VISIT PALESTINE - Transcript
Bold type = Voice over
Italics = Sub-titles
Standard =
Interviews to camera.
10:02:52:16 Jenin
refugee camp, the camp of endurance, has become a symbol of resistance across the
Middle East.
10:03:33:20 In
the aftermath of the massacre, people tried to reclaim some stability in their lives,
but there was no respite.
10:03:42:22 The
Israeli military returned with an aggression and recklessness born out of a heightened sense of impunity.
The curfews, assassinations
and causal killings continued.
Voice in
the hospital ward:
10:04:52:00 Where
was she wounded, doctor?
10:04:54:00 Here,
in her left arm.
10:04:57:07 There’s
another bullet in her chest…
10:05:00:05 Close
to her heart.
10:05:05:00 I grappled with how to respond.
10:05:08;18 I
decided to use my physical presence to try to minimize some of the brutality.
10:05:13:15 The
ability of activists to do this is possible only because of inherent racism.
Our blood as foreigners is deemed less expendable than that of Palestinians
and we are less likely to get shot
engaging in
interventionist actions.
10:05:27:45 It
was an uncomfortable dynamic to work with but I used
it to intervene and to negotiate with Israeli
soldiers and to be present as a
witness during invasions.
10:05:40:44 When
viewed from a comfortable context in the West, footage of activists standing in front of tanks can seem crazy and possibly suicidal. But it’s a natural
reaction to an unnatural situation.
10:05:52:46 When
you’re surrounded by violence, it’s a very human reaction to try to struggle for
people to be allowed basic human rights. It’s the
only response ultimately that allowed me to retain my own humanity too.
Young man
in the street:
10:06:11:00 Caoimhe
often risked her life…
10:06:16:22 …putting
herself in front of the army.
10:06:21:20 I
often advised her to be more careful.
10:06:26:16 Especially
after what happened to the American girl in Gaza.
10:06:29:23 She
would say. “No. I am no better than you…
10:06:33:01 …we
are all human beings, all the same.”
10:06:35:14 There
is no difference between Palestinians, foreigners, Christians or Muslims.
10:06:38:20 No
one did as much for us as she did.
10:06:41:09 She
took real risks.
10:06:43:07 She
often faced the army…
10:06:47:00 When
they came to shoot at us.
10:06:50:16 She
would stand up to them and face them.
10:06:54:01 When
there was a curfew she helped people to…
10:06:58:02 …keep
safe while getting bread and moving around.
10:07:01:13 Once
there was a small boy who had…
10:07:04:21 …fallen
in front of an approaching tank.
10:07:06:04 She
ran, grabbed the boy and brought him to safety.
10:07:12:15 She
wasn’t afraid of anything.
10:07:38:00 One has a responsibility to stand by, not
necessarily to stand up, not to be
removed from the people that you are trying to protect or trying to minimise the brutality that they
suffer on a day-to-day basis in any way that
you can.
10:07:52:00 But to stand with them, to co-exist, to
live, to breathe, to exalt in their
strength and to try and comfort them in the times that we are all living through now in which
people are suffering a level of pain that I think
most human beings would break underneath.
10:08:44:00 You know if you watch any situation like
that tank moving up the hill, you
see immediately that those children knew how to duck. They know how to get down and this is
what is keeping them alive. This self- preservation
instinct.
10:08:56:09 Even when the tanks are not here it is the
uncertainty of when
they will come back into town, it’s the uncertainty of should you let your child
go to school. Because you don’t know whether
he or she will come back home again alive.
10:09:06:09 It’s the uncertainty that every time you
say goodbye to somebody in the morning
of whether they are going to come back to you walking or come back to you in an
ambulance or come back to you dead.
School
teachers Voice:
10:09:39:00 The
tanks are coming, sit down!
10:09:46:07 The
tanks!
10:09:48:20 Palestinian
school children are under continual siege.
10:10:01:00 Over
the past four years, over two thousand, eight-hundred school children have been wounded on
their journeys to and from school.
10:10:08:04 Five
children have been killed in their classrooms by Israeli gun fire.
Ali
Samoudi- Camera man:
10:10:23:05 We want the freedom,
we want the life.
10:10:25:11 I want my children to go to the school free
and go back to the house free.
10:10:31:18 But you see everything in here dangerous,
everything in here dangerous.
10:10:42:22 Ali Samoudi is a
local journalist and father of three.
10:10:46:02 He
has been seriously wounded twice whilst trying to document the daily human rights
violations committed by Israeli soldiers.
10:10:53:13 Ali
challenges the occupation with his camera deconstructing myths with the power and truth of his images.
10:11:26:00 I walked children to
and from school to try and keep them a little bit safer.
10:11:29:10 Gaining
an education in occupied Palestine is an act of resistance in
itself.
Caoimhe
talking outside:
10:11:37:00 My time here, a very small proportion of it
involved direct action and getting
in between when Israeli soldiers entered into Jenin.
10:11:45:11 A far greater part - and I regard this as
much a direct action -was the sitting
and the listening and the trying to assume some of the pain and the burden of people who are living
around me.
10:12:14:15 They say they are happy because there is no
school. Like any other kid in
the world.
Young
girl:
10:12:22:00 That’s her father.
10:12:24:13 Her father was killed.
Young
girl:
10:12:26:00 Her
father was martyred.
10:12:31:10 In
these months of living in the camps, of sitting with people and hearing their stories, I began to understand why there is a deliberate
policy of excluding their narratives in the mainstream media.
10:12:42:07 The
criminalisation and dehumanisation of Palestinians, relies on our ignorance.
10:12:47:28 Reaching
across the divides of misinformation and forming our own relationships with Palestinians is itself
a threat to the occupation.
10:12:15:10 The
family of Sheikh Bassam Alssadi, a political leader of Islamic Jihad, has been exposed to continual persecution.
10:12:25:00 Sheikh
Bassam was wanted by the Israelis and his family targeted as a means of putting pressure on him to
turn himself in.
10:13:33:20 His
children have been deeply traumatised by what they have witnessed.
Doha -
young girl:
10:13:37:00 Sometimes
when we go to school there are tanks that come and shoot at us.
10:13:41:17 They
gather us all on the lower floor. We have two floors at school…
10:13:46:06 …but
they get us to go to the lower floor.
10:13:50:5 The
tanks start shooting and they tell us to put our hands behind our heads and to keep our
mouths open, so that we can keep on breathing.
