israel's strong, it does what it wants." "Why Iraq?" "Israel also has WMDs." "Why not send inspectors here?" "Because the US has the power and the Jews are there." "If the president ordered it he wouldn't be re-elected." "Those who speak of power and ideology know nothing about them." "Why peace if Israel has the US?" "Israelis wanting peace?" "Don't worry." "There'll never be peace." "Enough about peace." "Back to work!" "We work for the trans-Israel highway." "We're not with the wall." "Speak Arabic?" "Can't you tell I'm Arab?" "They can and always ask for ID!" "Can't you tell?" " Who's erecting the wall?" " Thais, Romanians..." "Before, they all came from the West Bank and Gaza." "If they could get in, they'd be here." "They'd build the wall, no problem." " Out of necessity?" " Of course." "All the settlements inside, they built them with their own hands." " Like you, here." " Or what, sit idle?" "Who'd give us money and food?" "Instead of farming your land, you build their settlements." "They didn't take the land." "We live in this State." "We're Israeli nationals." "Why shouldn't we do this work for a living?" "DEAD END PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY AREA" "Going back to Tulkarem?" " Yes." " Really?" "What about curfew?" "They let us go home at least." " They'll let you pass?" " We'll see." "They will." "They have a holiday." "They want us back home." " How's the situation?" " Couldn't be worse." "It's totally shit." " Any news from Ramallah?" " It's terrible." "It's one curfew after another." " How far can we go?" " No cameras, please." "Can't we go to Tulkarem?" "By order it's a closed military area." "We'll let the truck through." "It's a closed military zone." "This is a legal demo, no provocation, for peace between two peoples," "dialog between two peoples." "Where's the harm?" "I advise you to take the provisions truck through before curfew." "Bring the truck." "Curfew's back at 3,00." "We don't care about the truck." "We want to take the food through on foot." "If you really care, give them your rations!" "We might be breaking the law," "But let me remind everyone that this is an important moral action" "We stress that it's non-violent ." "We will avoid all violence." "No pushing soldiers, no trampling on policemen and no tear gas." "Nublus - 60 Days without food!" "We'll take some baby milk and make our way to Hawara." "The soldiers do have tear gas and all sorts of military toys." "But let's follow our conscience in our actions." "No to occupation!" "As the Army won't let through those who want to help Palestinians, the members ofTa'ayush will cross the fields to reach Hawara, close to Nablus." "No shooting, no crying, no wearing uniform!" "Our partners for peace are behind the roadblock" "Yes to peace!" "No to occupation!" "Take pictures of the baby milk, starver of children!" "Peace not occupation!" "Life used to be happier." "There was more decency." "Even at weddings." " Really?" " Sure." "We celebrate a wedding here while they're killing over there." "My heart's not in it now." "I haven't been to one for 4 years." "It's indecent." "People are being killed in Tulkarem, and here there are weddings!" "Coffee, anyone?" " How much land do you have?" " 6 dunams." "How long will it take?" "It'll take..." "It depends, but at least 10 days." "There are lots of olive trees." "It'll be long and tiring." " What are you doing here?" " We're from the rabbinate." "His plant gets kosher certification." "We check in the field." "For olives, we check that no trees are under 4 years old." "Someone checks the products that are used." "It's governmental, not private." "the Rabbinate?" "Yes." "His plant has to close on the Sabbath." " And him?" " He ensures security." " The region's a bit..." " Complex?" "Right." "So we've a bodyguard." "We don't impose Kashrut." "People demand it, even the secular." "Vladi, smile!" "What's the film on?" "We're traveling along the 1947 partition line." "This isn't ours." "Do you know where we are?" "None of our business." "We don't get involved in politics." "The economy's dead, even Jews are starving." "No money, no cash." "What can you do?" "They're bringing in Russians and Thais." "But Arabs are better workers." "How old were you in 48?" "About 22 years old." " The prime of life!" " I was in the Iraqi Army." "Why did the Arabs leave?" "The superpowers decided it." "Why did you stay?" "We saw those that fled live in humiliation." "We'd rather have died than suffer the fate of