Sean: |
It's
April 1999, I'd come to Israel at a crucial time in the peace process. The Israels were giving land to Palestinians for peace and
Jerusalem was expecting thousands of tourists for the millennium. |
Speaker
2: |
The
problem is not the fact that they view- |
Ali: |
No,
no, no [crosstalk] it's not a religious issue. |
Speaker
2: |
It's
not- |
Ali: |
Never,
never. On the contrary among Jews I have a lot of friends. |
Sean: |
I
met a Palestinian called Ali, who spent 17 years in prison for planting a bomb.
Today he works a tour guide in Jerusalem. |
|
Ali
has a problem with his neighbours, Jewish settlers are buying up Arab houses
and moving in. |
Ali: |
It
was here on this balcony, the Israeli flag, what's the meaning of that. You
will see it often, whenever you see such a place with Israeli flags in the
centre of Arab neighbourhood, you have to know that [inaudible] that we are
talking about settlers, Israeli settlers. |
|
It's
all the crazy and extremists among the Israel society. |
|
No,
we see those two guys who are just sitting in front of you, these are
bodyguards. Private bodyguards for the settlers. Sitting with their machine
guns. |
Speaker
2: |
So,
you know by the uniform that they are- |
Ali: |
I
know by their uniform, I know them pretty well, because they live here you
see. This is a settlement, this is with the Israeli flag here. |
|
Settlement
in the centre of the Muslim quarter so a lot of tension here. |
Sean: |
See. |
Ali: |
[inaudible]
with the sub machine guns. Yeah. See. |
|
These
are the private bodyguards. |
Sean: |
The
private bodyguards have Uzis. |
Ali: |
For
the settlers. Yeah, yeah. |
|
Some
of them they have Uzis, some of them they just have pistols. |
|
Now,
those kids will come here, look, look, they will come and they will attach him.
Look, look. |
Sean: |
Who
is he? |
Ali: |
Jewish,
fanatic Jewish. You see they have [inaudible] see they come and attach him.
They have [butters]. The have butters in their hands. |
Speaker
4: |
That's
the way to do, that's the way to you. And you make a picture on that, what do
you make a picture of that. |
Speaker
5: |
I
make a picture of it, you saw it. |
Speaker
4: |
Why
do you make a picture on that. |
Sean: |
For
years, Jews and Arabs have been fighting over the same land. When Ali was 17,
Jerusalem was taken by the Israelis in the Six Day War. It was then he
planted the bomb. |
|
Ali
has spent over half his adult life in prison. Today he is for peace, but
believes there is still some legitimate targets. |
Speaker
4: |
That's
not nice. |
Ali: |
You
say that. |
Sean: |
Is
it okay to stone a settler? |
Ali: |
A
settler yeah, he deserves it. |
Sean: |
Really. |
Ali: |
Yeah,
yeah, because they are provocative elements. They don't come in a respectful
way. They don't work, let's say normally. They are not people who are interested
in worshipping , just coming to the Wailing Wall and [inaudible]. They just
come over here, they want to provocate people you
see, and I think it's not fair. If you come to my city, you should respect
yourself, [inaudible] you should respect yourself, I'm giving you my host, so
you should behave in a very respectful way, but just because they just come
and they look for troubles. |
|
But
like this woman, I will not stone her, look. |
Sean: |
I
listened enough to Ali about settlers and I wanted to meet one myself. It was
then that I met, [Dove Shirene]. |
Speaker
6: |
Get
me on that camera, get me yeah. I love God man, I love God. |
Ali: |
That's
crazy. American. |
Sean: |
You
have to live with these people, day by day. |
Ali: |
No,
I'm not abashed to live with them. No, no, no, no. I want good neighbours. |
Sean: |
I
tracked Dove Shirene down in the Jewish side of
town, Dove settled in Israel in 1986. He is known here for his wild radio
shows. Unlike most religious Jews, Dove loved the idea of being filmed. |
Dove: |
Did
you get that? |
Sean: |
Just
gonna get the shopping. |
Dove: |
You
got that? |
Sean: |
Yeah. |
Dove: |
All
right. Gotcha. [foreign language] |
|
What's
wrong? Get in here, get her face. |
Speaker
8: |
No. |
Dove: |
It's
gorgeous. |
Speaker
8: |
Get
her face. |
Dove: |
I
never saw such pretty [foreign language]. |
Speaker
8: |
That's
so sweet. |
Dove: |
Do
we need a paper to take pictures? He's taking pictures of me, not of here.
I'm the star. |
Speaker
8: |
[inaudible] |
Dove: |
New
York and Hollywood. We're doing a movie. |
Speaker
8: |
[foreign
language] |
Dove: |
For
the millennium. We're doing a millennium movie. |
|
Hello.
Warner Brothers is on the line. Yes, hello, [foreign language]. Yeah, okay
great. Bye-bye. |
|
I
just have gotten ordered to start a new radio programme. |
Sean: |
Right. |
Dove: |
Right
here. Yeah. And I told him, I got the guy from television in England, he says
bring them over. |
Speaker
9: |
Talk
to me. Talk to me. [inaudible] talk to me. Talk to me. [foreign language]
teach me Torah, teach me Torah. |
Sean: |
Dove
clearly wasn't your average Orthodox Jew. He was a follower of a hippie rabbi
called Shlmomo [Calbek].