10:14:03:00 We
also have people with first-aid training so that if a girl faints
they can help her.
10:14:12:15 When
the shooting starts, they hide us under the desks.
10:14:18:05 About
a year ago, they taught us how to lie on the floor when the shelling starts.
10:14:30:16 They
taught us to put our hands behind our heads and lie on the floor
so we don’t get hurt.
10:14:41:02 They
told us that when random shelling starts we should not
cry, especially
during curfews…
10:14:47:04 …because
if the army find out that pupils are at school, they will be firing even more.
10:14:52:12 At
school we are often told that we will grow up as an ignorant generation…
10:15:03:00 …because
these tanks are really distracting.
10:15:07:01 But
I hope that we will carry on resisting, and they tell us that learning is a
form of Jihad.
10:15:15:05 The
tanks come to our school because they want us to grow up as an ignorant generation.
10:15:21:00 But
we are determined to resist, so when the tanks attack, we just carry on studying as
usual.
10:15:28:05 They
don’t shut the schools. We carry on studying and I hope we get good grades.
10:15:38:10 I
lost my cousin and my brother and my grand-mother…
10;15:43:15 …but we Palestinians are united.
10:15:48:17 I
hope that we can stay steadfast that way.
10:15:57:20 No
matter how many martyrs we lose and how many of us get injured, we will still resist.
10:16:06:12 We
will remain steadfast and rooted here in Palestine.
Ya-yah -
young boy:
10:16:11:15 It’s
my turn!
10:16:13:09 It’s
my turn! It’s my turn!
Doha -
young girl:
10:16:15:17
This
is my brother, my beloved brother.
10:16:20:16 He
was killed by Sharon.
10:16:23:02 This
is my brother. He was killed by Sharon.
10:16:26:22 I
am going to kill Sharon.
10:16:29:05 Ya-Yah
is a seven year old child and his understanding of
Sharon and the occupation
is from what he witnesses everyday.
10:16:36:06 He
has witnessed things no child should ever see and lived and breathed the occupation
his entire life.
10:16:44:16 Though
his passion and anger are genuine, he mimics a rhetoric he hears around him.
Az -
teenage boy:
10:16:59:05 I was
going to buy some things for my parents when the shooting started.
10:17:06:09 It
was random fire, so I was hit.
10:17:10:20 The
bullet entered my neck here, and exited here.
10:17:13:14 I
could easily have died or been paralysed.
10:
17:16:10 So
this Jewish man who was shooting…
10:17:19:00 …does
he have any humanity?
10:17:21:08 He
is willing to kill a
soul.
10:17:24:19 Isn’t
a soul precious?
Doha -
young girl:
10:17:40:03 This
is my brother.
10:17:43:00 My
brother who was killed.
10:17:52:00 He
fought with guns and stones.
10:17:54:12 He
used to jump on top of tanks to try and dismantle…
10:17:58:23 …some
of the pieces attached to the tank but it was difficult because they are fixed.
10:18:02:21 One
time, though, he did manage to dismantle a speaker from the tank.
10:18:10:09 He
used to throw stones at the tanks.
10:18:17:00 Is it
true that a stone can do nothing to a tank.
10:18:23:11 But
it is part of resistance, a very important part.
10:18:28:19 I
hope one day we will have tanks and heavy machinery so we can fight them …
10:18:34:13 …the
same way they are fighting us.
Young man
looking at poster:
10:19:33:20 Look,
a twelve year old child is challenging a seventy ton
tank with a stone.
10:19:41:00 Why
only a stone?
10:19:44:00 This
is not just a show!
10:19:47:19 It’s
a symbol of the greatness - of our will to resist.
10:19:54:03 The
kid threw a stone at the tank…
10:19:58:10 …and
the soldier shot him, splitting his head open.
10:20:02:19 It
was a devastating scene.
10:
20:06:07 These two guys, Diy’aa and Hakim, may God rest their souls.
I
really cherished them.
10:20:16:12 This
guy, Nidal Kastoni, was also martyred, he was shot by a sniper on his way to school.
10:20:26:14 He
was only on his way to school. No one can deny it, I saw it with my own eyes.
10:20:31:16 He
was shot by a round of bullets and bled to death before we could get him to hospital.
10:20:44:07 God
rest their souls, all of them.
10:21:09:18 There
is no genuine space for childhood in Jenin.
10:21:12:24 The
occupation brings with it a culture of imposed death.
10:21:16:14 Children
witness the brutality of Israeli soldiers on a daily basis.
10:21:20:14 They see their parents humiliated and their
homes desecrated.
10:21:23:20 They
know that there are no sacred spaces, that there is no refuge for their vulnerable little
bodies.
10:21:31:20 Though
forced to become fearless in order to survive,
10:21:34:00 the majority of Palestinian children are traumatised by what
they have been through.
Caoimhe
outside at night:
10:22:14:10 You
are all crazy!
Woman on
roof:
10:22:17:19 Come
in and rest for a while.
Caoimhe
outside at night:
10:22:19:20 Thank
you but don’t worry, it’s late and we’d better be going.
Caoimhe
outside at night:
10:22:23:16 Were
those real bullets?
Woman on
the roof:
10:22:25:17 No,
just the children playing.
Caomihe
outside at night:
10:22:28:00 There
is already enough shooting around here from the army!
Caoimhe
voice over:
10:22:38:00 It
is when the often chaotic, violence-filled days fold into night, here can be felt.
10:22:50:14 It
was often during the night as I sat with families that they spoke of their loss and loneliness
and fear and hope.
Young girl
at night:
10:23:03:11 The
invasion was very difficult.
10:23:10:07 The
other invasions had not been as bad as this one.
10:
23:18:00 We never imagined that they would demolish so many homes and kill so many people.
10:23:27:00 Before,
in other invasions, the tanks would come and do damage, but his time…
10:23:32:09 …they
killed so many of our families and friends. People that we loved.
10:23:41:19 The
soldiers entered the camp near my neighbour’s house.
10:23:47:00 They
started to throw smoke grenades at them and lots of yellow smoke came out.
10:23:51:02 They
shouted at us to get out of our homes. But where could we go?
10:23:58:08 The tanks came in and
demolished the houses.
10:24:05:05 But they didn’t give
people time to escape.
10:24:14:00 No. They demolished their
houses on top of them.