those others." "It was more honorable." "Tell me about the border." "Here's my story of the border." "In 1948 an engineer in the Jordanian army arrived with guards and stuff." "He took out the map and ordered them to paint the border markers with whitewash right outside our house." "The house was here and our land, further away." "He placed the border right outside the house." "I said: "That's no good." "Either you put" ""the house and the land in Jordan," ""or the house and the land " in Israel."" "But our house was in Israel and our land in Jordan!" ""The map is like that and I can't change it."" "The moment his back was turned" "I pulled up the markers and moved the border to include our land." "I even whitewashed them again to look as good as new." "That's how the State grew by about 2000 hectares." "The next day, two liaison officers, a Jordanian and an Israeli, arrived on horseback." ""Here, young man." ""Where's the border?"" "I was terrified." "If they found out they'd kill me." ""Yesterday, the surveyor marked the border here."" "They looked at their map..." ""That's exact." "Thank you, young man."" "And that's how our house and land stayed together." " We want to be filmed with him." " With him?" "I don't mind." "Come on." " Where are you from?" " Sarid." "Where are we now?" "Why is it in English?" "We're making a film about the 1947 border." "We're looking for this point." "Where's Sarid?" "Have you been there?" "The border's just above." "Which side is Sarid on?" "The Israeli side." "Is it the partition border?" "That line." "I was right, it goes above Sarid." "Yfat is in Israel." "Yfat is and Sarid isn't?" "Sarid's in Israel too." "No, Sarid is there." "On the border" "What else can you tell us?" " About partition?" " Yes." "There used to be peace." "There was peace." "Remember?" "When was there peace?" "There were long periods of peace." "My mother talks about going to Ramallah and Hebron without fear before 48." "She came from Germany in 1940." "She went everywhere." "Her brother lived in an Arab area." " What's the film about?" " Following the partition line." "You tell people's stories?" "Dayan said only an ass won't change its mind." "It's clear from the behavior of Arafat..." "Some of the Labor Party thought that the settlement policy, that places like Sarid Yfat and Gvat are passe" "Now the true Zionists are there (in the Settlements)." "So they started supporting settlers." "Then it was mixed-up with Gush Emunim, religious people who see settlement as fulfilling," "Jewish Messianism, which is born of religion and not Jewish nationalism, and the secular Jewish Messianism of the Labor Party or some of them." "Sadly I did two stints in Hebron." "I saw our behavior, the behavior of the settlers." "I understand the Arab reaction, considering what goes on." "Wouldn't it be better to give Israeli nationality to everyone?" "It's easy." "If it was up to me, I wouldn't do that." "I want a Jewish state." "Not a bi-national state." "A peaceful multi-naitional state?" "On one condition, that no one side has all the power." "Hello." "Where are you from?" "From here, the valley." " What are you filming?" " Can I have a lift?" "It's OK, I'm a soldier." "I'm not allowed to pick up civilians." "Do you always obey the law?" "You ever go over 70?" " Here?" " Yes." "On the road." "I can do 80 on the road." " You were doing 85." " No way." "See you, guys, goodnight." "Who was that?" ""Hey, my land of Israel is so nice and so green" ""In the land of Israel " We have a house" ""We have a road " We have the land of Israel..."" "Child pioneers, do you have muscles?" "We'll be the pioneers..." "Louder!" "Let's all be pioneers" "Girls!" "Boys!" "Comrades, here's the story of Jewish settlement in the Jezreel Valley, which reached its peak" "81 years ago." "The land was settled in 1921." "The songs and poems of the Jezreel Valley were the distinctive mark of the new Israeli." "A Jezreel Valley pioneer was someone special." "At one end, a eucalyptus wood." "Beyond the wood, Kfar Barukh." "Further, villages built in 1926." "On the horizon, Mishmar Haemek." "At the other end of the valley there were Arab villages," "Bedouins and Fellahs, two different subcultures." "We'll discuss that later." ""What does a pioneer do" ""When he arrive at the kibbutz?" ""He arrive at the kibbutz hungry" ""See a girl and forget his hunger..."" " Where are you going?" " To Lavie Forest." " Lavie Forest?" " Named after my family." "Why the gun?" "The country's