"¶ ¶" "This week on "VICE":" "Young people are rising up in the West Bank." "(speaking Arabic)" "(explosions)" "This is the kind of thing that really pisses off the Israeli soldiers, and now they've started to shoot back live bullets." "And then, the underground cultural revolution in Cuba." "Relations are normalizing because all the young people in Cuba are seeing how it is to live in the rest of the world." "(speaking in Spanish)" "(theme music playing)" "(gunshot)" "Crowd (chanting):" "Hands up!" "Don't shoot!" "Hands up!" "The effort to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinian people has been going on for decades, andithasfailed atalmosteverystep." "Now,thathopelessness hasgivenfuel to a new uprising in the West Bank." "¶ ¶" "(indistinct chattering)" "Every single day for weeks now Palestinians have been coming here and clashing with Israeli soldiers." "(tires screeching)" "(indistinct shouting)" "(speaking in English)" "(sirens blaring)" "Shihab-Eldin:" "AllacrossPalestine, theyoutharetaking tothestreetstoprotest thecurrentstateofaffairs intheoccupiedWestBank ." "We're in the heart of Hebron, which is, for many Palestinians, the most extreme example (explosion) of what life is like." "This is the front line between them and the Israeli soldiers who've been firing tear gas." "They're rolling tires across the street with cardboard in it burning." "This is the kind of thing that really pisses off the Israeli soldiers, and now they've started to shoot back live bullets." "(gunshots)" "(indistinct shouting)" "Fordecades, theconflicthere hasbeenstuck inthesamecycle ofbloodyviolence withnear-constant casualtiesonbothsides." "Butwhatwe foundin ourtimein theWestBank , is today, the youth are the ones leading the uprising." "Andjustlikethe youngpeople behindtheArabSpring, thesekidssay thattheirowngovernmentis abigpartoftheproblem." "(speaking in Arabic)" "Shihab-Eldin:" "Theprotestswe saw weresparkedcompletely bytheyouth." "Even the volunteer medics that were treating the injured were kids." "(speaking in foreign language)" "Shihab-Eldin:" "Asthecasualtiespouredin, wetalkedto theprotesters ontheground aboutwhytheyare  riskingtheirlives." "(speaking foreign language)" "Shihab-Eldin:" "Thelosseshere havecontinued, whetherit's fromIsraelibullets orPalestinianattacks." "Andwithno leader guidingtheuprising, thesituationis  onlyintensifying ontheground." "Wespoke withColumbiaUniversity professorRashidKhalidi, an expert on the Israel-Palestine conflict." "What makes this uprising different than previous uprisings?" "First is the failure of the Palestinian leadership to do anything to relieve the sense of despair that Palestinians have been feeling in the occupied territories since the occupation began." "The prospects for young Palestinians are extraordinarily limited." "No horizon, no future." "Things are much worse today after Oslo." "Shihab-Eldin:" "In1993,theOsloAccords weresupposedto begin apathtowardspeace, andestablished aninterimgovernment in the West Bank known as the Palestinian Authority." "What was the expectation of the Palestinian Authority?" "That this was the embryo of a Palestinian state." "The Oslo agreement was supposed to accomplish a continued negotiation." "The hope was that it would lead to a two-state solution, and the Palestinians could have some arrangement for autonomy or self-government within that." "Unfortunately, it's deluding very few people in Palestine and a lot of people outside into thinking the Palestinians are well on the way to statehood." "They're not." "They've moved away from self-determination since Oslo." "So,inasense, thePalestinianAuthority itselfisan illusion?" "It is." "It's a cardboard facade behind which nothing exists." "Shihab-Eldin:" "Therehaven'tbeen anypresidentialelections inmorethanten years, since President Mahmoud Abbas came to power." "Andwithpollsshowing thatnearly70 % ofthepopulationwanting himoutof office, theangeron thestreets ispalpable." "(speaking in foreign language)" "Shihab-Eldin:" "Justdownthestreet fromMahmoudAbbas' presidentialpalace, we found a group of protesters calling for him to step down." "(speaking in foreign language)" "Shihab-Eldin:" "Alotof thePalestinian youthtellus  that they see the Palestinian Authority as a symbol of the occupation." "Why would they be saying that?" "Well, the aspect of the Palestinian Authority that's most unacceptable to Palestinians is its security cooperation with Israel." "Shihab-Eldin:" "That'sbecauseunder theOsloAgreements thePalestinianAuthority securityforcesarecharged withmaintainingthepeace, whichincludes suppressingprotests." "But it's what the PA can't do that's angering the Palestinians, whichistheir inabilitytostopIsraelis from creating new settlements in the occupied West Bank." "What has happened since 1967 is the establishment of communities of Israelis inside the occupied