Oliver Stone Documentary on the Israeli – Palestinian Conflict | Persona Non Grata

Israel and Palestine are at war. Diplomacy is at an impasse. Violence is escalating. Oliver Stone, accompanied by a small, highly mobile team, enters the heart of the conflict, exploring the streets where people try to live normally, and meeting the leaders of both sides who decide their fate.
Director: Oliver Stone

This is the scene inside the dining hall of the Park Hotel in Netanya, Israel after a Palestinian blew himself up as guests gathered for a Passover Seder, the ritual evening meal occurring in the Jewish community. The bombings, carrying a large bag of explosives, ran through the crowded drawing hall as the Americans got past the security guard at the hotel entrance. A blast of terror through the ground floor, blowing out walls and plunging the lobby into darkness. Israel is determining how to escape. Saudi Arabia presented a peace proposal at the Arab summit in Beirut that offers the Jewish state normal relations with the Arab world. In exchange for a complete withdrawal from territories occupied in the 1967 war, it launched it in the Middle East. The deaths come as Israel launches its biggest military offensive since the invasion of Lebanon 20 years ago. I can’t believe it, I’m ready. I’ll be sitting. I mean, Shimon talks slow, but he was up all night. It happened to me, so he was tired. It’s a good thing to be alive. Yeah. Ready? Yeah. Everybody ready? I can’t sit in this chair. It’s too low. Thank you.
I am very strong. Yeah,
I can tell. Because I don’t drink. Freedom fighter. What is freedom fighter? Freedom fighter number one, two,
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you Welcome. Thank you very much. All of you,
you are most welcome. How much longer do you expect to spend in the Palestinian territories? That is like the wind. You never know here. It blows in four directions at once. Oh, my God! The conquered. not liberated, were promised to be given by God Almighty to Moses. Even so, and even if the world was a just world, we had to do it. We would hold them as a deposit. even for 500 years. As a deposit? As a deposit. And we are ready to give it back to the Arab neighbor on the other side. for contractual peace agreements. Look, I don’t think that we are free of mistakes. I think right now the problem is rather emotional than territorial. Other psychological than logical. Two angry people that cannot hear each other anymore. The Middle East is full of trunks and short of ears. Palestinians will get it for all this. You get the green light from the other side, you go in, a few meters there is a Palestinian car. Today, one week ago, there was no Palestinian car. There were Israeli cars. It’s also some kind of car, you know. How far are we from here to Ramallah? By car it’s 10 minutes, but in the head it’s very far. So you will take us to the border, yes? I will come with you to the border. You cannot go to the other side, no?
No, I don’t want to go to the other side. What really happened was that since 1967, the world developed an ambivalent approach to the way the conflict should be solved. Namely, the world agreed with the Israelis about procedures. It should be solved around the negotiating table. But the same world agreed with the Palestinians about the substance. The solution should be very close to the Palestinian demands. Because Israel in the narrowest point is 15 kilometers wide, a very small number of forests can cut Israel into two. Once you put settlements in strategic places, you control the area, you put forces there and prevent the Palestinians from cutting Israel into two. There is the red line of the existence of the country. Because the government’s first obligation, its first and its primary obligation, is to defend its citizens. And today, with the kind of terror that we have that is not daily, it’s hourly, and so far has claimed in the last year and a half, the lives on a per capita basis of eight times the number of victims that were lost in the World Trade Center. Trade Center. Now just think about that. Eight times. It’s like again and again and again and again and on and on and on. And it happens all the time. Life becomes unbearable. On the image of the screens, it looks as if, of course, Israel is destroyed. strong and the Palestinians are weak. But if you would open the zoom to cover the whole area from Marrakesh to Bangladesh, you would end up that Israel is the isolated entity, the outpost of the Western civilization in this area. But they’re not going to be shooting until we finish here. When Hannah is supposed to strange they are crossing at the checkpoint and the vehicle is there. with the enough chambers. Right now it’s more important that we pass the border because if you don’t pass the border we cannot shoot. Waiting for the UN envoy to talk to the Israeli commander on the DCO. Then the Israeli commander is going to allow us to go to the middle. And the Palestinian commander is going to allow the Palestinian vehicles to go to the other middle. and hopefully we’re gonna meet in the other middle You don’t film any soldiers now, ok? Welcome, welcome,