Dove believes that the Jews are the children of Israel and that the land was
given to them by God. |
Dove: |
Are
you trying to find yourself you mean? |
Speaker
10: |
[inaudible] |
Dove: |
How
old are you? |
Speaker
10: |
I'm
19 years old. |
Dove: |
Okay,
I must tell you that I didn't get an idea of what I'm doing around here until
about the age of 31. Have a lot of patience and keep loving the [foreign
language] and keep on saying [foreign language] I'm at your service. |
|
Please
do [crosstalk], if you do the [foreign language] baby, you're gonna have a high experience. |
|
Just
start getting ready for having the highest [foreign language] of your life,
and you will see, you're a Jew man. You're an amazing human being. |
Sean: |
Ali
is often on the radio too. When the media wants to know how the Palestinians
feel, they come to him. |
Ali: |
[foreign
language] |
Sean: |
Ali's
father settled here from Africa in 1936. He grew up in the African quarter
where there are just 43 Arab families. He told me that his city under Israeli
rule is his new prison. |
|
When
do you think you'll be liberated? |
Ali: |
I
don't know. |
Sean: |
Do
you think you'll ever be liberalised? |
Ali: |
I
don't know. |
|
Well,
I don't care about it or so I don't think a lot about it. |
Sean: |
But
you seem quite happy in your life. |
Ali: |
In
some way I am happy and I'm a little bit sad. If I be sad or bitter, it's
inside me. Inside me. You see I just keep those feelings inside me.
[crosstalk] I keep those feelings to me, you see. |
|
My
childhood across this here, you see and there are some of us, we used to go
inside and play inside all these things. |
Sean: |
Ali
lives with his wife, three daughters, and his son Muhammad who he calls his
little terrorist. |
|
Although
his children seem to enjoy being filmed, I wasn't sure about his wife. She
seemed unhappy. |
Ali: |
[foreign
language] |
|
1986,
I married, you see, and let's say two years ago, I got this room also, some
friends came and arranged for me. |
Dove: |
Boy,
a lot of clouds overhead as I facing the holy city of our forefathers, right
now and the big news is down the road to the left of me about 20 kilometres
in [inaudible] where right at this moment, the soldiers are coming in to try
to pull out the settlers from that and I'll tell you about that right after I
identify the sponsors. |
|
First
of all, we're sponsored by Quality [Broad room] and Carpet, hey you get a
free Dove Shirene tape or CD of my latest cassette
medley In Love with the One Above, if you order carpeting from Quality Broad
Room and Carpet in Brooklyn, at 814 Coney Island Avenue in [inaudible],
Quality Broad Room and Carpet ... |
Sean: |
It's
6:45 in the morning, and Dove does a three minute broadcast to the States
from his home in Hebron. The news today is that Israel is giving more land to
the Palestinians. |
Dove: |
Okay,
let's go to the big news, this morning, the government is gonna
okay another 5% territory being given to the Palestinians as part of the [Sharam] agreement or the Y agreement, who knows which
agreement it is anymore. Oh we know that nobody agrees with Yasser Arafat.
Listen to this, he said that the ... |
Sean: |
Dove
lives on a settlement. A housing complex secure with fences and its own
security police. It's surrounded by Arab towns that have been given back to
the Palestinians as part of the peace process. |
|
I
join Dove shopping at his local Arab store. The shop owners were cautious of
the camera as there can be serious reprisals for Arabs found selling to
settlers. |
Dove: |
[inaudible]
[foreign language] macaroni? |
Speaker
11: |
[foreign
language] |
Dove: |
Yeah,
these are [inaudible]. |
Speaker
5: |
Why
don't settlers shop at Arab stores though, why don't you shop at settlers
stores? |
Dove: |
Who
says they don't. What's settlers? Don't call me a settler, all right. Okay, I
object to being a called a settler. I'm a human being that happens to live
out here, okay. Stop that settler bull crap, all right. |
|
Settlers.
Settlers, homesteaders, homesteaders. What kind of settlers, it's a lot of
bull crap, all right. It's political okay. I'm not here for political
reasons. |
Speaker
5: |
What
should I call you? |
Dove: |
Call
me, you can say why do the Jews buy in an Arab store? |
Speaker
5: |
Why
do the Jews buy in an Arab store? |
Dove: |
Because
they have a good selection. They're overly. |
Speaker
5: |
Are
they cheaper? |
Dove: |
Yeah,
could be. Matter of fact, I had a grocery next door to my house that was
buying his fruits and vegetables from here. And selling it for five, six
bucks. |
Sean: |
Dove
lives with his wife Rachelle and four of his nine children. |
Speaker
12: |
What
are you doing, you're also interviewing an Arab? And- |
Dove: |
A
terrorist. I've got an Arab- |
Sean: |
Ex-terrorist. |
Dove: |
Ex-terrorist. [crosstalk]- |
Speaker
12: |
An
ex-terrorist. |
Dove: |
He
put a bomb by Hadassah Hospital- |
Speaker
12: |
I
don't believe this. |
Dove: |
He
spent 17 years in jail. |
Speaker
12: |
And
where is he now? |
Dove: |
Ali
is his name. He's Arab, he's a tour guide. You want to read this. You want
to- |
Speaker
12: |
My
God. |
Dove: |
Do
you see what they said in the [crosstalk]. Do you see who they let out of
jail? |
Speaker
12: |
Did
he kill anybody? |
Dove: |
You
see who they let out of a jail? |
Speaker
12: |
Who'd
they let out of jail. |
Dove: |
Yesterday?
