@tobararbulu # mmt@tobararbulu
1948 Survivors Narrate How Israel Stole Palestine https://youtu.be/OqHrJd_1MiE?si=KahonQQ_71RznNTU
1948 Survivors Narrate How Israel Stole Palestine
Bideoa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqHrJd_1MiE&t=41s
OnePath Network sat down with survivors of the 1948 Nakba, and those who were directly impacted. They narrate to us first hand how Israel forcefully displaced and ethnically cleansed the Palestinian people.
These individuals are now residing in Australia, and they narrate their lived experiences from the events of 1948 and subsequent events.
00:00 – Introduction
01:54 – Part 1: The Declaration of Israel
02:35 – Part 2: The Violent Displacement
04:36 – Part 3: The Massacre
07:50 – Part 4: The Theft
11:03 – Part 5: The right to return
0:00
…kemudian mereka mengumpulkan semua laki-laki, lalu menembaki mereka.
0:03
Mereka membawa senapan mesin dan mereka membunuh semuanya.
0:06
…dan mereka membunuh semuanya,
0:08
mereka menembaki semua orang secara membabi buta.
0:10
Sebagian besar pria di Khan Younis tewas pada hari itu.
0:14
Lebih dari 700 orang terbunuh di hari itu.
0:17
Tiba-tiba semua anak di daerah itu menjadi anak yatim.
0:20
Pada tahun 1948, tentara penjajah Israel menyerang Palestina dan secara brutal mengusir lebih dari 700.000 orang.
0:25
Peristiwa berdarah ini dikenal dengan sebutan “Nakba”.
0:29
OnePath Network duduk bersama para pengungsi Palestina yang terdampak langsung oleh peristiwa tersebut.
0:34
Nama saya Nasri, Nasri Ahmad Hasan Ali Abduh.
0:38
Saya lahir di Jaffa.
0:39
Muhammad Khalid Abu Mahmud.
0:42
Saya lahir di Jaffa.
0:45
Nayif Muhammad Mahmud Hajaj.
0:48
Lahir di Alma.
0:49
Said Muhammad Al-Isawi.
0:52
Saya lahir di kamp Jalazun.
0:55
Nama Saya ‘Atif Karim.
0:57
Saya lahir di Palestina, di Hamidiyah.
1:00
Mahmud Muhammad Sulthon.
1:02
Saya lahir di kota Jaffa.
1:04
Bulan November 1944.
1:06
Nama saya Adnan Abdul Fattah.
1:08
Saya lahir di desa Burqa, Nablus. Bulan Maret 1945.
1:13
Yang berarti usia saya lebih tua 3 tahun atau lebih, dari Israel.
1:19
Yang didirikan pada Mei 1948.
1:23
Saya dilahirkan di “biyara” keluarga kami. Biyara artinya perkebunan.
1:27
Ayah dan ibuku, dan sebagian besar keluarga dari sisi ayahku,
1:33
semuanya tinggal di sebuah rumah besar di biyara kami.
1:37
Ayah dan ibuku tinggal di sebuah desa kecil,
1:41
yang jaraknya sekitar 6 atau 7 kilometer dari tepi laut.
1:45
Dengan luas lahan sekitar 40 km persegi, atau 4 – 6 hektar di daerah tersebut.
Part 1: The Declaration of Israel
1:54
Bagian 1: Deklarasi Israel
1:57
Ketika usia saya tiga setengah tahun,
2:00
Ben Gurion mendeklarasikan pendirian Israel di atas tanah Palestina
2:06
Ketika saya lahir, konflik selalu terjadi,
2:09
karena kami sering melihat orang-orang diusir keluar dari rumah mereka.
2:12
Atau keluar rumah, dan ketika pulang, ada orang lain yang sudah menempati rumah mereka.
2:17
Dan mereka tidak bisa berbuat apa-apa.
2:18
Ketika aku masih sangat kecil, aku ingat ayahku,
2:21
sering sekali berdiam di rumah, hampir setiap waktu.
2:24
Karena pada tahun 1948, ada peristiwa Nakba.
2:28
Orang-orang dikeluarkan paksa dari kediamannya di Palestina.
2:31
Dan sebagian dipecat dari mata pencaharian mereka di Palestina.
2:35
Bagian 2: Pengusiran Brutal.
2:38
Di tahun 1948,
2:39
pemukim Yahudi mulai mengebom Jaffa dari berbagai arah.
2:43
Dan penduduk Jaffa tidak punya persenjataan apapun untuk mempertahankan diri.
2:47
Aku ingat, waktu itu para tentara Israel, mereka mendatangi kami,
2:52
lalu mereka membombardir kami dengan pesawat dan tank-tank baja,
2:57
oleh tentara Israel.
2:59
Orang-orang Jaffa, mereka lari dari satu tempat ke tempat lain.
3:03
Di bawah tekanan ini, mereka mulai mengusir kami dengan kekerasan.
3:07
Pada awalnya, mereka menggunakan senapan dan tank baja.
3:11
Namun ketika kami sampai ke perbatasan,
3:15
mereka mulai mengebom kami dengan pesawat.
3:17
Mereka mulai melarikan diri ke pantai Jaffa.
3:21
Melalui laut ke Jalur Gaza dan Libanon.
3:25
Dan disana sudah menunggu kapal laut Yunani,
3:28
menunggu untuk membantu mereka melarikan diri ke Gaza dan Libanon.
3:33
Mereka memecah dua kelompok ini ke kanan dan ke kiri.
3:37
Kelompok di daerah kanan, yang kemudian di bawah kekuasaan militer,
3:42
mereka bergerak menuju ke Tepi Barat.
3:46
Dan sebagian menetap di daerah Qilia.
3:50
Ketika orang-orang Israel menduduki desa kami, Kufr Ana.
3:56
Ayahku sedang di luar desa. Beliau bergabung dengan para pejuang,
4:00
dengan pasukan pertahanan Palestina.
4:04
Ibuku, dengan anak-anaknya yang masih kecil,
4:07
melarikan diri meninggalkan desa.
4:11
Ketika Israel memasuki area Deir Yasin dan Kufr Qasim dan membantai semua orang,
4:16
dan kami mulai ketakutan, mereka membagikan secarik kertas.
4:20
Mereka menyuruh kami meninggalkan tempat ini, desa kami.
4:23
Dan tentu saja orang-orang ketakutan dan meninggalkan desa.
4:27
Kami diminta meninggalkan desa selama sepekan.
4:31
Setelah itu mereka bilang kami bisa kembali.
4:33
Pada akhirnya kami tidak kembali, kami pergi ke Yordania.
4:36
Bagian 3: Pembantaian
4:40
Ketika kami kembali dari daerah pantai ke rumah kami,
4:44
Ayahku memintaku berkeliling untuk mencari tahu kabar tetangga-tetangga kami.
4:48
Dan di rumah pertama, di rumah keluarga Sau’doni,
4:51
mereka membunuh tiga anak laki-laki mereka.
4:54
Salah satu dari mereka menggendong anaknya,
4:56
lalu dia berkata kepada prajurit Israel,
4:59
“Tolong jangan bunuh aku demi anak ini”
5:02
Dia (prajurit itu) berkata, “Kamu dan anakmu.”
5:04
Kaki anaknya dipotong dari paha, dan dia tewas.
5:08
Dan ketika aku pergi ke rumah mereka, aku menyaksikan mayat mereka,
5:12
masih ada di dalam rumah.
5:13
Mereka (prajurit Israel) lalu pergi ke rumah lain,
5:16
Sebagian besar laki-laki di Khan Younis dibunuh pada hari itu.
5:19
Lebih dari 700 orang tewas pada hari itu.
5:22
Anak-anak di daerah itu tiba-tiba menjadi anak yatim.
5:25
Ini pembantaian besar, mereka membunuh para pria di kota Khan Younis.
5:29
Mereka dikumpulkan berkelompok-kelompok,
5:32
terdiri dari 30 sampai 40 orang.
5:35
Dan menyuruh mereka untuk menghadap ke dinding,
5:39
lalu mereka semua ditembaki.
5:41
Seorang bibi dari sisi ayahku,
5:44
dia tinggal di daerah Jaffa, tapi aku tidak ingat daerah persisnya.
5:49
Orang-orang Yahudi mendatangi kota kami, dan mereka membunuh semua orang.
5:53
Mereka menembaki orang-orang secara membabi buta.
5:55
Semua orang di sana meninggal dunia kecuali 2 orang,
5:59
Kakak laki-laki bibiku, dan putranya sendiri.
6:03
Sebelum aku meninggalkan Palestina, ada orang-orang Israel yang menakut-nakuti kami,
6:07
Mereka sudah membuat Deir Yassin, mereka membunuh sebagian besar penduduk di sana
6:13
dan di Kufr Qasim, mereka membunuh semua tanpa sisa.
6:16
Dan desa lain jadi ketakutan karenanya.
6:19
Semua orang, semua ayah ingin membawa anak-anak mereka,
6:23
untuk keluar desa hingga perang berakhir.
6:26
Mereka datang di pagi hari dan membunuh semua laki-laki.
6:31
Lalu, ada sebuah area besar di daerah Alma,
6:37
mereka mengumpulkan semua laki-laki, dan membunuh mereka semua di tempat itu.
6:42
Mereka menembaki mereka dengan senapan mesin, dan membunuh mereka semua.
6:46
di hadapan semua orang, aku juga menyaksikan itu semua.
6:50
Temanku Abdullah Hammudi berusia 12 tahun saat itu.
6:55
Dia dimasukkan dalam kelompok, lalu guruku Pak Alam L’alami
6:59
ada di sebelahnya.
7:00
Temanku bilang pada gurunya ketika mereka disuruh menghadap ke arah tembok,
7:04
Dia bilang pada gurunya, “Mereka akan membunuh kita,”
7:07
Lalu gurunya bilang, “Tidak usah takut, ayo berdiri di depanku.”
7:09
Lalu beliau menempatkan temanku di depannya, dan mereka (prajurit Israel) mulai menembak.
7:12
Sekitar 35 orang terbunuh.
7:16
Tapi Muhammad masih hidup.
7:18
Ketika para pembunuh sudah masuk ke mobil mereka,
7:21
temanku mencoba berdiri, tapi kakinya patah.