welcome. There is no business. We are close in prison. They go to their heads, they don’t believe that you can go to a good place. I feel like a Palestinian. Everyone loves freedom. Now I lock a cage in a cage. And they don’t believe you open the cage and fly. The other day he yelled at me and said that you have to go back. I tried to argue, thinking that I could argue. I have a Jerusalem ID, let me go. And he was, go to hell, I don’t care, where is your house, you have to go back. I was telling him that my house is over there. And I thought that I still could argue, but when they jumped from the petrol, from the jeep, and hanging their guns toward my face, I was like, God, they are really mad, those guys. I mean, you never know, it could be like this. So we are scared sometimes. This region is condemned to join in the new world because the Arabs are beginning to learn that it is not poverty that creates terror. It is terror that creates poverty. They are the victims of their own mistakes. For many years the Palestinians enjoyed the moral high ground as a result of Having the cause that enjoys the support of the international community. And here, at the end of the corridor of Madrid and Oslo, came my government, and for the first time in the history of the conflict, an Israeli government said loud and clear that we are ready to contemplate solving it well within the domain that is… agreed by the world as the domain where solutions should be found. And suddenly it ended up that Arafat is not. So that in a way it puts a question mark in retrospect, in hindsight, about was he really there all along the way? As I told you, we have to be here in Ramallah. And if there is any time that the president has nothing, he has, no,
we can call you. As you know, they are very busy these days. The schedule is full. This is the road the tanks used to occupy Ramallah two weeks ago. A Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, has been confined for months. President Arafat has to attend the meeting. He’s still not sure, and we hope that the Arab summit will be held in the presence of President Arafat. Of Palestinian militants provoking Ariel Sharon again tonight, another deadly attack, a gunman on a shooting spree. Civilians, children, babies. Sharon is preparing for something new. Well, tell him I am waiting for him. With this small and beautiful baby. These are the equivalent of movie posters, rock stars. These guys are heroes. Look at that, she’s cute. She was the first woman to blow herself up. Right in the heart of the Israeli land. The man who is the most generous of men, the lion, who has moved the hearts of his enemies and their soldiers. He plays with people. Once he is your friend, the next day he is the friend of somebody else. and he is not loyal to no one. Nowhere and no one. He was in Jordan, turned it into a terror factory, was booted out, went to Lebanon, turned that into a terror factory, was booted out, came here, turned this into a terror factory. And that’s what this man is about. Arafat himself, for him it’s a new experience to try and handle the husbandry of a state. He was a revolutionary, you know? And for a revolutionary leader to become a political leader. It’s quite a difficult conversion. What are we supposed to do? Wait here? Wait for them? It’s ridiculous, there’s always something. Leathernecks. Yeah.
What’s that? Do you want to have it cut here? What was this place? We are in Ward. We have a place in Ward. This place, as you can see, is empty. We are locked up in a closed place. We don’t know where to go. We know that they will come. They will only give us food and milk. We are only living on food and milk and bread. We want to give flowers and live our lives. I’m sorry. He says the time has come that Arabs will go for a real fight of liberation. He says we have to liberate ourselves from the greatest empire, which is like a yoke on our shoulders. And what is the empire? The empire of words, of poetry. He says for 2,000 years we were incapable. To use the language properly. Even when you look at the Arab letters, they look like an ornament, because the letter and the word supposed to make life more beautiful, easier, understand. And why should you be so small on every word, on every… it’s a different mentality. Well,
if we’re negotiating and you say it costs $10, and I say I’ll give you $2, and we end up at $6, what do they call that? This is a bazaar, but if you want to negotiate and you ask for my advice, I would say, A, be careful never to offer. Ask and wait until they will demand something. Namely, you have to respond, not to initiate. in the negotiation build a situation is it about the conflict about arafat it will it will be about arafat if he makes it if he comes out as a strong individual with character it will be about if he sits there like this and talks about the same thing he says to all the news people i don’t know that we can go very far with it secondly what is so important Try not to win too much. If you win points, you may lose your partner. And if you don’t need something, don’t insist. If it’s not terribly important for you. Is there a way we could get an hour today? Just an hour? One hour? Today, like, in the next few hours? One hour. I would like one hour. And that’s all I can do because I can’t guarantee that we come back next Monday or Tuesday. I would see. One hour. We create a new people. Instead of being refugees, to be fighters. We will never go back. We will never leave the peace process, and we will never go back to violence and confrontation. No return to