territories." "Every place that a settler goes, the military goes." "Every place the military goes, restrictions against the native population, the Palestinians, follow." "This is why settlements are such an enormous factor in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem." "Shihab-Eldin:" "Wemetup withDanielLuria, theheadof an organization that helps move Jewish Israelis into East Jerusalem, reclaiminglandtheysay  istheirsby divineright." "I'm gonna take you now to a predominantly Arab neighborhood." "And about 12 years ago, Jews started to return to the old village." "(speaking in English)" "Okay." "Good to know." "So you're carrying a gun?" "Yeah." "(speaking in foreign language)" "What's he saying?" "Um, he says all of this is a lie, and you are robbers." "This is everything here." "This is the center of it." "Whose land is this?" "Right." "Whose land is Jerusalem?" "Whose land is Israel?" "Why can't it be both people's land?" "It can't be." "Why not?" "It doesn't work." "(speaking in foreign language)" "You can tell that this is as tense as it gets." "Come, come, come!" "Before 1948, this used to be an old synagogue." "That's correct." "And now..." "It's been returned." "Correct." "It's been returned." "So, last week there were families living here." "Correct." "And they were the ones who were..." "And those were illegally squatting in an old synagogue." "For 77 years, they were living here." "In a synagogue." "Shihab-Eldin:" "Reconstructionstarted hereimmediately, but this isn't the only new settlement on this block." "Wemetacouple justastheymovedin downthestreet." "So, when do you move in?" "(speaking foreign language)" "Straight away." "It's their honeymoon." "He just got married, he's moving in now." "Shihab-Eldin:" "Butassettlerswere movingintoonehouse, wemetaPalestinianfamily thatwasbeingevicted fromtheirs." "(speaking in foreign language)" "Shihab-Eldin:" "Asbothsidesmaintain claimstotheland, the Israeli settler population has increased dramatically." "The settler population has tripled in the last 25 years." "There were a couple hundred thousand after about 25 years of occupation." "There are another 400,000 for a total of 600,000 today." "Shihab-Eldin:" "ThePalestinianssee thesesettlements asa provocation." "Butwhentheyclash withsettlers," "Israel escalates its security measures across the region." "Nowhereisthis morepronouncedthan thecityof Hebron." "So, right now we're crossing through one of the checkpoints in Hebron." "Securityisso tighthere, thecity'sbeendivided intosections, withthemajority ofPalestiniansliving inanareacalledH1, andtheIsraelisettlers livinginH2 , whichiswherewewere ." "All of the shops are closed." "There's absolutely no one in the streets." "It feels like a ghost town." "Thisstreetwe 'rewalkingon hasbeenoff-limits toPalestinians foryearsby order oftheIsraelimilitary." "Right over there is a Palestinian cemetery." "If you look, all of the tombstones are written in Arabic." "It's literally two feet away from a street where Palestinians can't come." "Andevenon thePalestinian sidebackin H1 , wecouldseehow rigid thisdividewas." "(speaking in foreign language)" "Shihab-Eldin:" "As more and more kids grow up undertherules ofthisagreement, itwillonlyfeed intomoreviolence anda furtheringdivide." "Dr. Hanan Ashrawi was involved in the early negotiations oftheMiddleEast peaceprocess, anda formermemberof thePalestinianAuthority." "Young Palestinians taking to the streets and throwing rocks say they're not just disillusioned by the occupation, they tell us they're disillusioned by their own government." "The Palestinian Authority is part of the occupation." "We're not surprised that the young people are disillusioned, andtheyareangry." "They'resendingaclear messagetotheworld." "The peace agenda, the negotiated settlement, the two-state solution has not worked." "The leadership could not deliver." "It seems like there's a bigger and bigger disconnect." "There is a wide gap, yes." "These perceptions are cumulative." "If you allow your system to atrophy, your leadership to become geriatric, thenofcourseyou 'regoing tohaveasituationoftotal  discontentandanger." "The only way forward is through elections." "We need elections, we need a new leadership, and we need the youth to be part of this." "Shihab-Eldin:" "Until that happens, the youth seem to only gain more resolve intheirangertowards boththeoccupation andtheirowngovernment." "(speaking foreign language)" "(sirens blaring)" "America and Cuba have been adversaries since Fidel Castro's Communist revolution in 1959." "But this month President Obama has made history by becoming the first sitting US president to visit the country in 88 years." "We're focused on the future." "And I'm absolutely confident that if we stay on this course we can deliver a better and brighter future for both the Cuban people and the American