UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DO RIO DE JANEIRO

CENTRO DE FILOSOFIA E CINCIAS HUMANAS

ESCOLA DE COMUNICAO

VIDA SOB OCUPAO:

UMA REPORTAGEM DIGITAL NA CISJORDNIA OCUPADA

THAS IMBUZEIRO DANTAS

RIO DE JANEIRO
2016
 UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DO RIO DE JANEIRO
ESCOLA DE COMUNICAO
CENTRO DE FILOSOFIA E CINCIAS HUMANAS
JORNALISMO

VIDA SOB OCUPAO: UMA REPORTAGEM DIGITAL

NA CISJORDNIA OCUPADA.

Trabalho Prtico submetido Banca de

Graduao da Escola de Comunicao (ECO)
da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
(UFRJ) como requisito para obteno do
diploma de Comunicao Social / Jornalismo.

THAS IMBUZEIRO DANTAS

Orientadora: Profa. Dra. Cristina Rego Monteiro da Luz

RIO DE JANEIRO
2016
 UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DO RIO DE JANEIRO
ESCOLA DE COMUNICAO

TERMO DE APROVAO

A Comisso Examinadora, abaixo assinada, avalia o Projeto Prtico Vida sob

ocupao: uma reportagem digital na Cisjordnia ocupada, elaborado por Thas
Imbuzeiro Dantas.

Monografia examinada:
Rio de Janeiro, no dia ........./........./..........

Comisso Examinadora:

______________________________________________________
Orientadora: Profa. Dra. Cristina Rego Monteiro da Luz
Doutora em Comunicao e Cultura pela Escola de Comunicao - UFRJ
Departamento de Comunicao - UFRJ

_______________________________________________________
Prof. Dra Beatriz Juana Isabel Bissio Staricco Neiva Moreira
Doutora em Histria pela Universidade Federal Fluminense - UFF
Departamento de Cincia Poltica IFCS/ UFRJ

______________________________________________________
Profa. Fernanda Melo da Escssia
Mestra em Comunicao pela Escola de Comunicao - UFRJ
Departamento de Comunicao UFRJ
 FICHA CATALOGRFICA

DANTAS, Thas Imbuzeiro.

Vida sob ocupao: uma reportagem digital na Cisjordnia

ocupada. Rio de Janeiro, 2016.

Projeto Prtico (Graduao em Comunicao Social/ Jornalismo)

Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro UFRJ, Escola de
Comunicao ECO.

Orientadora: Cristina Rego Monteiro da Luz

 DANTAS, Thas Imbuzeiro. Vida sob ocupao: uma reportagem digital na
Cisjordnia ocupada. Orientadora: Cristina Rego Monteiro da Luz. Rio de
Janeiro: UFRJ/ ECO. Projeto Prtico em Jornalismo.

RESUMO

Este trabalho de concluso uma reportagem digital sobre o dia a dia das pessoas que moram
nos territrios ocupados da Cisjordnia. A reportagem, produzida em material textual,
fotogrfico, audiovisual e grfico, disponibilizada online e foi desenvolvida a partir de
entrevistas e percepes realizadas entre janeiro e maro de 2016 durante viagem Israel e ao
territrio Palestino ocupado e procura mostrar os principais desafios enfrentados pelos
palestinos na Cisjordnia, explicando este processo atravs de entrevistas com organizaes
locais de direitos humanos e relatrios de organizaes internacionais. Este trabalho apresenta
o processo de produo do projeto, desde a idealizao, passando pelo processo de
arrecadao de fundos, a viagem, as entrevistas, e ento a concepo, alm de uma
contextualizao histrica do contedo apresentado na reportagem. Pretende-se com tal
iniciativa mostrar uma viso contra- hegemnica da situao dos palestinos e refletir, a partir
de uma reviso bibliogrfica, sobre o processo de ocupao na Cisjordnia.
Palavras-chave: Reportagem digital. Cisjordnia. Palestinos. Contra-hegemonia.
 DANTAS, Thas Imbuzeiro. Vida sob ocupao: uma reportagem digital na
Cisjordnia ocupada. Orientadora: Cristina Rego Monteiro da Luz. Rio de
Janeiro: UFRJ/ ECO. Projeto Prtico em Jornalismo.

ABSTRACT

This concluding work is a multimedia report on the day-to-day lives of people living in the
occupied West Bank. This reportage, produced in textual, photographic, audiovisual and
graphic material is available online and was made from interviews and perceptions held
between January and March 2016 during a trip to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory
and seeks to show the main challenges faced by Palestinians in the West Bank, explaining this
process through interviews with local human rights organizations and reports from
international organizations. This paper presents the project's production process, from
idealization passing through fundraising, the travelling, the interviews, and finally the
conception, as well as a historical contextualization of the content presented in the article.
This initiative is intended to show an anti-hegemonic view of the situation of the Palestinians
and to reflect, based on a bibliographical review, on the occupation process in the West Bank.
Key Words: Multimedia reportage. West Bank. Palestinians. Anti-hegemonic.
 Dedicatria
Dedico este trabalho aos palestinos.
Fui atrs de histrias e voltei com lies de
vida, amor, superao e esperana.
Obrigada por tudo.
 AGRADECIMENTOS

Deus, sem minha f nunca teria chegado at aqui. Aos meus pais, que sempre me
incentivaram a realizar meus sonhos mesmo que no os entendessem, pois, em nossa pequena
grande famlia, o amor incondicional sempre falou mais alto que a razo. Aos meus avs, que
abriram as portas para que o Rio se tornasse um lar. minha av Sonia, de quem puxei o
amor pelas palavras. toda a famlia que me incentivou e apoiou.

Aos meus amigos. Do Colgio Militar, da infncia, da UnB, da ECO, da vida, que
perdoaram minha ausncia, minha chatice ao s falar de Palestina, que se preocuparam
comigo, apoiaram minhas ideias loucas e permaneceram presentes nas mensagens, nas
oraes e nos pensamentos positivos. Ao talo, que superou a distncia e a crise ps-viagem.
Obrigada por deixar meus dias melhores e fazer valer pena tornar meus sonhos realidade.

Aos mestres, que ao longo da vida me fizeram acreditar que o cu era o limite e me
deram fora para tocar um projeto desse tamanho. Um agradecimento especial querida
professora e orientadora Cristina Rego Monteiro, que sempre acreditou em mim, me deu
foras e me transmitiu segurana para manter a calma e seguir em frente.

A todos que esbarrei na minha breve carreira profissional. Aos colegas da ONU Brasil,
da UNRWA, do CCOPAB, do Mdicos Sem Fronteiras, do CICV, do curso de rabe e outros.
Sem o aprendizado dessas experincias e da convivncia com tantas pessoas incrveis este
projeto tambm no sairia do papel.