confrontation and violence. If they will elect me, I will be the president again of this Palestinian state. If not, I would like to return back to work as a civil engineer. He differs from Hamas in that the Hamas say in Arabic and in English that their goal is the destruction of Israel. Arafat says that only in Arabic. And in English he talks about peace, he talks about reconciliation and so on. But he’s lying. Arafat’s a great liar. We have to pay attention to the prestige of the other people. In negotiation, you can get from Arafat by paying him respect much more than by arguing. Much more than what? Than by arguing with him. I mean, and we don’t have the patience to do so. No, no. Fine. So I said, give me an hour before he goes to Beirut tonight. Just one hour. I don’t believe anybody around here. He said to me, if he doesn’t go to Beirut, that’s not a problem. If he does go, I’ll still try to make it happen. But that means like… Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said that Yasser Arafat will not be allowed to attend tomorrow’s crucial Arab summit unless America accepts that Israel has a right. When is it possible for Israel to ask for the possibility of its return? Here,
in the event, and in the future, there will be terrorist activities. How is Oliver Stone? He’s here. Hello. How is everyone? Everything happens at once. Where are you going with this? Huh?
The demonstration, something like that? And a little thing like that. See you later? Tonight, huh?
Yes. I hope so, because you know our man is exhausted. He’s very tired. Okay. We will decide and see. He’s not in his best mood. Or should I do? I know. But… Sure, but don’t wait. It’s not for tonight, it will be tomorrow. Not tomorrow.
It’s tomorrow. It’s not tomorrow, it’s up to you now. Daytime though, daytime.
It’s a justice ride. You,
my friends, the glory, the dignity and the dignity who are now gathering in Beirut, you are following and I hope you are following. This is the war that was declared against us. They tried to kill her husband and they shot the tank. So she was killed with her children. Because he is from Hamas. They started with two or three houses and then became a city. And who lives there? The Jews.
And this is in Ramallah? To surround Ramallah? To surround all the Palestinian cities. And then they bring the artillery? They bring artillery up there? Yeah, tanks, helicopters. Why do they do that? To gain the territory. They came to our land and occupied our land. They are now bombing us with planes, tanks and rockets. So we have the right to defend ourselves. What did America do? In Afghanistan? All European countries were affected by the Nazi occupation. And one of them came to your home. If someone came to your house and wanted to take your house and kill your children, what would you do? Same thing you’re doing, same thing. Except the question I would have then is he does not want to negotiate, there’s no negotiation possible with the Israelis, is that correct? The Palestinian Authority has been negotiating with the Israelis for 10 years. negotiating for 10 years. The Palestinians are desperate. They are desperate. To get somebody? To blow up a bus full of children, or a building full of innocent civilians, you have to grind it into their minds, you have to wash their brains and tell them there is a higher cause out there. It’s religious, ethnic, racial, whatever. And for that higher cause, you can disregard all the normal rules of morality. Where do they get their recruits, the young martyrs who are willing to die? I see their posters all over. Where do they come from? We are in the political wing. The military wing is the one who knows… ..and who protects people. He is the president of the Palestinian people. We are with Arafat against the Israeli siege. He and the Palestinian people are with him. …against the opposition. Wait a second. They’re with him, but they’re not, because if Mr. Arafat theoretically says there’s a ceasefire tomorrow, and Hamas blows up three or four places, they will ruin that ceasefire. And that’s happened before. Hamas is moving in the interest of the Palestinian people. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You say he wouldn’t shake your hand on the way up, because why? Because he was going to pray. What do you think of that, as a woman? Westernized woman, Lebanese, Christian. She’s stupid. Stupid attitude. You don’t feel insulted or hurt? I’m not used to that. No,
it’s not very often that you meet a man, Middle Eastern man, that doesn’t want to shake your hand. It’s, it’s,
I’ve never, like,
it was the first time ever. So this man is fairly fanatic, he’s fairly radical and he gave us a lot of, you know, official BS, a lot of official lines. This is a total Buñueles situation. Why? Because this crew here with us and on the other table, the whole ministries and the whole cabinet from… Who is the big fellow on the far right? This is Dr. Saab Arafat. Our enemy, Slišan, they are not a bunch of pious people, Arafat, and they are nationalists, they have the rights. I think that Mr. Barak pushed them to the corner. I felt that somehow… In Camp David, we came on one hand the closest we had ever been to achieving something, but on the other hand it became a moment of truth, where not as a result of a trick to drag Arafat into a trap, but as a result of a bona fide effort to… Why?