unsafe." "Youth movement?" " No, the Young Guard." "There was a big village here called Lubya." "Is that why it's called Lavie?" "When was it?" "Before 1948." "Who was there?" "Who lived here before 48?" "Who?" "Arabs?" "We didn't know." "The Lavie family was here 4000 years ago." "The name Lubieh derives from Lavie, the family name." "It's all documented." " Where are your folks from?" " Israel and the US." " Enjoy your hike." " Thanks." "There are three important points to know about Sejera." "It was the first Jewish settelment in the Lower Galilee." "Secondly, all the new ideas of the Jewish settlements, the kibbutz, Jews guarding," "Jews working the land..." "It all began here." "As did the 3rd point, the conquest of Galilee." "They settled here because the land was cheap." "If you like, let's talk in my office." "I have to make a call." "I'm trying to be a new Jew." "I'm a Jewish patriot." "I have an interesting photo of the RAF, the British air force, taken in 1946." "This crossroads is stratigically very important." "This is why it's here?" "The crossroads and the water." "The pogroms of Russia pushed the Jews, all kinds of fanatical socialists, to come and do things that were impossible there, to create the new Jew." "The Jew of the Diaspora was considered sallied." "Here, Jews worked the land with no Arab workers." "They wanted to create an independent economy." "Not out of hatred of Arabs." "but to found a more just society." "Here, the co-operative, there, the Arab village Sajarah." "We have two photos." "They're in the office." "They're blow-ups." "We have two good photos of the village." "Here's the entrance to the Sejera farm." "The co-operative's to the side." "And the village of Sajarah." "When was this?" "It was taken in the 1930s." "30, 32, 36, something like that." " Are the Arabs still around?" " Yes, they're in Tura'an," "4 to 6 km away, or in Kfar Cana." "And some are in Syria and Jordan." "You have a sister?" "She's in Syria and I'm here." "My earliest memory is of Sajarah and the Jews there." "We worked the land for them." "During the chick-pea harvest, we'd roast them at night as a treat for the kids." "You lived near the well..." "As we drew water the Jews shot at us." "When the war started they put up barricades." "We were opposite, and they shot anything that moved." "They threw the bodies anywhere." "We fetched water at night." "We'd go to the well with a guard." "We got off lightly, others died." "They chased us all the way here." "They chased people home." "They killed my uncle in his house." "They caught him in front of his children." " They killed him?" " Him and many more." "They didn't leave my mother a single calf." "We were lucky." " Did they expel you?" " Of course they did." "We were surrounded and attacked." "Day and night." "People fled one after the other to get their children to safety." "Those who stayed were expelled forever." "Did you threaten them?" "They shot at us, we riposted." "We cleaned up rusty old bullets." "Are rusty old bullets weapons?" "They were well equipped." "Behind their barricades, they shot us like rabbits." "The moment someone showed their head, bang!" "Our fast legs saved us." "We fled, they occupied the village then razed it." "The old people stayed behind." "They were thrown into the cacti and the low walls." "I swear, it was unbelievable!" "They rounded them up and drove them down into the valley, across the terraces." "They really made them suffer." "Their children went looking for them at night." "Some carried their mothers, others their grandmothers." "Some didn't even know who they were carrying!" "Once they'd got away they said, I'm so-and-so, your son." "Did you meet people from Lubieh?" "Loads of them." "I had gone to help my uncle picking." "The next day, Lubieh was besieged." "It lasted until dawn." "I remember it clearly." "Someone came to tell the women, "The road north is open." ""Flee or surrender."" "We fled aimlessly." "We stopped in Nemrin." "We sheltered under the olive trees." " How old were you?" " 13, 14." "How old's your mother now?" "About 70." "Is it ancient history for you?" "It's not my history." "My land and house are here." "I was born in Toura'an." "I won't give up my land." "I don't know it there." "Do you want to return?" "I'd so love to see Sajarah, a prickly pear tree, an olive tree, the shade of a low wall." "I'm dying to smell its scent." "The refugees in Syria asked me for a fistful of its earth" "so they can smell its scent." "My