7:24
Dia tidak bisa bangun, tapi dia masih bisa bergerak dengan punggungnya,
7:28
sampai tiba ke rumah mereka.
7:30
Dan tetangga mereka menyangga kakinya,
7:33
hingga dia tiba di rumah sakit.
7:35
Lalu dia pergi ke sekolah dengan tongkat.
7:38
Dan itu masih membekas dalam ingatanku sejak saat itu.
7:42
Aku tidak bisa melupakannya.
7:43
Aku masih menderita akibatnya hingga sekarang.
7:46
Akibat peristiwa yang terjadi pada orang-orang kami di kota Khan Younis,
7:49
Bagian 4: Pencurian
7:53
Kami orang Jaffa, kami punya surat kepemilikan biyarat,
7:59
atau tanah kami disana.
8:01
Sampai sekarang masih ada.
8:03
Disimpan di salah satu bank disini.
8:05
Aku menyimpan semua dokumen yang diberikan oleh ayahku kepadaku,
8:08
yang berisi dokumen kepemilikan kami di Jaffa.
8:11
Memang mereka mencuri tanah dan barang-barang. Tapi dokumennya masih di tangan kami.
8:16
Insyaa Allah, di masa yang akan datang ketika kami kembali ke negeri asal kami,
8:21
kami bisa menggunakannya.
8:22
Kami punya rumah di Jaffa, rumah dan tanah di Jaffa.
8:25
Tidak jauh dari perairan.
8:26
Tempatnya bernama Hay Al-Nuzha.
8:28
Ketika aku pergi kesana sekitar 2 kunjungan lalu.
8:31
Tanah kami tidak ditempati siapa-siapa.
8:34
Dan ada tali putih-biru mengelilinginya seperti pagar.
8:40
Bukan pagar, hanya tali.
8:42
Mereka bisa saja menghancurkannya, tapi entah kenapa mereka membiarkannya begitu saja.
8:45
Dan rumah sekitarnya juga seperti itu.
8:46
Dan rumah orang lain, semua disegel dengan tali biru.
8:50
Dan dibiarkan saja tidak berpenghuni.
8:52
Setelah setahun, mereka datang ke kamp,
8:55
mereka memberitahu manajer kamp untuk memanggil ayahku.
9:00
Dan mereka datang lalu duduk bicara dengannya dari jam 8 pagi hingga jam 2 siang.
9:05
Mereka menanyainya tentang banyak hal.
9:08
Lalu ayahku, dengan cara yang sangat cerdas dan simpel,
9:12
Beliau bilang, “Ya, betul. Anda bilang saya sakit dan sudah tua.”
9:17
“Anda ingin memberi saya uang sebagai ganti tanah saya untuk senang-senang.”
9:20
“Mau saya apakan uang itu? Bisa saja saya mati besok, lusa atau bulan depan,”
9:25
“setahun, hanya Allah yang tahu. Tuhan yang tahu.”
9:27
“Jadi buat apa saya menjual tanah saya, mengambil uangnya lalu membuang-buangnya?”
9:31
“Saya TIDAK MAU menjual tanah saya. Akan saya simpan untuk anak-anak saya.”
9:36
Supaya mereka bisa memanfaatkannya nanti.
9:38
Beliau mengira bahwa kami akan kembali kesana,
9:41
ke rumah kami, kampung halaman kami di Jaffa, Kufr Ana dalam waktu dekat.
9:46
Beliau mengharapkan sesuatu, pembebasan akan terjadi.
9:50
Namun beliau wafat pada tahun 1971.
9:53
Sebenarnya sepanjang hidupku,
9:56
aku selalu bermimpi pulang ke Palestina, sampai hari ini, hingga saat ini pun.
10:00
Sekitar 5 tahun lalu, aku membawa anak-anakku.
10:03
Aku punya 3 orang putra, aku pergi bersama mereka semua ke Palestina,
10:07
untuk menunjukkan mereka tanah kami, rumah kami di Palestina.
10:11
Dan orang-orang Israel, mereka petani,
10:15
mereka mengambil tanah kami dan mereka bekerja disana.
10:17
Ketika melihat mobil kami mendekat, ada orang yang menghampiri dan bertanya,
10:21
“Sedang mencari apa?”
10:22
Kubilang, “Aku lahir disini, di Hamidiyah,”
10:25
“Di mana Hamidiyah?”, tempatnya sudah berubah setelah 70 tahun.
10:29
Ayah orang itu datang ke Palestina, dan dia lahir disini.
10:33
Sementara aku, mereka mengusirku dari rumahku sendiri, tanahku sendiri.
10:38
Begitulah.
10:39
Ketika aku mengingatnya, aku benar-benar syok.
10:43
Aku benar-benar merasa marah.
10:46
Tanahku jadi milik orang lain yang datang dari belahan dunia yang lain,
10:51
dan kami tidak diperbolehkan pulang.
10:53
Dan begitulah orang Israel membuat,
10:57
apa yang mereka sebut sebagai “negara.”
10:58
Tapi insyaa Allah kami akan kembali suatu hari.
11:02
Bagian 5: Hak Untuk Kembali
11:05
Untuk kalian generasi muda, jangan pernah lupa!
11:08
Kemerdekaan ada dalam hati.
11:10
Jangan pernah takut pada siapapun,
11:12
jika yang kau katakan adalah kebenaran atau jalan yang lurus.
11:14
Karena dengan begitu, kebenaran tidak akan pernah mati.
11:17
Dan jika kebenaran itu berakhir di tanganmu, Allah SWT akan menghidupkannya kembali.
11:20
Yang kubutuhkan saat ini,
11:23
jika aku tidak bisa kembali,
11:26
atau tanahku Palestina tidak merdeka di masa hidupku,
11:29
semoga suatu saat akan merdeka untuk anak-anak dan cucu-cucuku.
11:33
Jika Palestina dikembalikan pada kami sekarang,
11:36
aku tidak akan menunggu sampai 24 jam disini.
11:38
Aku akan segera kembali ke Palestina, dan aku akan mati di Palestina.
11:42
Ini keinginanku,
11:44
(keinginan) kami yang meninggalkan negeri kami.
11:46
Sangat sulit, sangat sulit meninggalkan rumahmu sendiri secara terpaksa.
11:49
Dan kami masih ingat, aku masih ingat rumahku di Jaffa.
11:54
Ketika itu aku berumur tiga setengah tahun,
11:56
tapi aku masih ingat rumah dan perkebunan kami.
11:58
Dan aku benar-benar berharap bisa kembali.
12:00
Tapi tidak mudah, tidak mudah untuk kembali kesana.
12:04
Karena kami tidak punya kekuatan.
12:06
Tapi mudah-mudahan di masa yang akan datang,
12:09
cucu-cucu kami akan punya kekuatan lebih besar supaya mereka bisa kembali ke kampung halaman mereka
12:15
Dan Tuhan telah menjanjikan kami kemenangan.
12:17
Dan kemenangan akan datang, akan datang kapan pun.
12:20
Kemenangan akan datang.
12:22
Dan kami akan kembali ke Palestina.
12:25
Hari ini, pengusiran paksa dan penjajahan terhadap rakyat Palestina terus berlanjut.
12:31
Semoga Allah menganugerahkan kepada mereka KEMERDEKAAN dan KEADILAN.
oooooo
How Israel Was Created https://youtu.be/6foH3Zc82ZQ?si=CrqZYn2FBvMQouv9
Honen bidez:
How Israel Was Created
Bideoa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6foH3Zc82ZQ
To understand the current war in Gaza, you have learn about the founding of the state of Israel and what that meant for the Palestinians who had been living there. Before Benjamin Netanyahu or Hamas, there was Zionism, the Balfour Declaration and the Nakba. This is how Israel was created.
Transkripzioa:
0:00
On November 2, 1917,
0:02
Britain’s Foreign Secretary,
0:03
Arthur Balfour, wrote a letter
0:05
that would set off a conflict
0:07
still being fought more than 100 years later.
0:10
His Majesty’s government view with favor
0:12
the establishment in Palestine
0:14
of a national home for the Jewish people
0:17
and will use their best endeavors
0:19
to facilitate the achievement of this object.
0:23
When Balfour wrote of his government’s intent
0:25
to create a Jewish homeland in Palestine,
0:27
90% of the people living there were not Jewish.
0:31
Just 31 years later, most of them were gone.
0:50
This is the story of the British promise
0:52
that led to the destruction of Palestine
0:54
and the creation of the State of Israel.
1:06
Let’s start with the obvious question:
1:08
Why were the British making promises about other people’s countries?
1:12
Short answer?
1:13
Empire is one hell of a drug.
1:16
This was World War I,
1:17
and the British were making lots of promises.
1:20
In addition to promising a Jewish homeland in Palestine,
1:23
They promised Arab leaders independence
1:25
if they rose up against Britain’s enemy, the Ottoman Empire.
1:29
The Arabs did.
1:30
Hollywood even made a movie about it.
1:32
– Arabia’s for the Arabs now.
1:35
– That’s what I’ve told them anyway.
1:37
That’s what they think.
1:40
That’s why they’re fighting.
1:42
Oh, surely.
1:43
A month after Balfour’s letter,
1:45
British troops took Palestine,
1:47
ending 400 years of Ottoman rule.
1:49
The people who lived there were Arabs, mostly Muslims,
1:52
but they were Christian and Jewish minorities too.
1:55
There was also a tiny number of European Jews
1:58
who in the late 1800s had started building small colonies there.
2:01
At a time when many Jews were suffering horrific persecution in Europe,
2:06
they felt Palestine could be an escape.
2:09
The idea of building up a Jewish presence in Palestine became known as Zionism,
2:13
but it stayed a fringe movement among European Jews.
2:17
Many of them felt
2:18
they shouldn’t have to leave their countries to avoid persecution.
2:21
But Zionism, as a political movement, took a big step forward
2:25
with an Austrian man called Theodor Herzl.
2:28
And this guy is a very important name in this story.
2:32
In 1896, he published “Der Judenstaat” –
2:35
or in English, “The Jewish State.”
2:37
In it, he said, the only way for Jews
2:40
to avoid Europe’s anti-Semitism
2:42
was not just to leave,
2:43
but to have their own country.
2:45
And Herzl didn’t just write.
2:47
The next year he organized a conference in Basel, Switzerland:
2:50
The First Zionist Congress.
