An African American gospel choir goes to Palestine to sing in a Palestinian…
Palestine Is Still The Issue
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- Citation
- Cataloging
- Transcript
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In 1977, the award-winning journalist and film-maker, John Pilger, made a documentary called Palestine Is Still The Issue (1977). He told how almost a million Palestinians had been forced off their land in 1948, and again in 1967. In this in-depth documentary, he has returned to the West Bank of the Jordan and Gaza, and to Israel, to ask why the Palestinians, whose right of return was affirmed by the United Nations more than half a century ago, are still caught in a terrible limbo -- refugees in their own land, controlled by Israel in the longest military occupation in modern times.
'The fate and struggle of the Palestinians,' says Pilger, 'are not just critical to the overdue recognition of their basic human rights, but are also central to whether the region, and the wider world, are plunged into war. Israel is now one of the biggest military powers in the world. While nothing changes, the dangers become greater. This is a film about a nation of people, traumatized, humiliated and yet resilient. In trying to liberate less than a quarter of historic Palestine, they have had no army, no air force, and no powerful friends -- and have fought back with slingshots and now with the terrorism of the suicide bombers.'
In a series of extraordinary interviews with both Palestinians and Israelis, John Pilger weaves together the issue of Palestine. He speaks to the families of suicide bombers and their victims; he sees the humiliation of Palestinians imposed on them at myriad checkpoints and with a permit system not dissimilar to apartheid South Africa's infamous pass laws. He goes into the refugee camps and meets children who, he says, 'no longer dream like other children, or if they do, it is about death.'
Continually asking for the solution, John Pilger says it is time to bring justice, as well as peace, to Palestine.
'[Pilger] allows the viewer to hear candid and powerful statements that it is vital for outsiders to hear. I would advise professors: If you don't have time to show the entire video in your class, at least show your students the first fifteen minutes. The frank comments by both Palestinians and Israelis...will provide the basis for a spirited debate among the students for the remainder of the class period.' Ann Lesch, Villanova University, Middle East Studies Association Bulletin
'Highly recommended for its bold analysis of the Palestine problem...crucial viewing for those interested in challenging their assumptions.' Michael J. Coffta, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, Educational Media Reviews Online
'John Pilger has made a well-informed and engaging documentary against the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. His argument is clear and consistent throughout: the root cause of violence in Israel/Palestine is Israeli colonialism. Israel has dehumanized the Palestinians and subjugated them to the longest occupation in modern times, and the Palestinians have been resisting the occupation and fighting for their freedom and independence. These facts are incontestable, and Pilger presents them very well, mixing interviews, authorial commentary, and historical narration to convey a picture of a whole society degraded and denied its fundamental national and human rights.' Bashir Abu-Manneh, Journal of Palestine Studies
Citation
Main credits
Pilger, John (Screenwriter)
Pilger, John (rpt)
Stark, Tony (Director)
Martin, Christopher (Producer)
Other credits
Editor, Joe Frost; composer, Mitch Dalton; cinematographer, Preston Clothier.
Distributor subjects
Conflict Resolution; History; Human Rights; Humanities; Immigration; International Studies; Islamic Studies; Middle Eastern Studies; Social Justice; War and PeaceKeywords
Palestine, John Pilger, Middle East, West Bank, Jordan, Gaza, Israel, United Nations, apartheid; "Palestine Is Still The Issue"; Bullfrog Films
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[music]
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There is only one way of ending this.
It's ending occupation.
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Because occupation has become the cancer
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that is eating the lives of both people.
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[music]
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What the occupation did for us,
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it reduced us into animals in a
way that sometimes I'm ashamed
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to say that I'm an Israel.
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This is you know, a huge a…
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a bluff of… of… of you know, of the
Israeli establishment that every,
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you know, criticism of its
policy is anti-Semitism.
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Sometime I feel pity
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for the Israeli mothers because
they are thinking that their soldiers
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or their sons are victorious soldiers, but
they should come and see what their soldiers
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are doing here.
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Twenty five years ago, I made a film
called 'Palestine Is Still The Issue.'
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It was about a nation of
people the Palestinians
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forced off their land and later subjected
to a military occupation by Israel.
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An occupation condemn by the United Nations
and all most every country in the world
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including Britain. But Israel is
back by a very powerful friend
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the United States. So in twenty five years
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if way to speak of great injustice
here nothing has changed,
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what has changed is that the Palestinians
are fought back, stateless and humiliated
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for so long. They have risen up against
Israel's huge military machine,
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although they themselves have no
army, no tanks, no American planes
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and gunships or missiles. Some have
committed desperate acts of terror
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like suicide bombing. But for Palestinians
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the overriding routine terror day after day
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has been the ruthless control of
almost every aspect of their lives
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as if they live in an open prison.
This film is about the Palestinians
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and a group of courageous Israelis united
in the oldest human struggle to be free.
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[music]
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[music]
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[music]
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Last April, troops and tanks of the Israeli
Army attack Rammala and other towns
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in occupied Palestine. This
was reported as an incursion
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to stop terrorism. In fact, it was
also an attack on civilian life,
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on schools, offices, clinics,
theaters, radio stations.
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This systematic vandalism is typical
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of one of the longest military
occupations in modern times.
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Even the Cultural Ministry was
destroyed, the director Liana Badr
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a distinguish novelist and filmmaker
showed me the devastation shortly
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after that happened.
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This is the administration room. We had a lot of files
here. Yeah. You can see that everything were broken.
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It was the best place in Ministry.
