00'00 Hand peeling pear, women in kitchen, speaking, children around | Ruth Hizmi: She was the first one born here, yest. I came here pregnant with her. Whitmont: Ruth Hizmi is a mother of seven, a Jewish settlers ad a true believer. So much so, that although she could live anywhere in Israel, she's chosen to live on a front line between Arabs and Jews. Eight years ago Ruth and her family moved to the West Bank, to the only Jewish community living in the heart of Arab city. Ruth Hizmi: The minute I arrived here I felt very happy buit before we lived here from far away it seemed very difficult.
|
00'47 | Whitmont: To an outsider, that might be an understatement. But for Ruth, just being in the kitchen in Hebron, is an act of faith. |
00'58 Military truck, soldiers with guns, building, Whitmont walking with Hizmi and talking with her | Ruth and her family live in a Jewish fortress guarded 24 hours a day by the Israeli arm. In 1929 the building she lives in was the scene of a massacre, 67 Jews were killed by Arabs. The Jews left Hebron but in 1968 after Israel won the six day war they came back. |
01'36 Men walking along streets, man speaking to group, soldier speaking to driver
Interview with Ruth Hizmi | Whitmont: Hebron has about 400 Jewish settlers, half of them children. Their government may have made peace and handed most West Bank towns to the Palestinians, but the settlers remain one of the most stubborn obstacles to the peace process. To the settlers, staying in Hebron means fighting to save greater Israel. To more than 100,000 Palestinians who live around them, getting them out means shaking off Israeli occupation. Ruth Hizmi: Hebron is all our country in miniature. What happens here in Hebron in small is happening in our country in big. Why do we want this city? Because it's part of Eretz Israel and it's a holy place for us. Why do they want this city? They say this city belongs to them and it's holy for them. But what's happening in Hebron, they want it all. |
2'50 Markets, people working, walking through, buying things, selling things, Debbie walking with a couple of women | Whitmont: In the centre of town, Hebron's market is out of bounds to settlers, the army's decided it's too dangerous. But like everything else here the market is part of an endless cycle of argument. Th Arabs say it's theirs, the settlers say it's built on the old Jewish quarter. Like Ruth, ouran and Afifeh are teachers. They live and shop a few hundred metres from Ruth's home. Every day they too run a gauntlet - for them, its armed soldiers and graffiti calling for death to the Arabs. They see it all as a simple equation - one side has to give in - there are more than 100,000 Arabs and only 400 settlers. |
3'49
Tower | Whitmont: At the heart of the stuggle, and the heart of Hebron, the tomb of the Patriarchs or the mosque of Ibrahim. Jews say it's in Israel, Muslims say it's in Palestine, but to both it's the second holiest site after Jerusalem. If you're looking for a crash course in historic hatred and religious intolerance you don't have to look further than Hebron and the Tomb of the Patriarchs. To Jews this is the burial place of Abraham the father of the Jewish Religion. But Abraham is also a Muslim prophet. For hundreds of years that shared ancestry has fuelled bitterness and bloodshed - a common bond between the two religions that's driven them further and further apart. |
4'47 Men praying, riot, soldiers shooting, vox pop with settler, people going into building, kids covering ears, men praying | Two years ago Hebron horrified the world. A Jewish settler, Baruch Goldstein fired 119 bullets into praying Muslims in the Tomb of the Patriarchs. To some at the nearby settlement he came from, Goldstein was a hero, the massacre a fitting revenge for every Jew killed by an Arab. Man: We think he didn't kill enough, but thank god what he killed, it's good, it's a good beinning... Whitmont: It's almost tow years to the day since the massacre and Israel does ensure both sides can pray here. But the Tombs divided, Jews on one side, Muslims on the other. But since the massacre there is so much security that many prefer to stay outside. During prayers, you can feel the tension. Those who normally pray with their shoes off, leave them on, as if they expect, at any moment, to run fir their lives. And they are right, The slightest hint of trouble here sets off a panic. |
6'09 Men moving fast, army men arguing with men | Whitmont: Afifeh lives on what's become a ceasefire line between Jews and Palestinians. Through her wall is the Jewish playground, where the roof of her house once was, there's a view of the Star of David. Ask Afifeh's father and he'll tell you that until the setllers started to build next door, eight families used to live here. Now there's only room for one. |