Aos meus queridos doadores, sem a contribuio financeira de vocs este projeto
nunca teria se tornado realidade. FFIPP Brasil, que me deu a oportunidade de aprender
tanto sobre a Palestina, aos colegas de viagem e aos roommates de Beit Sahour, Mari, minha
parceira de perrengues e de gs lacrimogneo dirio, aos queridos entrevistados deste projeto,
aos colegas da Lajee Center, ao campo de refugiados de Aida e ao meu anjo da guarda
palestino, Obama.

Por fim, Cidade Maravilhosa, que pude chamar de lar nos ltimos cinco anos.
UnB, onde tudo comeou. grandiosa Escola de Comunicao da UFRJ, que nunca vai
deixar de fazer parte de mim. Palestina, onde este projeto ganhou forma e eu aprendi lies
para toda a vida.
 SUMRIO
1 INTRODUO ......................................................................................................................9
2 VIDA SOB OCUPAO ....................................................................................................14
2.1 Breve histrico da questo da Palestina ..........................................................................14
2.2 A vida na Cisjordnia ocupada ........................................................................................19
2.3 Estudo de caso: entrevistados ..........................................................................................22
2.3.1 Amaya el-Orzza .........................................................................................................22
2.3.2 Baha Hilo ..................................................................................................................23
2.3.3 Hamzeh Dagash Abedrabbu,.....................................................................................23
2.3.4 Jamal Juma ...............................................................................................................23
2.3.5 Jameel Jahalin...........................................................................................................24
2.3.6 Manuela Da Rosa Jorge............................................................................................24
2.3.7 Mohammad Kabneh .................................................................................................25
2.3.8 Mona Sabella.............................................................................................................26
2.3.9 Sireen Khudairi .........................................................................................................26
3 RELATRIO DE PRODUO ........................................................................................28
3.1 Financiamento Coletivo...................................................................................................28
3.2 A viagem..........................................................................................................................30
3.3 Entrevistas .......................................................................................................................32
3.4 Ps Produo ...................................................................................................................35
3.5 A Reportagem Multimdia ...............................................................................................36
4 CONCLUSO ......................................................................................................................38

ANEXO Entrevistas .............................................................................................................45

Entrevista com Amaya el-Orzza (BADIL Resource Center) ................................................45
Entrevista com Baha Hilo ......................................................................................................50
Entrevista com Hamzeh Dagash Abedrabbu .........................................................................64
Entrevista com Jamal Juma ...................................................................................................69
Entrevista com Jameel Jahalin ...............................................................................................75
Entrevista com Manuela da Rosa Jorge .................................................................................77
Entrevista com Mohammad Kabneh* ...................................................................................81
Entrevista com Mona Sabella (Al- Haq) ...............................................................................83
Entrevista com Sireen Kudairi ...............................................................................................88
1 INTRODUO

Dizem por a que o jornalismo a arte de informar para transformar. Inconformada

com as injustias sociais e com o descaso para com o sofrimento humano, acredito nisto.
Desde o incio dos meus passos na comunicao social, me envolvi com o jornalismo
humanitrio, popular, social ou comunitrio. Jornalismos com nomes que tenham
relao com as pessoas e que tenham como principal objetivo focar na histria dessas pessoas,
comunidades, populaes ou seres humanos.
No novidade que eu seja mais uma estudante de jornalismo que entrou para o meio
querendo contar histrias. A novidade que eu sempre quis ir alm do lugar-comum para dar
sentido s histrias que quero contar. Entrar na favela e conversar com o morador, e no s
com o antroplogo, para poder falar de l; entrar no hospcio e falar com o paciente, e no
apenas com o mdico, para poder falar da esquizofrenia; ir Palestina e falar cara a cara,
dentro de um campo de refugiados, com os palestinos, para poder falar da vida na Cisjordnia
ocupada.
A ideia de falar sobre a Palestina surgiu por meio de um encontro entre a minha
inquietante procura por uma histria relevante para ser contada como trabalho de concluso
de curso e meu estgio nas Organizao das Naes Unidas (ONU), em 2014, quando ocorreu
a guerra de Gaza e eu fui bombardeada com informaes que no chegavam na grande mdia
brasileira. Depois de um tempo, as declaraes oficiais da ONU tambm comearam a me
soar insuficientes, pois como aprendi1 com o ento chefe da delegao latino-americana do
Comit Internacional da Cruz Vermelha (CICV) Felipe Donoso em um Curso de Jornalismo
em situaes de conflito, o jornalista no deve se contentar com o espetculo, mas ir a campo
tentar entender o que acontece e abordar o assunto com olhar da vtima e no com o olhar dos
grandes governos, que muitas vezes j tm vozes suficientes para ecoar nos quatro cantos do
mundo.

O papel do intelectual , antes de mais nada, o de apresentar leituras alternativas da

histria outras que aquelas oferecidas pelos representantes da memria oficial e da
identidade nacional. (SAID, 2012b, p.39)

1
CURSO DE JORNALISMO EM SITUAES DE CONFLITO ARMADO DO COMIT INTERNACIONAL
DA CRUZ VERMELHA. Braslia, Set. 2014. Mais informaes em: <
https://www.icrc.org/por/resources/documents/event/2014/bra-journalism-course-obore.htm>. Acesso em: 06
dez. 2016.
9
 Motivada a contar uma histria da Palestina por palestinos, defini meu tema. O
objetivo deste trabalho mostrar os principais desafios que enfrentam as pessoas que vivem
no territrio da Cisjordnia, atualmente ocupada militarmente por Israel, em diferentes graus,
mas em toda a sua extenso, inclusive em Jerusalm Oriental. Postos de controles
militarizados, campos de refugiados, acesso limitado agua, falta de liberdade de ir e vir,
segregao religiosa e racial e outros problemas, contados por quem os vive e por
organizaes no governamentais (ONGs) locais o que pode ser visto neste trabalho.
A escolha pelo projeto prtico ao invs de uma monografia tradicional se deu tambm
pela necessidade de contar histrias, mas principalmente pela vontade de colocar em prtica o
que aprendi durante a minha graduao, dentro da faculdade e no mercado, como estagiria.
Dentro de sala de aula, em uma disciplina de Jornalismo e Mdias Digitais me encantei com as
possibilidades de formas de narrativas que podem ser inseridas na internet. Assim, no existia
outra forma de fazer este projeto que no fosse uma reportagem digital, onde h a
possibilidade de inserir textos, vdeos, infogrficos, mapas, imagens e links.
Para a produo desta reportagem, foram entrevistadas diversas fontes locais
envolvidas diretamente com as violaes dos direitos humanos, como vtimas, ativistas ou os
dois, todas residentes na Cisjordnia ocupada. Este material foi fruto de quase dois meses de
apurao in loco na Cisjordnia ocupada, Jerusalm Oriental e Israel e mais de um ano de
pesquisa, assim, tambm podem ser encontradas menes a organizaes internacionais,
fontes oficiais e relatrios, alm de percepes pessoais e descries de cenas presenciadas.
So personagens principais deste projeto: Amaya el-Orzza, espanhola que mora em
Belm e pesquisadora jurdica na ONG palestina Badil; Baha Hilo, garom palestino
morador de Beit Sahour e coordenador do programa To be there; Hamzeh Dagash Abedrabbu
refugiado palestino morador do campo de Deheisieh, assistente social e psiclogo; Jamal
Juma, palestino morador de Ramallah, foi militante da primeira e da segunda Intifadas e
atualmente coordena a campanha anti-apartheid palestina, atravs da ONG Stop the Wall;
Jameel Jahalin, liderana palestino-beduna dos arredores de Jeric; Manuela Da Rosa Jorge,
internacionalista brasileira casada com um refugiado palestino e moradora do campo de
refugiados de Aida; Mohammad Kabneh2, agricultor beduno morador do Vale do Jordo;