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I mean what you did here was
promote projects for Palestinian culture
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basically filmmaking,
projects for children.
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Exhibitions, book exhibitions,
painters' exhibitions,
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festivals, dance, folklore.
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We had a lot of projects. Now, we don't have
anything to begin. We don't have computers,
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equipment, furniture, and we have
this feeling of humiliation.
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The smell is awful isn't that?
Look at this.
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The scent is awful, yes. This is a… this is a bag
of shit and shit smeared all over the photocopier.
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- Two.
- Two, so they just ate
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and defecated in the same place. Bags of shit
(inaudible) yes, and they're putting them
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on the photocopy. Putting the shit
everywhere, even on the walls.
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And you can see that we have toilet,
two toilets on every floor,
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but they didn't use the toilet. All the time
they were making it on the floor or anywhere,
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as you can see.
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[sil.]
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Can we have a look in this room here?
Good grief, look at this.
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These are children's drawing something.
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Yes. This is the room
specialized for children work,
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children paintings, and children culture
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and to encourage them to paint,
to let them express themselves,
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to be competition, writing
competitions, but you can see
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how they destroyed everything. They don't respect
anything, they just want to come and destroy
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and this is the systematic
terrorism of the Israeli state.
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For the Palestinians,
this culture of vandalism
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means a deliberate intention
to destroy them as a nation.
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The heart of the conflict
here is a struggle for land,
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for the hills and valleys of
Palestine, for precious water
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and fertile soil.
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During the early 20th century, the great
majority of the population of Palestine,
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were Palestinian Arabs.
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In 1948, Israel was founded in the shadow
of holocaust. For The Palestinians
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this meant the loss of
78% of their country.
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Today, they are seeking
only the remaining 22%
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of their homeland. For 35 years,
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that homeland has been dominated by Israel.
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In 1987, the Palestinians rose up
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in what they call intifada.
History will surely call it
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a war of national liberation. They
fought mainly with slingshots
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against tanks and planes, and they were
put down by this kind of brutality.
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Israeli soldiers deliberately
breaking the bones of prisoners,
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some of the soldiers later insisted, they
were carrying out official Israeli policy.
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[music]
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Two years ago, the Palestinian
rose up a second time,
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this was hardly surprising, during curfews
people live under a form of house arrest
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without notice they can be locked inside
their homes. Their ordinary lives
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are a maze of controls, roadblocks,
checkpoints. This is how
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I remembered apartheid in South Africa.
The hidden effect is the same.
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humiliation, and anger and death.
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[sil.]
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This Palestinian woman knows how devastating
the impact of checkpoints can be.
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Last October, she was about to
give birth to her second child
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and she and her husband
setout for a nearby hospital,
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they were stopped at an Israeli roadblock,
where they pleaded to let through.
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[non-English narration]
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[music]
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Storied like Fatima's seldom make headlines
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and yet many similar cases
have been documented.
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[sil.]
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Palestinians try to lead a normal
life, but life is never normal.
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During Israeli military operations
curfew stop everything.
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Ambulances are denied access
to the sick and wounded.
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Children are stop from going to school.
The Israeli claim
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this is necessary for their security.
If that's true it's clearly not working
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and the security of Palestinians
is almost never mentioned.
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You feel all your life
that you are humiliated.
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You don't control yourself, you don't
control the area of breathing.
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You don't, I don't want… I don't wanna
talk about planning for anything.
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This is something that we don't even dream
about. Plan to next hour or next day
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what we will do, this is something we don't even
dream about because our destiny is not in our hands.
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It's… it's in the hands of other,
who decide how we will live,
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how we will get married. To get married… to
come and live with my husband in his country,
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I had to take the permission of the Israelis.
It's not enough that they took our land
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and they are not allowing us to have
our own state, but also they're controlling
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every detail in our life.
Some Israelis have spoken out
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more than 500 soldiers have refused
to serve in the occupied territories.
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We are they have said like the Chinese
student who stood in front of the tank
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in Tiananmen Square. We are
the conscience of our country.
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Ishay Rosen-Zvi is one of them.
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I really think the real story of the occupation
is there in the checkpoints. I cannot forget
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this kind of picture you
know, five in the morning,
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quarter to five in the morning hundreds of…
line of hundreds of people waiting you know,
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to pass in the… in the checkpoint
and your standing there
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and you see their eyes
the… the humiliation,
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the frustration, the hatred.
Then you are the occupation.
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You have all the power, they have no power.
You can, at every second,
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take their ID and then
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they are you know, they have nothing
because without identification
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you can you know, every soldier can…
can arrest them. You are the man
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that stand there, keep them
without rights, without freedom.
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[music]
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The world often sees the issue of
Palestine through the tragedy and horror
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of suicide bombings, an expression
of despair by powerless people
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against and oppressor armed
with modern weapons.
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[music]
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The first female suicide bomber struck in
January 2002, her name was Wafa Idris,
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the only daughter of a family of refugees,
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who'd driven out of their home near Tel
Aviv. She was 28, an ambulance volunteer.
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What makes an ambulance volunteer,
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a carer become a suicide bomber.
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The suicide bombs are presented
to the Israeli public
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as an insane act by an insane people
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with whom there is no chance for peace.
Instead of
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putting a wider analysis which would say
there is a way out of the suicide bombs.
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Well, everybody condemns them and
likely so there is a way out of it.
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And the way out of it is to provide the
circumstances in which these young people
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would find avenues of hope
instead of avenues of despair.
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There is… I would say an orchestrated campaign
to silence that kind of analysis inside Israel.
