May end and early June 2012...
Had a lot of fun early on working with 'Sky News Arabiya' for a few days. We were broadcasting football matches, interviewing key figures and visiting refugee camps. I was getting a good idea of the Palestinian landscape and meeting interesting people. Unfortunately, I had to leave after a while since I was not offered insurance under their terms.
I was a little disappointed since I initially thought they did not want me, which turned out not to be true later on! Mamoun did not like this approach and cheered me up by providing me with a camera, mike and a tripod. "Go anywhere in Palestine or Israel to film and you can interview anyone!", this got me inspired since I thought crossing between Israel and Palestine would be dangerous and risky.
Whenever I would hit the checkpoints, they'd take time to check the Palestinians and me thoroughly! Despite this, I considered myself lucky and privileged to enter Jerusalem since most Palestinians cannot even go there. I met a lot of interesting people at the old city, no doubt there was a pressure to film everything I see since I'd be here only for a few more weeks!
Some more days passed by, travelling around, eating falafels and shawarma and spending time at home. All these days, I still hadn't met Nadia Habash, the architect whom I got in touch with initially through the internet. She called and invited me over for a music concert happening at a school! A skinny, scrawny, short woman, who was happy to see me and learnt later on that she was and continues to be a key figure in Palestinian resistance...
Had a lot of fun early on working with 'Sky News Arabiya' for a few days. We were broadcasting football matches, interviewing key figures and visiting refugee camps. I was getting a good idea of the Palestinian landscape and meeting interesting people. Unfortunately, I had to leave after a while since I was not offered insurance under their terms.
I was a little disappointed since I initially thought they did not want me, which turned out not to be true later on! Mamoun did not like this approach and cheered me up by providing me with a camera, mike and a tripod. "Go anywhere in Palestine or Israel to film and you can interview anyone!", this got me inspired since I thought crossing between Israel and Palestine would be dangerous and risky.
Whenever I would hit the checkpoints, they'd take time to check the Palestinians and me thoroughly! Despite this, I considered myself lucky and privileged to enter Jerusalem since most Palestinians cannot even go there. I met a lot of interesting people at the old city, no doubt there was a pressure to film everything I see since I'd be here only for a few more weeks!
Some more days passed by, travelling around, eating falafels and shawarma and spending time at home. All these days, I still hadn't met Nadia Habash, the architect whom I got in touch with initially through the internet. She called and invited me over for a music concert happening at a school! A skinny, scrawny, short woman, who was happy to see me and learnt later on that she was and continues to be a key figure in Palestinian resistance...
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| Cannot miss out this mural crossing in and out of Jerusalem |
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| Height of God! |
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| Evan Hastings at home... |
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| View opposite home |
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| Mamoun Matar |
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