2:53
The attendees agreed on a program which sought,
2:55
among other things, to establish
2:57
a Jewish homeland in Palestine
2:59
and promote Jewish settlement in Palestine.
3:02
From here on out,
3:03
the Zionist movement became very active,
3:05
setting up funds to promote
3:07
Jewish immigration to Palestine,
3:09
companies to buy land there,
3:10
and recruiting representatives
3:12
to advocate for their cause with different governments.
3:15
A few days after the conference, Herzl wrote this in his diary.
3:28
He was only off by one year.
3:32
Ok, so that is a lot of history, but it’s important
3:36
because the Zionist movement is a critical part of the story going forward.
3:40
Especially after it found a friend in the British government where a lot of high
3:44
ranking officials supported Zionism, sometimes for unexpected reasons.
3:48
Prime Minister Lloyd George, for example, was a Christian zealot who believed
3:53
gathering the Jewish people in Palestine would bring Jesus Christ back to earth.
3:57
Others, like Balfour, believed that getting the Jewish people
4:00
out of Europe and into their own country would be a good thing.
4:03
Herzl was pretty visionary when he wrote that
4:06
the anti-Semitic nations will become our allies.
4:09
Meanwhile, the Zionist assured Britain
4:11
that their future country would be a reliable ally.
4:15
So, that’s the back story of how
4:17
European anti-Semitism,
4:19
Zionism and British imperialism
4:22
all led to the Balfour Declaration.
4:25
This British promise to build
4:26
a homeland for Jews in Palestine.
4:33
Now we’re going to look at how Britain did that.
4:36
World War I
4:37
had been a conflict between rival empires
4:39
and the winners set up the League of Nations
4:42
to distribute the losing side’s territories between them.
4:45
They called it the Mandate System –
4:46
putting territories once controlled by
4:48
by the Ottoman and German empires under the,
4:54
until they became independent.
4:56
Hm.
4:58
Britain was given the mandate over Palestine,
5:00
but the Palestinian people were never asked what they wanted
5:04
or what independence would look like to them.
5:06
Listen to what Balfour wrote
5:08
to one of his colleagues.
5:18
Instead, it was the Zionists who were consulted about
5:21
what their vision for Palestine was.
5:23
And so the mandate ended up incorporating not just the Balfour Declaration,
5:27
but several clauses requiring Britain to ensure the establishment
5:31
of a Jewish home in Palestine.
5:34
British rule was very accommodating to the Zionist project.
5:37
The Jewish community in Palestine grew with big waves of immigration.
5:41
They had their own schools and factories and even their own militia, the Haganah.
5:45
And they were led by the Polish-born David Ben-Gurion,
5:48
the leader of their representative body, the Jewish Agency.
5:54
To the Palestinians,
5:55
it was clear that Britain wasn’t delivering them independence.
5:58
It was delivering their country to other people.
6:01
In 1936, they went on strike.
6:04
British forces tried to break the strike
6:06
with arrests, torture, mass punishment and executions.
6:10
Leaders were exiled, weapons confiscated and houses blown up.
6:15
Palestinian fighters attacked British and Jewish targets,
6:18
while British and Haganah forces
6:20
would carry out joint raids on Palestinian villages.
6:23
Something had to change.
6:25
The British government sent a commission called the Peel Commission
6:28
to figure it out, but their proposed solution was typical:
6:31
Just draw another British line on the map.
6:33
Divide the country,
6:34
give this part to the Jews and this part to the Palestinians
6:37
and make that part of Transjordan next door.
6:40
Oh, and because the Palestinians were a majority in the country,
6:43
250,000 of them would have to be removed by force
6:47
to make the Jewish state viable.
6:49
Remember, these were the proposals that were meant to calm things down.
6:54
Spoiler: they didn’t.
6:55
Instead, the revolt continued until 1939, by which time about 10% of Palestine’s
7:02
adult male population had either been killed, injured, arrested or exiled.
7:07
The British government really needed a solution –
7:09
so here comes another report.
7:11
The commission is studying the 20 year old Jewish settlements
7:14
in British-mandated Palestine.
7:16
The 1939 White Paper created a conflict
7:19
between the British and the Zionists
7:21
for the first time,
7:22
because it rejected partition
7:24
and said the solution was for Palestine to gain independence
7:27
within 10 years, with everyone living there sharing it together.
7:31
Crucially, it also imposed severe limits on Jewish
7:34
land purchases and immigration.
7:37
To the Zionists, this felt like a betrayal.
7:40
In response, some set off bombs across the country, killing dozens of Palestinians.
7:46
But soon everyone was distracted
7:48
by something much bigger.
7:53
More than 60 million people were killed in World War II,
7:56
including 6 million Jews murdered in Nazi death camps.
8:01
Jewish survivors fled Europe
8:02
with a large number of them trying to find safety in Palestine,
8:05
despite the British limit on Jewish immigration.
8:08
This set off a more direct confrontation between the Zionists and the British,
8:12
with Palestinians often targeted as well.
8:15
The Zionists knew two things:
8:16
The Zionists knew two things:
8:17
Militarily, they were stronger than the Palestinians
8:19
and Britain was exhausted by World War II,
8:22
so it wouldn’t have the stomach to keep fighting in Palestine.
8:25
They were right.
8:26
In 1947, after 30 years of occupation, Britain announced it was quitting Palestine
8:30
and asked the newly formed United Nations to clean up its mess.
8:36
Alright,
8:36
1947 and 1948 are the most pivotal years in this story.
8:41
So let’s take a look at how things are lining up.
8:43
During British rule,
8:44
Jews had gone from 10% to 30% of the population.
8:48
and owned about 6% of the land.
8:50
Under Ben-Gurion’s leadership, the Jewish Agency
8:53
was pretty much functioning as a government for the Jewish community,
8:56
And the Zionist militias had tens of thousands of soldiers,
8:59
modern weapons and officers who had already fought in World War II.
9:04
On the other side, the Palestinians hadn’t
9:06
been allowed to develop their own administration or military.
9:10
But as they waited for the UN’s solution,
9:12
they were still the majority all over the country.
9:18
In November 1947, the UN –
9:20
then only made up of a fraction of the world’s countries –
9:23
voted to partition Palestine.
9:25
This plan marks off 55% of the country
9:28
for a Jewish state.
9:29
But the UN never explained
9:31
how it could be a Jewish state
9:32
when half the people in its territory were Palestinian.
9:36
To nobody’s surprise Palestinians –
9:38
and in fact all Arabs – rejected the UN’s plan.
9:41
Ben-Gurion and the Zionist leadership accepted,
9:44
but they saw an opportunity. With the British on the way out,
9:47
the Zionists knew they would have the strongest military in Palestine.
9:50
Their forces were instructed to seize more territory
9:53
than they’d been awarded by the UN and to do what was necessary
9:56
to reduce the number of Palestinians in it.
9:59
In cities like Haifa, the militias set off car bombs in Palestinian neighborhoods.
10:04
They attacked villages and forced residents out.
10:06
– Haganah troops have driven the Arabs out of the beleaguered city,
10:10
taking many prisoners.
10:11
After inspecting parts of western Jerusalem
10:14
that have been emptied of Palestinians,
10:15
Ben-Gurion said:
10:32
One of the events that helped speed up these changes took place on
10:35
April 9, 1948, when the village of Deir Yassin scene was attacked.
10:41
A British government report
10:42
to the United Nations describes the scene.
10:45
250 people were killed in circumstances of great savagery.
10:50
Women and children were stripped,
10:52
lined up, photographed and then slaughtered by automatic firing.
10:56
The story of what happened at Deir Yassin set off panic all over the country.
11:00
As news spread, people fled,
11:03
fearing they would be next.
11:05
Historians have recorded dozens of similar massacres during this period.
11:09
Each time they would result in entire communities fleeing.
11:29
By the time Britain ended its mandate on May 15th, 1948,
11:33
250,000 Palestinians had fled.
11:37
The night before David Ben-Gurion announced the founding
11:41
of the State of Israel,
11:42
with himself as its first prime minister.
11:45
He was standing under a giant portrait of Herzl,
11:48
51 years after Herzl had predicted this very moment.
11:53
The Zionist militias came together as the newly formed Israel Defense Forces,
11:57
but the fighting wasn’t over.
11:59
With the British out of the way,
12:01
soldiers from several Arab countries entered Palestine,
12:04
but the Israeli army was better equipped, better organized and,
12:08
unlike the Arab armies,
12:09
had a unified command and backing from several European countries.
12:13
Israeli forces pushed into places that the UN
12:16
had assigned to the Palestinian state,
12:18
like the towns of Lydda and Ramleh.
12:20
50,000 people were forced to flee from there, many on foot,
12:24
in what became known as the Lydda Death March.
12:27
After being emptied, the towns were given Hebrew names: Lod and Ramla.
12:32
Like in many other empty towns, the buildings and homes were
12:36
taken over by the new Israeli state and given to Jews.
12:39
By the time the UN secured an armistice,
12:41
three quarters of the Palestinian people had become refugees.
12:46
In Arabic, they call this the Nakba –
12:48
literally, the catastrophe.
12:51
The new state of Israel made up 78% of what had been Palestine.
12:55
The remaining parts were annexed by Jordan or taken over by Egypt.
12:59
A year later,
13:00
the UN passed a resolution calling
13:02
for all Palestinian refugees
13:04
to be allowed to return home.
13:06
They never have been.
13:08
Palestine had been erased.
13:11
In the decades since,
13:13
attempts to resolve this conflict have again tried to partition the land.
13:17
With each successive attempt, the territory offered to Palestinians
13:20
in their historic homeland shrinks even more.
13:24
Ironically, Israel is still struggling to maintain the population advantage
13:28
it gained in 1948 when it forced all those people out
13:31
because in 1967, it occupied the West Bank and Gaza,
13:35
bringing all the Palestinians living there under its rule.
13:38
And so today,
13:39
the population of Jews and non-Jews
13:42
in this land is roughly equal.
13:44
But those living under occupation have no rights,
13:47
no citizenship and no prospect of independence.
13:50
The Nakba era tactics of settlement, home demolitions and expulsion
13:54
are still used against them.
14:03
Israel has taken the land
14:04
but wants nothing to do with the millions under its rule.
14:08
International, Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups
14:11
say this system is a form of apartheid.