precious homeland." "I love it deeply." "My aunt returned from exile in 74." "It was the first time she saw her sister again." "The trip cost a lot of money." "We traced her." "When she arrived," "I was shaking with expectation." "I couldn't believe it." " Did you recognize her?" " Yes." "It's her only sister!" "We hugged." "We couldn't let go." "We cried over our fate." "What channel are you?" "Al Jazeera." "Never again When did they put that up?" "Ages ago." "1940..." " What's it for?" " No idea." " And the history of your country?" " No idea." "We learn the history of Israel." "We know nothing about Hitler." "Nor Napoleon." "We're useless at history." "What's it about exactly?" " What are all these names?" " I don't know them." "What's your name?" "Hamudi." " There's a Hamudi." " They're martyrs." " When was it?" " Ages ago." " Are you afraid of the truth?" " Why?" "We weren't born." "Read it and see." ""In remembrance of those who fell..."" "They're our martyrs of 1938 to 1948." "A fight between two villages." " Do you know the story?" " We're Israelis!" " No, Palestinians." " Shut up." "I'm a true Israeli." "We're Palestinian and Muslim." "I'm with Allah and an Israeli." "No!" "Go to Palestine if you're Palestinian." "In memory of the martyrs" "It's old!" "We weren't born." "They died defending their land." "What did they do?" " The 48 war." " Against who?" " Israel?" "We're not sure." " Against Toura'an." "They died in Lubieh." " Where's Lubieh?" " Higher up." "See the crossroads?" "Go left." " And where's Sajarah?" " Near Lubieh, that way." "Do you want to go to Lubieh?" "We've been, there are only trees." "There's a play area." "We sometimes go to play." "How do you know it's Lubieh?" "We go there to play." "WELCOME TO FARUD" " Are you Aaron Greenberg?" " That's what it says." " Where were you born?" " Tel-Aviv." "Almost 73 years ago." "My folks arrived at the turn of the century." "They arrived as babies, from Russia, Odessa and Lithuania." "At 17, I went to war." "I fought in the Galilee." "First in Operation Matate." "In the Galilee, there were many Arab villages." "But not only." "Also a lot of Bedouin camps." "They moved around with tents and camels." "You can't..." "We needed a front to stop the Arab armies invading." "The Syrian, Lebanese and Jordanian armies." "We couldn't leave so many of the enemy behind us." "We had to chase them out." "But not kill them." "How?" "We chased them to Jordan." "But how?" "How?" "You don't have to kill." "You fire in the air and they scram." "The Bedouins." "The Arabs were different." "Operation Matate?" "We swept them out." "We needed them out of the region to create Jewish territorial continuity." "We formed a chain." "We were armed, of course." "When they saw us coming, they fled." "We were the lftah Regiment, a battalion of 1500 men." "It's not complicated." " You saw them flee?" " Sure." "We gave chase, we advanced, pushing them towards Jordan." "Once in Jordan, they couldn't come back." "We stayed in our positions until they'd disappeared." "It didn't take us long to create an Arab-free zone." "But they wanted to return?" "They couldn't." "It was before the Arab invasion." "Before?" "It was to head off invasion by Arab armies." "It was the gateway to Israel." "That's where they'd come in." "We had to close off access." "We couldn't, with the Arabs in the middle." "They'd have allied themselves with the invading armies." " And the women and children?" " The same." "Children went with parents." " And their homes?" " Nothing." "It was the people who were in the way." "We needed to block the armies that would invade from Lebanon, Syria and Jordan." "That was our aim." "You saw the families go with your own eyes?" " Yes." " Close up?" "Close up, sure." "Were they afraid?" "You saw mothers and children?" "It didn't take a lot to scare them." "Fear in the mind is worse than anything." "They're going to kill us!" "So some were killed..." "Many were killed." "You knew the purpose." "We had superiors, commanders, sub-commanders, units, sub-units..." "It was just like the army." "Why "Operation Matate?"" "Do you understand "matate"?" "You don't know what it is?" "Oh, I see!" "A broom!" "To clean the earth." "Why that name?" "Because we swept out the Arabs." "Especially the nomads." "The purpose was expulsion." "It wasn't to conquer and control the people." "That wasn't the aim." "The aim was to get rid of them." " Were villages razed?" " Sure." "For Jewish settlements kibbutz for example." "The