IN STEREO

[Battir is] a very calm area, so problems don’t occur here. I mean, it’s not like Bethlehem or the camps. A lot of Jewish-Israelis come along the path [and] we don’t have someone stand in their way or stop them. I mean, we aren’t concerned with religion; our issue is Zionism. Like when a dog attacked the Israelis. We were walking on the path, from Beit Jala to Battir. Our dogs were playing together. This was the first time they met each other, [but it’s] normal, no problem. There was an Israeli who passed next to us. Their dog didn’t let any dog play with it, or any person touch it – only its owners, the Israelis. You even feel like their dogs are racist, too. My dog is young and wasn’t paying a lot of attention. My dog went to [their dog, and] it attacked and bit.

I took [my dog] and kept it away. Khader’s dog is big. The other dog wanted to attack and so, [because] Khader’s dog was afraid, it bit and tore it up. Then we separated them from each other – and they told us to get away, out of the land. Umm, that’s enough. Khader even wanted to apologise to the Israeli and tell her it wasn’t intentional. [But] she told him, “No, you get away.” They wanted to get us out from the land where we were. They told us, “Go.” But we stood in their way again and told them, “You go.” I mean, we’re sitting here. This is our land. We’re not leaving it. “It’s you who came in our way. You go.” And they took themselves and went. – Mohammad