To put an end to the conflict. We ended up unmasking a mandate that doesn’t have the character to make the kind of decisions that are needed for major peace. The Israelis, represented by Ehud Barak, refused to enable them to establish their government in East Jerusalem. …alongside our government on the western side of Jerusalem. The first international personality I met with Arafat was myself. He told me how I can accept this offer. The Arab war, the Muslim war will kill me. He will consider me a traitor because I have agreed that Israel will have the sovereignty. of the Muslim holy places. He refused even to take it as a basis for negotiation. This is the point, not the fact that we could not reach an agreement. I think that we may have done a mistake by asking him to give up his dreams. When Barack, for example, asked Arafat that he will declare, I don’t have any more claims. The negotiations fall down. Because for Arafat to say that he doesn’t have any more claims means he has to forget the refugees. He has to compromise on Jerusalem. He will never do it. Let him dream. You don’t have to purchase things. And clearly not to pay for them too much. This is the part of this long march to our capital Palestine, Jerusalem. The 4 in a box 4 in a box Thank you. Thank you. Here is the man. Mr. Stone, let me introduce you to the president, please. The President here and Christian. Ah, you can sit. It’s an unusual picture, like only writers and team makers can take with President Arafat. I think that we should wait. He said that we should wait, right? No,
I think we should go back to the hotel. Yeah. The real challenge is not what will happen between us. It’s our understanding that we will have to turn each one of us back to his own people. to convince them about the price and the pains that come with a real decision. We were on the fourth floor. I told them it’s like both of us, walking to the end and jump where I hold your parachute and you hold mine. Since Barak and Arafat split in Camp David. Some weeks later, the Palestinian terrorist activity started and we are starting to respond. Now we are in this situation. We wait and wait for a long time, from 1948 to now, waiting for the United Nations, but nothing has been done. On the policy of violence, Arafat told the General Assembly he had come with an olive branch in one hand, a pistol in the other. I’m coming back home, God willing. We’re here in the middle of the desert, and we live in the desert. And the life we live here, after Israel crossed us, destroyed our home. It didn’t let us become people. This is Sharon. Sharon did something wrong with us. What do we want from Sharon? This dog is an animal. Our lives were destroyed. Our village was destroyed. They took our gold. They destroyed our cars. They destroyed our village. They destroyed our village. What do we get out of this? What do we get out of this? We cry for our lives. We are not allowed to go to work. We can’t go or come. Our lives are difficult to the last degree. I mean,
it’s been a while. No one has ever said that we are Arab countries. We are very sad. Our children are very sad. What are they going to do with their lives? The organization, the movement is called Al-Aqsa Martyr Brigade. And what they do is that when they started their operations, their guerrilla operations by shooting at settlers, and then it evolved into bombings. What’s his name? I know his nickname. It’s Abu Qasr. Abu Abu Qasr and we know his real name obviously They’re making sure that we’re not followed Just be alert One by one He is there, you know,
and he is keeping. Do you speak English? Yes.
