IN STEREO

As you know, this land is under occupation, and there’s a lot of trouble here. They call this Area C – you’re not allowed to do a lot of things. [Even] the Palestinian government isn’t allowed to come over here. They have to get permission from the Israeli government. The thing I like about it [is that] it’s not allowed to build, you know. I like it this way! You can make small houses, to leave your stuff here, to not keep it in your car or go every time to pick it up. The good thing here on this land is if you have an old castle. I can show you some castles down there. They call them ‘castles’ – it’s a small house. If you put your couch in there, it’s going to be full. You see this guy over here? He had an old castle, but he repaired it on the outside and inside. He had it from a long time ago, so nobody talked to him.

He didn’t build more, just made it OK. Some people had old ones, before the problems happened. They had them, so they keep them. They don’t talk about those because they were there already. [If] you put some kind of roof – a little bit of tin, you know – they allow for you to do it. But if you build a new one, they come and make trouble for you; they come and destroy it for you. You can do something under the table, like hiding one. But you don’t want one that can be found. They have cameras over there, so they pay attention to everything that’s going on. Everything is under control, you know? It’s very hard to [get permission]. You need a good connection. And you pay a lot of money for this. Governments all around the world: “If you pay, you are my friend.” – Issa M.