Here watch this one. |
|
Life
imprisonment for manslaughter. They get out in February 1990. |
Sean: |
So
he's doing [crosstalk]- |
Dove: |
20
years for attempted murder. |
|
15
years for attempted murder. |
|
Seven
years for manslaughter. |
|
That's
amazing. |
Speaker
12: |
It's
tough in nights. Totally nuts. |
Sean: |
Today
Arab neighbourhoods just directly opposite. |
Speaker
12: |
Yeah. |
Dove: |
Where
is my ... |
Speaker
12: |
The
other side is Arabs. |
Sean: |
So
they can just climb over? |
Speaker
12: |
Oh
yeah. There's supposed to be security. It's the whole thing is totally
insane. |
Sean: |
But
it's relatively safe. |
Speaker
12: |
I
guess at the moment. Yeah. I mean, we don't [inaudible] we don't feel, it's
not like living my [foreign language] in the city Havrell,
where ... |
Sean: |
Because
there's Jewish families there isn't it. |
Speaker
12: |
Sure
there's Jewish families there, they're a minority. Here it's, heres just a few farms and houses here, houses there, but
there it's like a whole city of them. |
Ali: |
[foreign
language] |
|
Yesterday
a lot of troubles took place at the main market. A friend of mine was beaten,
his name is [Alsaudih Alheneken].
It was fiercely beaten attack by the [Bordeget]
soldiers. |
Sean: |
Why? |
Ali: |
Because
one settler was stoned in front of his shop. He has nothing to do. Look the
blood from his head, from his ears. |
Sean: |
How
often do the settlers get stoned? |
Ali: |
Whenever
they are passing there young Palestinians. |
Sean: |
They
will be stoned? |
Ali: |
Yeah.
They are very popular here. |
|
Now,
I want you to have the feeling as if you are local residents. Do you have an
idea about daily life. |
Sean: |
Yeah. |
Ali: |
We
will go through the meat market, you have to stand it a little consuming this
meal, but I compensate you directly, I bring you the spices market. [foreign
language] |
|
If
you look at the balcony over there, you see Israeli flags, now you will see
it often. Whenever you go in a centre of Arab neighbourhood, you see such
place, you have to know we are talking about settlement, settlers. Meaning
Israelis who come and live in the centre of Arab neighbourhood. |
|
Unfortunately,
the way you have among Arabs crazy elements, these are the crazy elements
among the Israelis. Total [foreign language]. Very extremist. And today you
will be surprised to find that the majority of American Jews, if you go to
the Jewish quarter at the end, you don't hear Hebrew language, what you hear
[foreign language] what you hear is English, American accent. [foreign
language] |
Sean: |
Ali
even has tee shirts of himself as the terrorist turned tour guide. His work
on the streets of Jerusalem keeps him in touch with his people. |
Ali: |
This
is the one who was in the newspaper. [foreign language] |
Speaker
13: |
[foreign
language] |
Ali: |
[foreign
language] |
|
You
see his face. You see, you see. Unbelievable. |
Speaker
13: |
[foreign
language] |
Ali: |
And
all his back. Look, look, look, look his chest. |
Speaker
13: |
[foreign
language] |
Ali: |
All
of his back also. |
Speaker
13: |
[foreign
language] |
Ali: |
30
of the Bordegot Soldiers attacked him in his shop. |
Sean: |
Why
him? |
Ali: |
[foreign
language] |
Speaker
13: |
[foreign
language] |
Ali: |
Ah,
he wanted to go and pray in the Oxel, they said to
him it's forbidden. |
Speaker
13: |
Look,
here, [crosstalk] you see. |
Sean: |
With
those big sticks? |
Speaker
13: |
Yes. |
Ali: |
Big
sticks. |
Sean: |
So
there's no chance. |
Ali: |
[foreign
language] |
Speaker
13: |
[foreign
language] |
Sean: |
I
found the tension here too much sometimes, I wondered if Ali wanted to get
out and do something else. |
Ali: |
I
was put in prison when I was a teenager, I was a student. In prison we don't
work. So I came out with nothing, you see. I have no profession at all. And I
said to my friends, I said to them, I wished I had a profession, something to
do. Carpenter, something, I don't know what. |
Sean: |
What
profession would you do? |
|
What
did you want to do before you went to prison? |
Ali: |
Well,
I was, I had my own ambitions, I was thinking to become a lawyer, something
like that. But my whole ambitions were undermined by [inaudible], by the
occupation. |
Sean: |
Do
you regret planting the bomb, because you'd be a different person now
[crosstalk]- |
Ali: |
No,
no, I don't regret it. I have nothing to regret, you see. If I regret, I
regret that I was a victim and also Israelis who I wounded were victims also
too. Both of us were victims of the new situation. These are your occupation. |
Sean: |
That's
hidden well. |
Ali: |
This
is our society. |
Sean: |
You
have to hide, okay. |
Ali: |
See,
my sister, she's my sister but she knows I drink, but in front of her I
should hide it, you see. It's not good under such a letter. |
Sean: |
Yeah. |
|
Dove
runs a café in the Muslim quarter, five minutes from Ali's house. |
Dove: |
Why
aren't there beers in here? |
Speaker
5: |
Yeah.
