A couple of days ago, I was intrigued by a preview I saw for "Sleepless in Gaza and Jerusalem," a reality show about life in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. To show the reality of life under occupation, the film crew follows several young Palestinian women throughout the occupied territories for 90 days as they go about their daily lives (the series is now two-thirds of the way in, and is available on youtube).
The young women picked for this series (including a TV presenter, a student, an accountant, and a journalist, among others) are quite interesting. From Ashira Ramadan (a westernized TV presenter with near perfect English fluency and a puppy in a t-shirt), to Nagham Mohanna (a Gaza journalist in a headscarf), to Ala' khayo (a Christian Palestinian accountant and resident of Jerusalem), they reflect a fair degree of the diversity that exists in Palestinian society. What stands out as a common characteristic among them is the bravery they exhibit in the face recurring difficult situations.
After watching a few episodes, I've come to realize the paradox in calling it a "reality TV show," given the literal accuracy of the term on the one hand, and its pop-culture connotations in the American context on the other (normally applied to shows that reflect no one's reality). But this is no American-style reality TV. Instead, it is a direct, unfiltered, and unpolished depiction of life in Palestine. Indeed, the show is so raw that it does not even edit out the occasional confused inquiries about the presence of the camera.
Another unique aspect of the show is that it develops organically: at the beginning, you can see that the young women at the center of the documentation are not quite sure how to interact with the camera. Ashira, for example, initially takes on the TV presenter persona she's accustomed to, before getting used to interacting more naturally in later episodes. Nagham is initially a bit apprehensive, but also eventually becomes more relaxed. One can easily see that this is no rehearsed attempt to present a preconceived message, but simply real life taking place.
While the show doesn't go out of its way to be political, it remains heavily so because life under a foreign military occupation is inherently and unavoidably political. Whereas political news reports highlight egregious cases of Palestinians being thrown out of their homes in illegally-occupied East Jerusalem for Israeli settlers take over, this show explores the less conspicuous but more sustained and widespread pressures of economic strangulation on Palestinian shopkeepers in the old city. And whereas human rights reports cover the massive infrastructural devastation of Gaza in the aftermath of Israel's assault over a year ago in statistical terms, this show brings that reality home by giving viewers a chance to meet the families that live without electricity or access to clean water.
From the terror of a 4:00am raid on a family's home to arrest a 10 year old boy, to the joy of kids who are taken to an amusement park beyond their financial means, to the horror of a family that discovers beating marks on the body of their son whom Israeli authorities alleged had committed suicide in prison (and the bravery of the women exploring and documenting these stories), the series takes you on an emotional journey which authentically delivers the reality of Palestinian life.
Of course, one can certainly learn all the cold facts about the occupation by reading books and human rights reports, watching documentaries, or listening to lectures. But, like Anna Baltzer's moving and notable book Witness in Palestine, what this series offers is a better grasp on what it really feels like to live everyday under the occupation.
Follow Omar Baddar on Twitter: www.twitter.com/omarbaddar
Eileen Fleming,
Founder of WeAreWideAwake.org
A Feature Correspondent for Arabisto.com
Author of "Keep Hope Alive" and "Memoirs of a Nice Irish American 'Girl's' Life in Occupied Territory"
Producer "30 Minutes with Vanunu" and "13 Minutes with Vanunu"
http://www.youtube.com/user/eileenfleming
"Palestinian Christians continue to struggle against persecution, particularly coverts from Islam.
Palestinian Christians “live within an atmosphere of intimidation and denial”, which is “particularly true of many of their religious leaders”.
“Since Israel withdrew from the Palestinian cities and towns, it has very little influence over the way the Palestinian Authority and its' Muslim population behave. Moreover even humanitarian efforts by Israelis to stand up for Christians can backfire as they may be accused of being Israeli agents, a virtual death sentence in the armed anarchy of the Palestinian streets,” he said.
Weiner spoke of a pastor who was shot and left for dead at a church which was attacked 14 times.
He said in this kind of atmosphere and partially as a consequence of these attacks, “thousands are leaving the cradle of Christianity”."
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/palestines.christians.continue.to.suffer.persecution/5106.htm
most of the arab/muslim world?
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/resources/policy/conflict_disasters/gaza-one-year-after-operation-cast-lead.html
Follow the link and take a look at the adf file "Failing Gaza"
As to the other issues you raise, I thought this thread was concerned with Israel/Palestinians.
Yes, the women in "Sleepless in Gaza and Jerusalem" are both interesting and articulate.
http://palestinereview.com
The Jews and Arabs here (both HUGE communities) are doing JUST fine.
When I read your comments and "logic" on various pages covering the Palestinian plight, I wonder whether you have visited the Palestinian territories of the West Bank or Gaza? Or leastly really read what is being posted by so-called Palestinian propagandists or countless of neutral observers? Did u ever make any such attempt and try to understand the other side's story?
What part of this is examplary?
My experiences there only confirmed what I post.
This is an Islamic religious war.
And yes I have read many arab accounts and (revisionist) histories of the region by arabs and arab supporters.
The best ( if you can call it that) of these accounts are the standard "the poor starving/suffering palestinians" ( grossly exaggerated) that completely leave out the context of the war they chose instead of the state they were offered by the UN.
The worst of these articles and books offers an imaginary historical context.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_B1H-1opys
In this video, a palestinian "corpse" at a funeral procession is dropped from a stretcher...and miraculously gets up and puts itself back on the stretcher.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRz5WnHemkw&feature=related
Well, the region has been rumored to have seen previous resurrections. ;-)
By the way, the people who made Sleepless in Gaza use their names as does Richard Landes on his site SecondDraft.org.
However if ALL the vids on YouTube, or even a sizable chunk of them were staged, the IDf and settlers must have consented to act out parts in DROVES, and several media sources must also have staged a lot of events.
But theirs more then one side to a story, so you would think. The idea of Israel being the cold heartless oppressors and Palestinians being innocent victims of that cruelty has also been shown to be a great weapon in Palestinian Propaganda Media. In some cases all 'Staged Production". Here are few examples in what is coined Pallywood Production.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJwWA8DNN2A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ka-7x-nIo8w&feature=PlayList&p=B7D1E10679627F05&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRz5WnHemkw&feature=related
Con't.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEB0SvMzKzg&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeTqheFnBM0&feature=related
http://www.michaelheart.com/songforgaza.htm
Omar, I'm definitely one of your fans. Thanks for highlighting "Sleepless in Gaza and Jerusalem," as it once again points out what a vacuum the US media is on any coverage of Palestine. Programs like this are ever so needed so that the American public can see what is on the other side of the news so often denied to them by the media titans, who feel comfortable with & promote only one side of the debate. Luckily, online access for all with no filters will remedy the inevitable situation that will occur as the major broadcast & public networks refuse to run this program for their audiences, if they even grant it any kind of consideration at all. Palestinian voices ring very true, however, when we are able to seek them out on our own. Perhaps, that is why there are so many attempts to suppress them. Thank you again for this piece.
Of course, you have to omit the context of why there is such an occupation in order to maintain that teary-eyed view.
Seriously though, make an effort to explore the context under which the occupation came about and the reasons it persists (Chomsky comes to mind as a good place to start).
Poland had no national "charter" that was entirely premised on the destruction of a sovereign nation.
Your "apartheid" claims are baseless. Apartheid was a system of codified discrimination of the CITIZENS of South Africa. Palestinians, the non Israeli arabs, are not citizens of Israel.
The only people with an agenda of ethnic cleansing are the arabs, and they are not shy about stating that goal, regardless of the fact that such a goal is a crime against humanity.