10:24:19:20 The bulldozers didn’t care
what they ran over or how many people they
killed.
Woman on the veranda at night.:
10:24:42:21 Our life is not a life. I
wish to God that the occupation would disappear.
10:24:47:03 I don’t mean that all the
Jews disappear but, God willing, if it happened we wouldn’t mind!
10:24:53:12 But we really want peace,
we are tired of this situation.
10:24:57:13 We want to live like
people in any other country. Nobody really supports
us.
10:25:03:20 They go on television
shows and talk about us but they don’t take any action.
10:25:12:21 We need solidarity. We
want peace. We can live with the Jews - them in their state, us in ours.
10:25:21:00 We are afraid for our
children, just as they are afraid for their children.
10:25:25:18 It is not necessary for
them to come into the camp everyday to arrest, shoot
and kill us.
10:25:31:09 The Israelis die too when
our people carry out attacks in Israel.
10:25:36:00 Sharon thinks by killing
and arresting people he will suppress the
Intifada.
10:25:42:18 But it has had the
opposite effect. It’s just strengthening it.
10:25:46:02 If someone you love is
martyred wouldn’t you want to avenge them?
10:25:50:20 Our neighbour, for
example, was martyred leaving seven children.
10:25:56:00 Of course they will grow
up wanting to avenge their Father.
10:26:01:19 If someone you love is
martyred wouldn’t you want to avenge them.
10:26:05:04 The Israelis need to treat
us with dignity and return our prisoners, then there
will be peace.
10:26:15:17 God willing, we will have
some peace and experience some freedom.
10:26:24:05 God willing.
10:26:47:00 Ferial
is a thirty year old widow, her husband was arrested
and then executed
during the massacre. She struggles to provide for her six children and to cope with the loneliness
without him.
Ferrial
talks in her home:
10:27:00:00 Where
is your dad? Where’s daddy? Send your dad a kiss.
10:27:13:00 We
were all together in my uncle’s house with his neighbours when the soldiers came.
10:27:21:00 The
son of my neighbour wore a black belt, he did manual
work and had a bad
back.
10:27:31:00 The
soldiers put us women into a room and took the men outside.
10:27:35:00 They
ordered the men to lift up their shirts, searched my
husband and found
nothing on him.
10:27:39:00 My
neighbour’s son lifted up his shirt, the soldiers saw
the back belt and
opened fire on them.
10:27:44:00 They
fired so many bullets at them.
10:27:49:01 When
we collected the casings later, they filled the tray.
10:27:51:00 They
killed them for no reason.
10:27:55:00 The
soldiers had thought that he was wearing an explosive belt.
10:27:58:20 My
husband was holding our baby son and my neighbour’s son was holding his baby niece.
10:28:04:00 Do
you think men holding babies in their arms would blow themselves up?
10:28:09:20 The
soldiers were afraid. They were killing any Palestinian they saw, without cause.
10:28:16:00 My
husband was holding our small son, the one that you just saw.
10:28:19:00 They
took the babies from their arms, opened fire and shot my husband and the others dead.
10:28:27:00 Can
you imagine, you in one room, your husband outside and you can do nothing?
10:28:32:00 This
was the situation we live through. It was the most difficult time in my life.
10:28:40:00 If
you are dead, at least you rest. But we die a hundred deaths every day.
10:28:44:20 We
fear that the soldiers will come back, the everyday shootings, arrests and horror.
10:28:48:20 The
soldiers came into the camp through your neighbourhood.
10:28:54:00 They
went around Abu Samer’s house and then down into the camp.
10:28:58:00 With
patience and faith we will get through. My friends give me a lot of support.
10:29:05:20 They
don’t let me feel alone.
10:29:09:24 But
of course my life is still a bit difficult.
10:29:21:00 Ferial,
come and see your son!
10:29:24:00 He is
wiping the dust off his Father’s photograph.
10:29:33:00 Kiss
him. Kiss your father.
Caoimhe
Narration
10:29:50:00 A
lot of people who I have spoken to about the invasion, particularly younger people, kept
on saying again and again how very
beautiful the sky looked for the first few days of the invasion.
10:30:01:00 And
the missiles and the flares the flares going up and the missiles going down, how they looked
lit up the whole sky as if it were Eid.
10:30:13:00 And
then a few seconds later it would destroy a home or a life.
10:30:18:20 And
that they found it hard to reconcile the two. Beauty one second and tragedy
the next.
10:30:51:00 Whilst
living in the camp I worked as a volunteer with the local ambulance service. Along with
incredibly brave, committed paramedics.
10:30:59:00 It
was heartbreaking picking up the broken bodies Israeli soldiers left in their wake.
10:31:06:00 I
tried to provide some emotional support to families as they grieved their dead,
and to be there for friends and their pain.
Maha -
Lady talking to camera about Caoimhe:
10:31:13:20 When
my mother was killed…
10:31:18:00 …Caoimhe
was the only one who stood with me, listened and helped.
10:31:24:00 She
introduced me to other foreign volunteers, her friends.
10:31:29:00 I
don’t want anything practical, I know they can’t bring
back my mother,
my brother or my house.
10:31:37:00 But
it is beautiful when someone stands by you and your voice is being heard outside.
10:31:41:00 Caoimhe
is my sister, she is my friend.
Palestinian
man talks about Caiomhe:
10:32:49:20
The
first time Caoimhe came to stay in our home, she was a stranger to us.
10:33:00:00 But
after a short while she became one of our household,
one of the family.
10:33:06:20 She
has lived with us for a long time now and we all consider her as part
of the family.
10:33:13:00 She
comes and goes, eats meals with us, sleeps here sometimes and is part of family life.
Palestinian
girl talks about Caoimhe:
10:33:20:00 Caoimhe
is like our sister and we love her a lot.
10:33:24:20 She
walked the girls to school during curfew.
10:33:28:20 When
they were afraid, she made them brave.
10:33:34:00 She’s
our sister and we love her a lot.
10:33:47:00 As
the months went on and I integrated into the camp,
The
people around me became like family.
10:33:54:00 I
internalised a lot of the pain and trauma I was witnessing.
10:33:58:00 Leaving
was no longer an option for me.
10:34:00:00 I
felt a responsibility and need to stay.
10:34:05:00 Jenin
had become my home but it was a dangerous one.
