IN STEREO

There are problems here in Palestine: children and people growing up, the youth, don’t know the real names of the cities and camps. The walls speak Arabic in Jerusalem – it’s from the old times. [But for] a lot of destroyed villages around Palestine, like in Area C, they put the Hebrew name. Around Bethlehem, the prophet Daniel’s place, they called it Gush Etzion. They created a new name to keep the lies going. The names have been changed; the flag has been changed. They say, “This is the land that God gave to us.” [If I said], “Your home is mine; my god gave it to me. I will capture it and stay in it,” what would you do? This is your house, your childhood – you were brought up there. No one can take it from you. If you take this phone [in my hand], God didn’t give it to you – that’s stealing.

Don’t capture me and make an occupation. It’s not my mistake. Go to your god and ask him to get you another house. Let your god build another one for you. Like any occupation that happens in the world, it will go and we will win. It’s our land – we can’t let them go with it. [Heritage recognition] can be helpful. But UNESCO... Take Battir as an example. The train comes from Battir to Jerusalem. They use the lands as Israeli lands, not UNESCO lands. And they go there; they have guns; they prevent people from being there. If you go there, you need to keep looking around everywhere – you won’t be safe there and you will not feel comfortable. You need to stay alert and look everywhere. They use the UNESCO land as Israeli land. That’s no different. – Nizar