14:14
To see if that’s an accurate description of Israel
14:17
more than 100 years after Balfour’s promise,
14:19
watch this video here.
oooooo
Music for Filasṭīn: Shadi Zaqtan, Maysa Daw, Farah Siraj & Ashira Darwish https://youtube.com/live/pqX7WfDpo24?si=hZRy_MBC2XJipqJy
Music for Filasṭīn: Shadi Zaqtan, Maysa Daw, Farah Siraj & Ashira Darwish
Bideoa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqX7WfDpo24
This conversation is released with the premiere of the documentary ‘Where Olive Trees Weep,’ along with 21 days of talks on Palestine with leading historians, spiritual teachers, trauma therapists, poets, artists and more.
Music for Filasṭīn With Shadi Zaqtan, Maysa Daw, Farah Siraj & Ashira Darwish
Come join a musical moment that will resonate as a reaffirmation of Palestinian humanity, identity and unbowed spirit in the face of displacement, occupation and ethnic cleansing.
Experience the power of music to elevate the Palestinian struggle for liberation. Music for Filasṭīn merges the personal and political, the artistic and the revolutionary into a singular exaltation of Palestinian perseverance.
‘Where Olive Trees Weep’ is a poignant, heartbreaking film about the struggles and resilience of Palestinian people under Israeli occupation. It explores themes of loss, trauma, and the quest for justice. We follow, among others, Palestinian journalist and therapist Ashira Darwish, grassroots activist Ahed Tamimi, and Israeli journalist Amira Hass. It features Dr. Gabor Maté as he offers trauma-healing work to Palestinian women tortured in Israeli prisons.
The program expands on the themes explored in the film and provides a larger historical and social context
Transkripzioa:
0:00
one more time it’s a joy to have you my name is Macio benatu my name is a benatu
0:06
and we are speaking to you from the unced territory of the South Palm and
0:11
costal miluk commonly known as in the colonial
0:16
term Sebastopol California so you get a feeling geographically of where we are
0:22
today we have a panel incredible incredible panel with awesome musicians
0:28
Artist Artist and the title of the panel is music for festine so and the first song you heard
0:35
uh coming into the meeting is from the movie and the composer is Armand Amar we
0:43
can we will mention a little bit later about his work and his music but yeah we
0:48
were very grateful to collaborate collaborate with him yeah and he beautifully W in shira’s music and far’s
0:58
music uh and created a a beautiful soundtrack for the film so yeah if you
1:05
have seen the movie you probably know that hopefully hopefully you appreciate the music yeah our is fantastic should
1:12
we read some bio so we get to introduce every our guests so you get we get into the thing so should we start with the
1:18
boy Shad is wait no not boy for start I start with
1:27
a start with air Darwish Asher’s relationship with Sufi worling and music
1:33
was fundamental to her personal development growing up she learned to play different instruments but most of
1:39
all she loved to sing she joined every Choir in town in 2001 as the second
1:46
Palestinian intifa broke out her Focus switched from singing to chanting political chants and slogans at protests
1:54
and rallies she wrote her first song see
2:00
we all know about the search for the love of God and meaning so here
2:06
is also a mama of double Mama double
2:12
Mama thank you first video OB he’s first Zoom meeting meeting with
2:21
us I’m trying to put him to sleep it’s not working he wants to be awake and watch
2:28
everybody then we have far a Jordanian music ambassadress far
2:36
balances a career that spans the United States Europe and the Middle East far
2:42
currently leads an ethnically diverse quintet of Arabian flamco Jazz with
2:48
world-class musician from the Middle East Europe the United States and South America as a humanitarian Farah focuses
2:56
on raising awareness about the consequences of War and violence and advocates for the right of women
3:03
refugees and animals thank you far nice to have you with us welcome Farah and
3:09
and we met [Music] through uh I came across your song If I
3:16
must die uh based on the poem of Raad aler and when I heard your voice and
3:23
when I heard the song it just hit me hit my straight in my heart and allow me to
3:29
actually grieve to really feel deeply the loss that that was early on now
3:36
we’re 8 months into the genocide but early on in the genocide and really gave
3:42
me a permission to weep and grieve so your music was um and then you you
3:49
gracefully agreed to allow us to include the song in the film so thank you so
3:55
much of course it’s my pleasure and thank you for thank you for having me
4:01
so then we have MAA da MAA is a Palestinian musician from hia skillfully
4:08
Blends Indie music with Arabic influence her work which explore teams of Love
4:14
breakup and politics incorporate traditional Arabic music elements and modern sounds reflecting her personal
4:22
experience and social political awareness and also she includes she has
4:27
a unique integration of Palestinian d care in her tracks which is a very cool
4:33
so thank you MAA for being with us it’s a joy to have you with us thank you it’s a pleasure to be here and thank you so
4:38
much for having me and last but not least the boy shy my
4:44
brother sad zakan is a pioneering Palestinian musician renowned for his
4:50
unique blend of traditional Blues with Arabic tones and lyrics Shady Works
4:58
poignantly sh sh’s War coant captures the socioeconomic reality and the everyday
5:05
life of Palestinian challenging his experience and cultural heritage into
5:11
his music basically his music is recognized as the Palestinian Blues is a
5:17
genre cre the genre of Palestinian brues very nice thank you and I’m the minority
5:22
me and you are the minority here the voice know and and and that way hopefully the world will be a better
5:28
place when the men will be the minority we know we will have a much better place because so far we messed it up big
5:36
time thank you brother yes welcome happy to be here happy to be with you
5:44
so well um let’s see maybe we can start with Misa and Shady Shady are you
5:52
currently in [Music] Palestine in Berlin I’ve been here for a
5:58
month but you go and forth yeah yes yes yes well maybe we can start with the two
6:04
of you and then AER please step in like give us a sense of what it means to be a
6:12
a Palestinian musician artist in Palestine at this time but also at you
6:20
know at any time like what what is it the reality you have to face to offer
6:27
your gifts and your music and to reflect uh willingly or unwillingly
6:35
on what’s happening in your on your
6:41
land um I I heard your Mya said that first you had fell in love with music
6:47
and then you realize the context within which you were raised so first was the
6:52
love for music and then uh it came the awareness of the occupation and yeah
7:00
um answering your question uh for me and my experience of being a Palestinian
7:06
artist means you cannot only be an artist for the art sake um as much as
7:14
you try and I think many musicians or artists can agree with me that we really uh I would really love to be able to do
7:21
music just because I want to do music but I think being Palestinian uh brings a lot of
7:29
respons responsibilities uh with it and um and I do really feel responsible for
7:36
being able to I do feel responsible that I do have to talk about these specific things
7:42
first of all because um I am very much aware that I am very privileged uh that
7:48
I can that I have the option to sing and I have the option to do what I love and
7:55
uh you know if you want to go into you know a lot there’s a lot of complications me being from ha and I I
8:02
am aware that I’m very privileged and at the same time as a person I don’t think I can even um do music without talking
8:11
about the situation because it literally does affect every little aspect in our
8:18
lives like you it affects our love life it affects our work it affects our daily
8:24
life it affects our literally everything like every aspect you can think of so I
8:30
do believe that being an artist one of the artists roles is to document what is
8:36
happening uh and to talk about what is happening and for me I don’t feel that I
8:41
have another choice because you know this is this is my life and I do talk about my life and my music so yeah it’s
8:49
a constant challenge of just wanting to do you know art for the sake of Art and
8:55
on the other hand um being very much tight to whatever is happening happening and whatever is going on and having that
9:01
responsibility to like work with that yeah enjoy it and do you also
9:09
experience censorship or of course actually you
9:15
know since the start of uh this recent War um I was not able to uh like if
9:23
we’re just talking about social media at the moment I was not able to talk about anything since the beginning of the war
9:30
um actually today sharing uh this link for this talk was the first time I ever
9:35
post anything from the beginning of from the 7th 7th of October um the amount of
9:43
the arrests that were happening since then until now is insane um the amount
9:49
of threats every person uh is getting every person that is uh sharing anything
9:55
and to put things more into context so I am from haa the the passport that hold is Israeli I live in what is now called
10:03
you know Israel under Israeli law so I am very much tied to like whatever it is
10:09
and I remember um the first the first day I shared like a news article on my
10:15
feeld and I got tens of U uh death threats from random people and we did
10:20
hear about extremists uh going under people’s houses and staying there for
10:26
days waiting for them to move in and out and other than you know the the the
10:32
hundreds of arrests that a lot of us heard about and that we know also for fellow artists and also for people and
10:38
people getting picked out for of their jobs and their un University um so honestly it’s been
10:46
um it’s been a hell of a ride uh and for me personally not that I want to you
10:53
know talk about only that but um it’s been a hell of a ride to be able to to
10:58
first of all grasp the idea that I am like literally muted and like if I speak
11:04
any small thing I can um lose a lot and go through a lot and put my family in
11:10
danger not only myself and it’s uh it’s been really hard um it’s been really
11:17
challenging uh which is a minor challenge considering everything that is happening in Gaza and in the West Bank
11:24
um but still it is very much a challenge so censorship has risen
11:30
like a th% um ever since the 7th of October and yeah and I think each one of
11:37
us are trying their best to be able to talk about it more and to be able to sing about it more and yeah here we
11:45
are and and Sh thank you for being here today with us thank
11:51
you and shy what’s your perception as a as a musician how has impacted you this
11:59
occupation is is personal it’s it’s not a state occupying you this is this is
12:05
how it sounds like but occupation is personal it’s between each and one of us
12:11
and the occupation itself there is a a nuclear state that occupies you uh
12:16
personally uh occupies your day occupies your uh U everything with levels of
12:23
censorship the the censorship that MSA has to go through is different than the
12:28
one I have to go through and uh I live on the other side of the wall so that
12:33
you also have a perspective in ramala it’s the other side of the wall in the Palestinian
12:38
territories uh that are double controlled not only by the Israeli Army and and intelligence but also by the
12:46
Palestinian Authority ER also uh you can be arrested by seven different uh uh uh
12:54
forces for a post on Facebook you know uh you don’t know where you will be in
13:01
in one of those uh those those places um uh so for an artist we go back to to
13:06
what you asked before uh I agree with MSA again that you cannot Dodge it you
13:13
cannot talk about something else I mean what else what else are you going to talk about maybe you can escape it for a