Caoimhe to
camera:
10:34:18:00 And I think as the soldiers and the Israeli
police who frequent Jenin,
Who come in and out for
operations, who come in and out for enforcement
of curfew with live ammunition, who come in and out to teargas young children in the school courtyard.
10:34:33:00
Who come in and out to open fire on
crowded market places…
10:34:36:00 Increasingly, more so as they see my face
on an everyday basis,
As they get to know me
by name and nationality and presence…
10:34:47:00 I think that gradient of protection that was
keeping me safe for so many months by virtue
of being a foreigner, by virtue of being a woman,
is fading a little bit.
10:35:01:20 And I’ve seen that in their increasing
brutality towards me personally.
10:35:05:00 The fact that they are not afraid to beat
me at this stage.
10:35:09:18 In the very symbolic act such as throwing
stones at me.
10:35:12:00 In the name calling and the threats. The
death threats that are voiced to me
on a continual basis.
10:35:18:00 Or the shooting, sometimes a few metres, a
few centimetres above my
head.
TV News
Voice over:
10:35:33:00 A 24yr old Irish woman was also hit in the
fighting.
The Israeli Army said it
will investigate both incidents.
But Caoimhe Butterly a
pro-Palestinian peace activist has no doubt that it was the Israelis who shot her.
Caoimhe
talks from her hospital bed:
10:35:46:00 The tank could see me very clearly, it opened fire and I was hit a close range.
10:35:52:00 I was comparatively lucky,
the bullet had passed through my leg and I could
walk again within a month.
10:35:59:00 On the same day as I was shot, UN
consultant, Ian Hook and eleven year old Mohammed Bilalo were both shot
dead.
10:36:07:00 Seven other children were seriously
wounded.
10:36:09:10 The amount of press attention I received
impressed upon me the racism ` of the mainstream media.
10:36:15:00 That a bullet in my leg elicited more
coverage than a death of an eleven year old child.
10:36:21:00 I was overwhelmed with the number of
visitors I received.
10:36:23:17 I had spent so much time visiting others in
hospital and now I was the patient.
Maha
speaks about Caoimhe:
10:36:28:20 When
Caoimhe was shot many people came to visit her, even from villages outside Jenin.
10:36:40:00 You
can’t imagine how popular she is…
10:36:44:10 …how
much people love her.
10:36:49:12 So
many people came to the hospital…
10:36:53:16 …school
students gathered to see her.
10:36:58:20 People
wanted to meet her, they had heard so much about how
much she had helped
people.
Caoimhe
speaking at night:
10:37:22:06 Getting
shot really taught me to evaluate my own direction,
That
I have to respect the human rights of my own family in
terms
of them having to live in continual terror for my security and physical wellbeing.
10:37:38:08 But
also the fact that, because of what I witnessed here, that it is very important to be an
advocate here for people who have been made
voiceless.
10:37:48:21 Its
very important to do the talks and the campaign work on the outside and I cannot do
that dead.
Caoimhe
Voice over:
10:
37:56:03 Reluctantly I left Palestine for a while to recuperate and to spend some time with my family.
10:38:00:10 Although
I missed Jenin terribly I soon realised that I could
be
effective
giving talks about Palestine and what I had witnessed there.
10:38:07:23 Over
the following months I spoke at over two-hundred schools, universities and public
meetings in Europe.
10:38:13:17 I
tried to do justice to the resilience and endurance of Palestinians.
And urged people to match their determination with a determination of our own.
Caoimhe
speaking at night:
10:38:40:18 What
I have seen, what I have lived here has burned a very deep impression upon my psyche,
upon my soul, upon my heart.
10:38:47:15 And
it has become a very deep living, breathing accompaniment to every moment that I’ve lived
since.
Caoimhe
voice over:
10:38:53:20 My
journeys continued, I was invited to India to speak at universities and meet with trade
unions to talk about the need for grass-roots
solidarity with Palestinians.
10:39:08:17 During
this time I also had the dubious honour of being named a ‘European Hero’ by Time Magazine,
the same magazine that named George Bush Man of
the year.
10:39:16:14 I
decided to accept the award in order to use the night
as a platform.
10:39:21:20 I
accepted in the name of Miriam Alushahi, my friend’s mother who was killed in the
massacre.
Caoimhe
speaking at night:
10:39:27:20 Being labelled a European Hero for me was
intensely humiliating
Because I’m not.
10:39:34:14 Because I think that there are millions of
heroes or non-heroes, resilient human
beings who grace the face of this planet who will never be honoured with such an
award.
10:39:46:20 I didn’t see it as an honour coming from
TIME being labelled a hero,
and I certainly don’t
see myself as one.
10:39:53:20 I think that the whole label is
counter-productive, it puts acts that are very
basic and very necessary and very simple on unattainable platforms for a lot of
people.
10:40:06:20 If it’s deemed heroism, it seems almost
sub-human, it doesn’t seem normal.
10:40:12:00 I felt that in accepting it, on behalf on
Miriam Alushahi, Maha’s mother,
because she was a friend first of all that I was honouring
her life and her death and her narrative that had been silenced in the Western media, in a
very personal way.
10:40:27:20 I also felt that she was emblematic of so
many deaths, of casual killings,
of intended killings that go on, on an everyday basis in Palestine.
10:40:40:00 The fact that she bled to death. The fact
that I haven’t read of her name outside
of human rights reports in any international publication since her death.
10:40:47:00 I felt that I was bringing a part of Jenin
with me that night, with her
photo.
10:40:51:07 In the midst of a lot of champagne and
high-living, it was for me, bringing
a sober reminder of why I was there. Which was her
death, her life. What she’s left behind. Maha’s pain.
10:41:09:02 While giving these talks, the invasion of
Iraq started.
10:41:13:00 Before travelling back to Palestine I
decided to go to Baghdad to become
a witness on the ground, and spent the next six month
working with Iraqi
human rights groups.
10:41:23:00 There are thousands of Palestinian refugees
also living in Iraq.
10:41:27:02 It was through working in these camps and
listening to people’s stories of
exile that my own desire to return to Jenin was reinforced.
10:41:35:05 But
getting back into Palestine was not going to be easy.
10:41:38:06 The
Israelis had continued to target activists killing Rachel Corrie and Tom
Hurndle, and were denying many activists entry to the Occupied Territories.
10:41:47:22 I
decided to try anyway and managed to get in through Jordan.
