Well perhaps after all the TV footage that gets churned out in the West about Palestine and the West Bank it is easy to imagine that this is part of daily life. Part of that is true, that somewhere there will be hassles of the sort entitled above.
During my four weeks spent here in the Holy Land the worst I'd come across was some fairly stiff questioning at a couple of border crossings. Working with an Israeli-Arab cameraman changes the stakes though. Yesterday, when the guy, who is superb, was challenged by Israeli police for filming in the entrance to the Holy Sepulchre he confidently argued back, told the people who were being rude to him to shut-up, got me involved and carried on filming.
Today we were going through a checkpoint, waiting over twenty minutes to watch seven cars go through ahead of us -- then the soldier shouts at the cameraman, who is doing the driving,
'move the fuck back':
unsuprisingly this didn't go down too well
'less of the fuck if you don't mind' was his reply.
'Just move the fuck back!'
'There's no fuck involved in moving back, why do you say this?'
'You want me to arrest you, I'll arrest you, you know.'
'Go on then arrest me, take me now, just take me.'
'I will, I will arrest you, want me to do that.'
'Go on, I'm an Israeli, take me and then see what happens.'
'Hey, so cool it then, take it easy, if you're an Israeli, just move back.'
'Oh so now you know I'm an Israeli, it's "just move back"!'
'I'll make you wait here hours if you carry on with this.'
'That's fine I've got ALL night, you just take your time.'
'OK get out of the car.'
'No, there's something wrong with my leg.'
'show me your medical papers, prove there's something wrong.'
'I'm not showing you, and I'm not moving.'
...
The soldier backed down, not us, and we were gone up the motorway to another part of the West Bank. 10 minutes later, we're at Kalandia checkpoint, both cameraman and the soundman leap from the car, I'm left there, with solidiers and guns everywhere, lots of shouting, bright lights, and then suddenly an Italian journalist leaps into the car to move it 'out of the way of the suspicious vehicle' and then BANG
'controlled explosion?' I ask, as if I was checking a direction,
'yes', the answer.
Shit.
10 minutes after that, back at the film studios, fantastic shot of the vehicle being blown up by the Israeli Defence Force -- the timing of the zoom in, just 2 seconds before the bang leads me to offer an involuntary 'mabrouskh' -- 'congratulations' -- what else to say?
Wednesday, December 29, 2004
Monday, December 27, 2004
Filming at checkpoints
After an amazing start to Christmas-tide at St George's Cathedral, greatly aided by the music of the Choir of London, I'm now on with the filming. Today was spent mainly at Kalandia checkpoint, and walking the route of a former one near Birzeit University. The film crew I'm working with are excellent on the details, the humour is good, and the results we viewed back at the studios tonight were very pleasing. I'm having problems making sense of how to use the video diary camera effectively though: Labib the cameraman is sympathetic but I can tell that I just haven't got the knack yet!
Tomorrow the crew come to St George's: we'll be filming in East Jerusalem and the Old City -- the work is steady, and I've been careful to offer a schedule which allows plenty of space for breaks, reflection and the scope to squeeze in a few extra bits. That made today very mellow, and satisfying, hopefully the same will apply to tomorrow.
Viewing the footage of the checkpoints, after the event, allowed all sorts of feelings to surface for me, as I saw the stark details of what the people of Ramallah and the West Bank are being subjected to by the IDF on a daily basis. I hope this work does show a solidarity which goes beyond tokenism -- though I feel that can only be proved if the film is successful. I do feel anxious about that aspect of the work -- that it might not get anywhere beyond the pilot 10 minutes we are preparing for. I'm not by nature a gambling person, and this feels like a huge risk since there are no guarantees. There are so many aspects of the this project which are new to me that I can only say 'onward and upward'.
Tomorrow the crew come to St George's: we'll be filming in East Jerusalem and the Old City -- the work is steady, and I've been careful to offer a schedule which allows plenty of space for breaks, reflection and the scope to squeeze in a few extra bits. That made today very mellow, and satisfying, hopefully the same will apply to tomorrow.