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[music]
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Suicide attacks against civilians
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are clearly crimes and they
are used by extremists.
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But the extremist rely on the brutality
of the occupation and the despair
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of their young volunteers, some
extraordinary Israelis are brave enough
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to recognize this. Rami Elhanan
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is one Israeli father, who knows about
suicide bombing. On September 4th 1997,
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his daughter Smadari was killed
by one, she was 14 years old.
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[non-English narration]
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[sil.]
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She was a child of peace.
She was full of life
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very laughing girl, very
good student, dancing,
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everything that little girls do.
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[music]
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It was the first day of school and
she was going down Ben Yehuda Street,
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which is some kind of a mall to
buy some books or the new year
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with two girlfriends of her.
One of them,
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Zivan Zaga, died with her. And the
other, Daniella Biman, was very, very
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severely wounded.
Rami is a graphic designer
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and a former soldier. His
father survived Auschwitz.
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His grandparents, six aunts, and
uncles perished in the Holocaust.
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How… how do you distinguish
the feelings of anger
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that any father would have felt at losing
your daughter in such circumstances.
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I'm not crazy.
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I never forget. I don't forgive.
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Someone who murders little girl, anyone
who murders little girls is a criminal
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and should be punished but if you think
from the head and not from the guts
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and you look what made
people do what they do.
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People that don't have hope,
people who are desperate enough
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to commit suicide. You have to ask yourself,
have you contributed in any way for this…
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this despair, for this craziness, it…
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it hasn't come out of blue. The boy
that his mother was humiliated
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in the morning at the
checkpoint will commit suicide
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in the evening. The suicide
bomber was a victim
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the same as my girl was of that I'm sure.
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You have to understand where
these suicide bombers come from.
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Understanding is part of the
way to solving the problem.
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Few people have been betrayed
so often as the Palestinians.
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Before the Second World War,
the British ran Palestine
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as a mandate, they'd promised the
Palestinians an independent state
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but they also promised Palestine
to the Jewish movement
00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:49.999
known as Zionism. In 1948,
00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:54.999
when the State of Israel was founded,
the Arab world revolted as Palestinians
00:18:55.000 --> 00:18:59.999
were expelled from their homes or forced
to flee in a blitz of fear and terror.
00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:04.999
Three quarters of a million
people became refugees.
00:19:05.000 --> 00:19:09.999
Israel's military hero,
00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:14.999
General Moshe Dyan, later
admitted Jewish places
00:19:15.000 --> 00:19:19.999
were built in the place of Arab villages.
There is not one single place in the country
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that did not have a formal Arab population.
While Palestinians
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were denied the right to return to their homes,
anybody who could prove they were Jewish
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had the right to settle in Israel.
00:19:35.000 --> 00:19:39.999
In 1967, Palestinians once again fled
their moves during the Six Day War
00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:44.999
when Israel occupied the
remaining 22% of Palestine
00:19:45.000 --> 00:19:49.999
describing this as an act of self-defense.
00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:54.999
[sil.]
00:19:55.000 --> 00:19:59.999
To Palestinians it seems that
Israel's colonizing never stops.
00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:04.999
This looks like a medieval
fortress, the Israelis call it
00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:09.999
a Jewish settlement. In fact its
part of a network of armed colonies
00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:14.999
that by one estimate effectively
control 42% of the occupied West Bank,
00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:19.999
many of them dominate and
intimidate Palestinian Communities.
00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:24.999
They are illegal under international
law and have been condemned
00:20:25.000 --> 00:20:29.999
by the United Nations. When I came to
West Bank and saw all these settlements,
00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:34.999
Israeli settlements on the tops of the hills
you know, surrounding all the cities,
00:20:35.000 --> 00:20:39.999
so you feel that they are
over you, they are superior
00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:44.999
and you are the ant, the insect.
Down, you know.
00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:49.999
And, you know, this is your land.
Its nobody’s else land,
00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:54.999
this is our land but still they are the ones
who own the tops and they have all the weapons
00:20:55.000 --> 00:20:59.999
and they… they control also
everything in the West Bank.
00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:04.999
This is Moshe Dann, he is taking
me to a Jewish settlement
00:21:05.000 --> 00:21:09.999
in the south of the country
in Palestinian Gaza.
00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:14.999
- Shalom.
-Shalom.
00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:19.999
I see this is all electrified
fence along here, isn't it?
00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:24.999
Electrified barbed wire. I mean, this is
a… almost a constant state of war, isn’t it?
00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:29.999
Really, I mean, if you have to put
out something like electrified barbed wire.
00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:34.999
It is today… it is today.
The barbed wire is new because
00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:39.999
of the situation where
Jews are driving home
00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:44.999
on their road and some guy who… who
suppose to be a Palestinian policeman
00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:49.999
shoots the car up.
00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:58.000
The Israelis bring with them
a version of apartheid.
00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:04.999
We passed this road being built for the
sole use of Jewish settlers and soldiers.
00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:09.999
Until its opened, these Palestinians
must wait hours for the few settlers
00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:14.999
to drive by. Doesn’t that strike
you as remarkable that
00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:19.999
there is a road for only one
ethnic group of people?
00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:24.999
A Jews-only road?
It wasn't always like that. Jews…
00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:29.999
- But it is now.
- It is now. The reason because many…
00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:34.999
about year and a half ago a school bus
00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:39.999
was blown up an Israeli school
bus as it was traveling from
00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:44.999
Kefar Darom by Arab terrorists.
So we decided
00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:49.999
that the best thing to do would be
to create some kind of separation.