10:41:52:07 A
month later, Handi Jaradat, a 29 year old lawyer from
Jenin, blew herself
up in a restaurant in Haifa killing herself and twenty others.
10:42:02:03 This
was the second death in the Jaradat family that year.
10:42:05:02 Hanadi’s
brother was shot through the head by Israeli commandoes four months earlier.
10:42:10:02 Reports
were quickly coming in that Hanadi had never got over his death and that this was one of the reasons
that had provoked her to do
it.
10:42:18:09 Hanadi’s
family, hours after receiving news of the bombing, had to pack up their belongings and
move everything out of their home in anticipation
of Israeli soldiers coming to demolish it.
10:42:34:07 I
went to offer my condolences to her family and to stay with them as they waited for the
bulldozers to arrive.
Hanadi’s
Mum in her house:
10:42:46:00 Hanadi
did this by herself.
10:43:02:00 They
shouldn’t punish the whole family for what she did.
10:42:04:20 No
one would willingly sacrifice their child.
10:42:08:05 Are
you married?
Caiomhe:
10:43:09:20 No.
Hanadi’s
Mum in her house:
10:43:10:20 If
you had a child and somebody said they’d give you Palestine in exchange for his life…
10:43:16:06 You
would say: ‘ I don’t want Palestine, kill me before
you kill my child.’
10:43:19:09 There
is nothing more precious than your child.
10:43:22:11 You
suffer so much to raise your
children.
10:43:25:08 You
can’t wait to see your child grow up.
10:43:28:01 My
son was engaged. We were in Jordan preparing for his wedding when he was killed.
10:43:33:28 We
got the call and rushed back.
10:43:37:03 He
wasn’t wanted, they killed him for no reason.
Caoimhe
speaking at night:
10:43:45:08 The tragedy of her family being left
behind, of her mother that first night before she
slipped into the rhetoric of praising her as a hero,
saying that more than
nationalism she’d trade it all to hold her again in her arms.
10:44:00:06 And the tragedy of the twenty people killed
in Haifa.
10:44:09:28 The one thing that became very clear to me
after Hanadi’s bombing was
the lack of contextualisation of these bombings.
10:44:19:05 It’s not the promise of however many
virgins in heaven that drives people
to do it, I think it is desperation and it’s also a political act.
10:44:27:03 The fact maybe that she was a woman and
educated and I’ve seen it or heard
it described on the outside as that she had her whole life ahead of her.
10:44:37:12 She didn’t really have her whole life ahead
of her. She was beautiful and
educated and had already lost an eighteen year old
brother who was killed
in front of her.
10:44:45:05 Had already witnessed things that would
probably break the strongest of
hearts and psyches in any other country.
10:44:53:00 And what future did she have? She had a
suffocating occupation, she had another however many years to live
witnessing brutality and violent
death after violent death around her.
10:45:07:08 The Israelis hold the key to their own
liberation of fear in their back pockets.
10:45:10:12 It’s a very simple solution, it’s an
immediate end to the occupation.
10:45:13:10 And that’s something that I think is
distorted in the narrative when it’s referred
to as a conflict or a war as if two equal sides, two equal partners were
engaged in warfare.
10:45:27:01 Its myth-making.
Caoimhe
Voice over:
10:45:29:07 That
night, Israeli soldiers arrived at three in the morning and bulldozed the Jaradat’s family home.
10:45:34:19 House
demolitions are a form of collective punishment and are illegal under international law.
10:45:41:13 The
Israeli Army has demolished thousands of homes during the past four years.
10:45:45:15 The
Jaradat family were now left homeless.
Hanadi’s
Mother sitting at demolished home:
10:45:52:23 We
have no other house.
10:45:54:00 We
only have God and we thank him.
10:45:58:00 He
created us and he will take care of us, the same way
he is taking care
of everyone.
Man (who is out of sight )
asking her questions:
10:46:03:00 Why
would she choose to become a martyr when she was so s successful?
Hanadi’
Mother sitting at demolished home:
10:46:08:20 Because
of her brother
Fadi.
10:46:11:12 We
have seven girls in our family and Fadi.
10:46:16:01 We
couldn’t wait for him to grow up.
10:46:19:14 When
she saw the scene of the killing, she lost her mind.
10:46:22:00 She
was a broken person after that.
10:46:26:14 Life
and death stopped meaning anything to her.
10:46:30:10 I
pray to God that he considers her a martyr and that she is a pledge for us all.
Man (who
is out of sight) asking her questions:
10:46:39:20 Who
is responsible?
Hanadi’s
mother sitting at demolished home:
10:46:41:20 Israel.
10:46:44:00 They
do not want a solution between themselves and the Palestinian people.
10:46:48:18 When
they start killing our children, what’s left?
Man (who
is out of sight) asking her questions:
The Israelis always say to the West
that you send your children to die?
Hanadi’
mother sitting at demolished home:
10:47:09:00 No.
10:47:13:10 No
one would accept the death of their children.
10:47:16:00 What
is more precious than one’s child?
Caoimhe
Voice over:
10:47:58:10 A
few days later we went to visit Hanadi’s sisters.
Though
devastated they put on a brave face for us.
Hanadi’s
sisters in a room together:
10:48:09:00 A lot
of children growing up now in the Intifada, spending their time
throwing
stones…
10:48:19:00 …will
be willing to carry out more operations when they grow up.
10:48:24:10 The
Intifada will make people more determined and, God willing, one day we will be free.
10:48:39:15: I hope
that our future is better than this and that our children will not see what we have seen.
10:48:46:16 I
hope the future will be better.
10:48:51:00 My
sister and others had to do things which now mean that I do not have a sister.
10:48:57:00 I can
only hope that this does not happen to other people.
10:49:01:10 We
dream of a better future and an end to the occupation.
10:49:05:05 Who
would accept a life like this?
No
one can accept being occupied.
10:49:08:10 God
willing we will have a better life in the future.
Man asking
questions ( out of sight ):
10:49:11:00 What
about women suicide bombers?
There
are more and more recently.
10:49:10:00 What
do you think about that?
Hanadi’s
sisters in a room together:
10:49:20:00 Our
women are strong.
They
have the same rights as men in this society.
10:49:25:20 When
a woman chooses to do something she is not different from a man.
10:49:31:00 Women
have the same rights as men to take part in the Intifada.