6'52 Interview with Afifeh's father | Father: My children were asleep in our house when they started bulldozing it on top; of them. They came at night and began shaking our house. Whitmont: The Israeli's say it was an accident. The family says when they tried to rebuild the walls, the settlers tear them down. Every day, it seems across the trenches the hostility continues. |
7'20 Super NOAM ARNON Jewish Community Spokesperson
Noam speaking on the phone | Noam: We live only in ancient Jewish houses. No house was taken from an Arab. If they to you lies I'm sorry, you can check every stone here - every house is an ancient Jewish house. Whitmont: In the settlers state within a state, Noam Arnon is the foreign minister. He controls all access to the community. Noam: We will have to talk to the Arabs. Okay we are returned, you tried to destroy us, you butchered the Jews here in 1929 now we are back. Now you have to decide. If you want to live in peace with us it's okay we want to do it. If you want to fight we'll fight back and we'll fight back seriously. |
8'11 Soldiers with guns walking, Noam Arnon walking with group soldiers
Noam Arnon interview, group walking along street, men sitting and watching | Whitmont: Noam Arnon used to be a tour guide, now he's a salesman for greater Israel. To him, living in peace means Palestinians living under continued Israeli occupation, certainly not Jews living in a Palestinian state. Noam: This market is on land owned by Jews. Find the merchants another place and give us back our land. Whitmont: Since last year when Isral's Prime Minister was murdered by a Jewish extremist, the settlers have been forced to lower their profile. A tour of Hebron for right wing politicians has lured only a few - with elections in the air even the right wing is wary of getting too close to the settlers. Noam: Recently there have been five attacks in this street which thank god did not end in tragedy. But this street is a vital concern, the elderly and children are especially vulnerable. Whitmont: The settlers hope - that a new right wing government would freeze the peace process - not like the present government which has supported Palestinians self rule and even Palestinian elections. |
9'23
Military truck, Whitmont to camera | There are elections which are somehow supposed to be part of the peace process and what is in the centre of all these candidates? Their guns and their hand grenades. Whitmont: This is a city where memories are long and often selective. Even if both sides called a truce tomorrow their history of hatred would never be far from the surface. But now this isn't just a battle between moderates and extremists - those who've accepted a political compromise and those who believe in an absolute religious truth. |
10'08 Men praying, rifle CU men's faces, bowing heads, soldiers walking around, men praying | Today in the middle of the market it's the settlers turn. They've come to pray for a Jewish student stabbed to death right here sixteen years ago. Because of the prayers, the army's shut down the market and locked out the Arabs/ It's just another chapter in what's become a three cornered struggle. To most Palestinians the army is part of a hateful occupation. To most settlers the army can't be trusted because the government has ordered it to stay out of trouble. So the soldiers are caught in the middle. |
11'10 Music Boys dancing, people watching, playing music, kids watching, dancing | Whitmont: Inside their enclave, Hebron's settlers are celebrating tree-planting day. But since everything here is political, they've had to put away their shovels. They wanted to plant trees around the Tomb of the Patriarchs, but the army wouldn't let them. So they're singing songs, or as Ruth calls them, prayers - prayers for a Greater Israel without their government's peace deal and without Yasser Arafat. |
Interview with Ruth Hizmi | Ruth Hizmi: Arafat says clearly we're starting with Gaza Jericho, our aim is Jersualem. Can't you hear what he is saying or don't you want to hear? I want peace more than anything. |
12'17 Building, man praying | Whitmont: The settlers say they, like Palestinians, have plenty of patience. They may be right. The settlers know that their battle goes to the heart of biblical Israel and their country's future. They know too that a majority of Israeli's support them. And two and a half years after the Oslo accord, their leaders who made peace, haven't been able to sole the problem of Hebron. |
13'02 | Ends |