00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:54.999
That doesn't seem to be any doubt that the
majority of people deeply resent
00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:59.999
the presence of this settlement.
00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:04.999
I don't know what the actual people,
00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:09.999
Arabs who live here, feel and think.
On a political level,
00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:14.999
they I'm sure would prefer
not to be under Israeli rule
00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:19.999
but in terms of raising their families
and supporting their families
00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:24.999
this is I think one of the
best solutions for them.
00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:29.999
For 35 years the United
Nations has voted on
00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:34.999
this best solution, almost
unanimously it is called on Israel
00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:39.999
to respect international law and
get out of occupied Palestine.
00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:48.000
[sil.]
00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:54.999
Inside the settlers' fortress,
this is a real middle class suburb
00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:59.999
dropped into one of the most
overcrowded and poorest corners
00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:04.999
of the world.
00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:09.999
One of the strategic games
here is the control of water,
00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:14.999
which is precious in the Middle East.
00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:19.999
While Palestinians often don't
have enough running water,
00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:24.999
sometimes none at all in the heat of
summer, the settlers seldom run out.
00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:29.999
[sil.]
00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:34.999
And the symbol
00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:39.999
of the occupation is this wall.
00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:44.999
A thing that is striking about
this settlement is that its…
00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:49.999
it's like a fortress I mean,
this is like a Berlin Wall.
00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:54.999
Like the Berlin Wall, very bad. We
don't feel comfortable. We live here…
00:24:55.000 --> 00:24:59.999
I'm here for 15 years without this wall,
fences and everything, we lived very normal.
00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:04.999
This last year changed all…
all the rules in the area,
00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:09.999
everything was changed. The justification for
taking somebody else's land is Biblical,
00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:14.999
that God gave them Palestine
00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:19.999
and God, not the history of others,
is their witness.
00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:24.999
I'm here because it's obvious that's my
place. It's not something in my hands
00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:29.999
that we can you know, we can give it
back, not me, not any politician or…
00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:34.999
or anybody or… or Parliament or whatever,
00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:39.999
because it's a movement.
It’s something that comes
00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:44.999
3,000 years ago when Moses brought us here
00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:49.999
and we have been in our mind, we have the
dream of building a temple in Jerusalem.
00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:54.999
It’s something little bigger than religion.
00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:59.999
Where will it end, though,
if there is no compromise?
00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:04.999
Doesn't that mean conflict?
00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:09.999
Well, life is full of conflicts.
I don't know what to say, I know...
00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:14.999
Maybe I'm saving something too strong
00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:19.999
its 1-0 game, we will fight.
The conflict is here,
00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:24.999
we will fight, its 1-0 game.
Not to kill each other,
00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:29.999
but it's us or them.
00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:34.999
[sil.]
00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:39.999
On the other side of the wall is
the reality of the Palestine,
00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:45.000
at another checkpoint people
are waiting and waiting.
00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:54.999
This normal journey
usually takes 20 minutes
00:26:55.000 --> 00:26:59.999
to reach from Gaza town to Hanunis,
but after this checkpoint
00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:04.999
this journey sometimes takes
people from four to nine hours.
00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:09.999
People as you see here waiting
to go from Gaza to Hanunis.
00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:14.999
To… to guarantee the security of the passage of
two or three settlers. So it is the security.
00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:19.999
Two or three settlers will drive along here, in
the meantime all this traffic has to bank up.
00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:20.999
- Exactly.
00:27:21.000 --> 00:27:24.999
How long will these people be here,
do you think? Just a guess.
00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:29.999
These people they will
stay will tomorrow morning
00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:34.999
because the road is closed now, it will not be reopened until
tomorrow morning seven o'clock in the morning. Dr. Al Farra's family
00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:39.999
use to own land near this crossing,
the Israelis confiscated
00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:44.999
and demolished her home and this is
typical of what happens almost everyday
00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:49.999
in occupied Palestine. They demolished my
house and another 26 houses the same night,
00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:54.999
I call it terrorism, here
I call it terrorism.
00:27:55.000 --> 00:27:59.999
How long did your family live there? Maybe
back to 900 years, we were in the same place.
00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:04.999
I feel angry, I feel devastated,
I feel abandon by the world.
00:28:05.000 --> 00:28:10.000
If be frank with you, I feel that
nobody is taking care of us.
00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:24.999
This is Gaza
00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:29.999
just a few miles down road from the
affluence of the Israeli settlement.
00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:34.999
The contrast is extraordinary. Almost a
million Palestinians are trapped behind
00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:39.999
electrified barbed wire and roadblocks,
always waiting for invasion,
00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:44.999
they defenses a pathetic mounts of sand,
00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:49.999
fear has a permanent presence.
Waiting for the invasion
00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:54.999
is worst than the invasion itself.
Because you are waiting
00:28:55.000 --> 00:28:59.999
you don't know when, where, and
how they will hit or come in.
00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:04.999
The first time they bombed in
Gaza, I was in… in another flat
00:29:05.000 --> 00:29:09.999
and we had children… many
children in the building.
00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:14.999
And I heard all the
children and their mothers
00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:19.999
screaming and crying.
00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:24.999
The half built buildings of Gaza
00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:29.999
are a testament to the hopes raised, then dashed,
by the talk of an independent Palestine.
00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:34.999
Without Israeli permission most people
00:29:35.000 --> 00:29:39.999
can't leave and they can't return.
They can't get the jobs,
00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:44.999
their produce can't get the market, most
struggle to live on about a pound a day,
00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:49.999
a poverty compounded by an
Israeli policy called closure.