Handi’s
sisters showing a picture of Handi:
10:49:51:02 This
picture of Hanadi is two years old so she must have been 27 or 26.
Caoimhe
Voice over:
10:50:07:18 The
following day curfew was re-imposed. Under curfew, life grinds to
a halt. With people being kept prisoner in their own homes for fear of being shot if they
venture out, the most basic aspects
of life become impossibly difficult.
10:50:20:16 Schools
and universities are closed and the market shuts down.
Curfews
sometimes drag out for weeks without respite and Jenin becomes a ghost town.
10:51:10:00 Jenin
is a captive population, with the possibility of re-invasion at any time, basic acts of
existence become incredibly dangerous.
10:51:23:00 People
frequently risk their lives even going out to buy food.
10:51:27:00 On
this occasion, Umsamar, her daughter and I were walking home from the market when we had to seek refuge because of approaching
tanks.
Umsamar
talks inside her home:
10:51:46:00 There’s
no work here, no life.
Death
has become normalized for people.
10:51:52:00 Do we
take tanks and go into their land?
10:51:55:00 Originally
it was our land anyway.
10:51:58:13 Give
us back some land and our rights.
10:52:03:00 They
bring in the tanks and call us the terrorists?
10:52:07:07 We have to risk our lives just to go out to get food for our
children.
10:52:11:10 The
vendors risk their lives selling that food so they can support their f families too.
10:52:17:00 Tell
me, who’s the terrorist?
10:52:20:00 In
Israel their lives go on, they can still move about.
10:52:23:00 Do we
inflict curfew on them?
10:52:25:05 Do we
send tanks into their towns to shoot at them?
10:52:29:00 Children
respond with stones because they live amongst this situation.
10:52:34:00 Stones
become their toys.
10:52:40:00 It’s
what they’ve seen.
10:52:43:00 It’s
what they have lived.
10:52:45:10 Children
are a product of their environment.
10:52:51:10 What
can a stone do to a tank?
10:52:54:19 They
can’t even hear it inside a tank.
10:52:57:08 The
soldiers respond with random fire, whenever the kids throw stones or not.
10:53:02:00 Listen
to the shooting - from here, from there.
10:53:04:19 Every
day we prepare ourselves for death.
10:53:07:19 For
the possibility for your child, husband or yourself
getting killed.
10:53:12:00 You
prepare yourself for this possibility so you are not
shocked by it.
10:53:18:10 Can
you imagine preparing yourself constantly for dealing with your child’s death?
10:53:25:00 Can
you imagine what this does to a mother?
10:53:34:19 They
are scared for their children and of course their children should live…
10:53:40:00 But
let our children live too.
10:53:42:10 Make
peace.
10:53:43:15 We
want peace.
10:53:45:10 We
need peace.
10:53:46:15 But
it has to be a just peace.
Woman
sitting and talking about Caoimhe:
10:54:08:00 Caoimhe,
from the moment she came to Jenin, became one of the camp, like
family.
10:54:15:00 If it
was up to me, Caoimhe would receive Palestinian citizenship and live here.
10:54:21:10 Palestine
is very important to her.
10:54:25:00 Despite
her parents’ fear for her safety she stayed.
10:54:29:00 She
was then shot.
10:54:31:10 And
who was she defending?
10:54:33:10 She
was defending the Palestinian people.
10:54:36:00 She
was in hospital recovering when my son Ala’ was killed.
10:54:41:00 She
left the hospital to be with us.
10:54:44:17 Nobody
did more for people in Palestine and in Jenin camp than Caoimhe.
10:54:52:00 She
went to visit the prisoners in Majiddo prison, and she would walk all the way there!
10:54:57:10 When
she would hear of anything happening in Nablus, she’d walk all the way there too.
10:55:02:00 She’d
come back to us three or four days later exhausted from the journey.
10:55:06:10 When
Caoimhe left Jenin we were all very sad.
10:55:11:22 But
when she returned we were delighted.
10:55:15:00 Because
we love Caoimhe.
Caiomhe
talks to camera at night:
10:55:42:10 Palestinians have been demonised and I
think that for people, particularly
activists who choose to stand in solidarity with Palestinians, there’s a
risk of demonisation.
Caoimhe
Voice over:
10:55:52:00 I
lived with the family of Sheikh Bassam Alsadi, a political leader of Islamic Jihad. I did this
because families of wanted activists are subjected
to raids, detention and home demolitions.
10:56:02:20 Sometimes
the presence of a foreigner during the raids restrains that brutality a little bit.
10:56:09:00 Sheikh
Bassam was arrested weeks after I got back to Jenin.
10:56:12:10 His
twin seventeen year old sons had been killed within
months of each other.
10:56:15:10 And
his family lives with constant harassment by soldiers.
Nawal:Shake Basam’s wife - talking to Caoimhe
in her home:
10:56:22:00 Life
is difficult, Caoimhe.
Caoimhe
asks a question to Nawal:
10:56:26:10 How
do you see your future?
Nawal:Shake Basam’s wife - talking to Caoimhe
in her home:
10:56:27:15 What
future?
10:56:29:00 There
is no future.
10:56:30:00 Life
is unliveable after your children die.
10:56:33:00 And
now my husband is in prison.
10:56:35:00 He
probably gets tortured.
10:56:36:19 Life
is really bitter.
10:56:38:18 Life
is really plain.
10:56:41:05 I have to stay in the house and look after my children.
10:56:47:19 I
have no choice.
10:56:52:00 They
have nobody left.
10:57:
00:00 I thank God that my faith is strong.
10:57:04:15 God
gives me patience.
10:57:08:08 Two
of my sons were killed.
10:57:11:00 I
loved them a lot.
10:57:14:00 I
love all my children.
10:57:16:15 What
can I do?
10:57:20:00 Our
lives are difficult.
10:57:23:19 Very
difficult.
10:57:32:00 We
are alone in all this.
10:57:38:00 Our
lives are difficult.
Young girl
talks to camera:
10:58:02:00 If I could give a message to the outside world…
10:58:06:10 …or
this message is from me to me in the future.
10:58:11:05 In my
own heart there is no more future.
10:58:15:12 No
more future at all.
10:58:18:00 Why?
10:58:19:12 Because
each generation here just gets killed.
10:58:23:10 I
would paint Sharon surrounded by skulls.
