Early June...
Ready to hit the road to Tel Aviv at 6:00 am. Evan however called me and told me that he'd be free only on Monday!
Headed soon to office and said hi to Mamoun, he told me a Persian channel had come by needing some help and he'd be coming soon.
With nothing much to do I thought of breaking the barrier, the fear of filming in the main city in Ramallah. I decided to head to Manara and film. Initially I was extremely reluctant to open my camera. I went to the place Evan had mentioned earlier and had 3 pitas, 4 falafels and hummus with olive oil and chickpeas.
I walked down and noticed an animated policeman. Having seen this very often, I assumed it was a common sight and started filming him.
Bored, I decided to do something more ecstatic and headed to Bil'in, the village in the West Bank which has been resisting the separation barrier over the past 8 years and struggling non-violently. Waited for a taxi to fill up. On the way to Bil'in I noticed beautiful landscapes laden with hills and olive trees. Passed by a lot of Arab villages and Israeli settlements and finally landed at Bil'in.
I was extremely scared to go anywhere near the separation barrier or the settlements when I first saw it assuming there would be a lot of snipers around. Bil'in looked like my neighborhood at home without any traffic. Some kids followed me, even leading me towards the wall and we talked about Indian cinema.
They finally took me to a point in the middle of nowhere and didn't wanna come any further.
Suddenly a big minivan passed by carrying a bunch of activists. Most of them were Norwegian activists helping Palestinian NGO's and with them was an enthusiastic Palestinian from the village, Hamde Abu Rhema. I spoke to some of the activists and later on with Hamde. He took me home, offered me thick blank coffee and showed me what he does on facebook. His younger cousin took hold of my camera and started photographing.
Hamde told me a lot about the wall, an existing reality and one of the numerous attempts to create facts on the ground so that Israel can grab more land and keep the settlements in the final negotiations.
There were a lot of olive trees burnt down. Olive trees take 30 - 35 years to grow. Hamde also showed me the spot where his cousin, Bassem was shot by a tear gas canister and killed. Bassem was a very cheerful person who loved kids. This was quite sad.
After a good conversation I headed back to Ramallah and promised to meet him on Friday when they head to the demonstrations. I met Mamoun at the office and showed him the pictures as well as the videos. He didn't seem too interested, I'm assuming he's been seeing this for the past 40 years.
I bought sandwich at a shop below and a crazy person put a sticker titled 'POISON' on my shirt pocket. Palestine has been so interesting, mind boggling to say the least!
Back home, watching King of queens with cherries, bread, milk and zatar. A typical day in June.
Ready to hit the road to Tel Aviv at 6:00 am. Evan however called me and told me that he'd be free only on Monday!
Headed soon to office and said hi to Mamoun, he told me a Persian channel had come by needing some help and he'd be coming soon.
With nothing much to do I thought of breaking the barrier, the fear of filming in the main city in Ramallah. I decided to head to Manara and film. Initially I was extremely reluctant to open my camera. I went to the place Evan had mentioned earlier and had 3 pitas, 4 falafels and hummus with olive oil and chickpeas.
I walked down and noticed an animated policeman. Having seen this very often, I assumed it was a common sight and started filming him.
Bored, I decided to do something more ecstatic and headed to Bil'in, the village in the West Bank which has been resisting the separation barrier over the past 8 years and struggling non-violently. Waited for a taxi to fill up. On the way to Bil'in I noticed beautiful landscapes laden with hills and olive trees. Passed by a lot of Arab villages and Israeli settlements and finally landed at Bil'in.
I was extremely scared to go anywhere near the separation barrier or the settlements when I first saw it assuming there would be a lot of snipers around. Bil'in looked like my neighborhood at home without any traffic. Some kids followed me, even leading me towards the wall and we talked about Indian cinema.
They finally took me to a point in the middle of nowhere and didn't wanna come any further.
Suddenly a big minivan passed by carrying a bunch of activists. Most of them were Norwegian activists helping Palestinian NGO's and with them was an enthusiastic Palestinian from the village, Hamde Abu Rhema. I spoke to some of the activists and later on with Hamde. He took me home, offered me thick blank coffee and showed me what he does on facebook. His younger cousin took hold of my camera and started photographing.
Hamde told me a lot about the wall, an existing reality and one of the numerous attempts to create facts on the ground so that Israel can grab more land and keep the settlements in the final negotiations.
There were a lot of olive trees burnt down. Olive trees take 30 - 35 years to grow. Hamde also showed me the spot where his cousin, Bassem was shot by a tear gas canister and killed. Bassem was a very cheerful person who loved kids. This was quite sad.
After a good conversation I headed back to Ramallah and promised to meet him on Friday when they head to the demonstrations. I met Mamoun at the office and showed him the pictures as well as the videos. He didn't seem too interested, I'm assuming he's been seeing this for the past 40 years.
I bought sandwich at a shop below and a crazy person put a sticker titled 'POISON' on my shirt pocket. Palestine has been so interesting, mind boggling to say the least!
Back home, watching King of queens with cherries, bread, milk and zatar. A typical day in June.
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| Hamde with his nephew |
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| The ever-expanding Israeli settlement of Kiryat Sefer |
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| Hamde's studio |
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| Olive trees burnt down at Bil'in |