12. |
Dove: |
In
Yemen, there's a four shekel profit on a beer, I want beers in here. I want the
people to see all of our selection. |
Speaker
14: |
What's
going on? |
Speaker
15: |
[foreign
language] |
Sean: |
At
the dividing line between the Muslim and Jewish quarter, an Arab has been
refused entrance for his own safety. Dove does something very unusual for an
Orthodox Jew. |
Speaker
15: |
[foreign
language] |
Dove: |
[foreign
language] |
Speaker
15: |
[foreign
language] |
Dove: |
[foreign
language] |
Speaker
15: |
[foreign
language] |
Dove: |
[foreign
language] |
Speaker
15: |
[foreign
language] |
Sean: |
He
didn't do that for the camera. |
Dove: |
No
way man. I did not do that for the camera, son, I told you. I don't play
games. I'm for real. I look for every opportunity, that's part of the secret
to life. Look for every opportunity. God likes what you're doing, if it's
just little things, crossing somebody the street or something, he frees you
from other stuff. So, you're the nigger that's go to work, see. |
|
And
I play, and everything's beautiful and it's a mitzvah. You know how much
credit I got for doing that act of love for a fellow human being, an older
person, which the Torah says that you have to respect an older person no
matter if he's Jewish or not. |
Speaker
5: |
Why
was that you that was willing to help him. |
Dove: |
That's
my smarts. |
|
Now,
what I've got to do is the prayer I was supposed to do in the morning. The
prays prayer. |
Sean: |
How
long is it gonna take? |
Dove: |
A
few minutes. |
|
[foreign
language] |
Sean: |
The
next time I saw Ali, his wife had left him, taking the kids to her mother's
house in [Acku] a town on the coast. |
|
Did
she give you an ultimatum? |
Ali: |
Not
ultimatum no, no, no. She say I care about my husband, I want my husband to
see, I really appreciate him, I like him, but my husband has a problem. He
has different moods. |
Sean: |
And
the moods, because of being in prison? |
Ali: |
No. |
Sean: |
What
then? |
Ali: |
Definitely
because of the prison. Sometimes I become angry. Mainly when I see the
political situation and when I see the concessions from the Palestinian side,
the way they are humiliating themselves, drives me crazy. |
Sean: |
Do
you take it out on your family and your wife? |
Ali: |
Huh? |
Sean: |
Do
you take it out, your aggression, do you take your anger in the house. |
Ali: |
No,
no, no. |
Sean: |
But
you lose your temper? |
Ali: |
No.
But I would be in different moods you see. Sometimes I don't want to talk at
all. |
Sean: |
I
see. |
Ali: |
She's
talking to me, and I'm just making like this, like this, and she knows pretty
well that I'm not with her, you see. |
Sean: |
Ali
was going to a wedding party for a friend, a kind of Arabic stag night and he
invited me along. I felt he was putting on a brave face. |
Ali: |
Whenever
I see kids, I remember [inaudible]. |
Sean: |
Your
parents miss the family. |
Ali: |
Yeah,
my father, my mother they miss the kids, I mean, the children. My father said
to me, your house was full of light because of the children, but now, I can't
it's so dark. No more light. |
|
I
say to him, yeah true. Yeah, true. |
|
[foreign
language] |
Sean: |
I'd
come back to Ali's house but he wasn't at home. His family told me he'd been
drinking for a week and now realised the reason why his wife had left him. |
Ali: |
I
got fed up, honestly I got fed up. I got fed up. |
Sean: |
Why
are you fed up Ali? |
Ali: |
I
got fed up. |
Sean: |
With
what? |
Ali: |
I
got fed up by [inaudible], I am tired. |
Sean: |
How
do you know. |
Ali: |
I'm
tired. |
Sean: |
Should
we go and have a cup of tea? |
Ali: |
No,
no, I want to go and drink? |
|
This
is my life, now it's too late. It's too late. It's too late, [Shamm], it's too late. |
Sean: |
Why
is it too late? |
Ali: |
It's
too late. Now, I'm asking myself, I'm talking to myself. |
Sean: |
Why
is it too late? |
Ali: |
[foreign
language], for whom? For whom you roasted in life. It's too late. Now, I'm
old. Look I'm old. I can't walk. I can't walk. |
|
I
want to see my children at home. I want to see people, but I can't. Look,
what I'm seeing. |
|
Look
this apartment, they took it, the settlers. Settlers are [inaudible]. |
Speaker
16: |
[foreign
language] |
Speaker
17: |
[foreign
language] |
Ali: |
[foreign
language] |
Speaker
17: |
[foreign
language] |
Ali: |
[foreign
language] |
Speaker
17: |
[foreign
language] |
Ali: |
[foreign
language] |
Speaker
17: |
[foreign
language] lemon. |
Sean: |
Lemon. |
Speaker
17: |
[foreign
language] |
Sean: |
Isn't
it. He's hiding it. Is that your secret stash. |
Ali: |
Huh? |
Sean: |
Your
secret money. |
Speaker
17: |
[foreign
language] |
Ali: |
[foreign
language] |
Speaker
17: |
[foreign
language] |
Ali: |
[foreign
language] |
Speaker