10:58:27:00 I am
not an artist but if I could paint a picture…
10:58:32:10 …I
would draw Sharon surrounded by a pile of skulls.
10:58:40:15 He
has killed and slaughtered so many people.
10:58:45:00 What
future do I have?
10:58:47:00 None.
10:58:50:10 And
if I were to say that I have a future…
10:58:53:00 I
would call it the future of death.
10:58:57:10 I
would also like to say something to the world.
10:59:02:08 You
probably see us on the news…
10:59:07:10 …and
you think you know things about us.
10:59:10:10 But
you can never imagine the situation here.
10:59:16:00 We have
so much death.
10:59:19:00 So
many dead people.
10:59:21:19 I’ve stopped counting.
Little boy
talking to little girl:
10:59:26:10 Say:
‘I want to kill Sharon, the donkey.’
Little
girl speaks to the camera:
10:59:43:08 I
don’t want to.
Young girl
talks to camera:
10:59:46:00 Sharon
says that he is for democracy.
10:59:48:10 He
say’s he’s for democracy.
10:59:51:00 If he
really knew what democracy meant…
10:59:55:00 If he
knew what democracy meant…
10:59:57:10 …he
would not be killing so many people.
10:59:59:10 Democracy
is about giving people their rights.
11:00:03:17 Man
is born free.
11:00:06:00 But
here in Palestine…
11:00:08:04 …we
are living in a jail.
11:00:12:00 We
are in a bird cage.
11:00:14:00 Sharon
carries the cage in his hands.
11:00:16:00 If he
releases it…
11:00:18:00 Palestine
will be free.
Little
girl speaks to the camera:
11:00:21:00 I
want to kill Sharon.
Mother of
little girl speaks - semi out of shot:
11:00:23:16 Look!
11:00:24:15 My
children say they want to kill Sharon.
11:00:26:19 Why?
11:00:28:06 Because
their father’s been taken away.
Caoimhe
Voice over:
11:00:41:19 That
night Nawal’s sixteen year old son showed me a book containing the
names and photos of political prisoners from Jenin.
11:00:48:10 He
pointed out family and friends he knew from the camp.
11:00:52:15 A
few hours later the army came for him.
11:00:55:19 He
was arrested without charge, probably to put pressure on his father who was still in
interrogation.
11:00:03:10 Ez
joined the over eight thousand Palestinian political prisoners being held in Israeli
prisons.
11:01:10:00 Prisoners
are held in extremely inhumane conditions and are subjected to continual physical and
psychological tourture.
11:01:40:20 Ash’s
mother Nawal sought solace and strength in her faith.
11:01:44:00 After
the killings of her sons, mother-in-law and nephew,
and
imprisonment of her husband and now Ez, it is one of the few things she has left.
11:01:57:00 Although
I could do nothing to alleviate the family’s pain, I stayed on to give them moral support.
11:02:25:10 The
Alsadi family have had to get used to upheaval. Though worried for Ez they continued to try to
create some normality in their
home.
11:02:41:20 With
schools closed due to the curfew, Zoar took the opportunity to practice her English on
us.
Zoar:
Young girl, practising her English to camera:
11:02:45:10 Is this, is this your… my bag, your bag.
Ah…Yes…oh…no… this is my
bag.
11:02:54:00 That’s your bag, that’s my bag….errrr….is that, is that… your bag….yes it is.
11:03:20:00 …ah I am sorry, here’s your…here’s your
bag. Yes. Thankyou.
Young boy
talks to the camera:
11:03:32:10 We shall overcome, we shall overcome, we
shall overcome.
Young girl
talking to her younger sister:
11:04:24:16 Say: I love you Caoimhe.
11:04:25:20 Come on, say: I
Younger
sister speaks:
11:04:27:02 I
Older
sister speaks:
11:04:29:00 Love
Younger
sister speaks:
11:04:29:06 Love
Older
sister speaks:
11:04:30:19 You
Younger
sister speaks:
11:04:30:24 You
Older
sister speaks:
11:04:32:20 Caoimhe
Younger
sister speaks:
11:04:33:00 Caoimhe
Older
sister:
11:04:48:10 Say Love Caoimhe.
Younger
sister:
11:04:49:00 Love Caoimhe.
Caoimhe
walks into the home of a family:
11:05:38:20 Good morning. How are you? How have you
been?
Old lady
speaks:
11:05:45:10 How are you? I hope you’ve been well.
Caoimhe
speaks:
11:05:58:00 I wish I received treatment like this every
day.
Old lady:
11:06:01:05 Here is for today and tomorrow. Happy?
11:06:05:18 Welcome, you are really
welcome. I hope you are happy and well.
11:06:09:18 Oh my dear she’s filming us!
11:06:15:03 I’ve been wanting to see you for a long
time.
11:06:19:00 I’ve been telling Tawfig, “I really want to
see her.”
11:06:28:02 I told them to call you, to get you to
come, so I could see you.
11:06:37:23 Are you living in the camp now?
Caoimhe
speaks:
11:06:40:08 Yes I am staying
at Sheik Bassam’s house, with Nawal.
11:06:46:00 The army came the other day.
11:06:48:08 They ordered us out into the street and
arrested Az.
11:06:50:17 She is on her own now.
Woman in
the house:
11:06:52:00 They arrested Az?
Caoimhe
speaks:
11:06:53:10 Yes.
11:06:55:00 I said to the soldier. What do you want
with Az?
11:06:58:00 He is very young and not wanted.
11:07:03:06 He said his father is a terrorist.
11:07:05:03 And if he isn’t one now…
11:07:07:00 He will be in a year or two.
11:07:09:07 Better to get him now and keep him in
prison.
Woman in
house:
11:07:13:13 I am really scared for Tawfig.
11:07:21:12 Really, I am very scared.
11:07:23:20 He hasn’t done anything wrong.
11:07:25:17 But I worry when he goes out to school…
11:07:28:00 He is getting older…
11:07:29:13 …and they are arresting everyone.
11:07:34:15 The other day they came to our
neighbourhood.
11:07:36:07 Why do people call us the terrorists?
11:07:42:23 It is Sharon who is the terrorist, why are
we called the terrorists?
Caoimhe
talks:
11:07:42:13 The world says that about you because you
are resisting.
11:07:49:00 The world is still racist.
11:07:52:00 You are the heroes.
11:07:54:20 You just want your rights, which is
natural.