2
Mohammad Safi um nome fictcio dado ao personagem, que solicitou no ter seu nome revelado por questes
de segurana.

10
Mona Sabella, palestina moradora de Ramallah e oficial de advocacy 3na ONG Al- Haq; e
Sireen Khudairi, palestina de Tubas, moradora do campo de refugiados de Deheisieh
enquanto aguardava o julgamento do marido, preso sem ter sido condenado, e voluntria na
ONG Jordan Valley Solidarity.
Narrativas estereotipadas e generalistas sobre a Palestina so o que mais se encontra
na grande mdia. Em seu artigo Propaganda e Guerra, publicado em agosto de 2001 na
revista Al-Ahram, Edward Said conclui que os palestinos no so vistos nem em termos de
possuir uma histria prpria, nem em termos de uma imagem humana que as pessoas possam
se identificar: Eles esto quase que completamente desumanizados (SAID, 2012b, p. 133).
O professor de Direito Internacional da Universidade de So Paulo (USP), Salem Nasser,
explica no prefcio edio brasileira da obra A questo da Palestina, de Said:

A tragdia palestina territorial na medida em que uma outra pretenso - mais forte,
mais estruturada e mais relevante o que se poderia chamar de jogo das naes -
reclama o domnio no partilhvel da terra. Mas tambm uma tragdia de negao,
e em certo grau, de invisibilidade: a narrativa palestina gradualmente apagada,
escondida e suplantada por outra que lhe faz concorrncia e, ao mesmo tempo, a
substitui por representaes reducionistas e caricaturais. (NASSER apud SAID,
2012a, p.viii)
Como j foi dito anteriormente, um dos pontos relevantes deste projeto a linha
editorial contra-hegemnica que busca mostrar a voz da vtima, a voz dos palestinos que
vivem sob ocupao, a voz dos que geralmente no tem voz na grande mdia. A Escola de
Comunicao nos ensina a pensar criticamente e acredito que entender a necessidade de
mostrar um outro ponto de vista, sem deixar a imparcialidade jornalstica de lado, claro, faz
parte do processo de formao de um jornalista.
Outro ponto relevante deste material a plataforma na qual ele apresentado.
Vivemos um momento de transio na era da informao, marcado pela transio da Web 1.0
para a Web 2.0 e atualmente estamos na ento chamada Web 3.0, movida pela interatividade.
preciso pensar um novo formato jornalstico que atenda o novo perfil do consumidor, que
agora seleciona o que quer ver e quando quer ver, e a reportagem digital se mostra como um
caminho possvel para a sobrevivncia do jornalismo e para o estreitamento de laos entre
produtores e consumidores de notcias, que cada vez mais se intercambiam como emissores e
receptores de mensagens.
Por fim, mas no menos importante, acredito que este trabalho traz uma reflexo
crtica acerca dos termos usados para se referir questo da Palestina, principalmente na

3
Sobre o termo advocacy, ver nota de rodap n 11, na pgina 25.
11
grande mdia hegemnica. Nas minhas primeiras entrevistas fui chamada a ateno pelos
meus entrevistados por usar palavras como conflito ou guerra, e at mesmo por evitar
usar o nome Palestina, j que o pas no oficialmente reconhecido pela ONU como um
estado-membro. Em 2011, a poeta ativista palestina Rafeef Ziadeh fez uma poesia que
transmite exatamente essa sensao que percebi que os palestinos tm em relao mdia e
aos jornalistas:

Hoje, meu corpo foi um massacre televisionado que teve de caber em frases de
efeito e limites de palavras preenchidos o bastante com estatsticas para se
contraporem resposta comedida. E eu aperfeioei meu ingls e aprendi minhas
resolues da ONU. Mas mesmo assim, ele me perguntou: Senhora Ziadeh, voc
no acha que tudo estaria resolvido se vocs parassem de ensinar tanto dio para
suas crianas? Pausa. Eu procuro dentro de mim fora para permanecer paciente,
mas pacincia no est na ponta da minha lngua enquanto as bombas caem sobre
Gaza. A pacincia acabou me escapando. Pausa. Sorriso. Ns ensinamos vida,
senhor. Rafeef, lembre-se de sorrir. Pausa. Ns ensinamos vida, senhor. Ns,
palestinos, ensinamos vida depois de eles terem ocupado o ltimo cu. Ns
ensinamos vida depois de eles terem construdo suas colnias e muros de apartheid,
at os ltimos cus. Ns ensinamos vida, senhor. Mas hoje o meu corpo foi um
massacre televisionado feito para caber em frases de efeito e limite de palavras. E
d-nos apenas uma histria, uma histria humana. Veja, no poltico. Ns s
queremos contar para as pessoas sobre voc e sobre seu povo ento d-nos uma
histria humana. No use aquela palavra apartheid e ocupao. Voc tem que
me ajudar como jornalista a te ajudar a contar sua histria que no uma histria
poltica. (ZIADEH, 2011) 4
Nemzio Amaral Filho traz tona em seu livro O passo-a-passo da monografia em
jornalismo (2011) uma questo levantada pelo jornalista Luciano Martins Costa em artigo
publicado no Observatrio da imprensa em janeiro de 2005: Quais so as possibilidades reais
de vermos nascer, num prazo de dez a vinte anos, uma imprensa completamente nova,
integralmente montada sobre recursos digitais e absolutamente aberta participao pblica?
(COSTA, 2005). O autor ento lembra que para pensar neste cenrio preciso considerar a
crise de credibilidade da imprensa tradicional.
Pode-se dizer que este trabalho fruto do que Amaral Filho chama de
etnorreportagem, uma unio antropolgico-jornalstica entre a etnografia e a reportagem Para
o autor, a etnorreportagem nasce em meio crise de credibilidade dos veculos de
comunicao tradicional no mundo ocidental e crise de autoridade da etnografia:

O resultado de nossa ida a campo e no trabalho de campo, que denominamos de

etnorreportagem, uma etnografia na forma narrativa. A inteno [...] confrontar
outra possiblidade de representao com o que produz a maior parte da chamada
grande imprensa sobre os outros. (AMARAL FILHO, 2011, p. 109, grifo do
autor)

4
WE Teach Life, Sir. Filmagem de Rafeef Ziadeh em discurso. [Londres: s.n., 2011]. Disponvel em:
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asOFQqaMiHw&t=24s>. Acesso em 15 nov. 2016.
12
 As pessoas que entrevistei e a realidade que testemunhei entre janeiro e maro de 2016
fizeram com que eu optasse por usar as palavras que minhas fontes usaram. Num primeiro
momento elas podem at parecer ser parciais, mas eu acredito que ao fazer esta escolha eu
estou no s provocando uma reflexo acerca do que significam as palavras que deixam de ser
usadas e do que significam as novas palavras que passam a ocupar seus lugares, mas tambm
conto a histria mostrando o lado da vtima, como me propus a fazer desde o incio.
Assim sendo, este trabalho est estruturado em trs captulos, alm da plataforma
online com o contedo multimdia produzido. No captulo 2 so apresentados elementos para
se compreender a vida sob ocupao, com um resumo histrico da questo da Palestina, uma
anlise atual da vida na Cisjordnia ocupada, com os problemas enfrentados no dia a dia e
questes relevantes para se entender o contexto em que esto inseridos os personagens da
reportagem, que sero apresentados em seguida.
O captulo 3 apresenta detalhadamente como se deu o processo de produo deste
material, desde a captao de recursos, concebida atravs de financiamento coletivo, tambm
online, aos preparativos e desafios enfrentados na viagem e, claro, relata tambm como
foram feitas as entrevistas e a ps-produo, especificando o perodo realizado e o material
utilizado e tambm os problemas ocorridos e suas solues.
Nas concluses finais, no captulo 4, prope-se uma reflexo acerca do impacto do
trabalho, alm do papel do jornalismo neste processo de mostrar o lado da vtima, da escolha
de determinados termos e da importncia de certas atitudes para se atingir resultados ticos e
trilhar caminhos possveis para um novo jornalismo.
Como o trabalho um projeto prtico que incluiu uma viagem de dois meses com uma
vivncia intensa em um campo de refugiados palestinos, optei por escrever este relatrio na
primeira pessoa do singular, j que se trata tambm de uma experincia pessoal que traz um
vis reflexivo acerca do que foi vivido.

13
2 VIDA SOB OCUPAO

Testemunhei pessoalmente os horrores da ocupao: a submisso de todo um povo

por meio de um sistema onipresente de controle e inmeras pequenas humilhaes,
sempre apoiadas pela ameaa de violncia; o confisco no s da terra desse povo,
mas de seu futuro. Senti vergonha, alm de emoo, diante da hospitalidade pela
qual os palestinos so merecidamente famosos. (SHATZ, 2014, p.50)
As palavras acima, do jornalista americano Adam Shatz, representam fielmente as
sensaes que tive ao viver por dois meses nos territrios palestinos ocupados.
Para entender o que acontece hoje, porm, preciso voltar um pouco no tempo da
Histria Mundial e do Oriente Mdio para compreender de que forma se deram determinados
processos e como algumas questes permanecem sem solues at hoje. Assim, este captulo
pretende introduzir a vida sob ocupao por meio de trs pilares: uma contextualizao
histrica, uma descrio da vida na Cisjordnia ocupada atualmente e um estudo de caso
detalhando os vnculos dos personagens entrevistados com o tema.

2.1 Breve histrico da questo da Palestina

A situao da Palestina reflexo de processos que se deram em todo o mundo. O

imperialismo colonial, fruto da expanso comercial e da formao de uma economia global, e
a reao da populao moldaram inicialmente o conflito, que ao longo do tempo agregou
outros fatores e vem tornando-se a cada dia mais complicado e afastando-se de uma soluo
duradoura.

muito comum generalizar um confronto de dcadas, entre os palestinos e

israelenses, como um conflito religioso, territorial ou outro tipo de forma simplista.
A construo deste conflito extrnseca Palestina, pois ele surgiu como um
desdobramento das guerras que sacudiram o mundo no Sculo XX. (SILVA;
PAIVA, 2012, p.1)
Para Baha Hilo, palestino entrevistado para este projeto, a Palestina sempre esteve
sob ocupao5. No II milnio a.C, a dispora hebraica ocorreu aps a destruio de
Jerusalm pelos romanos em 70 d.C, e em 1516 a regio passou a fazer parte do Imprio
otomano, herdeiro do grande Imprio rabe-Islmico medieval. No sculo XIX, o domnio
internacional imperialista e a formao dos Estados Nacionais fomentaram ideais de

5
Entrevista concedida autora.
14
eurocentrismo e superioridade europeia e o colonialismo surgiu como uma proposta de
misso civilizadora.
Durante a 1 Guerra Mundial, os rabes, liderados pelo xerife Hussein, de Meca,
lutaram ao lado dos aliados contra os otomanos, tendo os bedunos um papel importantssimo
nas guerrilhas de trincheiras por conhecerem muito bem geograficamente a regio. O acordo
feito entre Inglaterra e o xerife de Meca era que, se os otomanos fossem derrotados, os rabes
se tornariam independentes. Sobre a 1a Guerra Mundial e a Palestina, Daiana Silva e Eduardo
Paiva (2011) afirmam:

Este conflito foi determinante para a reorganizao territorial do Oriente Mdio, pois
os otomanos se viram obrigados a entregar seus territrios rabes aos britnicos e
franceses. Sob o controle das duas maiores potncias imperialistas do ocidente, o
Oriente Mdio viveu dias de intensos conflitos. Alguns conseguiram sua
emancipao poltica e outros passaram a lutar mais intensamente por ela. Nesse
interim, a Palestina passou a ser um mandato britnico, e viveu a dubiedade poltica
dos novos tutores. (Ibidem, p.53)
Autogoverno e democracia representativa foram encaminhamentos da Conferncia de
Paz de Versalhes, mas que no valiam para os territrios coloniais, j que essas sociedades
eram vistas como inferiores. Assim, os acordos entre rabes e ingleses no foram honrados,
e entrou em vigor o acordo Sykes Picot.
Visando redistribuir as posses das potncias derrotadas, entre elas o Imprio Otomano,
entre as potncias vencedores, o acordo Sykes- Picot, firmado em maio de 1916 entre Frana
e Inglaterra, dividiria os territrios otomanos entre os dois pases. A Frana recebeu a Sria e o
Lbano, sob regime de mandato, e a Gr-Bretanha ficou com o Iraque e a Palestina.
O interesse da Inglaterra no Oriente Mdio para manter seu espao como potncia
mundial apertou o gatilho para o que acontece at hoje na regio. David Fromkin (2008, p.
612) afirma em sua obra Paz e Guerra no Oriente Mdio que a regio chegou ao que hoje
tanto porque as potncias europeias a remodelaram quanto porque a Inglaterra e a Frana no
conseguiram assegurar que os sistemas polticos que elas mesmas criaram durassem.