17: |
[foreign
language] |
Ali: |
[foreign
language] |
Speaker
17: |
[foreign
language] |
|
[foreign
language] |
Sean: |
Really. |
Speaker
17: |
[foreign
language] |
Sean: |
Oh
no. |
Speaker
17: |
[foreign
language] |
Ali: |
So
we stay one month, no drinking at all. Then my aunt she'll go to Accum talk to my wife. |
Sean: |
Well,
your sister was saying that your wife's not keen on coming back. |
Ali: |
I
can't force her, I'm democratic. [crosstalk] really should, I don't deserve
such a life. I deserve better, better than this life. |
Sean: |
Dove
invited me for a meal round at his mother's house a neighbouring settlement. |
Dove: |
Come
sit down with your grandchildren. |
Speaker
18: |
Make
yourself comfortable, sit down to the table, and sit down [crosstalk] be
gracious. |
Speaker
19: |
It's
great food, [Babbi]. |
Sean: |
No
this is fine. |
Dove: |
Have
a seat. |
Speaker
18: |
No
thank you. |
Dove: |
You
come to the old European immigrants there's no way you can get away with not
eating, you know. |
Speaker
18: |
The
one you see ... |
Dove: |
Yeah. |
|
This
is also, the other one was [inaudible]. |
Speaker
18: |
As
a settler. |
Dove: |
As
a settler. |
Speaker
18: |
His
picture. |
Dove: |
[crosstalk] |
Speaker
18: |
This
picture, it was in the Economist or something. |
Dove: |
These
are the two important things of true settlers of the land of Israel. |
Sean: |
What
is? |
Dove: |
Books
on the arm and unfortunately because of the situation, a sub machine gun
strapped to the other side of it. |
Sean: |
What
does mommy think of that? |
Dove: |
She
[crosstalk] made sure that my gun was always cleaned and that I had the
proper amount of bullets. |
Speaker
18: |
That's
right. Because [crosstalk]- |
Dove: |
We
used to live down here. [crosstalk] in the middle of the intifada. |
Speaker
18: |
We
had the intifada for eight years. |
Dove: |
Sure.
[crosstalk] and I'm not trying to leave my gun here. |
Speaker
18: |
We
had a car that was smashed- |
Dove: |
On
the way to town, leave the gun, you know. |
Speaker
18: |
...
how many times. I myself was four times in a car that the windows were
smashed. |
Sean: |
Dove
came to Israel just before the intifada, the most violent conflict between
Arabs and Jews in recent history. |
Dove: |
I've
got many, many stories of rock throwing and shooting and all kinds of things. |
Sean: |
They
throw the rocks, you don't throw the rocks. [crosstalk] Jewish people don't
throw rocks. |
Dove: |
Oh
there were stone throwing, we were throwing rocks, boy ... |
Sean: |
You
were throwing rocks. |
Dove: |
Oh,
we were smashing Arab windows, sure. |
Sean: |
We
only see the Arabs throwing the rocks. |
Dove: |
Well,
at the time, the Arabs initiated it. But there was a time when we just be in
the middle of the intifada when the lights were out in the houses and you'd
get a rock, then you'd gather like 20 rocks together and just drive down the
road and just smash a rock through each window of every Arab house. As you're
driving down the street. |
|
This
is what was going on. And two years later it was like going through the Arab
town of [Kusonda]. And there's a road block there
of stones and I stop and go out and there's this Arab beyond the road block
throwing rocks at my car. So I grab my sub machine gun and click, click and
all, and shot one bullet up in the air and he kept throwing. You're just like
what, macho man over there in the middle of the road throwing stones. Then I
shot one in his direction, still didn't get him out of the way. And then
finally, I aim right at him, knowing this guy wants me to kill him, and then I
start talking to God and I said, master of the universe if you want this man
dead, then kill him yourself. And then I put the gun down, got in the car,
made a u-turn, and did my radio show from some
phone booth in some other settlement. |
|
That
was that. |
Sean: |
But
now you don't carry a gun. |
Dove: |
No.
I'm a man of peace. Today, and I love Arabs. I love all people, and we don't
know, we're at a period of time where everybody hopes this thing will
continue, be peaceful. Do I think it will be peaceful, no. |
Sean: |
Ali
hadn't been seen on the streets for over a week, so I went to his house. His
family told me they were worried about him. |
|
You
sleeping? You sleeping? |
|
In
the six months, I'd known Ali, he talked constantly about the suffering of
his people. I was now beginning to witness his suffering. |
Ali: |
[foreign
language] |
Speaker
17: |
[foreign
language] |
Ali: |
[foreign
language] |
Speaker
17: |
[foreign
language] |
Ali: |
[foreign
language] |
Dove: |
I
am very self-conscious, I don't think I look very good sleeping. [foreign
language] |
Sean: |
Is
that the most self-conscious you've been being filmed is sleeping |
Dove: |
Yeah.