13:19
song or two but if you want to be honest with yourself and with everybody else
13:24
you have to talk about what you’re really feeling and uh it’s called occupation it occupies even the places
13:31
for other songs it occupies the places for blues songs or love songs or a song
13:38
about the environment or the songs about the do dolphins or now it’s all occupied
13:44
with soldiers and uh politicians and uh uh a state that is refusing to admit
13:51
that it is a racist state is still we are in 2024 we got to Mars and uh you
13:58
still have to identify and explain to uh the the world every time what is a
14:04
massacre and what is occupation and what is so the the the mission of of an
14:10
artist is U is very complicated actually it’s a you have these tools you have
14:16
yourself as a tool and the talent that you’ve been you found yourself with we all worked on our music I am sure but
14:23
also you found a talent a a present a gift from life from Allah from the
14:29
energy from the force from whatever and you have to do something with it your test in life is to do something uh with
14:37
it so you try to do your best and the more you want to simplify it the more
14:42
you will talk about your surrounding and your surrounding is is is is literally occupied by a nuclear State wow yeah
14:53
thank you sh welcome um I’m trying we want to break thep talking with some
14:59
music so I’m trying to find a rhythm for us um maybe let’s play a shir’s song
15:06
before we go to Aira and then uh we will move like this with a song and some
15:12
talking so uh Sarah can you share with
15:18
us help me [Music]
15:35
[Music]
15:42
[Applause]
15:48
[Applause]
15:53
[Music] oh
16:02
[Music]
16:13
[Music]
16:23
[Music] for for
16:34
[Music]
16:40
[Music]
16:47
[Music]
16:59
the [Music]
17:06
[Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause]
17:17
[Applause] [Music]
17:26
[Applause] [Music]
17:37
I am this song is in my head air I want you to know often during the day because
17:44
part being in the I sing it I go in the garden working with my tomatoes and I
17:50
sing this song so you know you that that’s my head in the
17:55
picture yeah exactly I was just G to tell you guys how this song came to came to living
18:01
that that’s that’s actually Shady in the picture in the picture yes
18:08
yeah yeah that’s shady so the way the way this song came to life is as I said
18:13
I was I’m I used to go to chant to the protest and um Shadi had our second
18:19
house R he had an amazing bar called Mar and after every protest that was how we
18:27
would uh we would go back and and celebrate that we’re still alive and that we didn’t get killed sometimes we
18:32
would come into the bar with the with crutches sometimes we would come with
18:37
bleed with bleeding heads and it was the only safe place that we could go also because the Palestinian Authority was
18:43
after us and not many places would welcome us um so shad’s place was was the was
18:50
the was the safety the sanctuary and um I would go after chanting for and losing
18:56
my voice sometimes I would sit and and Shady would get the guitar out and everybody would start jamming and it was
19:02
just the most I think it’s also part of the reason we we didn’t suffer so much trauma because we had that outlet uh we
19:09
had that outlet of music to be sitting together to be coming together after everything that we would experience
19:15
after burying our friends we would go together and sit and sing about all the all the all the all of our emotions we
19:22
would have a place to let them out and that’s all I used to do and I would sing with Shady until Shad made the f
19:29
actually into a song and he’s the one who who took me to to Belgium to record
19:35
it because I’m I I probably would have never done such a thing it was just a song for me to release and and the long
19:42
long chant that I would just release all of my rage and he was like do you want to come to There’s an opportunity with
19:49
this uh with this band in in Belgium do you want to come and record and I was like yeah why not and we’re gonna make
19:55
this into a song really and that’s how it happened song already
20:02
it was a song but yeah it was it was it was that
20:08
how how that’s how it it gave it gave life and it was I think part of sorry
20:14
you part of part of the the tragedy we had in R and the I think the lack of
20:21
space is when Chad left and we lost that space um and I know that so many artists
20:29
now struggle because there isn’t much spaces to actually to to to express your
20:35
emotions and to express what you’re going through yeah and air for you also music
20:43
has been instrumental not only for your activism but also for your healing
20:50
um from sorry need we can come back to you
20:55
if you need to be with yeah come back take care of
21:00
him okay par um when uh I mean your music and your
21:09
voice it’s so incredibly beautiful and when did you begin to also um weave in
21:18
uh social justice and and also the Palestinian cause for
21:24
Liberation in your in your work and in your music and perhaps you could also share how you
21:31
came to write the the song with the lyrics uh ra
21:39
year of course so you know I grew up in Jordan and you know I can I can’t even
21:46
begin to imagine what it’s like to be a Palestinian I I did not live under
21:52
occupation I’m merely an ally um and I can only stand in
21:57
solidarity for me music is my way of expressing that but growing up in Jordan
22:05
you know a lot of my friends are Palestinians and I would hear you know
22:11
stories of that were coming out of Palestine of people being tortured of people people being killed um injustices
22:19
that were continuous you know the world is waking up now but you know we were
22:24
hearing these stories even before I was a teenager before I even knew how violent the world could really be um and
22:33
so I was aware that all of this Injustice was happening in Palestine um
22:41
but As I Grew Older and um music became my way of uh expressing myself it just
22:50
Amplified for me the need to to stand in solidarity with Palestine and with
22:55
Palestinians and so I’ve been and you know and in general with uh with
23:02
people living under occupation and warn violence um you know it’s it’s very important that we all uh stand with them
23:10
and so you know we also have to fight their censorship that um as as much as
23:16
we can and try to amplify and and and try to Echo the the voices of the people
23:21
who are literally risking their lives in Palestine to be heard um and like you
23:26
said you know like my S said there’s so much censorship that as an ally you have
23:33
um you have a place where you can uh you can present music without the
23:40
threat to your life in that way so for me the cause of Palestine was very uh
23:46
close to my heart from the beginning and you know I’m in Jordan right right now and Palestine is so close and yet I
23:54
can’t go and nobody can come out you know and so it was a cause that was very
24:00
important to me my whole life um and I
24:06
had written music for Palestine um I had also declined a lot of uh
24:11
collaborations that included normalizing um normalizing
24:19
collaborations with Israelis um including projects that involved artists that it would have been
24:26
a dream to work with but I had to Cline because musically that’s one of the the
24:32
the ways that you can stand in solidarity with Palestine right um when
24:38
you know October 7th all the events that everything that happened to Palestinians since then us watching from the outside
24:47
horrified there’s there are things that you can’t really Express right because it you’re you’re seeing it
24:56
and there’s a disbelief even though we know it’s happening there’s a disbelief that that um all of this can be
25:05
happening without uh you know with complete
25:10
impunity and even support from the outside world and so I was having trouble writing music because I I didn’t
25:19
know how to express the grief that I was feeling in the you know the the that
25:26
feeling of like being horrified that that was happening to to Palestinians in Gaza and Palestinians in general so when
25:35
uh I for the first time read raf’s poem uh I didn’t read it I I literally
25:43
as I was reading it the melody was coming out like like it was a song from
25:49
the beginning and I thought wow because these are the like this is words that
25:55
are making me put a Melody to it because I can’t put my own words myself right
26:01
now and so it it came out literally when I started reading the poem from the first line till the the last line the
26:08
song was done I never changed it and that’s you know and I just recorded it
26:13
with my guitar and nothing else and that was the song that you know was based on on that poem If I must die if I if had
26:21
to my rest in peace and I appreciate very much um you
26:27
sharing it in your document I mean that’s literally what music is for is to
26:32
you know music and and art artists have always been at the Forefront of social Consciousness and and social
26:38
change so thank you yeah we appreciate you very
26:45
generously agreeing and offering it and and also inviting us to support um the
26:53
his family Ra’s family sadly his daughter was also recently
27:00
killed uh a few weeks ago and his son correct he lost also his
27:07
son Let’s Play the song let’s hear the song
27:20
yeah if I must die if I must die
27:29
if I must die you must
27:36
live to tell my story to sell my
27:42
things to buy a piece of cloth and some
27:49
strings make it wide with a long
27:57
tail so that a child somewhere
28:04
in while looking heaven in the
28:11
ey awaiting his death who laugh in a
28:16
[Applause] bless and bid no one
28:23
[Music] farewell not even to to his
28:31
flesh not even to
28:38
himself SE the kite my kite you
28:44
[Music] made flying up
28:50
[Music] above and thanks for a moment and I
28:58
Angel is there bringing back
29:06
love if I must die if I must
29:13
die let it bring
29:18
hope let it be a
29:25
[Music]
29:34
how can we continue this how can you continue to accept this
29:40
to happen because there is every day several child having this experience how
29:47
can we accept this and going normally with our life how can we do
29:56
this this is why your work is so important and you know your work MAA
30:03
ashir Shadi everybody who’s raising their voices for Palestine you know and
30:10
this is why your work is important because it’s to raise awareness to make more people realize that this is
30:16
happening and to to not just be bystanders to
30:23
it and to feel because it’s one thing to get it from the news that
30:30
reported it’s numbing people right when you hear it and it’s different when you hear it through the music the music goes
30:37
straight and movie and art goes straight to our human hearts and hopefully wakes
30:43
up our human hearts to to stand against this madness we’ve
30:50
allowed to happen because we’ve all been part of it we’ve all collectively allowed this to happen
30:59
um Mya let’s go back to you um we would
31:04
like to share a song from you as well and I think is the song T enough um is
31:14
come come with me the song is called in English tal come you want to share the story
31:21
about the song song came to of course and I feel I just want to
31:27
say feel that the song kind of answers the first question that you asked is how
31:34
how it’s like to be a Palestinian musician um this song is actually one of
31:39
the first songs that I’ve ever written I wrote it about um 12 years ago and sadly
31:46
it is still relevant for me until today um basically it’s a Love Song and I was
31:54
actually really happy when I wrote it uh I was um hadly in love and uh and I was
32:01
very really happy and I was in a relationship um with this beautiful man
32:07
from and um and I went home one day and I was just starting to like study music
32:13
and I had cubas and everything and I was so happy and in love but it was obviously a very uh complicated
32:22
situation uh since I have an Israeli ID and he has the Palestinian ID and he