Houve uma omisso curiosa no acordo que Sykes e Picot levaram a Petrogrado. Em
relao Palestina, o documento levava em considerao os interesses da Frana, da
Gr-Bretanha, de outros aliados e do lder muulmano Hussein, de Meca, mas
nenhuma referncia havia aos interesses do povo da Terra Santa bblica os judeus.
No entanto, o sionismo poltico o movimento judaico organizado que pretendia
uma volta nacional do povo judeu Palestina era uma fora ativa no mundo h
duas ou trs dcadas. O reassentamento judeu na Palestina prosseguira no sculo
XIX e no incio do sculo XX. Por volta de 1916, j havia uma considervel
populao judia vivendo e trabalhando l. (Ibidem, p. 219)
A Declarao Balfour, de novembro de 1917, era uma carta de aprovao do ento
Secretrio Britnico dos Assuntos Estrangeiros, Arthur J. Balfour, Lord Rothshild,
15
presidente da Federao Sionista Britnica, em relao ao estabelecimento de um lar nacional
judeu na Palestina. Idealizado por Theodor Herlz, o sionismo uma corrente ideolgica
nacionalista que ganhou fora com a ascenso do nazismo e, consequentemente, do
antissemitismo na Alemanha, que via um estado como soluo para a questo judaica. A
Palestina surge como uma opo de lugar para se criar este Estado durante o 1 Congresso
Sionista, realizado em Basilia, na Sua, entre 1897 e 1898, justamente pelo vnculo religioso
com o local.
Em 1890, antes do sionismo e de imigrao judaica, o territrio da Palestina tinha 533
mil palestinos. Em 1909 foi instalado o primeiro kibutz, uma colnia agrcola comunitria
com vis socialista muito comum na criao do Estado de Israel, ao norte da cidade de Yaffa,
dando incio imigrao judaica. Em 1914, o territrio contava com 731 mil palestinos e 60
mil judeus. Com a vitria do nazismo na Alemanha e o incio do holocausto, os judeus
migraram em massa para a Palestina. Em 1917, nos 26 mil quilmetros quadrados que a
Palestina ocupava, viviam 1 milho de palestinos e 100 mil judeus. Como explica o autor
Albert Hourani (2001) em sua obra Uma Histria dos Povos rabes, a aquisio de terra
para imigrantes judeus europeus comeara no final do sculo XIX, mas ganhou fora durante
o mandato britnico:

A imigrao judia foi encorajada, dentro de limites determinados em parte pela

estimativa governamental do nmero de imigrantes que o pas podia absorver num
dado momento, e em parte pelo volume de presso que os sionistas ou rabes
podiam aplicar sobre o governo de Londres. A estrutura da populao do pas
mudou muito neste perodo. Em 1922, os judeus contavam cerca de 11% de uma
populao total de trs quartos de milho, sendo o resto sobretudo mulumanos e
cristos de lngua rabe; em 1949, formavam mais de 30% de uma populao que
duplicara. (Ibidem, p. 327)
Em 1936 os palestinos desencadearam um levante radical e uma greve geral contra o
projeto sionista e contra o mandato britnico, com ideais j calcados no nacionalismo rabe
que crescia na regio. Os choques entre judeus e palestinos se tornaram cada vez mais
violentos, j que camponeses pegaram em armas em 1933 em repdio venda de terra aos
judeus.
Com a situao saindo do controle, em 1937, a Inglaterra interviu e props dividir a
Palestina em dois estados: um rabe e outro judeu, mantendo um corredor entre Jerusalm e
Tel Aviv sob controle britnico. Os rabes repudiaram a diviso e, em 1939, Londres
abandonou a ideia de partilha e limitou a imigrao de judeus.
Com o fim da 2a Guerra Mundial, a questo da Palestina passada para a recm-criada
ONU, que em 1947 prope na Resoluo 181 (ORGANIZAO DAS NAES UNIDAS,
16
1947) o Plano de Partilha da Palestina. A partilha previa que os palestinos, que eram 70% da
populao, e detinham 92% da terra, ficariam com 43% do territrio; e os judeus, que
representavam 30% da populao e tinham 8% da terra ficariam com o resto do territrio.
Jerusalm ficaria sob controle internacional. Os pases rabes recusaram-se a aceitar o plano
de partilha aprovado pela ONU, como explica Hourani (2001):

Em 1947, a Gr-Bretanha decidiu entregar o assunto s Naes Unidas. Uma

comisso especial da ONU enviada para estudar o problema apresentou um plano de
partilha em termos mais favorveis aos sionistas que o de 1937. O plano foi aceito
pela Assembleia Geral das Naes Unidas em novembro de 1947 [...]. Os membros
rabes das Naes Unidas rejeitaram-no, e, mais uma vez diante da impossibilidade
de encontrar uma poltica que rabes e judeus aceitassem, a Gr-Bretanha decidiu
retirar-se da Palestina numa data fixada, 14 de maio de 1948. (Ibidem, p. 363 364)
Em 14 de maio de 1948, Israel declarou sua independncia de forma unilateral.
Estados Unidos da Amrica (EUA) e a Unio das Repblicas Socialistas Soviticas (URSS)
reconheceram sua independncia e os pases rabes no aceitaram. Foras egpcias,
jordanianas, iraquianas, srias, libanesas e palestinas lutaram contra o recm-formado exrcito
israelense na hoje chamada Primeira Guerra rabe-israelense. Israel saiu da guerra, em
1949, com um territrio maior do que o proposto pela partilha da ONU (75% da superfcie do
territrio) e o territrio restante foi ento ocupado pelos pases vizinhos: a Cisjordnia foi
anexada Jordnia e o Egito passou a administrar a Faixa de Gaza.

A principal fora de perturbao era Israel, onde os colonos judeus construram um

Estado judeu maior que o que fora previsto sob a partilha britnica (expulsando 700
mil palestinos no judeus, talvez um nmero maior que a populao judia em 1948),
lutando uma guerra por dcada para isso (1948,1956,1967,1973,1982).
(HOBBSBAWN, 2012, p. 351)
As hostilidades geraram uma grande crise humanitria, onde mais da metade da
populao palestina se tornou refugiada ou deslocada internamente no que ficou conhecido
como Dia da Nakba ou dia da catstrofe, marcado no dia 15 de maio de 1948. Em agosto de
1949, o Conselho de Segurana da ONU emitiu a Resoluo 194, sobre o direito de retorno
dos palestinos.