Viewing the footage of the checkpoints, after the event, allowed all sorts of feelings to surface for me, as I saw the stark details of what the people of Ramallah and the West Bank are being subjected to by the IDF on a daily basis. I hope this work does show a solidarity which goes beyond tokenism -- though I feel that can only be proved if the film is successful. I do feel anxious about that aspect of the work -- that it might not get anywhere beyond the pilot 10 minutes we are preparing for. I'm not by nature a gambling person, and this feels like a huge risk since there are no guarantees. There are so many aspects of the this project which are new to me that I can only say 'onward and upward'.
Saturday, December 25, 2004
Bethlehem 'Lock-In'
Not me -- I wasn't locked out, well only for 5 minutes at the checkpoint and 20 minutes at the Church. Palestinians who didn't live there were barred from getting through the checkpoints into the town, both those with Israeli and West Bank / Gaza ID. We were greeted by Military Police and the Israeli Defence Force with 'Merry Christmas', then the Department of Tourism gave our bus a Christmas rose and bags of sweets for everyone.
Our coaches had left from St George's, East Jerusalem, without one resident of the Cathedral, Mr Vanunu, who is banned from travelling outside Israel proper. He decided to take a taxi anyway, and was detained by the checkpoint police at 10pm on Christmas Eve. They then drove him to Tel Aviv, where he was released at 2am on Christmas Day. His attempts to go to Bethlehem were covered as the main item on Israeli news broadcasts this morning.
We however arrived, 'not a moment too soon', and you could call the circumstances 'satisfactory': we waited outside the tiny, low doorway which takes one at a time, while the dispute was settled between Cathedral police about which group we were and which route we were taking to the small Orthodox Chapel! After four Christmases without the presence of the Palestinian leadership at the Nativity Church, the acting President did join the 200 of us crammed into a small chapel having an Anglican 9 lessons and carols at 9pm. The Choir of London sang in outstanding fashion.
Our coaches had left from St George's, East Jerusalem, without one resident of the Cathedral, Mr Vanunu, who is banned from travelling outside Israel proper. He decided to take a taxi anyway, and was detained by the checkpoint police at 10pm on Christmas Eve. They then drove him to Tel Aviv, where he was released at 2am on Christmas Day. His attempts to go to Bethlehem were covered as the main item on Israeli news broadcasts this morning.
We however arrived, 'not a moment too soon', and you could call the circumstances 'satisfactory': we waited outside the tiny, low doorway which takes one at a time, while the dispute was settled between Cathedral police about which group we were and which route we were taking to the small Orthodox Chapel! After four Christmases without the presence of the Palestinian leadership at the Nativity Church, the acting President did join the 200 of us crammed into a small chapel having an Anglican 9 lessons and carols at 9pm. The Choir of London sang in outstanding fashion.
Thursday, December 23, 2004
Shut Out
I am glad to be feeling isolated in this place, since it isn't somewhere I feel a natural desire to belong to, not the way it is. It was a strange feeling to be shut out of the press conference being held with Tony Blair in Ramallah, that was because I was not a Palestinian; odd to have it the other way round. I also got a door firmly closed on me after I invited a woman lay-person to read to gospel at the daily eucharist at the cathedral. I also cannot get into Gaza, because I am not a Palestinian, and I cannot get into the Dome of the Rock because I'm not a Muslim.
Fortunately my access issues are far far less severe than the locals, to the point of being irrelevant. Claire's family, who I've just met, would have to take 5 different service taxis or private taxis, one way, to get from their home to Bethlehem for the Christmas celebrations -- that would mean waiting for ten vehicles to come, and fill up, and at least four check points to get through, simply to go there and back along a main route 12 miles long. And fortunately my health insurance document covers me for health-care to the sum of 5,000,000 in sterling: Claire's dad doesn't get any health insurance, although he pays for it, this is because he lives the wrong side of the separation wall.