land went to kibbutz and moshavs." "Some houses are still standing." "Empty." "In the north." "Did people try to come back?" "They couldn't." "You needed a visa to enter the country." "Even their own homes?" "Their homes?" "Come on..." "I'm only asking." "When you leave your home..." "It wasn't us who wanted war." "We accepted the partition." "I danced in the streets when the UN voted the partition." "Do you know Solomon's Judgment?" "What's the link?" "Tell me about Solomon's Judgment." "Two mothers fight over a child." "One says, "Take it." It's the true mother." "The other says, Give me half." "That's Solomon's Judgment." "Solomon realizes who the mother is." "He gives the child to her." "Who's the real mother?" "Which one, in the Judgment?" "The one ready to give up her child." " To split the child?" " No, you're mistaken." "Giving up the child showed wisdom." "The wisdom of Solomon." "That's how he knows who the real mother is." "She wouldn't let her son be killed." " Split." " Splitting means killing." " Splitting is killing?" " Sure." "Two halves can't live separately." "So we know the real mother." "Have you never felt pity for the expelled?" "Can you talk about what you felt?" "No, I can't." "Let's move on." "Let's drop it." "We felt pity." "We're human." "Why won't you tell me?" "I told you, we felt pity." "So what?" "One could say you took part in deportations..." "There's always these smartasses who use expressions" "of all kinds..." "What's the difference?" "We didn't expel them for the sake of it." "We did it to stay alive, to survive." "But the children, the women?" "You can't expel parents without their children." "That's pity." "Did you get..." "You're going around the country... and you're filming..." "Did you get permission?" " Who from?" " We have a permit" "Why do you ask?" "I have my reasons." "I have my suspicions about you." "Your attitude is a bit strange." "In what way?" "Let's say you bring up..." "Your vision of things is different from ours." " "Ours"?" " Mine." "Ours is mine, I'm representing them now." "WELCOME TO SHAMMAI" ""Kfar Shammai," ""on the eve of the 3rd millennium, " has 70 families," ""300 inhabitants " and a main street." ""Kfar Shammai" ""rhymes with nigh, cry and why." ""A new life would begin A good life was nigh" ""But as time passed by Life was tough in Kfar Shammai" ""We worked hard as if to die" ""But to no avail, it made us cry" ""We wondered who'd be first " to say goodbye" ""But today let us try " To dream again of Kfar Shammai."" "Do you understand?" " Yes." " What?" "It's a story about a dream coming true and a better future." "Why did they write that?" "It's our story." "Passers-by read the story of Kfar Shammai." "It's not sad." "It's the story of Shammai." " Were you born here?" " No." "In Morocco." "I emigrated in 1961." "I've lived in Kfar Shammai since." "I got married here, built a home..." "That's the story." "The first immigrants were Yemenis." "Next they brought in Moroccans, then Romanians." "Most of the Romanians left." "The Yemenis and some Moroccans stayed." "I'm Moroccan." "Her mother's also Moroccan." "Where did the Yemenis come form?" "See this hill?" "It was the original village." "Then they were moved here." "We built the Jewish one here." "That was the Arab village." "After independence, nearly all the Arabs fled." "At 15 or 16, I was in a youth movement." "I had to help emigration." "To convince families to emigrate to Israel." "What did you tell them?" "That if they went to Israel, they'd be housed, they'd be busy, they'd be given jobs." "That was in 1959, 1960." "Monitors from Israel told us what to do." "They hid their faces." "They hid them under large jellabas so they couldn't be seen" "So we wouldn't know who they were if we got caught." "They had aliases." "In French they called us "brooms"." "Broom, simply because..." "You know what a "broom" is?" "We did dirty work." "They were the leaders." "We did the dirty work." "Finding likely candidates, sending them here..." "They directed it all from above." "It was illegal." "Morocco prohibited it." "Morocco wanted its Jews to stay." "They left with no passport, nothing." "At night, so the neighbors wouldn't notice." "My dad left his shop, his car..." "He just closed up and left." "He brought only two suitcases." "Today he'd probably refuse to go." "But at the time, it was a kind of fashion." "It was good for everyone to emigrate to Israel." "Maybe they were afraid..." "And yet my father had a good life