[...] a assembleia declarou que: os refugiados que desejarem regressar para seus
lugares e viverem em paz com seus vizinhos poderiam faz-lo assim que fosse
possvel; deveriam ser pagas indenizaes a ttulo de compensao pelos bens
daqueles que decidiram no regressar a seus lugares de origem. (ORGANIZAO
DAS NAES UNIDAS, 1949, p. 13)6

6
Traduo da autora. Texto original em espanhol: [] la Asamblea declar que: los refugiados que desearan
regresar a sus hogares y vivir en paz con sus vecinos podran hacerlo tan pronto como fuera possible; deberan
pagarse indemnizaciones a ttulo de compensacon por los bienes de los que decidieran no regresar a sus
hogares.
17
 A questo sem soluo dos refugiados, impulsionada pela fora do nacionalismo
rabe, as tenses em tempos de Guerra Fria e a nacionalizao do Canal de Suez pelo Egito
levaram Segunda Guerra rabe-israelense, ou Guerra de Suez, em 1956. Israel
novamente saiu vitorioso, ocupando a Pennsula do Sinai, no Egito, posteriormente ocupada
por tropas da ONU. O conflito rabe-israelense agravou-se com a criao da Organizao
para a Libertao da Palestina (OLP), em 1964, que pretendia retomar por meio de guerrilhas
os territrios palestinos ocupados por Israel e criar um Estado palestino. Em 1967, a retirada
das tropas da ONU do Sinai foi o estopim para a Terceira Guerra rabe-israelense ou
Guerra dos Seis Dias, que mais uma vez terminou com a derrota da coaliso rabe e dessa
vez resultou na ocupao israelense de Gaza, Sinai, Gol e Cisjordnia. O conflito de 1967
causou um novo xodo palestino, que na poca subiu para 1 milho e 600 mil refugiados.
Apesar da interveno das Naes Unidas, Israel no retirou suas tropas dos territrios
ocupados, o que provocou a Quarta Guerra rabe Israelense ou a Guerra do Yom
Kippur, em 1973, que terminou com a assinatura de um acordo de paz, mediado pelo
presidente dos EUA, Richard Nixon, e do secretrio da Unio Sovitica, Leonid Brejnev. Em
1979, Egito e Israel assinaram os Acordos de Camp David, onde Israel devolvia o Sinai para o
Egito e abria um perodo de paz e diplomacia entre os pases. A guerra do Yom Kippur foi o
pontap inicial para a aquisio de simpatizantes da causa palestina em todo o mundo.
O grande nmero de assentamentos judeus criados na Cisjordnia, as polticas de
ocupao, a ofensiva israelense contra Beirute, no Lbano, e a retirada das tropas do Sinai
levaram Primeira Intifada, ou Revolta das Pedras, em rabe, sendo um marco do ativismo de
resistncia palestina contra a ocupao israelense.

[...] sua contribuio revoluo poltica era pequena. O mesmo no se aplica [...]
disposio das pessoas a sair s ruas aos milhes [...] nas partes ocupadas da
Palestina, quando o movimento de no-cooperao em massa da intifada, iniciado
em 1987, demonstrou que dali em diante s a represso ativa, e no a passividade ou
mesmo aceitao tcita, mantinha a ocupao israelense [...] Essas aes de massa,
por si mesmas no derrubaram, nem poderiam derrubar, regimes [...] o que essa
mobilizao das massas conseguia era demonstrar a perda de legitimidade de um
regime. (HOBBSBAWN, 2012, p. 444)
Com o fim da Guerra do Golfo, nos anos 90, os EUA passaram a pressionar as
lideranas palestinas e israelenses a buscar uma soluo para a questo palestina e negociar a
paz. Em 1993, se deu a assinatura da paz em Washington, entre os representantes de Israel,
Yitzhak Rabin, e da Palestina, Yasser Arafat e mediada pelo presidente norte-americano Bill
Clinton. O acordo previa a autonomia palestina, atravs da ento criada Autoridade Nacional

18
Palestina (ANP) em Gaza e na Cisjordnia, que foi dividida em trs reas e teria a
administrao civil e militar divida entre as lideranas palestina e israelense nessas reas.
Em 1995, porm, o primeiro-ministro Rabin foi assassinado por um militante da
ultradireita israelense. Logo depois o atual primeiro ministro, Benjamin Netanyahu foi eleito e
a ascenso do governo conservador retomou a implantao de assentamentos judeus e outras
polticas de ocupao.
Com o fracasso das negociaes, em 28 de setembro de 2000, teve incio a Segunda
Intifada, que devido proximidade com os ataques terroristas de 11 de setembro de 2001
foram vistas pelas potncias ocidentais como terrorismo e no como resistncia. A
disseminao de tal imagem levou a medidas que fortaleceram a ocupao, como a construo
do muro, a criao de assentamentos judeus, a restrio da circulao de movimentos dos
palestinos e a construo de postos de controles militares.
Em 2004, com a morte de Arafat, o moderado Mahmud Abbas, do partido Fatah, foi
eleito para a presidncia da ANP. Rashid Khalid, autor de Iron Cage: Story of the palestinian
struggle for statehood (Gaiola de ferro: histria da luta palestina por um estado, em traduo
livre), chama a OLP, a ANP e o Fatah de para-estado palestino, j que ao longo do tempo
foram responsveis pela gesto de alguns setores dentro do territrio palestino ocupado, como
sade e educao, mas no tem autonomia, j que, como todo palestino, esto sujeitos s
condies da ocupao que estancam o processo de paz.

2.2 A vida na Cisjordnia ocupada

Com a expulso de mais de 750 mil palestinos de suas terras em 1948, os destinos
dessas pessoas foram diferentes, apesar de igualmente trgicos: muitos se tornaram refugiados
nos pases vizinhos, alguns se tornaram refugiados dentro do prprio territrio, vivendo hoje
em campos de refugiados operados pela Agncia das Naes Unidas de Assistncia aos
Refugiados da Palestina (UNRWA), sendo 19 deles na Cisjordnia, outros passaram a viver
como no judeus em Israel, privados de muitos direitos, e muitos ficaram confinados na
Cisjordnia e em Gaza, vivendo at hoje sob ocupao israelense.