00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:54.999
You see for Israel
00:29:55.000 --> 00:29:59.999
to sustain this unsustainable occupation,
it is transforming every city
00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:04.999
and every Palestinian town and
village to a prison basically,
00:30:05.000 --> 00:30:09.999
surrounded by tanks, surrounded
by walls, surrounded by fences
00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:14.999
and its not like they are building border between us and
Israel. It's building border inside West Bank in Gaza,
00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:19.999
between our cities and towns for
the sake of their settlements.
00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:24.999
They are obliging us to be
occupied people and not citizens.
00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:29.999
[music]
00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:34.999
United States, Mr. Prime Minister,
has been proud of its association
00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:39.999
to the State of Israel.
Rest assured that the security of Israel
00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:44.999
is a principle of objective
of this administration.
00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:49.999
I want everybody to know, should I be the President,
Israel is gonna be my friend. I'm gonna stand by Israel.
00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:54.999
[music]
00:30:55.000 --> 00:30:59.999
Israel's occupation of Palestine
00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:04.999
would not be possible without the backing
of America. In the oil rich Middle East,
00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:09.999
Israel is Americas' deputy sheriff,
receiving billions of dollars
00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:14.999
along with the latest weapons,
F-16 aircrafts, bombs,
00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:19.999
missiles, Apache helicopters.
00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:24.999
Today, Israel is the fourth largest military
power in the world and it has nuclear weapons.
00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:29.999
We saw Apache helicopters circling
00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:34.999
in the sky above our heads, then shooting a missile,
the rockets fell just 200 meters from our house.
00:31:35.000 --> 00:31:39.999
All our windows were shattered. I had
a child in front of me my daughter,
00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:44.999
who was 11 years old shivering from fear,
00:31:45.000 --> 00:31:49.999
worried, frightened to death
00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:54.999
and I could do nothing to protect her.
00:31:55.000 --> 00:31:59.999
And you don't know whether
in the second minute,
00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:04.999
you are your daughter will be
dead, that feeling of importance
00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:09.999
is indescribable and I
will never forget it.
00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:14.999
This is bomb damage in Gaza,
00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:19.999
although America is Israel's main armed
supplier. Its not widely recognize
00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:24.999
that Britain also feels the conflict
here even though it condemns Israel
00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:29.999
for its illegal occupation. During the first
14 months of the Palestinian uprising,
00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:34.999
the Blair government
approved 230 export licenses
00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:39.999
for weapons and military equipments
to Israel. The categories
00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:44.999
these covered included large caliber
weapons, ammunition, bombs,
00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:49.999
and vital parts for military aircraft that almost
certainly included American supplied combat helicopters.
00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:54.999
You may have seen these
Apache gunships on the news
00:32:55.000 --> 00:32:59.999
firing missiles at densely populated areas.
Tony Blair has said
00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:04.999
and I quote him "We are going everything
we can to bring peace and stability
00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:09.999
to the Middle East."
00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:14.999
[music]
00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:19.999
As much as they humiliate us and kill us
00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:24.999
and destroy our land, destroy
everything we do, our school,
00:33:25.000 --> 00:33:29.999
our organizations, infrastructure,
everything they like to destroy,
00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:34.999
but this gives us more power
to continue and resist.
00:33:35.000 --> 00:33:39.999
In the news we get
00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:44.999
only the Palestinians are described
as terrorists and yet Israelis
00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:49.999
have a long history of terrorism both before
and since the founding of the Jewish State.
00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:54.999
At least three Israeli prime ministers
have been involved in campaigns of terror.
00:33:55.000 --> 00:33:59.999
The tragic scene is like a serious
incidence during the blitz.
00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:04.999
The hotel house the British Army Headquarters
and the Palestine government offices
00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:09.999
and casualties were very heavy. Sixty
five… The commander of the terrorist
00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:14.999
group that blew up the King David
Hostel in Jerusalem in 1946
00:34:15.000 --> 00:34:19.999
was Menachem Begin. 91 people were killed.
Menachem Begin
00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:24.999
was Israeli Prime Minister in the ‘70s
and ‘80s. He once described a massacre
00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:29.999
as a splendor act of conquest.
Yitzhak Shamir was Prime Minister
00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:34.999
until 1992. He had been a
leader of a Jewish group called
00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:39.999
the Stern Gang which carried
out a string of assassinations.
00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:44.999
When those Israelis, who are now
00:34:45.000 --> 00:34:49.999
famous names, committed acts of terrorism
00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:54.999
just before the birth of Israel, you could
have said to them, “Nothing justifies
00:34:55.000 --> 00:34:59.999
what you have done ripping apart
all those lives,” and they would say
00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:04.999
it did justify it.
What's the difference?
00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:09.999
Well, I think we have now is international community come
to a new understanding. I think after September 11th
00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:14.999
the world got a wakeup call
because terrorism today
00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:19.999
is no longer the mad bomber, the
anarchist who throws in an explosive device
00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:24.999
into a crowd to make a point.
Terrorism is going to move
00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:29.999
from the present situation to
non-conventional terrorism,
00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:34.999
to nuclear terrorism and
before we reach that point,
00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:39.999
we have to remove this grudge from the earth and therefore
whether you are talking about the struggle here
00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:44.999
between Israelis and Palestinians, the struggle
in Northern Ireland, the struggle in Sri Lanka
00:35:45.000 --> 00:35:49.999
or any of the places where terrorism has
been used, we must make a global commitment
00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:54.999
of all free democracies to eliminate
00:35:55.000 --> 00:35:59.999
this threat from the world. Does
that include state terrorism?
