IN STEREO

There’s a mosaic that was in Nablus, in a Roman villa. During the Second Intifada, the Israeli army tore it out and took it. It’s at the Rockefeller Museum now, in Jerusalem. We made a copy of it for the people in the West Bank who can’t enter Jerusalem to see it. I mean, I can’t enter Jerusalem to see these mosaics because I can’t get permission. We made a big project about these mosaics. We called it Holy Land’s Mosaics. I mean, [in] Gaza for example, there is a mosaic called Al-Shallalah [The Waterfall]. During the Second World War, it was torn out by the Australian army. And of course, they took it in boxes to Australia and put it in a museum. So it’s disappeared. We went to the Internet, and we took the original photos, right? And we made this copy so people could see.

We targeted mosaics from the inside of Al-Aqsa Mosque too, and from the Church of the Nativity. Because there are people from the north of the West Bank who can’t come to Bethlehem to see the mosaic floor. What’s meant by this, from a national aspect, [is to] explain to a compatriot, “Really, this mosaic was in Nablus; it was stolen. The Israeli army stole it [and] put it in Jerusalem.” This is the message, you understand? A national message, and at the same time in order to affirm the persistence [of the culture]. [If] it’s normal they occupy a country, it’s normal they steal a mosaic. It’s not correct that you come and take. It’s not normal at all. I call this stealing. So the result is that they are thieves. I mean, it’s like we’re living in a jungle, you know? – Ra’fat