people." "So, muchas gracias." "It's part of the so-called "Obama Doctrine,"" "which is the president's policy ofre-engagingwith traditionalenemies." "And we've been following the process with Cuba since last year at the 2015 Summit of the Americas." "¶ ¶" "(sirens blaring)" "Smith:" "We're here in Panama City at the Summit of the Americas." "And it's a historic summit because for the first time since Eisenhower, the head of state of Cuba, Raúl Castro, and the head of state of America, President Obama, are gonna actually meet for the purpose of normalizing relations." "Point is, the United States will not be imprisoned by the past." "We're looking to the future and to policies that improve the lives of the Cuban people and advance the interests of cooperation in the hemisphere." "(speaking in Spanish)" "Smith:" "Nowthesestatements bothrepresented asea-changein relations betweentheUS andCuba." "TheObamaDoctrine isthisadministration's foreignpolicyshift, whichnowengages indialogueandtreaties withcountrieslike IranandCuba that have long been considered our enemies." "Butthisdecision inparticular marksa hugeleapforward inourrelations." "Now, that's because at the height of the Cold War, theSovietUniondeployed nuclearmissilesto Cuba asa strategiccheck againstAmericanpower." "Thistriggered theCubanmissilecrisis, whichbroughttheUS andtheSovietUnion tothebrink ofall-outnuclearwar ." "Buteventhough thecrisisended, theUStightened itseconomicembargoonCuba , andtravelbetweenthe two  wastotallycutoff , therebyisolating theCubanpeoplefor more thanhalfacentury." "Now,togauge theattitudewithin theCubangovernmenttoday, wespokewithAbelPrieto, aformerministerofculture anda closeCastroaide." "For our audience, which is mostly young people, there's a fascination with Cuba." "I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about the cultural aspects of what's happening in Cuba." "(speaking in Spanish)" "We would love to." "Smith:" "Soweaccepted hisinvitation toseewhat'sactually happeningontheground inCuba." "Becausewehadheard thatthecountry's largeyouthpopulation wasplayingabig partin forcingtheregimetochange itspolicies." "Andgroundzero forthissocialmovement isAlamar,Cuba'slargest housingproject, whichisahotbed forpoliticaldissent." "EdgaroGonzalezgrewup inAlamar andexplainedto me justhow  musichadbridgedthe divide betweenCubaandAmerica." "So, I grew up in this." "Like, every day, all day, all we did all day was listen to hip-hop all day." "Smith:" "And how did you learn how to speak English?" "I listened to Biggie every day." "Yeah." "You know?" "This was my house." "Okay." "I had the only entrance to the rooftop over there." "You know, you just went up to the rooftop and tried to get some signal from Key West." "Smith:" "ThoughCubahasbeencutoff politically for over 50 years, theirclose geographicproximity hasactuallyallowed formusicto be shared overtheradio." "And you just, you know, move the antenna around." "So, you kinda put it up to try to get a signal?" "Yeah, try to get a signal." "From Florida." "Yeah, right there." "So, what effect did that have on the young people who live here in Alamar?" "Whoa." "You know, they be kind of letting love for hip-hop." "Everybody knew every character of the Wu-Tang Clan." "People love American culture." "(speaking in Spanish)" "When we were starting doing hip-hop, it got really popular the government started realizing and said, "Yo, we gotta shut this down."" "And so Reggaeton now would be the most popular in Alamar?" "Smith:" "Nowthereasonwhy  thegovernmentwouldwant tocontrolthemusicscene isthatfordecades itwaspolicyhere todenounce allthingsAmerican." "(speaking Spanish)" "Now, although this seems like old Cold War rhetoric, theregimeis stillputting thisouttoday, as we saw firsthand at the Museum of the Revolution." "We got the cowboy." "We got the Caesar." "Is that Caesar?" "Bush Jr." "(speaking Spanish)" "So they're saying thank you for being such a bad guy that we then have a revolution." "So, it goes from Batista to Reagan." "What does it say about Reagan?" "Smith:" "Butwhatwe foundout was  that the bridge between cultures couldn't be stopped." "Andthegovernmentwas  speakingoneway, andthepeopleanother." "We're here in the barrio in Havana with the biggest Reggaeton star." "And we're gonna interview him and talk about Reggaeton and how that's pushed all of these changes even further 'cause the government tried to stop it, but they couldn't because everyone needs their dance hall." "(cheering)" "(singing in Spanish)" "Smith:" "Themusicmadeinthis tiny  studiogoesalloverCuba ." "BabyLoresexplainedtome theimportanceit 'shad in bridging the divide between America and the Cuban people." "(singing continues)" "(speaking in Spanish)" "Smith:" "How does your music get out to so many people?" "Smith:" "Thepaquetehasspread Reggaeton across the country andevolvedintokindof acannedInternet