I have, joyfully, been given access to Bernard Sabella, Professor of Sociology at Bethelehem University and Albert Agazarian retired Director of Communications from Birzeit University who have both agreed to be interviewed for the documentary. Albert is going to take me onto a 'Swedish' roof with stunning views across the Old City for filming. Bernard is going to spend a whole day with me travelling along the road to Bethlehem, through the checkpoint, and into the city that Palestinian Christians are leaving in their thousands (10 per cent of 35,000 have left in the last 4 years). In fact Bernard was in the Herald Tribune and New York Times discussing this very topic in the last couple of days -- http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/23/international/middleeast/23bethlehem.html
Eating out has been fantastic, from munching falafel and pitta daily to beatifully prepared Italian vegetarian meals just close by St George's. Tomorrow I am going to go to Bethlehem to take a look round and attend a couple of services, one in the Shepherd's Field overlooking the town and the other at the Church of the Nativity. Midnight communion will be back at the cathedral, and then a full set of services in East Jerusalem on Christmas day itself. I lead the 8am Holy Communion on Boxing Day and then it's straight down the Holy Sepulchre for 9am to begin 6 days of filming.
Fortunately my access issues are far far less severe than the locals, to the point of being irrelevant. Claire's family, who I've just met, would have to take 5 different service taxis or private taxis, one way, to get from their home to Bethlehem for the Christmas celebrations -- that would mean waiting for ten vehicles to come, and fill up, and at least four check points to get through, simply to go there and back along a main route 12 miles long. And fortunately my health insurance document covers me for health-care to the sum of 5,000,000 in sterling: Claire's dad doesn't get any health insurance, although he pays for it, this is because he lives the wrong side of the separation wall.
I have, joyfully, been given access to Bernard Sabella, Professor of Sociology at Bethelehem University and Albert Agazarian retired Director of Communications from Birzeit University who have both agreed to be interviewed for the documentary. Albert is going to take me onto a 'Swedish' roof with stunning views across the Old City for filming. Bernard is going to spend a whole day with me travelling along the road to Bethlehem, through the checkpoint, and into the city that Palestinian Christians are leaving in their thousands (10 per cent of 35,000 have left in the last 4 years). In fact Bernard was in the Herald Tribune and New York Times discussing this very topic in the last couple of days -- http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/23/international/middleeast/23bethlehem.html
Eating out has been fantastic, from munching falafel and pitta daily to beatifully prepared Italian vegetarian meals just close by St George's. Tomorrow I am going to go to Bethlehem to take a look round and attend a couple of services, one in the Shepherd's Field overlooking the town and the other at the Church of the Nativity. Midnight communion will be back at the cathedral, and then a full set of services in East Jerusalem on Christmas day itself. I lead the 8am Holy Communion on Boxing Day and then it's straight down the Holy Sepulchre for 9am to begin 6 days of filming.
Tuesday, December 21, 2004
Finding film-makers
Sunday night, I had a surpise, I met a film-maker, Carlos, who I had bumped into in Amman back in March 2004. He is making a documentary about the Palestinian football team. His 'human interest' approach to the situation here was part of what formed the ideas Roy and I have come up with for our documentary about a Palestinian family separated between the UK and Jerusalem / Palestine. It was good to see Carlos again and to meet his friend, Moina, too -- we had a quick drink in the Christmas hotel and agreed to meet again at Easter -- he's gone away to film Palestinian team players in Madrid and Chile.
Monday was mainly taken up with planning for the TV pilot documentary I am working on. First of all I spent a few hours with Michael. It is his family who I want to make the film about, and his sister, Claire, who lives in Rotherham who we have already interviewed.
I went to Ramallah to meet him -- so had to go through a major check-point at Kalandyia. Since my visit in March the separation wall has now been built right down up against check-point, there is something so grim about that place and the 200 metres walking through the tin shed walkway -- the pointless empty space, the restricted traffic, the knowledge that so many people can't leave the West Bank for any reason, let alone to find work is so disheartening.
I've also been to the offices of the media company Ramattan in Ramallah. There I met my second film-maker in less than 24 hours: he's called Labib, his style, body language, confidence and understanding of what is needed are spot-on. We have committed to working together on the TV project. I've made the financial arrangements with his company accountant -- so now I must write the schedule for filming, most of which will happen immediately after Christmas.
After that I met a TV news journalist who has invited me to the press conference that is being held there tomorrow with Tony Blair, I know if I went, and had the chance to ask a question I would want to ask Blair whether having the blood of 100,000 civilians on his hands makes him a less likely candidate than Yasser Arafat for progressing peace in the region.