32:27
cannot come visit me in ha and I have limits to how much I can visit him in
32:33
and you know and the situation and where to live and all of that so um the song
32:40
It’s a Love Song and it’s um it talks about the need
32:45
to to just leave everything and having the the option to just be happy and in
32:53
love um and to be able to be with the person that you love
32:58
and I couldn’t do that um because of the political situation and uh so that’s
33:06
basically the song it’s it’s it’s a dream it’s like the lyrics in big are like let’s just leave everything behind
33:14
let’s leave everywhere that has uh big walls separating us and we can just buy
33:20
a ticket and go to the moon and let’s dream together and let’s dream about um a country with no borders and no Wars
33:28
because I heard someone told me that if you believe in something it might come true so come believe with me and come
33:34
with me so we can dream about this to happen one day um yeah so that’s uh
33:41
that’s the story behind the song and yeah if feel like we can play
33:48
it yeah
34:03
[Music] sh [Music]
34:56
me [Music]
35:14
[Music]
35:26
fore [Music]
35:38
[Music]
35:56
foree [Music]
36:04
for [Music] spe
36:10
[Music]
36:26
fore fore
36:31
[Music]
36:38
[Music]
37:19
no [Music]
37:51
oh oh oh
37:57
[Music]
38:10
[Music]
38:25
oh beautiful no beautiful so touch so
38:30
beautiful and as a you makeer I appreciate also the camera and the set
38:36
the set and like really bringing life and yeah thank you I have to say this
38:42
was actually recorded with a group of beautiful talented people from Jerusalem
38:49
uh so this is this was recorded with the bhur and they had different sessions with different Palestinian artists and I
38:56
think everyone should check them out because they have like really great Live recorded uh shows so much love to them
39:04
and much love to my producer jbus which who is with me in the video playing the drum
39:10
machine beautiful and so this song you wrote 12 years ago and it was about
39:17
dreaming how how has your dreaming
39:22
change since then it didn’t actually I’m back in the same situation I have to tell
39:30
you yeah so like nine years after uh I
39:36
broke up with my then partner we actually got back together so I found myself 12 years later in the exact same
39:42
position of being with someone from the other side of the wall and not being able to live together not being able to
39:49
live in the same place on our land unless we leave uh not being able for him to come to me to ha to visit me to
39:57
visit my family um not being able to get married not being able you know that
40:04
story by itself has so many layers and so many complications that it’s
40:09
um it’s really it’s crazy and uh and I don’t know and it’s exhausting and but I
40:18
mean that’s the only thing that I can do at the moment is um do my best to make
40:25
it work and uh it’s uh almost
40:30
impossible uh but I don’t know what to tell you uh my heart got me here and I couldn’t say say no to my heart so yeah
40:39
that’s why I mentioned that that the song is still relevant to me because um
40:45
let me tell you it’s one of the hardest things honestly and
40:50
um and yeah so this is the the situation at the moment and uh since before the
40:56
war he was a he had a permit uh which is very hard to get but he was able to
41:01
visit and since the beginning of this war um he was not able to come and um
41:08
yeah so I think it sums up uh a part of the
41:15
daily Palestinian lives that people go through here and I
41:20
think it’s important to to mention that there are like we talked about it affecting every single aspect of our
41:27
life and sadly it really does affect every single aspect of our
41:32
lives so yeah how you love and who you love even that is controlled and you
41:40
cannot marry because you have Israeli passport and he has ID yeah I mean if we
41:46
want to give I’ll give a bit of details because like the conversation can be hours long you know with all the
41:53
complications but yeah mainly um like we can legally be married but I cannot
41:58
legally live in Bethlehem he cannot legally live in ha or like inside the Israeli borders uh the only place that
42:05
we can legally live if we want to stay in Palestine is called in area SE uh
42:10
which is uh uh you know you had the in the film uh there was this man fromi and
42:17
waji half of it is actually area SE uh it’s it pays like Israeli taxes and
42:24
Israeli Arona and all of that so it’s considered like half of Village is considered to for Israel and but there
42:31
you can’t like you have it’s on the lands of the West Bank on Palestinian lands and basically you have no
42:38
Authority there and you have no permits to to like uh to build houses uh you can
42:44
uh they can take the land at any any day they want and uh so that’s basically the
42:52
only place if we want to do it we can like um apply for lamsh which is how they say in
42:58
English uh family reunification which has been banned since
43:04
2002 exactly and if you want to do it you have to be the person from the West Bank has to be 35 uh to be able to you
43:12
know just apply and be to wait until we get it and if he wants to drive he needs to wait three years after that to be
43:18
able to drive my car and that’s all and like if we are able to get uh the papers
43:24
needed so yeah that’s the situation at the moment
43:33
incredible yeah so here I am going back and forth between here and there and yeah
43:41
and reminding myself that uh reminding myself that what is
43:48
happening like the story that is happening with me is nothing compared to
43:53
thousands and thousands and thousands of stories that we hear in that we know and
43:59
uh and I don’t know I kind of feel bad and guilty that I am angry about this
44:06
because like uh I know it’s not a small deal I know it is a big deal but considering like everything it kind of
44:12
sounds like a small deal and uh you know so there’s always this um uh guilt
44:18
surrounding it and guilt surrounding like every time I uh whine about
44:24
something or I say that it’s hard um but I don’t know it’s it’s complicated
44:30
that’s what I can tell you it’s complicated and um and being like having
44:35
different I hate like different types of Palestinians uh that changes the story
44:41
like shady said like the story that I live in story that he lives in the story that ashir lives is completely different
44:47
and uh and one is privileged in a certain area and the other is privileged in a different area and then you just
44:54
you know you sit there in your house in your comfortable house and uh the problem that you have Is This Love Story
45:02
and but you are still like blessed to be able to be under a roof in a warm house
45:09
and uh and try to understand you know how like what I can do and what I cannot
45:15
do and like how much I am supposed to do it’s constant questions that you keep
45:22
asking yourself you know the whole time yeah
45:28
not easy questions and Shady uh how is it for you uh to to connect with your
45:35
creativity under so much censorship and control and do you have to leave
45:43
sometimes to get a fresh bread to create or you feel more creative in ramala when you’re
45:50
there embedded in in Palestinian life how is the process for you of
45:57
um it’s like what you do you don’t know anything else this is um this is uh life
46:02
for you and you you learn I mean when you’re a child you don’t know that your childhood for example is hard or easy
46:09
it’s just your childhood you start recognizing that when you’re exposed to other things so uh uh you just don’t
46:17
compare you just work with the tools that you have I make music because I couldn’t make films I play a guitar
46:25
because the piano is hard to to carry around um uh you have to to to change
46:32
your tools you have to uh not only endure but you have to
46:38
walk forward you have uh to be able to work in any circumstances uh in any
46:45
uh any condition it’s not easy also you know to make a living and make music in the Arab world uh
46:52
uh we are we are we are we’ve been facing a crusade uh uh for the past uh
46:58
25 30 years an intensive Crusade that’s an adventure Cowboy land you know they
47:04
can come and and and destroy a 10,000 years old civilization in uh uh in six
47:10
months like what happened in Iraq uh uh or what’s happening in Syria it’s like the the the region is on fire uh and uh
47:19
what’s happening is is is acceler accelerating it the result the song actually that I sent you is is is about
47:26
this the video that I did is um uh I mean we did it with what we have with
47:32
the news we were just sitting and watching news all the time and decided to make to make the news the song itself
47:40
and uh uh this is one spot Gaza is one spot uh out of many other spots in the
47:47
Arab world especially and in the world that are suffering um um Injustice and
47:54
uh occupation is not only uh uh an army that is occupying you occupation is in
48:00
economy occupation is in lack of Education occupation is occupation is not to give the others what you have uh
48:09
for yourself or to accept that they are less than you and I think the Palestinian cause now will trigger a
48:17
million other uh um uh it will open a hundred other doors uh we’ve been doing
48:24
this for a long time I mean since 2,000 years uh at least that’s documented since
48:29
Jesus uh uh the religious uh thought uh the religious story says that he’s the
48:35
son of God and and you know all that for us he’s the son of a a great single mama
48:41
who raised um a Palestinian single mama who raised a boy to to fight the
48:48
occupation at the time the Roman occupation at the time and uh they got him at the end I think when he stopped
48:53
listening to her um uh there’s a there’s a there’s another story for all
49:00
everything I mean um it’s it’s really sometimes I look at it it’s very it’s very strange that the world really
49:06
celebrates Christmas and denies the Palestinians that this man is at least
49:11
half Palestinian okay maybe he’s half God I so they accept that it’s more logical that this man is half a God but
49:19
not half Palestinian so I think we should start from from the simplest
49:25
things our is old and we developed tools uh uh and we developed Simplicity like
49:33
like most of the uh Native American music is uh is intensified in chance
49:39
they lost the instruments along the way they lost the documenting of of music so they turned it into chants that that uh
49:47
uh they they carry from generation to another just simple human chance um I
49:53
think that is resistance in a way culture to to to be and I think we’re doing uh um what we’re doing is is is
50:01
filling the the cloud with our data if it’s about love or if it’s about frustration of occupation it is still
50:08
Palestinian and it’s still art it’s still part of this U great narrative
50:13
that’s been denied by the world even our love stories are affected there like like you know uh I was married to a
50:21
woman from 48 and it did not work so we decided that um I should we she’s she
50:27
she’s a poet she’s a great poet she’s a great friend still that you know either
50:32
we do this where where we are here or there and which state what we live in in
50:39
Palestine or Israel and or we just do our projects and follow our dreams and
50:45
we chose our uh dreams she she’s she chose poetry and I chose music um so it
50:51
comes to your bedroom uh occupation there’s a soldier in the bedroom also not not only not only at the
50:58
checkpoint wow W Let’s uh let’s hear your song and uh then we can come back
51:05
and you can share about it how it came to be uh Sarah do you have sh this song
51:12
uh tomorrow right yes yes tomorrow
51:28
[Music]
51:38
[Music] [Laughter] [Music]
51:47
[Music]
51:55
trans [Music]
52:15
[Music]
52:25
foree [Music]
52:45
[Music]
52:55
for [Music]
53:03
[Music]
53:19
[Music]
53:25
for for [Music]
53:40
[Music]
53:46
[Music]
54:01
[Applause] [Music]
54:19
[Music] beautiful thank you
54:25
beautiful beautiful thank you brother so yeah I tell us the the