00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:04.999
No country has the right to
deliberately target civilians
00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:09.999
as no organization has a right
00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:14.999
to deliberately target civilians. That's what Israelis have been
doing for years, the present Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon,
00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:19.999
has long been involved in terror.
In 1983,
00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:24.999
he was found indirectly but
personally responsible
00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:29.999
for a civilian massacre by Lebanese
militia in two Palestinian refugee camps.
00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:34.999
At least 800 innocent people
00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:39.999
were murdered in cold blood,
most of them Palestinians.
00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:44.999
What about Israeli terrorism now?
00:36:45.000 --> 00:36:49.999
The language of terrorism you
have to be very careful with.
00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:54.999
Terrorism means deliberately
targeting civilians
00:36:55.000 --> 00:36:59.999
in a kind of warfare that's
what the terrorism against
00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:04.999
Israel schools, coffee shops, malls
00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:09.999
has been all about. Israel specifically
targets to the best of its ability,
00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:14.999
a Palestinian Terrorist Organization.
00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:19.999
When… when an Israeli sniper
00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:24.999
shoots an old lady with a cane
trying to get in to a hospital
00:37:25.000 --> 00:37:29.999
for her chemotherapy treatment in
front of a lot of the world's press
00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:34.999
for one and frankly will be here
all day with other examples
00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:39.999
isn't that terrorism? I don't know
the case you are speaking about,
00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:44.999
but I can convinced at one
thing, an Israeli, who takes aim
00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:49.999
even an Israeli sniper is taking
aim at those engage in terrorism
00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:54.999
unfortunately in every kind of warfare,
00:37:55.000 --> 00:37:59.999
there are cases of civilians
who are accidentally killed.
00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:04.999
Terrorism means putting
crosshairs of the snipers rifle
00:38:05.000 --> 00:38:09.999
on a civilian deliberately that is what. Well, that's what
I just described. No I can tell you that did not happen.
00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:14.999
It did happen
00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:19.999
and I think that's where some people
have problem with the argument
00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:24.999
that terrorism exists on… on one side. Your
definition is absolutely correct about civilians
00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:29.999
and those suicide bombers are terrorists.
If you mix
00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:34.999
terrorism and counter terrorism, if you
create some kind of moral obfuscation,
00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:39.999
you will bring about not just
a problem for Israel but you…
00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:44.999
you bring about a problem for
the entire Western Alliance
00:38:45.000 --> 00:38:49.999
because we are all facing this threat.
It's hard to see
00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:54.999
the difference between what the Israelis
call counter terrorism and terrorism,
00:38:55.000 --> 00:38:59.999
whatever the target both involve
the killing of innocent people.
00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:04.999
This is what happened when
Prime Minister Sharon
00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:09.999
sent tanks into Bethlehem
earlier this year.
00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:14.999
We had, a day before, private
hospital director
00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:19.999
who was going from the hospital
in Al Hadr to Bethlehem
00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:24.999
to get supplies for his hospital.
His plate number was known to the soldier,
00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:29.999
and his name was known to the soldier, and they
knew that he is the director of a hospital
00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:34.999
But he was shot by a high velocity bullet.
00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:39.999
[music]
00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:44.999
In 1988,
00:39:45.000 --> 00:39:49.999
the Palestine Liberation Organization led
by Yasar Arafat recognize the Israel's
00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:54.999
right to exist and Israeli
sovereignty over 78% of Palestine,
00:39:55.000 --> 00:39:59.999
it was an historic compromise.
00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:04.999
And in the early 90s a break
through for peace sees impossible.
00:40:05.000 --> 00:40:09.999
It was in this room
00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:14.999
in Jerusalem hotel that the first direct talks
between Israeli and Palestinian official
00:40:15.000 --> 00:40:19.999
took place in 1991, these
let to further meetings
00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:24.999
and an agreement in the Norwegian
capital, Oslo to setup an autonomous
00:40:25.000 --> 00:40:29.999
mini state in the territories
occupied by Israel since 1967.
00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:34.999
For Yasar Arafat and his people,
it was seen a beginning,
00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:39.999
but the reality was different.
What the majority of Palestinians
00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:44.999
got was a classic colonial fix.
Arafat and his elite
00:40:45.000 --> 00:40:49.999
got the trappings and privileges of power, while mass
of the people got what one Israeli journalist called
00:40:50.000 --> 00:40:54.999
the autonomy of a prisoner of war camp.
00:40:55.000 --> 00:40:59.999
In July 2000, the two sides met in
America to reach a final agreement,
00:41:00.000 --> 00:41:04.999
but among the issues they discussed
was a profound disagreement about
00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:09.999
just how much land was on offer.
00:41:10.000 --> 00:41:14.999
Israel's Prime Minister at that time, Ehud
Barak, claimed he'd offered the Palestinians
00:41:15.000 --> 00:41:19.999
almost all the occupied territories
back and said that Arafat
00:41:20.000 --> 00:41:24.999
had rejected this. In reality,
the Israelis were expanding
00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:29.999
more and more illegal settlements on Palestinian
land, even during the negotiations.
00:41:30.000 --> 00:41:34.999
Add to that special access
roads with their checkpoints
00:41:35.000 --> 00:41:39.999
and the Palestinian say that all it was left was
a group of colonies with their borders patrolled
00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:44.999
by military basses.