Good. That would be easier for us. And easier for us. Okay,
that’s why, but let’s put him close. Could you just state for us the goals of your brigade, the objectives? First of all, we consider ourselves as Palestinian freedom fighters. We are fighting for our freedom and for the liberation of Palestine. Our goal is to achieve, as part of the Fatah movement, the implementation of the international community resolutions and to have our independent state on the 4th of June in the occupied area in 1967 and Jerusalem as its capital and the right of return for the Palestinian refugees. This is what we are fighting for. We didn’t take any orders from Yasser Arafat. What we are doing, we are taking the orders from the Israeli side. The orders from the Israel? Yes. As much as they are doing their aggression against the Palestinian people and the humiliated Palestinian people and trying to attack our areas and to kill our people, from this side we are receiving our orders to respond. and if If Arafat told you, stand down, do not create any actions in the next period, if he told you that, what would you do? Of course we accepted, we are committed to what Arafat is saying. But when they came into our areas… In Ramallah, for example, or Tulkarem, or Jenin, or Nablus. What do you expect it from us to do? It’s just watching them, to saw them, and to watch them while they are killing our people and demolishing our houses and arresting our people? We cannot. Then we have to respond. Have you met him recently? Yes,
sir. With the president? Yes. No? Have you met him at all? I met him in the bus. You seem all very like young people. Palestinians, young people. 70% of Palestinians is under the age of 35. I’ve been told, I don’t know if it’s true, that many of the weapons that you get come from the Israelis. 100%. We got last time, you know, six months ago, around 60 M16s and around, you know, 5 million bullets from the security guard of Sharon. For money? Yes,
we pay money. He give us 16 M16s. They’re doing it for money, not for…
He’s in jail now. And ask the Israelis. He is in the Israeli jail and he is in investigation. We bought from him 16 M16s and 5 million bullets. You bought 16 M16s… 60. 60 M16s and 5… 5 million bullets. 5 million bullets. Yes. From a security guard from Sharon. Yes.
Who is now in jail. Who is now in jail. Money. Yeah. Do you have any… If we have enough money, we can buy a tank. Yes,
I’m serious. But you don’t have the money. We don’t have the money to buy a tank. How much does it cost? It costs a lot. It sure is. $250,000, can you get a used tank? You know,
this M16, it costs $5,000. Five thousand dollars? For this M16, yeah.
Five thousand’s a lot. Yeah, that’s a lot. They charge you. It’s very expensive. I see. But you know, when there is a need, then you have to pay. Of all the Israelis, who do you hate the most, the settlers? We hate the occupation. The settlers? We hate the occupation, whatever the occupation is. Well,
the settlers, yeah. Settlers, soldiers, whatever, we had the occupation. The settlers are pretty tough, they’re very radical. This is one of the main problems that we are facing. First of all, there is no civilian settlers. Settlers, it’s part, you know, of this occupation, and they are occupying our land, and they are unarmed settlers. Then we are fighting against the settlers to leave our land. We belong to Palestine, they don’t belong to Palestine. And I give you an example. If you go to see this settlement, you will find all of these settlers. They go to Tel Aviv, to Haifa, to all of the Israeli parts, you know. And they came to sleep just in the settlements. But for us, our world, and our daily life, we spend it in our land. I will tell you another thing. We face an American pressure to accept settlements in West Bank and Gaza Strip. And this is why 65% of the settlers who live in West Bank, they are American citizens. 65%? Yes. Was Israel wrong to encourage the settlers to go into the West Bank? Depends. Well… At places that were densely populated by Palestinians, it was a mistake. Because we build a conflict. I mean, you better fight a desert than fight a people. And I guess Sharon and people like that are impregnable. You can’t get close to them. They have too much security. The political leaders of Israel. You can’t get to them? No, we can’t get to them. You think so? I think so. When they became as part of, to be our targets, we can’t get to them. Really? Because of money? I will guarantee for you that we can’t get to them. So most of your life you worked in intelligence. Israeli intelligence is supposed to be some of the best in the world, right? I think these days they are doing a very good job. These days. Wonderful job. Can they get into the PLO offices? Can they monitor that? Can they hear what people are talking about? They are doing everything possible. Yeah. And without them, we would have much more casualties. You’re scared, right?