54:33
translation a little bit I got few words I got the gist how can you I mean you
54:38
understand it from your heart I mean it’s you don’t need help us it’s it’s about it’s about reality in the Arab
54:45
world in Gaza in Sudan in Benghazi in Damascus in it’s about Injustice that uh
54:53
uh death became a fifth uh season in our years it’s we are just okay for us to
55:00
die uh there are corporations in the world with armies that are bringing Wars
55:06
to our lands Wars that we do not uh uh win it’s the same people who advocate
55:12
for Freedom who allowed the black man just only yesterday to sit in the bus
55:17
they are the same same politicians who are trying to sell me Freedom under a
55:22
barrel of a gun I’m trying to collect my faith I’m trying to collect my logic but
55:30
uh how the hell will I forget what they did to Bagdad uh what the world did to Baghdad where do I find the logic in
55:37
that but I have no choice so I will just collect my wounds and lean on my broken
55:44
soul and walk because I have to believe that tomorrow is coming and I have to believe that tomorrow is mine uh at
55:52
least it will be mine o the idea of the song and I use blinking
55:59
as the face of the devil appropriate yes I mean we we we don’t
56:07
mean to criticize the American people we criticize the American foreign policy
56:12
and the American uh uh guns basically and also you can hear um a sound of an
56:19
F-16 in the first chorus of the song while I’m talking about tomorrow who tomorrow is going to be better is mine
56:27
and uh the answer comes from above no doesn’t seem like but I have no choice
56:33
but to H continue it doesn’t matter if I win or not I’m not going to quit I have
56:39
to try at least I’m sorry to dramatize it this
56:45
much you know love story was better uh but it’s like that it’s you cannot
56:52
separate what’s happening in Palestine from what’s Happening in the region and you cannot fix this issue or or or try
57:01
to understand it without trying to understand that uh there is a company uh
57:06
uh trying to run the world and uh they didn’t mean to but they just United all
57:13
of us together regardless of where we’re living uh or what color we’re what is in
57:18
your necklace is the cross or it’s a star or it’s a mai or it’s a you know
57:24
all the other people who do not agree to the Injustice that is that is happening now are together
57:32
uh in this I think M we we’re watching you I know you can watch me we all blow
57:39
our nose it’s okay good to see you I have to
57:45
say when when Mesa came up to the to the scene um it was early I think
57:52
2010 2009 she had a song she had a song
57:58
called it’s enough you know it’s damn enough basically and it’s just it just
58:05
invaded all our computers at the time it was less with a with a smartphone and
58:11
you know there was someone some girl singing from hia about it’s enough it’s
58:16
enough it was beautiful uh I know her from that time yes yes I actually met
58:23
Shad Shad I honestly like I don’t remember if if we met in marara as well or if I already knew you when I came to
58:30
before right before I met you in ha we met in we met about that about
58:37
around that time and I have to say I have to say like shady you’ve always
58:43
been um an inspiration and one of the artists that I really feel their music
58:50
when I listen to them and uh you just said something that I really related to
58:55
like that with everything you choose not to give up and I think that’s such an important thing because like I think
59:03
first of all like we don’t have an option to give up because if you give up you literally give up everything like there’s you can’t give up one thing and
59:10
then continue with the rest and I think um it kind of like connects with me with
59:18
that time that we met because you know like the scene of Music changed a lot throughout the past 10 15 years and I
59:27
remember that time it was a time like full of um of colors or either I was
59:33
like very young and and naive but there was something happening in the music scene that was completely
59:39
magical and still is of course but there was something very magical and like
59:45
Ashira when you talked about like going to um Tara after the protests and like
59:50
being there and just playing music and like doing that and I think it’s something so beautiful and it makes me really
59:57
angry and I’m mad that I have this anger and I’m mad um that we are put in a
1:00:05
place that we have to deal with it because we don’t have another option like we don’t have the privilege to say
1:00:11
I don’t want to be a part of it we are a part of it and it makes me angry but at
1:00:17
the same time I think it’s is building
1:00:22
something I can’t say something beautiful because it comes with a great devastating cost but uh but I don’t know
1:00:30
I think like yeah it does it did um connect a lot of people together and it did it is connecting a lot of causes
1:00:38
together and I think like the the root cause of what we are going through is
1:00:43
the root cause of whatever is happening uh in Hawaii and with the indigenous
1:00:49
people in t Island and you know in Syria and in Sudan and in Yemen and everywhere
1:00:56
it is the same root cause and I think that’s why uh we were able a lot of people were able to connect with it and
1:01:02
I really truly hope and believe um that this will be a beginning to like really
1:01:08
like end it collectively not only in Palestine because I don’t think we can
1:01:13
divide like whatever is happening um yeah
1:01:19
[Music] absolutely air do you have anything to add we haven’t heard your voice voice I
1:01:26
don’t know what I can add to this um yeah letting go and and giving up is
1:01:34
not really much of an option and every time like um I tried once to write a a
1:01:40
Love Song and of course it was it it’s I
1:01:46
still didn’t record it because I think I need Shady to record anything once I I I was lucky to have
1:01:54
Shady to push me to that point um because somehow I always think that I put music on on this um this shelf that
1:02:03
like now we resist and then the music comes but I think a lesson that I learned from shad and I should work on it is that they go hand inand um but
1:02:13
yeah so the song the song It Started With like how I fell in love with you and then it turned out to be in the
1:02:19
protest and I actually fell in love with you from the way that you lynched the rocks at the Israelis and those Jewish
1:02:26
with the tear gas there was so much like every tear gas canister made me fall in love with you more because I could see
1:02:33
so every time we try to even go away from our reality this is
1:02:38
our reality and this I think it’s there’s y might you said we can’t say it’s beautiful but it’s beautiful you
1:02:44
these I these these our our ability to be to sing and ability to to chant and
1:02:52
during all of what we have experienced is amazing and I think time will attest
1:02:58
to the fact that Palestinians were doing de in the middle of the protest in between the gunfire because we still
1:03:04
have that we still have that faith and people are still singing and people are still and the songs yesterday we were in
1:03:10
the RV here driving from I don’t know where to where in the US and I had
1:03:17
shad’s always like when I leave the country it’s I need his music so that I I still have home with me it travels
1:03:22
with me with shady and so I put blasted the music and I was just listening to all these Palestinian songs because it
1:03:30
makes me first I release all my anger and rage while I’m singing and and and listening to these songs and it’s it’s
1:03:37
my home it travels it it takes me through time it it stays with us and the
1:03:42
music is kind of the way that we it’s I
1:03:47
and you said about like therapy this is my therapy music is therapy to my heart
1:03:53
um the only time I could cry when I was able to cry for 20 years was when I listened to some sad music it’s moved me
1:04:00
and when I was working with sound therapy I was like oh my god of course it makes sense this is why music is so
1:04:06
potent because every every every hit on the guitar Every Beat every frequency
1:04:12
affects a certain part of our electricity it affects the electricity in our brains it affects the electricity in the body this is why it soothes us
1:04:20
this is why it takes us into different states and music has that ability to change our chemistry
1:04:26
so it’s not actually like a light thing it’s it’s it’s carrying those
1:04:32
recording um your your frequency at a certain
1:04:37
point in history in time and then transmitting it forever and holding that
1:04:45
encapsulating that moment in frequency um and being able to change
1:04:50
people’s hearts and people’s minds just through music and just through sound so yeah it’s it’s it’s it’s a powerful tool
1:04:56
for our healing it’s a powerful tool for resilience and resistance uh when I was
1:05:02
chanting in the protests it’s it’s the thing that keeps the momentum going and you can see when the soldiers would TI
1:05:08
would would fire like immense amounts of tear gas and everybody would start feeling down and then we chant again and
1:05:15
it’s like no no no we can keep going okay let’s and you just put the momentum and people go back and feel stronger so
1:05:23
there’s so much power in music and it’s a blessing that we have so we’re lucky in Palestine to have such beautiful
1:05:28
musicians and and also from outside being able to to to like be the Echo and
1:05:35
the sound of of uh and making sure that his story will never go now because
1:05:40
you’ve made it into a song it could have been something that passed and we all
1:05:46
remembered that moment and that poem but now that it’s a song it’s going to stay there forever for him and you’ve made it
1:05:54
into the Hope just put those words into songs his words into into a song means
1:05:59
that for he will live on forever so thank you
1:06:06
yeah and and also you’re GNA make me
1:06:13
cry that’s very much needed thank you a yes and we’ve been also seeing the
1:06:22
incredible people of Gaza uh singing and dancing de and playing the ud with the
1:06:29
children and when I see that to me that that’s that’s healing that’s the therapy
1:06:35
that’s the resilience that we see over and over and over again that um we just
1:06:42
had heard a story I’m not sure that there was an Ood master that was in prison and I don’t know if you heard but
1:06:50
he made people gave him materials and he made a Ood in prison
1:06:56
and they is really came and asked who made it and another young man said I did
1:07:02
it to protect the WM and they killed him this I I don’t know but this is this is
1:07:10
the level of brutality that we’re witnessing the world is witnessing and I
1:07:17
just can’t comprehend what is it what is it in our human psyche that can embody
1:07:25
so much darkness and and and how music can be a counterpart
1:07:34
to that because music is vibration music harmonizes our hearts and connects
1:07:43
us it tells the others that they’re not alone also it’s important when you say
1:07:50
something that you really really feel uh and you’re Human After All will
1:07:56
uh it will seem familiar to many other people so we sing also to to document
1:08:02
our story and to keep it and uh uh maybe
1:08:07
all this will be stored somewhere uh when the Creator comes as we spoke first
1:08:12
time we met and listen to the soundtrack of humanity we want to put as much data
1:08:18
from Palestine as we can uh at least for the
1:08:23
count yeah um far you have a new song um Gaza
1:08:31
you’re in my mind do you want to mention anything about the vision and I I think
1:08:36
you envision it as a collaboration as well with other artists maybe we can hear the song and then we you could
1:08:43
share or of course yes sure Sarah if we can
1:08:49
play um
1:08:56
you’re in my heart you’re on my
1:09:03
mind as I you’re in my
1:09:08
prayer every day and night every day and
1:09:20
[Music] night
1:09:26
[Music]
1:09:32
[Music]
1:09:47