withhand-delivered harddrivespacked withpiratedmusic, videos,andTV shows thathadnotbeen accessibletoCubansbefore." "But since traditionally as few as four percent of Cubans actuallyhave Internetaccessat home, thehackerswho makethepaquetes have to steal Internet access at tourist hotels togetthematerial thattheircustomerswant." "How are you?" "Nice to meet you." "AleadinghackernamedDanny showedushowhedoes it." "Smith:" "How often do you download from hotels like this?" "How much, average cost?" "Thesmuggledequipment inthissmallroom sendspiecesof theInternet allacrossCuba." "So you have to get all of this equipment from-- Where does it come from?" "So you can get any series you want and give it to anyone in Cuba?" "(HBO audio logo plays)" "Smith on TV:" "Thisweekon "VICE":" "Thefuture ofrecreationaldrugs." "He's got our show." "How many people do you think in Cuba get a paquete every week?" "(phone rings)" "So we're getting a call in right now." "We saw a hacker who's downloading all the shows, all the Internet, putting it into drives, giving it to his runners." "It goes out all weekend, which is one of the real reasons why relations are normalizing." "Because all the young people in Cuba are seeing how it is to live in the rest of the world." "Sowhileit 's beenanunderground culturalrevolution that'smovedthe Cubanpeopleevercloser totheirAmericanneighbors, on our side, it's been driven by our political leaders." "SowespoketoBenRhodes, thedeputynational securityadvisor andoneof thearchitects oftheObamaDoctrine, aboutthispoliticalshift." "In the policy changes the president announced, in addition to the normalization in diplomatic relations, we basically are facilitating any type of travel that can be permitted under a general license, which will make it much easier." "But we also authorized certain commercial activity." "And telecommunications is the most liberal." "We're opening the door for US companies to help develop infrastructure in Cuba." "You'll start to see an opening, in certainly the economic space." "You see Airbnb seeking to get into Cuba." "You see the NBA and Major League Baseball looking to go down there." "Essentially, a flood of interaction between Americans and Cubans that hasn't taken place in over 50 years." "Is this part of this new unfolding Obama Doctrine?" "Absolutely, it is." "And the president's view is we don't lose anything through engagement." "We can break out of the past, but that doesn't mean we have to compromise our values." "People say, "While you're making this change," ""you're putting aside the things that America cares about."" "Well no, we actually think this is a better way to stand up for the things America cares about." "Smith:" "TheObamaDoctrine has caused a lot of pushback notonlyon Iran, butCubaas well." "Andnowit 'sbecome adebatethat'scut  acrosspartisanlines." "Andatleasttwo of thepresidentialcandidates havepubliclystated adesireto unwind thesedevelopments." "This is throwing an economic lifeline to the Castros at a moment when their regime was vulnerable and it was a serious mistake." "We somehow ignore the fact that 90 miles from our shores is an anti-American Communist dictatorship that oppresses its people and sows instability." "Smith:" "Wespoketo JosefinaVidal," "Cuba'stopnegotiator indealingswiththe US,  abouttheshifting relationshipbetween HavanaandWashington." "On the Cuban side is anyone thinking that okay, Obama is obviously pushing to normalize relations with Cuba." "But as of today, Rubio from Florida, Cruz from Texas, would probably try to push back the advances that Obama and your government have made." "Do you think about that?" "The changes and the announcements have been made through executive decisions." "The next American president can undo through the same ways, means, what has been done so far." "But I don't think it will be easy to do that." "Because this is good, not only for our both countries, but also for the region and for the whole world." "And I see having a respectful relationship that can enrich Cuba and that can enrich the Americans too." "Smith:" "SowhatPresidentObama's visitmarks isa stepwheretwo  traditionalenemies areforthefirsttime  startinga dialogue." "If you look at the Iran deal, the Cuba policy, these are seen as these hugely controversial things, but Americans generally support them." "Sure." "Washington doesn't." "For whatever reason, it's easier to bomb another country than it is to sometimes engage a certain country." "If this is really about helping the Cuban people, 97% of the Cuban people support normalization with the United States." "What will be interesting to watch is how the interaction with the United States and the interconnection with the rest of the world helps normalize, not just the relationship between the United States and Cuba, but Cuba's own position in the hemisphere and the world." "¶ ¶"