Are you scared of the Israelis? I cannot say I’m scared from Israelis. If I’m scared from Israel, I’m not fighting, but I’m careful from Israelis. They have very strong reconnaissance. They have aerial, I’m sure they have aerial observation. So you’re fighting a guerrilla war in the true sense of the word. It’s very clear, you know,
that in this conflict we are a weakness part. We are not the stronger part. But at the same moment we are strong in our principles and our faith. Our faith and our principles, it’s pushing us, you know, to fight. What do you guys do during the day? You don’t sit around in your masks all day. No. You’re planning, you live, you also eat, you sleep, you have… Probably we will meet you during the day in a drink. And you don’t know. But in other words, you live fairly normal lives. Normalize. Do any of you have jobs, regular jobs? Of course. We are normal people. What is your relationship to Hamas? We don’t have ideological, you know, religious issues like Hamas. And we are fighting for a secular state, not a religious state. A secular democratic state. So it’s interesting that people who are willing to die, suicide bombers, are dying, you know… seeking martyrdom in a jihad where they go to heaven and a paradise. It’s honor. It’s dignity. We’ve got a big problem with the suicide bombers because there are only a few people who know what’s going to happen. And it’s very difficult to receive information. Do you know, for example, is there a list, like who’s the next bomber? Believe me, the people when they want to do this kind of things, you know, these activities, we convince them as much as we can not to go, not to do it. But if they were, you know, faithfully strong committed, then there is no other choice. Then we control the things. Well,
I mean, you go down… Let’s say you have… We are not born to dead. We don’t want to send our people to die. No,
I understand. You’re reluctant to do it. We want to do it. But you have a short list of people who are willing to do it. Of course. And you know that you can call on them and prepare them. There is a big amount of people who came as volunteers. You never imagine nowadays how many volunteers. 50, 100? I think more. Wow. We arrested a few bombers before they bombed themselves. We were lucky, about seven cases. Today there are more. And I said, let’s see and ask them. What could avoid them from going to this act of terror, of bombing themselves? And some of them will say, if my parents’ house will be destroyed, and maybe some of them will say, if I would think that my father will suffer, maybe I won’t take part in this act of terror. The bombing in the hotel has stuck more than anything in recent times in the Egyptian peace process of the Islamic process of the… …Pamir carried it out. 20 people died in the attack. The one other suicide strike has been more deadly than the last 18 months of conflict. Everybody knew the Jews were sitting around celebrating freedom, and they want to blow up our freedom, they want to blow up our religion and our existence. And no country can afford just to sit and bide and watch this. Who said?
There is no way to Jerusalem. I just called him. Yeah, what did he say? Leave tomorrow. Okay,
I’m going to call him. To Jerusalem and wait there. Mr.
Arafat is not going to see you, receive anybody. Thank you.
Yeah. They said that we cannot receive anybody, and he said,
I will call you back. That’s all I know. Okay.
That’s all I know. So if you don’t want to believe me, For 15 years they have gambled on force, on intimidation, on war, on violence. Let them gamble on peace once. If anything will happen in Ramallah, it will happen tonight. But then, because of the weather, we may have a chance. I got a call in New York. Bush is all over the place on TV. Taking this personally, so this is Bush now has crossed over to the Sharon side of the equation even more. So if that’s the case, I would…
I was worried that Sharon would take this to mean that he could go have full section and kill RFI. He didn’t say this word, but that they said they would take action against the government, the Palestinian government, which is based in Ramallah. Which is action against the pow-pow would be the response. Destroy the pow-pow. I say you stick, because something’s going to happen. Yeah, but they know how to get the fans in. They don’t try to send anybody out. They’re very serious. Let’s sleep. Listen for the tanks tonight. Keep monitoring the TV. At the break of day at 6 o’clock, we might be able to get a story. Yeah, that’s true. Let’s see what happens tomorrow morning. Maybe we should get in the compound at 6 o’clock. Stay in touch with the minister. I say… Full court press, stay with the story, and be ready to pull out. But I don’t think that’s the issue. We can get out when we get out. I’m not worried about that. I’m worried about simply destruction. I mean, Bush and destroying that compound. And if they destroy the compound, maybe the Palestinians are going to fight back right away. There’s going to be a major firefight in the streets. That would be horrible. Which we should cover, by the way. Long live Al-Qaeda! Al-Aqsa!
Long live Al-Qaeda! Al-Aqsa!
Long live Al-Qaeda! I’m not going to leave you! A short distance away, Yasser Arafat looking beaten but not giving in. With it he’s meeting his cabinet now an emergency late night session Went on for that seven hours The final decision will be made within hours by his own enemy, the Prime Minister, Arnold Sharon.