there." "Were they promised things you didn't know?" "What things?" "I told my Dad to go." "I sent my parents before me." "They never found work in Israel." "That's what made Moroccans so bitter." "They weren't used to this life." "They weren't used to farming work." "They were put into co-operatives in the back of beyond." "I was young, only 15 or 16." "The whole song and dance, all the garbage they told us, we bought it." "We believed everything they said." "I wouldn't believe it today." "Maybe we did them wrong, sending them here." "Who knows?" "The Moroccnas were hoodwinked." "You hoodwinked them." "I was hoodwinked first." "I just repeated what I'd been told." "True, I gave them the whole spiel." "It's a disappointment." "They told us what to say." "Their promises were paper thin." "Look at that lovely tree." "It has a nice shape, hasn't it?" "Film the tree instead of me." "I may have said everything or forgotten things." "Maybe there are things I want to forget." "I don't know." "How long have you been here?" "What?" "How many years have you lived in Shefer?" "Where did you emigrate from?" "Morocco." "I'd love to retire there." " You miss it?" " You don't know how much." "But I can't go back!" "I'd need a lot of money and I've no children." "Can you say "I miss it" in Moroccan?" "I miss Morocco, sure." "In Moroccan." "I can't remember." "I can't remember." "In local Arabic then?" "In Arabic!" "No, I don't know." "I long..." "I long for my country." "Say it to the camera." " What do you long for?" " Our home." "It's ancient history." " Food..." " Your country is Israel." " Only recently." " But how long have you been here?" " 50 years." " See!" "So stop boring us with your Morocco." " Morocco's great for vacations." " Don't you want to leave here?" " I have nowhere else to go." " Then stay!" "I have nowhere else." "What about Tunisia?" "Your mother's Tunisian." "I'll go to Morocco!" "What's all that earth?" " What are they doing?" " Who knows?" "Digging." "Where are you from?" "Beni Mellal." "It's in Morocco." "Why did you come here?" "Why?" "We came with all the other Jews." "To get a big belly!" "Here's Bourgiba..." "Here's Bourgiba!" "Stay there, we're coming." "Coming, Myriam." "We sit here every morning and evening." "Come and join us." "I saw their car on the road." "Thought they were terrorists." "But of course they're not." "Sit down." " Sending him back to Morocco?" " He can stay here." "But if I go to Tunisia I won't come back." "He's scared I'll leave him!" "They'll take you to Tunis." "No one's taking me anywhere!" "I came from Tunis." "I married him in 54." "I'm sending her back!" "Thank God, we have eight children." "Three boys and a girl are already married." "Three girls are at home, one in Jerusalem, two here." "My youngest boy was killed in the war in Lebanon." "He was the loveliest child in the world." "That's why I can't stand Israel." " A catastrophe." " You hate Sharon." "I'm a mother." "And it's not a game." "Nothing in the world compares to a mother." "He was a friend, a brother, a father, the lot!" " How old was he?" "He only had 5 months of service to go." "That's life." "Israel has everything, it's a beautiful country." "It's not like we lack anything." "But there's no "joie de vivre"." "No one enjoys life." "You hear one's dead in Lebanon, another in Syria, another in Gaza... a soldier's stepped on a mine, another one's kidnapped..." "You just give up." "You stop listening to the news." "We've stopped." "We're all human." "If I went to Egypt, I swear," "I'd be treated with kid gloves." "Some say Arabs are bad, some say Jews are bad." "But we have to make peace." "We have to bring peace and all will be well." "For sure." "Sharon and Arafat - get rid of them, both!" "They're useless." "Do you think we can live together?" "Of course we can." "Jews and Arabs together, like in Tunisia." "In Morocco, other Arab countries, we lived together." "Our neighbors were Arabs." "My house there, my Arab neighbors here." "We'd drink tea together..." "A simple, peaceful life." "Here, even if you have it all, you have nothing." "Here, no one enjoys life." "It's no life at all." " And the Jewish Agency?" " It was a mistake." "We were young." "If I were young again," "I'd go to Canada or back to Tunisia." "Forget it." "The Germans wanted to kill us and bury us in ditches..." "But the Arabs hid us." "They saved the Jews." "They saved the Jews!" "They'll take you back to Tunis." " No one's taking me anywhere!" "Sure they will."