[...] os principais aspectos da vida palestina continuam sendo a expropriao, o

exlio, a disperso, a privao dos direitos civis (sob ocupao militar israelense) e,
no menos relevante, uma resistncia extraordinariamente disseminada e obstinada a
essas aflies. (SAID, 2012, p.xvii)

19
 Estabelecida em 1950, logo aps a criao do Estado de Israel, a Lei Absentesta
(ESTADO DE ISRAEL, 1950) determinava que todo palestino que deixara sua vila em 1948
foi considerado ausente e, mesmo que nunca tenha sado das fronteiras do ento
estabelecido Estado de Israel, sua propriedade seria considerada abandonada. Assim,
recorrente na narrativa palestina a referncia ao termo palestinos de 1948, que foram as
pessoas expulsas de suas terras.
A partir de 1967, quando Israel ocupou a Cisjordnia e Gaza, polticas coloniais e de
ocupao militar passam a ser aplicadas na Cisjordnia, no tendo os cidados deste local
direitos como israelenses e muito menos autonomia como um Estado palestino. O problema
que, de l para c, poucas coisas mudaram, apesar de alguns esforos de negociao ao longo
deste perodo, e com a ascenso da extrema direita israelense e o crescimento dos
assentamentos ilegais na Cisjordnia, os desafios so cada vez maiores.

Desde 1967, Israel estendeu seu regime colonial de apartheid para o territrio
Palestino ocupado como uma forma beligerante de ocupao e, portanto, Israel
efetivamente controlou por completo o territrio da Palestina. Baseado em sua lei
militar de 1949 1966, uma segunda lei militar israelense foi estabelecida em 1967
no territrio Palestino ocupado para controlar e oprimir a populao palestina. Com
mais de 1200 ordens militares emitidas desde 1967, Israel como poder ocupante
alterou a situao administrativa e legal no territrio Palestino ocupado, em violao
do Direito Internacional Humanitrio. (BADIL, 2014a, p. 23) 7
Para compreender o processo de ocupao na Cisjordnia, preciso lembrar que ao
longo dos anos 1990, durante as negociaes de Oslo, definiu-se uma diviso do territrio da
regio em trs reas: A, B e C, que correspondem, respectivamente a 17,2%, 23,8% e 59% do
territrio da Cisjordnia. Em rea A a ANP teria total controle civil e militar. Em reas B,
a ANP controlaria a administrao civil, mas a segurana ficaria a cargo da administrao
israelense. Em rea C, por fim, todo o controle civil e militar estaria nas mos de Israel.
O que pode ser visto hoje na Cisjordnia ocupada um descumprimento desses
acordos. As reas A e B so controladas por postos de controle militares israelenses, e
bloqueadas pelo muro da Cisjordnia, que limitam a livre circulao dos palestinos dentro de
seu prprio territrio e controlam a identidade dos palestinos atravs dos documentos
israelenses com permisso de circulao especficos que so obrigados a portar, apesar de no

7
Traduo da autora. Texto original em ingls: Since 1967, Israel has extended its colonial apartheid regime to
the occupied Palestinian territory by way of belligerent occupation and therefore Israel effectively controlled the
entire territory of Mandate Palestine. Modeled on its military rule of 1949 1966, a second Israeli military rule
was established in the 1967 occupied Palestinian territory in order to control and oppress the Palestinian
population. With more than 1,200 military orders issued since 1967, Israel as the occupying power has altered
the administrative and legal situation in the occupied Palestinian territory in violation of international
humanitarian law.
20
serem cidados israelenses. A Agncia da ONU para Assuntos Humanitrios (OCHA) afirma
em seu relatrio Fragmented Lives: Humanitarian Overview 2016:

Israel restringe os movimentos dos palestinos dentro dos tPo [Territrios palestinos
ocupados], incluindo entre a Faixa de Gaza e a Cisjordnia, atravs de uma
combinao de obstculos fsicos, restries burocrticas, pela designao de reas
restritas ou fechadas. Combinadas, estas restries impedem o acesso a servios e
recursos, desmoronam a vida social e familiar e minam o gozo dos palestinos por
seus direitos econmicos, sociais e culturais e por seus meios de subsistncia, e
compem a fragmentao dos tPo. (UNITED NATIONS, 2016a, p. 10) 8
Os moradores das trs reas da Cisjordnia tambm so constantemente alvos de
incurses militares e prises administrativas, demolies e deslocamento forados, alm da
construo ilegal de assentamentos israelenses. Especificamente na rea C, alm de todos
os fatores j citados, existem ainda as operaes militares constantes que pem em risco a
vida dos palestinos que vivem nessa rea, principalmente os bedunos, que possuem um estilo
de vida rural.
Em seu relatrio Humanitarian Needs Overwiew 2016, a OCHA (UNITED
NATIONS, 2015a) afirmou que o contexto humanitrio dos territrios Palestinos ocupados
(tPo) nico entre as crises humanitrias dos dias de hoje e permanece diretamente atrelado
ao impacto da ocupao, que chega agora no seu quinquagsimo ano.

Os palestinos na Cisjordnia continuam a ser sujeitos de um complexo sistema de

controle, incluindo barreiras fsicas (o muro, postos de controle, estradas proibidas)
e burocrticas (vistos e permisses, fechamento de reas) que restringe seu direito
liberdade de movimentao. A expanso dos assentamentos, que so ilegais sob o
Direito Internacional, restries de acesso terra e recursos naturais e o contnuo
deslocamento devido s demolies, continuam. As polticas israelenses, incluindo o
regime de planeamento em vigor, continuam a cortar a habilidade dos Palestinos em
rea C e Jerusalm Oriental a planejarem suas comunidades e construrem suas casas
e infraestruturas. O resultado uma fragmentao ainda maior da Cisjordnia.
(UNITED NATIONS, 2015a, p.7) 9

8
Traduo da autora. Texto original em ingls: Israel restricts Palestinian movement within the oPt, including
between the Gaza Strip and West Bank, through a combination of physical obstacles, bureaucratic constraints,
and the designation of areas as restricted or closed. Combined, these restrictions impede access to services and
resources, disrupt family and social life and undermine Palestinians enjoyment of their economic, social and
cultural rights, undermine livelihoods and compound the fragmentation of the oPt.
9
Traduo da autora. Texto original em ingls: Palestinians in the West Bank continue to be subject to a
complex system of control, including physical (the Barrier, checkpoints, roadblocks) and bureaucratic barriers
(permits, closure of areas) which restrict their right to freedom of movement. The expansion of settlements,
which are illegal under international law, restrictions on access to land and natural resources and ongoing
displacement due to demolitions in particular, continue. Israeli policies including the planning regime in place,
continue to curtail the ability of Palestinians in Area C and East Jerusalem to plan their communities and build
homes and infrastructure. The result is further fragmentation of the West Bank.