Sharon wanted to expel him. Today?
This is the policy from last night? Yes. And he knew that we shall not remain in the government. So if you can capture him, you would put him out of the country? Sharon thought that this will limit his capacities to… Support or… Where would you send him? No problem. He can go to Egypt. I mean, he has where to go. The whole Arab world. Probably I would put him on his ship, the Korean A. That was previously loaded with 50 tons of weapons. Now it’ll be loaded with sandwiches, good fine drink. He’s used, he’s accustomed to good living. Put him on the high seas, let him go wherever he wants to go. I think it would serve him. Not reduce his stature. He would be freer to give orders, to move around. It would be better for him to be back in Tunis or… Oh yes, for him. Is that why you’re against the policy of isolating him and exiling him? No, it goes further than that. I think we have to negotiate. In Israel, we know the real cost of peace. We try to deny it, to postpone it. We’re afraid to open our eyes, but all of us know. The prize and that we shall have to pay it. So while it looks today as an impossible situation, there are interventions from unexpected circles that will bring us to peace. I have to get warm, this guy’s not easy to get to know. You know, he’s a little fellow who’s dealt with a lot of people over a lot of time, and he’s struggling and scrambling all the time. He’s like a rat on a sinking boat, jumping from plank to plank. It’s hard. It’s very hard to talk. Especially if he puts five guys on a fucking couch who are staring at me without a smile. …would be the third subject. Mr. Castro was the first subject. These are three people who have been lifelong rebels for the United States and against the New World Order. We’re supposed to have a private interview with the president. Yes. Please, would you go down? Eventually, but…
Hey! No, Nothing new. You have your…everything is fine? I suggest that we bring staff down because we don’t know I don’t think we’re gonna sleep here tonight Who is that? Our friend is from the morning at the checkpoint What does he say? No way out Get in the van, please. Now, no questions asked. I hate to be told. Nobody is telling me what to do. Thank you. I just talked to Noam. The Israelis won’t guarantee any safe passage in any of the Czech Republic. Are you serious? Basically, they don’t care about us. They’ve got their thing to do. And, uh…
I know I’m sad. This is our last chance. In two or three hours, it’ll be dark. Everything will be closed. So the only chance we have is to get those Canadian cars, go to the checkpoint, and… Now? Okay guys, let’s start getting into the pickup truck. Otherwise it wouldn’t be an armored car. Oh,
this is armored and armored? Yeah, both of these are. Oh,
Sam, what are you doing? I work for the Canadian embassy. I see.
These things aren’t, they’re armored against tanks, that’s,
just keep that in mind. We are heading toward a tragedy, and I argued it before I was elected. Wait,
this is… This inability to make the decision A cut this golden knot and disengage ourselves from Palestinians leads us into a tragedy. Since we are heading toward either a Bosnia-like situation or Belfast, namely two communities bleeding into each other for centuries without any solution, or into apartheid South African situation, none of them is congruent with the Zionist vision of establishing a Jewish. Zahra is a democratic state. So it’s an imperative, compelling imperative, to disengage ourselves, to set a fence. Like a Berlin Wall, you’re saying? Yeah, yeah. The soldiers are hysterical after last night. Now,
in addition, the Israeli army is going to attack Ramallah in the next few hours. So this is like the hottest point right now, this specific checkpoint. And they have Israeli snipers on the hills all over the place. He cannot coordinate with them a movement of a Palestinian van. And whoever has a vest, please put it on. No?
Nobody? No. Shit. No,
no. The man is coming. In the chicken. What are they waiting for? They’re waiting for permission to cross. Who are they? They’re mostly workers, women, anyone. Early students going to university. How about a child? A kid.
Let’s be honest, the sheriff is not… What’s a good day? The guy hasn’t had any good days. I don’t know. He’s so insulated by his people. He’s been doing it for 40 years. All right, Vincent, I’m gonna be arranged. Should I…? Yeah,
it’s about a two and a half hour wait. What are these? They’re not leaving. They’re just, some people work on this side and the other side. They have to wait in line until they’re allowed to pass through. How about you show them the car? They want to see the bike. Are you filming? Yes.