Between now and Thursday I am planning to; meet scholars who have researched on Palestinian Christian issues, lead worship at the Cathedral, meet the rest of Claire's family. I also hope to see Moina and her friend Charline again after a very entertaining dinner last night when we solved all the political issues of the region in one go!
Monday was mainly taken up with planning for the TV pilot documentary I am working on. First of all I spent a few hours with Michael. It is his family who I want to make the film about, and his sister, Claire, who lives in Rotherham who we have already interviewed.
I went to Ramallah to meet him -- so had to go through a major check-point at Kalandyia. Since my visit in March the separation wall has now been built right down up against check-point, there is something so grim about that place and the 200 metres walking through the tin shed walkway -- the pointless empty space, the restricted traffic, the knowledge that so many people can't leave the West Bank for any reason, let alone to find work is so disheartening.
I've also been to the offices of the media company Ramattan in Ramallah. There I met my second film-maker in less than 24 hours: he's called Labib, his style, body language, confidence and understanding of what is needed are spot-on. We have committed to working together on the TV project. I've made the financial arrangements with his company accountant -- so now I must write the schedule for filming, most of which will happen immediately after Christmas.
After that I met a TV news journalist who has invited me to the press conference that is being held there tomorrow with Tony Blair, I know if I went, and had the chance to ask a question I would want to ask Blair whether having the blood of 100,000 civilians on his hands makes him a less likely candidate than Yasser Arafat for progressing peace in the region.
Between now and Thursday I am planning to; meet scholars who have researched on Palestinian Christian issues, lead worship at the Cathedral, meet the rest of Claire's family. I also hope to see Moina and her friend Charline again after a very entertaining dinner last night when we solved all the political issues of the region in one go!
Sunday, December 19, 2004
Arrived in East Jerusalem
Was at Heathrow on Friday 17 meeting Stephen Sizer who's written a pro-Palestinian evangelical perspective on Christian Zionism. He had a full set of the DVDs and pamphlets he's produced on the topic and his latest book. I crammed them into my bags, wondering what Israeli Defence Force border control would think .
The flight to Amman was significant for two reasons. First and less importantly, I'd never been to Lebanon before: it was only for 40 minutes, it was a dark cloudy night and I didn't leave the plane, so I have a vague and flawed impression of the sky-line courtesy of the street lights, and I can visualize the sea from what was entirely void! What made the flight exceptional though was that I sat next to two people returning from one month in Leeds back to Baghdad. They were best friends to each other. When they said where they were going to we all wept together. We spoke about the Blair / Bush war crimes and the BBC lies for a while.
They spoke with so much hope and little desperation. I felt proud to have spent a little time with two intellectual philoshophers who survived, smiled and continued to overcome. We spoke about religious freedom in Iraq. The Christian hoped to be allowed to go to Church this Christmas, unlike last year, and the Muslim talked about one of her friends who was executed for wearing an Hijab when Saddaam ruled there.
I arrived at Amman 10 minutes before sunrise, and took a cab straight to the King Hussein border to make the crossing over from the east bank of the Jordan, in Jordan, to its west bank in Palestine. Once across the river I arrived at the Israeli border control heavily loaded with professional video tapes and the DV Camera, Stephen's literature and a large furry animal microphone. I took all the advice though and remained cheerful and unthreatened -- all went well, quickly and smoothly -- phew -- I was so worried about long sets of questions which get me anxious -- no it was the 90 minutes queue to check-in at Heathrow which was more stressful this time! A friendly German / Dubai family who I met going through gave me a free ride in the mini-van-cab they'd booked for the 50 minute drive and 3000ft climb up to Jerusalem.
My friend Hatem was at St George's Cathedral when I arrived -- we went to midday prayer, had lunch, did some further planning for my weeks here and met up with some others too. And with his help, within 24 hours I've now briefed Bishop Riah on the project, arranged a visit to Ramallah to sort out a film crew, and had a light supper at the American Colony hotel. Today I've settled into my room at the College, which is lovely, simple, and has a balcony with a view of the St George's compound -- more trees than I'd remembered. Church this morning was a joint Arabic / English service -- singing hymns in two languages got me confused and I ended up singing the tune of Hark the Herald whilst fitting the words of Once in Royal, without noticing.