Boys sing
a mantra:
11:07:58:10 For every tear of blood shed by a mother.
11:08:02:24 For the sake of every drop of blood.
11:08:06:13 There will be a new martyr to replace the
old.
11:08:10:02 My people are full of reslove.
11:08:14:13 We will stay together and fight.
11:08:16:23 That’s it, that’s it.
11:08:19:22 We’ve finished.
Old woman
speaks:
11:08:21:07 From 1948 onwards we have lived in misery.
11:08:25:02 We were forced to leave when we were
children.
11:08:29:14 Now look at us.
11:08:31:02 We’ve become old, our children have married and they have become old…
11:08:33:16 …without knowing what it means to have a
nation, without having a
Life.
11:08:37:11 There’s always trouble but we will get
through.
11:08:41:13 We are strong.
11:08:44;05 We won’t leave.
11:08:46:11 We’d rather die for the struggle than
leave.
11:08:52:09 We will endure.
11:08:54:15 Let Sharon bring all of
his tanks.
11:08:57:07 We are still not going to leave.
11:08:59:15 We will die here in Palestine.
11:09:02:00 Palestine is still the paradise of the
world.
Caoimhe
speaks:
11:09:08:22 Your mother is so wise!
11:09:11:22 She really knows her polotics.
Old woman
speaks:
11:09:15:22 They say we are terrorists but we’re not.
Caoimhe
speaks:
11:09:21:01 Of course not.
11:09:22:10 People outside know you want freedom.
11:09:26:21 People know you want human rights and
peace.
11;09:30:07 The
problem is our governments.
11:09:31:23 Not the people.
11:09:32:04 Didn’t you see before the war in Iraq?
11:09:37:07 There were many marches and demonstrations…
11:09:41:00 …against the war.
11:09:43:22 More than two million in Europe.
11:09:45:09 The problem is that the governments don’t
listen.
11:09:50:17 But many people outside know how you suffer
under the occupation.
Woman in
the house:
11:10:02:00 Our life is difficult, but God willing we
will be victorious.
Old woman:
11:10:09:20 Give her a kiss!
11:10:12:12 What a beautiful kiss!
Caoimhe
Voice over:
11:10:28:05 Over
three thousand, five hundred Palestinians have been killed in the course of this intifada.
Caoimhe
talks to woman at the grave:
11:10:36:06 How was Yusuf martyred?
Lady
sitting at the grave with Caoimhe:
11:10:40:10 Yusuf was shot from a helicopter while he
was sleeping on the roof.
11:10:53:20 He was shot here, here and here in his leg.
11:11:00:17 Oh, my dear son. May God be with you.
Another
old woman sitting at the grave:
11:11:08:13 All we want from people, from the U.N is
for them to experience this situation.
11:11:13:16 We want our children to live.
11:11:18:00 Look at these children…
11:11:20:02 …roaming the streets all day.
11:11:21:16 For ten days the schools have been closed.
11:11:24:02 There’s nothing for them to do.
11:11:28:04 Everday they wander around the graveyard.
11:11:30:03 Why?
11:11:31:21 Because they have been orphaned.
11.11.36:17 My grandson was twenty days old when he was
orphaned - when my son
was killed.
11:11:41:03 Why are they orphaned? The politicians sit
on their thrones!
11:11:44:15 Support us! We want solidarity! If they
know what that really means.
11:11:51:02 We don’t need their food or aid.
11:11:53:15 Look even our children are resisting.
11:11:58:08 But how are we going to feed these
children?
The
children all shout:
11:12:02:07 The soldiers are back!
11:12:15:18 They won’t rest until one of them is
killed!
11:12:20:01 Look at the children, they are lost
everyday in the streets.
Caoimhe
Voice Over:
11:12:37:06 It
is in the midst of so much death and loss that an insistence on life becomes the ultimate
form of resistance.
11:12:44:01 In
an context where evey aspect of life is controlled by a brutal occupation, to exist is
an act of defiance.
11:12:51:24 Aruba
is a 24-year old Physical Education teacher who had been engaged for four years to
Raed a fighter who was wanted by the Israelis.
11:12:59:21 In
the years following the massacre the remaining fighters in the camp have been
assassinated, arrested or forced into hiding.
11:13:07:10 Despite
the risks of Raed coming out of hiding they decided to go ahead and get married.
11:13:29:10 Two
of Raid’s brothers, also fighters, had also been assassinated.
11:13:33:18 Aruba
held their pictures on the day.
11:13:36:13 The
tragedy of the situation is never absent not even on a wedding day.
11:14:28:20 A
volley of gunfire outside caused a moment of panic until it turned out to be
Raeds friends celebrating his wedding.
11:14:41:12 Raed
was arrested a year later, weeks after the birth of their first child.
11:14:45:12 He
now faces life imprisonment.
Caoimhe
talks to camera:
11:14:49:00 Life
is very ephemeral, our presence here is transitory, people live and people die.
11:14:54:21 And
because of the ephemeral nature of life, because of its short span, or long span,
depending on what place your born into in the world.
11:15:03:00 That
it’s so very necessary as human beings of conscience to stand together, to fight together,
to struggle together and to really bare witness
to a period of history that we are going to look back on, or our grandchildren are
going to look back on a few generations down the line with
incredible deep shame.
11:15:23:01 That
the sound barrier around what is going on in Palestine wasn’t broken.
11:15:28:09 That
Palestinian blood has become cheapened to the point that it’s expendable, that the
narratives of people here have been silenced, that
they haven’t been spoken to the outside world, that we haven’t listened, that we haven’t
fought hard enough.
11:15:42:22 And
I’ve become very aware through my time here that I cannot disconnect myself from it.
11:15:49:17 It’s
not something that I want to do. I feel very passionately committed, both on
an ideological level in terms of the injustice of the situation but also on a deeply personal level to
friends that I have
come to love here, the Nawal’s and the Abushadi’s, the numerous people who have played a
great role in my life for the last
couple of years.
11:16:15:03 I
can’t close my eyes to them, I can’t rest comfortably when I am not here if I’m not doing something in terms of
campaign work or advocacy
work or interviews or public meetings or something that I feel is doing their pain, their tragedy, justice.
11:16:30:10 That
speaks of the resilience, the incredible resilience with which they still manage to endure.
11:16:37:00 To
live their lives, to create spaces of beauty and joy within all of the tragedy.
END