Do it a little less conspicuously. I’m not sure. I’m not sure. I’m not sure. I’m not sure.
I’m not sure. I’m not sure.
I’m not sure. I’m not sure.
I’m not sure. I’m not sure.
I’m not sure. I’m not sure.
I’m not sure. Thank you. There are two terrorists on… no no no no don’t look. Not this one. Alright, let’s go. They know you? No. According to the Vienna Convention, they’re not supposed to search diplomatic vehicles. My dears, thank you very much. No problem. I will never forget this one. You know how leaders are tested at the end of the day? They’re tested by their willingness to lose the leadership. For the right thing. Their willingness to what? To lose the position of leadership for the right thing. That is the ultimate and only true test of leadership, whether you’re willing to stand up for your values, the things you believe, and to risk failing. That’s the test of leadership. That’s what I hope the present leadership of Israel will demonstrate, that kind of leadership. Do you really think Arafat can control every suicide bomber? No,
I don’t think he has 100% control over the suicide bombers, although 90% of the recent attacks that have been levied against us have come from his own forces. We saw Hamas the other day, yesterday, or
or two days ago, and it was very clear that they don’t take their orders from me. We’re going to stop for a second because on the Hill… Right next to this one there’s just been a suicide bombing right now. And there are a lot of people. Yeah,
well, it’s not very far from here. If you just continue this road, 800 meters, on the continuation of this road, we’ve just had a bombing. Do we have any figures, anything? Any information, Ami? Can you get it? I heard something earlier, yeah. I thought it was a… Hmm? Okay, this is an initial piece of information, so we don’t know yet. There it is. There it is. It’s beginning. What’s up there? A settlement? No. Everything is a settlement to them. This is a settlement called Jerusalem. It’s a… It’s a…
Should we just… It’s a supermarket in Jerusalem. The primary goal of Arafat is not to establish a state, but to destroy a state. We have to change the language and the message that you cannot make deal with the Arabs or you cannot make deal with the Jews. That is a wrong approach. Because people on the ground, the new generation, believe that peace is a possibility. Peace is not utopia. Not utopia at all. It’s a possibility, it’s not a dream. Never stop explaining what is happening here and try to respect international legality and the moral right of one… and others. That’s very French, you know, it’s very Pascalian, all that. The police have also banned the entry of the wounded and the entry of the cars. The soldiers have been forced to enter the building. A black guard has been placed in the Palestinian community. Mr.
Omar, in the shadow of this barricaded siege, what is your message to your people? This is the people of the tyrants, the steadfast people, in the face of this racism, this terrorism, and this aggression with all kinds of American weapons. This people, I say to them, together and in unison, so that a flower from our flowers rises, the flag of Palestine, above the walls of Jerusalem, and the basements of Jerusalem, and the churches of Jerusalem. The Israeli military has been which focused on the Natcha Tijani center. The and in front of journalists After many international interventions, the situation of the city’s residents has deteriorated. Citizens are allowed to leave for two hours to get some food. But the streets that citizens saw for the first time in days, have been destroyed by vans and tanks. The headquarters of the authority and dozens of commercial and residential buildings have also been destroyed. So what’s going to happen now? What do you think will happen? We will continue. That’s all you can say? We will continue. Would you accept the 1967 borders? This is what I’m fighting for, 1967 borders. You would accept that? Yes. So Israel would have the right to coexist? If I have a right to coexist. If Palestine has a right to coexist. Do you think there’s any hope with Sharon in office? I told you, our problem is not Sharon. We are against the occupation. If it’s Sharon, if it’s Paris, if it’s Barack, if it’s Netanyahu, we are fighting against the occupation. Whatever, you know,
who came to rule Israel, it doesn’t… I don’t care. I
think it’s dangerous to teach history. Dangerous to teach? I think we have to educate our children to develop their imagination more than their memory. We don’t have so much to remember. And actually what we remember is how to forget. What do we really remember? This war and that war, who killed whom and why? History is basically written with red ink. It’s a history of killing. Maybe there was a need for it, because people made a living out of the land and people were fighting for the land. Today when you live on science and technology, you don’t need wars, you don’t need killings. So I believe I would prefer to educate the children to learn the history of the future, not the history of the past.