00:41:45.000 --> 00:41:49.999
It's very important to understand that from a
Palestinian point of view, they were asked to sign
00:41:50.000 --> 00:41:54.999
in the end of the day a document which did
not relate even to one of the central issues
00:41:55.000 --> 00:41:59.999
for which they had been struggling for
more than 100 years. They left eventually
00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:04.999
with an offer of 10% of
what used to be Palestine.
00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:09.999
The Israelis, who dictated this offer in summer
2000, are not even talking about a proper state.
00:42:10.000 --> 00:42:14.999
We are talking, in that area, of stateless state,
I would call it. A Bantustan
00:42:15.000 --> 00:42:19.999
with no genuine sovereignty, with no independent
for economic or political policies,
00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:24.999
with no proper capital and at the mercy
00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:29.999
of Israeli security services
and Israeli policy.
00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:34.999
Not only that, but there is now
documented evidence that the Palestinians
00:42:35.000 --> 00:42:39.999
had made an extraordinary offer to the
Israelis conceding even more of their land,
00:42:40.000 --> 00:42:44.999
but this was not news at that time.
00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:49.999
If there is no justice
for the Palestinians,
00:42:50.000 --> 00:42:58.000
there will be a reckoning
in the young generation.
00:43:20.000 --> 00:43:24.999
Dr. Dahlan runs a project for
children in Gaza. He asked these boys
00:43:25.000 --> 00:43:29.999
to draw anything that was on their minds.
Most of these children are traumatized
00:43:30.000 --> 00:43:34.999
by the fear and violence of the occupation.
00:43:35.000 --> 00:43:39.999
The majority of our children
exposed directly to the attack
00:43:40.000 --> 00:43:44.999
or to the bombard by the
Israeli army are traumatized.
00:43:45.000 --> 00:43:49.999
There is many… many symptoms,
children became anxious
00:43:50.000 --> 00:43:54.999
and depressed and make for example
00:43:55.000 --> 00:43:59.999
sleep disorder as nightmares
00:44:00.000 --> 00:44:04.999
or sleepwalking or something like that.
Many… many children
00:44:05.000 --> 00:44:09.999
they can't concentrate well to study.
00:44:10.000 --> 00:44:14.999
Nearly every drawing is a violence.
Nearly every family in Gaza
00:44:15.000 --> 00:44:19.999
had lost someone either to an
Israeli jail or to violence.
00:44:20.000 --> 00:44:24.999
Dr. Dahlan's goal is to help the
children keep the last thing
00:44:25.000 --> 00:44:29.999
that belongs to them, their
sanity and their life.
00:44:30.000 --> 00:44:34.999
There is a conflict between
the Israeli soldier
00:44:35.000 --> 00:44:39.999
with their tanks and the Palestinian kids
00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:46.999
who threw stones. And they cry,
“There is no god except Allah.”
00:44:47.000 --> 00:44:49.999
What children in other parts
00:44:50.000 --> 00:44:54.999
of the world would draw as fantasy,
they draw here as real life.
00:44:55.000 --> 00:44:59.999
Yes, war and violence.
This is a good thing to protect
00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:04.999
the children from their mental disease.
00:45:05.000 --> 00:45:09.999
I don't want my child
that I've been working on having
00:45:10.000 --> 00:45:14.999
for 15 years to come and… when he's
10 years old he goes to a settlement
00:45:15.000 --> 00:45:19.999
and he wants to kill Israelis.
And the only way… the only way to stop
00:45:20.000 --> 00:45:24.999
all these suffering now we
say it on both sides too,
00:45:25.000 --> 00:45:29.999
is to have a Palestinian state
according to UN resolutions
00:45:30.000 --> 00:45:34.999
When will Israel
00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:39.999
agree to negotiate with the Palestinians
00:45:40.000 --> 00:45:44.999
not for what they call a few Bantustans
on the West Bank but for a state
00:45:45.000 --> 00:45:49.999
that is as peaceful, as secure, above
all, as independent as Israel itself?
00:45:50.000 --> 00:45:54.999
You want Israel to concede
00:45:55.000 --> 00:45:59.999
the terms that negotiations upfront
on television or it is better
00:46:00.000 --> 00:46:04.999
to agree to the general principle
and then sit with the Palestinians
00:46:05.000 --> 00:46:09.999
in a face to face negotiation, once
they stop violence against us.
00:46:10.000 --> 00:46:14.999
What about this the general
principle then of a…
00:46:15.000 --> 00:46:19.999
a state as independent as
independent as Israel.
00:46:20.000 --> 00:46:24.999
We do not need a string of adjectives to agree to. You
agree to the principle. What's a fair principle isn't it.
00:46:25.000 --> 00:46:29.999
What… what a state worth of if it isn't independent.
We are speaking about is our willingness to
00:46:30.000 --> 00:46:34.999
negotiate with the Palestinians, their self
government and we're willing to create
00:46:35.000 --> 00:46:39.999
a Palestinian self governing entity.
Some call it a Palestinian State
00:46:40.000 --> 00:46:44.999
which will address the real
needs of the Palestinians.
00:46:45.000 --> 00:46:49.999
What rights have you to create somebody else's
homeland? Well, we're being asked to negotiate that.
00:46:50.000 --> 00:46:54.999
We are willing to be part of that. We are
willing to make a contribution to that.
00:46:55.000 --> 00:46:59.999
We are not going to upfront go into details
about its geographic configuration
00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:04.999
or its powers that's
part of the negotiation.