foree spe
1:09:52
[Music]
1:10:04
the Lord to every mother every father every
1:10:09
child taking cover we hear your
1:10:14
cry and while the silence is deafening and the violence never ending we stand
1:10:22
with pales when
1:10:27
[Music]
1:10:44
[Music]
1:10:58
[Music]
1:11:11
my heart on my
1:11:19
mind you’re in my pray every day and
1:11:27
night every day and
1:11:34
night on my
1:11:45
mind you you want to tell us more about the
1:11:51
project how do you envision it what uh sure
1:11:57
so the um the song you just played is a
1:12:02
um a simpler version of a song that of the song that I wrote Forza I’ll tell
1:12:07
you how it came about I was um um I was on tour uh in the US and you
1:12:17
know between soundcheck and concerts and traveling I would be checking my Instagram and things were and I was just
1:12:25
you know posting about Palestine and seeing things about Palestine and was this was in February and of course you
1:12:31
would you know we didn’t even know that it we keep thinking it would stop at
1:12:36
some point it just kept going going going right um now in its eth month but
1:12:43
you know at the end of February I was I I had come back from I would be um like
1:12:48
I said you know seeing all these things uh videos of people in pieces
1:12:55
dead you know horrific images and and people uh mourning uh their children
1:13:03
their parents their loved ones and then you’re you’re how how do you see that and then
1:13:10
just try to go about your life and be normal you know I this is I think
1:13:16
something that you know you just have to be human to be heartbroken over it and
1:13:23
so I was it was at night I was trying to sleep
1:13:28
and I just couldn’t because the images kept coming to me and I wasn’t able to sleep and I was thinking to myself my
1:13:35
God if there was one thing you know like I I want to say to to the people of like
1:13:41
from my heart this melody just started coming out and I just took my phone I recorded
1:13:48
it and then more and more lyrics started coming and it became a song and it’s
1:13:54
basically a song of solidarity with with Gaza and with the people of Palestine
1:14:01
and um this like I said this was a a more
1:14:07
simplified version but the goal has been to record it with um artists from around
1:14:13
the world um in several languages so we’re finishing up all of the you know
1:14:20
it’s it’s um all of the videos um and the the recordings almost done and it
1:14:26
involves um artists from yeah so Karen Casey from Ireland L Veo from uh
1:14:34
Spain uh nobuko from Japan Andreas
1:14:40
Arnold from Germany Adam from the US and Lebanon um and myself from Jordan um and
1:14:47
I actually invited Palestinian artists that I really wanted to to participate
1:14:52
as well but unfortunately um it it reminded me of the story that
1:14:58
Mesa was telling the response I got was F I would love to be involved in this but I can’t because there are literally
1:15:06
people waiting outside my door uh with you know telling me they’re going to kill me and death threats so I literally
1:15:14
my hands are tied I can’t I can’t do it and so this made me realize well you
1:15:20
know well the song is for you you know um and I have to say echoing what sh and
1:15:29
MAA and were saying you know you can’t separate the Injustice in Palestine from
1:15:35
Injustice around the world and that’s why the phrase that until Palestine is
1:15:42
free no one is free exists because it’s so true you know and
1:15:48
Arabs uh you know we feel a strong connection um for one another because we
1:15:55
really we were all one people before the colonizers decided to draw lines uh on a
1:16:02
map and and divide us and uh you know but and and that speaks how when Shadi
1:16:10
was talking about you know Bagdad and he talking about Syria and he talking about Sudan it’s all related you know and and
1:16:16
and literally until Palestine is free no one is free so that’s um you know something
1:16:23
that I I wanted to to Echo what they were everyone was saying that it’s important that we
1:16:29
look um we look at each other as humans and realize that
1:16:36
Palestine is um is is a place
1:16:43
where all of these injustices are Amplified because of the brutality and
1:16:49
the the viciousness of the occupation and the violence and it is a chance for all of us to stand in
1:16:57
solidarity and you know me living in the US and I’m sure you too are tax dollars
1:17:04
some we whether we like it or not somehow we are complicit and it it really burns my heart and so we all have
1:17:12
a role to play in in in hoping hopefully in you know standing solidarity and and
1:17:19
hope that one day all of our voices combined will have an impact in
1:17:25
uh raising awareness and hopefully we all see a free
1:17:32
Palestine thank you far thank you
1:17:37
um yeah it’s it feels like um moment that is a turning point of course only
1:17:44
in the people in the west the people of the Middle East they’ve always seen that and known that that’s nothing new but it
1:17:51
feels like here in the Western Hemisphere people are waking up and seeing and making the connections the
1:17:58
dots to between all the Liberation movements all over the world that it’s
1:18:05
the same struggle the same fight we are facing two option either we
1:18:11
go in that direction and we have a global dictatorship that will kill 90% of
1:18:19
us and keep us oppressed or we have a different planet this all based on
1:18:25
Justice compassion and love Justice equality that’s that’s be turning point
1:18:33
something is happening very strongly and that’s why silence is not acceptable
1:18:40
anymore because silence is uh is
1:18:45
accepting the oppressor vouching for the oppressor that’s happening in history
1:18:51
all the time yeah well I just want to see if there is any
1:18:57
question from the audience and we’re very close to our time time so if you
1:19:03
have a question raise your hand or type it in the chat and we can read it if you
1:19:09
have a question for our guests um if not we can have we can have you
1:19:16
share like about where people can find your art your music or where will you be
1:19:23
performing next tell us that um let us know who’s going to
1:19:31
start yeah oh he was called the devil okay
1:19:37
someone else thinks he’s the devil okay I was just reading that as
1:19:48
well yeah yeah so where can we find your music
1:19:54
where can we find find your work how can we support you as a community at large how our community can be of service to
1:20:01
each and every one of you amplify your voices literally how can we do that who
1:20:10
starts I think m is better than me to talk about this uh he’s uh 30 years
1:20:18
younger uh first of all yeah please go ahead
1:20:25
um I think you can find all of our music uh guys correct me if I’m wrong but you can find our music in uh in all
1:20:32
streaming platforms uh Spotify iTunes anami uh YouTube uh for sure um I think
1:20:41
we can write maybe we can each write the names or you already written the names in the in the chat uh group um I would
1:20:49
like to add that I’m also a part of um of two bands uh other than my solo music
1:20:56
uh so I’m a part of dam the First Palestinian hip hop band I wasn’t with them when they started but I joined them
1:21:02
a few years ago um so Dam I’m going to uh write the name for those for those
1:21:10
that like hip-hop music and you can also
1:21:15
um know a lot more about the situation and about their life here um through the
1:21:23
lyrics of the music so I’m writing uh that and then I’m writing my
1:21:28
name great and then I’m writing my beautiful band Kelli uh we
1:21:35
don’t have any songs out yet but we are going to hopefully by the end of the year
1:21:40
hopefully um but you can follow us if you are interested um Shady Farah and
1:21:48
ashir please say if there’s like other uh platforms for people to to listen to
1:21:54
your music that’s it I think covered it or if you have like a different name or
1:22:00
something that you want to share coming up I know Shad you’re traveling to Italy
1:22:05
right yes yes Napoli Napoli when are the
1:22:10
when is the concert in Napoli in the 26th of uh of this month okay yes and
1:22:18
Farah you’re performing in Jordan yeah wait M hold on let’s
1:22:28
unmute yes I’ll be performing in Jordan um for the nonprofit um organization
1:22:34
friends of Jordan that uh um serve uh underprivileged areas in Jordan
1:22:40
particular in education um and children um uh in more uh isolated regions of
1:22:49
Jordan and I I’ll have to say it’s it’s very you know I I feel haven’t been home
1:22:55
I haven’t been back to Jordan in four and a half years and it’s really it feels uh really heartening to be back
1:23:01
and be among my people and being able to have the conversations with my family and friends that you know uh where
1:23:10
everybody’s on the same page unlike the the US and so um I’m I’m going to save
1:23:17
her being here for a little bit I have to say and I hope one day I’ll get to meet all of you in person
1:23:24
[Music] yeah you’re going to reopen a place like
1:23:30
the bar where sh yes we’re gonna one of our dream with Zia as S one of our Dream
1:23:36
at the end of this of this many movies that we have on the impact of colonization all over the world one of
1:23:42
the dream if the people support us enough is to get a piece of land somewhere in the world where there is
1:23:48
freedom to come in and out and invite each and every one of you and Sh you’re going to run the bar
1:23:56
no problem yeah so that’s the idea and each and everyone all these friends you
1:24:01
everybody in the community we will want to have a place in which you know that you will find people
1:24:08
who standard for what Justice equality and morality are and it will be a
1:24:14
spiritual place in which there will be the only spirituality we have is to look in each other eyes and be you know in
1:24:22
awe with the beauty of the Universe you know no nothing else and nothing more so
1:24:29
yeah that’s our dream so just know that yes we want to meet each and every one of you in person and it would be an
1:24:35
honor and support your work whatever you do is please stay in touch and let us help you there was a question Lind
1:24:42
should disappear pleasure okay we’re out of time so yeah
1:24:47
I just can I just add one thing um I just want to give love to other musicians uh in Palestine as well
1:24:55
um and I want to add that there are insanely talented and amazing musicians
1:25:00
and tons of them like there are really like year by year there’s a lot more and each has their own story to share and I
1:25:08
think it would be amazing like for all of you to go and also support these musicians and these artists um if you
1:25:15
are on Spotify although I know Spotify is a bit problematic at the moment but they do have some playlists from uh
1:25:22
different artists in palestin there’s Palestine sounds and there’s music by Palestinians there’s a playlist that
1:25:29
anise recently released as well uh so just I want to give them my love as well
1:25:35
and go check them that music and please share with us any names and links and
1:25:41
we’ll put it on the website and I can I I can send you that after I can I have a
1:25:46
long list of people I can do that to uh amplify their voices and yeah
1:25:55
them thank you so much this has been such a rich conversation and heart
1:26:01
opening and i i b to your creativity to your courage to your strength and yeah
1:26:08
you have to keep going till we see Palestine free there’s no other way
1:26:15
until we can recreate the bar and gather all together and sing along all together as brother and sister yeah if it takes a
1:26:23
long time to due to the Palestinian issue we can start with the bar until you know things get better in the world
1:26:30
because it seems it’s going to take some time it took 2,000 years now let’s hope it will not take as long but a bit
1:26:42
shorter thank you thank you so much for having us and thank you for what you are
1:26:47
doing it’s so important we really appreciate it thank you everyone Sala
oooooo