Sleeping is [inaudible], because a person's not in control of what he does. |
Speaker
20: |
What? |
Dove: |
I
could, who the hell knows what. |
Speaker
20: |
You
want a blanket. |
Dove: |
Have
scales and everything. [Marish] ... |
Speaker
20: |
What. |
Dove: |
You
think I should let them film me when I'm sleeping. |
Speaker
20: |
[inaudible] |
Dove: |
Does
it look stupid. |
Speaker
20: |
No. |
Dove: |
I'll
tell you the truth. I'm not doing this purposely, Sean, but you're gonna get took us there. |
|
(singing) |
|
Oh,
I love that song, 1968, I was 18 years old, I wanted to ... I was looking for
my soul mate and I sang that song, it was so Jewish sounding. So beautiful. |
Sean: |
Dove
had a name for me, Aesof. Because of my Catholic
background, he becomes suspicious. He told me Aesof
of an enemy of the Jews. |
Dove: |
That's
good enough. |
Sean: |
He
was beginning to feel, I had an ulterior motive in filming him. |
Dove: |
This
is the way it should be, not like leaning over. If you weren't photographing
me and everything, should look good. I should look neat. Right or wrong. |
Sean: |
[inaudible] |
Dove: |
I
know you do, you prefer me to act like a total idiot on the camera also so
you have a better story. You could de-legitimise me. |
Sean: |
De-legitimise
you. |
Dove: |
Yeah,
that's what the English would like to see. |
Sean: |
No.
[crosstalk] |
Dove: |
Jews
are mashuganas. |
Sean: |
What
does that mean. |
Dove: |
Nuts.
Right. |
Sean: |
No. |
|
Dove
had told me of Israels most notorious settler,
Baruch Goldstein, the local doctor here. In 1996 he was hacked to death after
walking into a mosque and shooting dead 29 Arabs, who were praying. |
|
It
was world wide news and is still very sensitive in
Israel today. I got Dove to take me to Goldstein's grave. |
Dove: |
His
almost, could say followers now, Goldstein-ites,
went and they made this thing here. Plaza, lights, on the grave of Goldstein. |
|
He
gave his soul for the nation of Israel and the land. And then it uses a line,
which I have in one of my own songs, who will go up to the mount of the lord,
he who's hands are clean and pure of heart. |
|
I'm
depending on you, I don't know how I'm sounding and everything, but you know,
a lot of people they do have falafel brains and if this- |
Sean: |
Dove
was becoming nervous about the Goldstein thing. |
Dove: |
I'm
telling you heavy trip, like everything else in my life, understand. I mean,
there are people [crosstalk] here that say Goldstein did the right thing and
I wish, I'm gonna name my next child after
Goldstein. |
Sean: |
But
you're not saying that. |
Dove: |
No,
I'm not saying that. I'm saying I understand the situation. I understand how
it could have driven the doctor specifically of this place, to go and do what
he did at that time. And my connection to Goldstein, I don't understand it. I
don't understand it. |
|
I
love God, and I look for the thing in Goldstein which I would like to have.
And that is the courage, the might, since then I'm fearless, nothing scares
me. Nothing. |
Sean: |
Nothing. |
Dove: |
Nothing.
Only God maybe. |
Sean: |
Not
even guns. |
Dove: |
I'm
afraid of God, not even what? |
Sean: |
Guns? |
Dove: |
I'm
not afraid of nothing. |
Sean: |
At
the time of the Goldstein massacre, Dove was thrown off the radio for a
remark he made about Arabs. And a picture of Dove posing with a sub machine
gun and bible was used by the Economist and shown around the world as the image
of a settler. |
|
Dove
seemed full of contradictions to me. An ultra religious
man with a hippie lifestyle. He was an outsider within his own religious
community. |
|
He
insisted he wasn't a settler or a Goldstein fan, he just lived on Israels most notorious settlements because the rent was
cheap. |
|
The
one thing that was clear to me was that Dove enjoyed being filmed from almost
any angle. |
|
Ali
still wasn't working. I couldn't stand by and watch any longer. |
Ali: |
I
know what I have to do. |
Sean: |
You
were doing it, and you broke it. You tell me last week you were not gonna drink for one month. What happened, why did you
drink? |
Ali: |
Was
angry. |
Sean: |
Well,
you got to be angry and not drink. |
Ali: |
I
was angry. Sure, sure. Give me [inaudible]. You can't understand pretty well
my mentality. I was in [Bekrum] yesterday for that
I was drunk. |
Sean: |
But
it just ruins yourself. Because you're a happy man most of the time. |
Ali: |
I'm
not happy. |
Sean: |
Why
are you not happy. |
Ali: |
I'll
tell you why. Give me one reason to be happy. Give me one reason. I'm under
occupation. I can't walk in the street freely. You can walk. You, British,
you can walk freely, but me in my city, where I born, where I grew up, I
can't walk freely. Why you want me to be happy, why? Why you want me to be
happy? |
|
Because
they betrayed me. Why. Why, why. Give me one reason, why I should be happy,
give me one reason. |
Sean: |
Because
other people live in the same occupation that you do, and they survived. I don't
like to see you hurting yourself and ruining yourself, because you can be
stronger and more positive if you're not doing this to yourself. |
|
You've
lived with the occupation for years. |
|
Is
it just the occupation that makes you unhappy? Would you be happy with a
Palestinian state? |
Ali: |
A
lot of that. |
Sean: |
Ali,
let me ask you one more question. What will make you happy? What will make
you happy? |
Ali: |
That
my son Muhammad. |
Sean: |
Yeah. |
Ali: |
[inaudible]
can't imagine now, [inaudible] when I used to diss him. One day he was to
come home and just come in [inaudible]. |
|
I
bring him back. I bring him. |
Sean: |
He
will. |
Ali: |
I
promise you, Sean, I promise you, Sean. I bring him back. |