00:47:05.000 --> 00:47:09.999
[music]
00:47:10.000 --> 00:47:14.999
I support sanctions selective
sanctions on Israel
00:47:15.000 --> 00:47:19.999
because I tell my friends here and my colleagues,
I would rather have you pay an economic prize
00:47:20.000 --> 00:47:24.999
then pay that prize I think you
will pay in terms of human lives.
00:47:25.000 --> 00:47:29.999
The stronger part in the conflict,
Israel has to understand
00:47:30.000 --> 00:47:34.999
that there is a prize for going
on with the policies it carries.
00:47:35.000 --> 00:47:39.999
What you say to those fellow
Israelis who will inevitably
00:47:40.000 --> 00:47:44.999
come up with a… the view that in the end
00:47:45.000 --> 00:47:49.999
we're going to be pushed into the
sea this expression will be pushed.
00:47:50.000 --> 00:47:54.999
By whom, by this mosquito. We are the
most powerful power in the Middle East.
00:47:55.000 --> 00:47:59.999
We have one of the greatest and
more powerful armies in the world.
00:48:00.000 --> 00:48:04.999
In this last operation, there were
four divisions armed divisions
00:48:05.000 --> 00:48:09.999
against some 500, 2,000 people,
00:48:10.000 --> 00:48:14.999
it… its enough who will
push us into the sea.
00:48:15.000 --> 00:48:19.999
Until recently
00:48:20.000 --> 00:48:24.999
Israel has enjoyed almost immunity from
criticism among Western politicians.
00:48:25.000 --> 00:48:29.999
This has been largely due to a
fear of being labeled Antisemitic,
00:48:30.000 --> 00:48:34.999
a fear manipulated by the Israeli
government and its foreign lobbies.
00:48:35.000 --> 00:48:39.999
I think the holocaust memory does not
allow any moral criticism of anything
00:48:40.000 --> 00:48:44.999
that Israel does. Europeans in
particular and outside world in general
00:48:45.000 --> 00:48:49.999
are not allowed to voice criticism
on Israel unless again there…
00:48:50.000 --> 00:48:54.999
what Israel is doing is a keen to
what the Germans had done to the Jews
00:48:55.000 --> 00:48:59.999
and if you do criticize as well you are
immediately changed with anti-Semitism.
00:49:00.000 --> 00:49:04.999
This is you know a huge a…
00:49:05.000 --> 00:49:09.999
a bluff of… of… of you know,
of the Israeli establishment
00:49:10.000 --> 00:49:14.999
that every you know,
criticism of its policy
00:49:15.000 --> 00:49:19.999
is anti-Semitism and criticizing your
government, your country's policy
00:49:20.000 --> 00:49:24.999
is today I think the only
patriotic thing where one can do.
00:49:25.000 --> 00:49:29.999
The Israeli government denies
it, but Palestinian fear
00:49:30.000 --> 00:49:34.999
that there are plans to all of Palestine
trapping or expelling them indefinitely.
00:49:35.000 --> 00:49:39.999
We are not against the Jews.
00:49:40.000 --> 00:49:44.999
And that's why I have Jewish friends. We are
against politically the governments of Israel
00:49:45.000 --> 00:49:49.999
and army of Israel, who
denies our rights and I hope…
00:49:50.000 --> 00:49:54.999
I hope to have peace here with
the Israeli but with dignity,
00:49:55.000 --> 00:49:59.999
this is very important for us. With
dignity it means with our full rights.
00:50:00.000 --> 00:50:05.999
The Palestinians will never be destroyed,
they will never disappear.
00:50:06.000 --> 00:50:09.999
They are not the red Indians who will
be cancelled from history just like this, no.
00:50:10.000 --> 00:50:18.000
[music]
00:50:35.000 --> 00:50:39.999
It is not surprising that the Jewish
people of Israel should feel insecure.
00:50:40.000 --> 00:50:44.999
No one should ever forget that
the most devastating genocide
00:50:45.000 --> 00:50:49.999
in human history happened
only two generations ago
00:50:50.000 --> 00:50:54.999
but a true sensitivity to that awful
memory comes from the same basic humanity
00:50:55.000 --> 00:50:59.999
that recognizes the suffering of the
Palestinian people and the courage
00:51:00.000 --> 00:51:04.999
of their endurance. The truth is
that Israelis will never have peace
00:51:05.000 --> 00:51:09.999
until they recognize the Palestinians
have the same right to the same peace
00:51:10.000 --> 00:51:14.999
and the same independence that they enjoy.
00:51:15.000 --> 00:51:19.999
Recently that great voice of freedom,
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, asked this.
00:51:20.000 --> 00:51:24.999
“Have the Jewish people of Israel forgotten their
collective punishment, their home demolitions,
00:51:25.000 --> 00:51:29.999
their humiliations, so soon?”
Israel's own dissenting voices
00:51:30.000 --> 00:51:34.999
have not forgotten, and those who
speak out in this film honor
00:51:35.000 --> 00:51:39.999
the best traditions of Jewish humanity
If Rami,
00:51:40.000 --> 00:51:44.999
the man who lost a young daughter in a suicide attack,
can understand the root cause of the violence here,
00:51:45.000 --> 00:51:49.999
isn't the time that others
broke their silence?
00:51:50.000 --> 00:51:54.999
The occupation of Palestine should
end now, and the solution is clear.
00:51:55.000 --> 00:51:59.999
Two countries, Israel and Palestine,
neither dominating nor menacing the other.
00:52:00.000 --> 00:52:04.999
Is that impossible, or is history
to witness the consequences
00:52:05.000 --> 00:52:10.000
of yet another silence.