Now it's Sunday afternoon and I have been browsing the local shops here in north east Jerusalem, just a few hundred metres from the Damascus gate into the old city. I love wandering around munching falafel buying roasted pistachios, still warm, and drinking arabic coffee. I meet a media photographer at the Grand Hotel in Ramallah tonight at 6pm -- getting through the Kalandyia check point on the way ought to be no problem. I do hope I'll be able to get back through later on -- my contingency plan is to stay the night over there otherwise.
The flight to Amman was significant for two reasons. First and less importantly, I'd never been to Lebanon before: it was only for 40 minutes, it was a dark cloudy night and I didn't leave the plane, so I have a vague and flawed impression of the sky-line courtesy of the street lights, and I can visualize the sea from what was entirely void! What made the flight exceptional though was that I sat next to two people returning from one month in Leeds back to Baghdad. They were best friends to each other. When they said where they were going to we all wept together. We spoke about the Blair / Bush war crimes and the BBC lies for a while.
They spoke with so much hope and little desperation. I felt proud to have spent a little time with two intellectual philoshophers who survived, smiled and continued to overcome. We spoke about religious freedom in Iraq. The Christian hoped to be allowed to go to Church this Christmas, unlike last year, and the Muslim talked about one of her friends who was executed for wearing an Hijab when Saddaam ruled there.
I arrived at Amman 10 minutes before sunrise, and took a cab straight to the King Hussein border to make the crossing over from the east bank of the Jordan, in Jordan, to its west bank in Palestine. Once across the river I arrived at the Israeli border control heavily loaded with professional video tapes and the DV Camera, Stephen's literature and a large furry animal microphone. I took all the advice though and remained cheerful and unthreatened -- all went well, quickly and smoothly -- phew -- I was so worried about long sets of questions which get me anxious -- no it was the 90 minutes queue to check-in at Heathrow which was more stressful this time! A friendly German / Dubai family who I met going through gave me a free ride in the mini-van-cab they'd booked for the 50 minute drive and 3000ft climb up to Jerusalem.
My friend Hatem was at St George's Cathedral when I arrived -- we went to midday prayer, had lunch, did some further planning for my weeks here and met up with some others too. And with his help, within 24 hours I've now briefed Bishop Riah on the project, arranged a visit to Ramallah to sort out a film crew, and had a light supper at the American Colony hotel. Today I've settled into my room at the College, which is lovely, simple, and has a balcony with a view of the St George's compound -- more trees than I'd remembered. Church this morning was a joint Arabic / English service -- singing hymns in two languages got me confused and I ended up singing the tune of Hark the Herald whilst fitting the words of Once in Royal, without noticing.
Now it's Sunday afternoon and I have been browsing the local shops here in north east Jerusalem, just a few hundred metres from the Damascus gate into the old city. I love wandering around munching falafel buying roasted pistachios, still warm, and drinking arabic coffee. I meet a media photographer at the Grand Hotel in Ramallah tonight at 6pm -- getting through the Kalandyia check point on the way ought to be no problem. I do hope I'll be able to get back through later on -- my contingency plan is to stay the night over there otherwise.
Sunday, December 12, 2004
Christmas Eve -- Bethlehem?
I am doing many things at the moment, including preparing to return to Jordan, Palestine and Israel on December 17 -- the collaborative research I am involved with is currently focussed on Arab Palestinian Christians living here in the UK and in Israel / Palestine -- I am finding that work very rewarding. The thesis is still chugging along too -- I'm just about on track, so Andrew my supervisor says, at least.
I will be making a pilgrimage visit to Bethlehem on Christmas Eve with the church in Jerusalem -- I'm helping at St George's Anglican Cathedral, East Jerusalem. I have plenty of research to get on whilst I'm out there too! It should all be good, I hope. Before then there's a a range of Christmas things and Carol events and College activities to be getting on with, and a visit to Oxford to get on with some more work on the PhD upgrade chapter.
I will be making a pilgrimage visit to Bethlehem on Christmas Eve with the church in Jerusalem -- I'm helping at St George's Anglican Cathedral, East Jerusalem. I have plenty of research to get on whilst I'm out there too! It should all be good, I hope. Before then there's a a range of Christmas things and Carol events and College activities to be getting on with, and a visit to Oxford to get on with some more work on the PhD upgrade chapter.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