|
I
promise you. I bring him back. |
Dove: |
The
end is coming right. This is supposed to be the year that we give up 400 and
something square miles to [Golan] heights, and bring the enemy right to Lake
[Kanarit]. I don't know, it's not gone be a quiet
year is Israel. To go loud, it's promising to be a very big and violent, I'm
sorry to say, but violent in terms of a lot of pushing and shoving, I hope
not more than that. |
|
But
there's a whole cross section of people in this country that don't believe
that Israel should come down from the Golan Heights. And of course, this
place 18,000 residents that built up the Golan Heights. |
|
That
will be our latest news report from Israel. [foreign language] from
Jerusalem, be strong everybody and I'll speak to you again on WMCA, Saturday
night at about 12 midnight, 570 on the AM, [foreign language] from Jerusalem. |
|
What's
wrong Jews living here together with Arabs. What's the big crime? |
Sean: |
Arab
says their land. |
Dove: |
Well,
you should have thrown them out. What they should have done. That's what [Kahharra] preached, not out of hate for them, because
that's the general rule if you say it's your land and you want it, the only
way to really settle is by cleaning out. |
Sean: |
You
can't just throw people out. |
Dove: |
Why
not? |
Sean: |
Where
would they go? |
Dove: |
Just
replace them, put them somewhere else. |
Sean: |
But
they've been living here for years as well. |
Dove: |
So,
they were living here. So. |
Sean: |
You
just acknowledged that they've got a guardianship as well. |
Dove: |
I
know, no, I don't acknowledge, absolutely not. |
|
This
was unsettled territory, we took it over. [crosstalk] because of a war. We're
not the invaders. They attacked us. |
|
You
attack and then you got to pay the price. You lose the war, you pay the
price. |
Sean: |
It's
Ramadan when Muslims are forbidden to eat during daylight hours. For the
first time in his life, Ali is fasting. He's decided to dry out, to try, and
get his wife and kids back. |
Ali: |
I
decided for fasting, not because on the religious background, no, no, because
I want. I want. |
Sean: |
Nothing
to do or anything ... |
Ali: |
No,
no, it has nothing to do with the religion this year. It has to do with me
personally. Me, myself, I want to check my will, my abilities. After all
this, you see. |
Sean: |
After
the last crazy month? |
Ali: |
Yeah. |
|
State. |
Sean: |
She
not well, huh. She should lay down and not do anything. |
Ali: |
Yeah. |
|
I
will miss her a lot if she pass away. |
Sean: |
You're
worried about her health sometimes. |
Ali: |
Yeah,
yeah. Sometimes, I'm worried about all that. I ask her not to work, not to do
anything, but she can't. |
Sean: |
Be
quite lonely without your mother. |
Ali: |
Yeah.
No complaint session from me. |
Sean: |
No
wife. |
Ali: |
Nobody. |
|
I'm
so connected to her. Because during my imprisonment, the only one who was
looking after me, she was. And when I am in a bad mood, and bad situation,
I'm frustrated, she is the one who looks after me. |
Sean: |
And
now, you're looking after her. |
Ali: |
I
should. I should. |
Sean: |
Why
is your father eat on his own, why doesn't he ever eat with you? |
Ali: |
He
doesn't in fact. No. |
Sean: |
He
just sat on his own now. |
Ali: |
Yeah,
yeah. He's used to that. He's [inaudible] because of my politics. |
Sean: |
Does
your mother agree with you by how your father [crosstalk]- |
Ali: |
Yes,
yes, yes. |
Sean: |
What
does she think. |
Ali: |
Oh
my mom is totally with me. But she says, look Ali, you've met your father
only 10 years, but I've been with your father more than 50 years already so
I'm used to that. |
Sean: |
Is
he embarrassed about you going to prison? |
Ali: |
Well,
he's a [inaudible], which means he was supposed to look after people not to
do such things, so imagine at the end of the day to find out that his son is
doing such things. |
|
A
lot of tension over here. I can say that if Shalom was really serious and he
wanted an apartment in [inaudible] central Jerusalem he can have the best
apartment in the Jewish quarter. |
Sean: |
Ali
is back on his feet, at work performing for Israeli TV again. It's nearly a
year since I first filmed Ali. In this time, the Israelis have given up more
than 17% of land, but the thing that no one can agree on is the future of
Jerusalem and who it belongs to. |
Ali: |
Now,
we are moving towards the Jewish neighbourhood. We still are in the Arab
neighbourhood, but more and more settlers we will see on our way. More and
more settlers we will see on our way. |
Speaker
21: |
And
now, we've got live from cold, cold, cold Hebron, Dove you're in. |
Dove: |
Yeah,
I'm outside in the street, because the weather is the headlines here. It is
windy and it is cold. |
|
Listen
let me tell you about Travellers Choice, they're giving you the choice right
now, would you like to be in cold New York or would you like to be in cold holy
[inaudible]. Do it through Travellers Choice, they're your choice for travel,
362 5th Avenue in Manhattan. And of course I'm also sponsored by Quality
Broad Room and Carpet of Brooklyn. Get your carpeting through Quality Broad
Room and Carpet in Brooklyn and of course you can get a free Dove Shirene tape or CD of my latest release Madly in Love
with the One Above. |
|
The
other big item is that the rabbis got together up in the Golan Heights and
issued a sack that it is us that are to give up territories, that Israel
should stay put up there. That's the latest news out of Israel, I love you
all, [foreign langugage] from Hebron. |
Sean: |
Just
as the peace talks were on the news again, war broke out between Dove and me.
He'd seen me grimace at the idea of Israel keeping the Golan Heights. The
piece of land they won from Syria in the 1967 war. |
|
Why
are you saying this now? |
Dove: |
What
do you mean, why am I saying it now. |
Sean: |
Why
are you attacking me, with Brit, now. |
Dove: |
Why? |
Sean: |
Yeah. |
|
Did
you see me grimace or something? |
Dove: |
Yeah. |
Sean: |
Did
you? |
Dove: |
Yes,
I saw you grimace. |
Sean: |
No,
I was just grimacing trying to understand. Just thinking, not disagreeing. |
Dove: |
You're
not letting yourself understand. It's something so simple- |
Sean: |
I
think I'm doing it pretty well. |
Dove: |
...
Something so simple. Is this land ours, or isn't it. And we suffered so much
and at this late date you still cringe that why doesn't Israel want to make
peace. Why doesn't Israel give up Jerusalem. Don't you [crosstalk] see. |
Sean: |
I
didn't say that. |
Dove: |
That
it comes from your innards, from your blood. You hate, you hate Jews. |
Sean: |
I
haven't said a word. |
Dove: |
It's
natural. |
|
But
it's not interpreted today, it's now, I don't hate Jews, I just don't want a
grant Jews their land. That's hatred. That's hatred. If [crosstalk] you don't
want the Jews to have anything. |
Sean: |
Peace
process. |
Dove: |
Peace,
it's piss, not peace. You're full of bologna. |
Sean: |
Later
I tried to make peace with Dove, but it was too late. He was now convinced
that I was Aesof the Jew hater. |
Dove: |
I
didn't say that you hate Jews. All right, maybe I did. If you're Aesof. It doesn't mean that you hate Jews, but a guy like
you that's not religious, that intrinsic thing doesn't have to come out as
Jew hatred, it wouldn't. Because you're a man of the world, and you've
developed environmentally, and if you allow something like that to come to
your consciousness. |
Sean: |
If
anything I hate religion. |
Dove: |
What? |
Sean: |
If
anything I hate religion, because I see what it does- |
Dove: |
That's
the Aesof in you, that's the Aesof
in you, nigger. That's the Aesof, that's it. You go
me on film, that's the Aesof, that's it. |
Sean: |
Because
that's what I see what it does to people. |
Dove: |
Sean,
that's it. |
Sean: |
But
this is what it does to people. |
Dove: |
Listen
to yourself, I am religion. [crosstalk] all right, I am religion. That's
right, you hate religion. |
Sean: |
Look
at what it does to people. |
Dove: |
That's
what it is. |
Sean: |
Look
what it does to people. |
Dove: |
That's
exactly, listen to it, it's on tape now. |
Sean: |
That's
what it does to people. |
Dove: |
It's
on tape. What does, shumz ... |
Sean: |
That's
what it does to people. |
Dove: |
Let
me tell you something, the Jew represents one thing in the world, and it's
religion. And when the rabbi, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai says, [foreign
language], Aesof hates [inaudible] this is the
thing, that's the, I hate religion. |
|
I
hate religion, we got it [crosstalk]- |
Sean: |
I
said, if anything, if anything [crosstalk]- |
Dove: |
You
have it on tape. |
Sean: |
If
anything- |
Dove: |
We
are on the way, we're on the way, we're on our way home, we're going home.
You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches on the head, we
got it. |
Speaker
17: |
You
feel it well. |
Sean: |
At
the end of Ramadan, I find Ali with his children. They'd come home for a few
days without their mother. |
Ali: |
Okay,
welcome. |
Speaker
17: |
[foreign
language] |
Speaker
22: |
[foreign
language] |
Ali: |
Say
hi, hi. |
Sean: |
Hello. |
Speaker
23: |
[foreign
language] |
Ali: |
Yes. |
Speaker
22: |
[foreign
language] |
Sean: |
Nearly
a year after his wife left, Ali is now hopeful that she will return. |
Speaker
22: |
Hello.
[foreign language] |
Ali: |
[foreign
language] |
|
[foreign
language] okay, let's go. |
Speaker
23: |
[foreign
language] |
Ali: |
[foreign
language] |
Speaker
23: |
[foreign
language] |
Ali: |
[foreign
language] |
Speaker
23: |
[foreign
language] |
Ali: |
[foreign
language] |
Speaker
23: |
[foreign
language] |
Ali: |
This
is one of them you see. This is a new one. [foreign language] |
Sean: |
Is
it working? |
Ali: |
Yeah,
yeah, it does work, yeah. |
Dove: |
(singing) |
|
Yeah. |
|
(singing) |
|
Let's
do it. |