21
2.3 Estudo de caso: entrevistados

Assim como toda criana, acredito que histrias sem personagens no tm graa.
Como jornalista, acredito que histrias sem personagens no cumprem plenamente seu
objetivo, pois no conseguem causar em quem as l ou escuta um sentimento essencial para o
incio de qualquer ao que gere mudana: a empatia.
Segundo a jornalista Adriana Carranca (CARRANCA In CANELA, 2008, p.308), a
insero de um personagem tem o objetivo de humanizar os nmeros e ajudar o pblico a
entender os efeitos desta ou daquela poltica no cotidiano da populao.
Alm disso, dentro do contexto palestino as pessoas so parte fundamental do
processo de construo dessa histria, j que na realidade a Palestina no existe, exceto
como uma reminiscncia ou, mais fundamentalmente, como uma ideia, uma experincia
poltica e humana e um ato de persistente vontade popular . (SAID, 2012, p.5).
Todas as fontes apresentadas neste trabalho so pessoas que residem na Cisjordnia,
embora nem todas sejam palestinas, e que presenciam a realidade da ocupao.

2.3.1 Amaya el-Orzza

Amaya el-Orzza de nacionalidade espanhola, mas mora em Belm, na Cisjordnia

ocupada, e pesquisadora jurdica na ONG palestina BADIL Resource Center for
Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights (Centro de Pesquisa para direitos palestinos de
residncia e refgio, em traduo livre). Amaya compareceu entrevista no lugar de Lubnah
Shomali, palestina representante da organizao que concederia a entrevista sobre o trabalho
da organizao, que empenhada em promover os direitos dos refugiados palestinos e
deslocados internos, e explicou sobre as leis internacionais que protegem os palestinos,
passou dados relevantes sobre refugiados e deslocados internos, entre outros.
A entrevista com Amaya el-Orzza foi mantida mesmo ela no sendo palestina porque
de extrema relevncia as explicaes didticas presentes no material. Adriana Carranca
afirma que pesquisar e divulgar, sempre, as leis que garantem direitos dos grupos
fundamental: ainda que no existam leis locais, cabe ao reprter pesquisar a legislao
internacional que pode balizar as reivindicaes dos diversos segmentos populacionais [...] e
question-las: So justas? Inclusivas? (CARRANCA In CANELA, 2008, p.317)

22
2.3.2 Baha Hilo

O palestino Baha Hilo morador de Beit Sahour, atendente do Caf Singer e

coordenador de uma iniciativa local chamada "To be there" (Estar l, em traduo livre), que
encoraja pessoas de vrios lugares do mundo a irem para a Palestina e serem expostos
realidade da Palestina para entenderem esta realidade complexa e se solidarizarem com o
movimento pela libertao da Palestina. Uma das principais atividades da iniciativa a
resistncia territorial palestina atravs da plantao de oliveiras, que simples, mas requer
muitos voluntrios devido grande quantidade de mudas que devem ser plantadas para ocupar
a terra.
Em seu depoimento, Baha explica a importncia do ato de plantao de oliveiras para
o movimento de resilincia palestino, como as leis de terra funcionam, na teoria e na prtica, e
tambm d suas opinies sobre ocupao, comunidade internacional, histria da Palestina e
caminhos possveis para uma soluo.

2.3.3 Hamzeh Dagash Abedrabbu,

Hamzeh um refugiado palestino nascido durante a segunda Intifada no campo de

refugiados de Deheisieh, embora sua famlia originalmente no seja de l. Seu av foi expulso
da vila Al -Walaja , a 8 quilmetros de 1948 e desde ento eles nunca puderam voltar para sua
terra. Assistente social e psiclogo, trabalha a comunicao no-violenta com jovens
palestinos.
Em sua entrevista, Hamzeh conta como viver como um refugiado dentro de seu
prprio territrio e fala sobre suas perspectivas para o futuro da Palestina, sobre o trabalho
com a juventude e sobre esperana.

2.3.4 Jamal Juma

Palestino de Jerusalm e morador de Ramallah, Jamal Juma uma lenda entre os

militantes palestinos. Politicamente ativo desde a primeira Intifada, desde 2002 coordenador
da Campanha Palestina contra o Muro do Apartheid, que tem sido a principal articulao
nacional de base para mobilizar e organizar esforos coletivos contra o muro da Cisjordnia.
tambm coordenador da Coalizo de Defesa da Terra e atua atravs da ONG Stop the Wall

23
(Parem o Muro, em traduo livre), que trabalha para garantir uma rede nacional e promover
pesquisas e articulaes internacionais.
Em 2012 a jornalista Katarina Peixoto escreveu no Portal Carta Maior (PEIXOTO,
2012):

Jamal Juma um ativista que todos os que fazem parte do mundo do Frum Social
Mundial, em todos os continentes, conhecem. E admiram. Ele coordenador de um
movimento social de resistncia no violenta ocupao israelense, materializada no
Muro de Anexao de territrios palestinos, o que comeou a ser erguido h pouco
mais de dez anos, na Cisjordnia. Sujeito tranquilo, pacifista intransigente, foi preso
em fins de 2009 sob a acusao (ou seja, a falta dela) de que estaria plantando
oliveiras e liderando marchas de protesto contra o Muro. (Ibidem)
Jamal j foi convidado a se dirigir a numerosas conferncias da sociedade civil e da
ONU, onde falou sobre a questo da Palestina e do Muro do Apartheid. Seus artigos e
entrevistas so amplamente divulgados e traduzidos em vrias lnguas. Para este projeto,
Jamal exps sua viso sobre o que acontece na Palestina e o papel da juventude na militncia
dos dias de hoje.

2.3.5 Jameel Jahalin

Jameel Jahalin uma liderana palestino-beduna dos arredores de Jeric. Em sua

entrevista ele conta a histria de sua famlia desde a Nakba de 1948, quando sua tribo foi
expulsa dos arredores de Tel Arad, ao sul da Palestina. Ele explica as principais
consequncias da ocupao israelense, desde 1948 at os dias atuais, na comunidade beduna,
que teve um destino diferente das comunidades urbanas, j que possuem um estilo de vida
nmade e agrcola.
O principal ponto abordado por Jameel a questo das demolies ilegais de vilas
bedunas no reconhecidas por Israel no Vale do Jordo, que considerada rea C, ou
seja, rea controlada militarmente por Israel. Violaes de direitos humanos como demolies
de propriedades, assassinato de animais, privao do uso da gua e outros so frequentes na
vida dos bedunos que permanecem resistindo ocupao na regio, apesar dos empecilhos.

2.3.6 Manuela Da Rosa Jorge

Natural de Florianpolis, Santa Catarina, Manuela formada em Relaes

Internacionais pela Unisul. Logo aps sua colao grau, a ento internacionalista embarcou
rumo Belm para fazer um estgio voluntrio na ONG Badil, j mencionada anteriormente e
24
para participar de um acampamento de vero para voluntrios internacionais da ONG Lajee
Center, no campo de refugiados de Aida, ambas as organizaes em Belm, na Cisjordnia.
No campo de Aida, Manuela conheceu Dawud Alazraq, se apaixonou, casaram-se e depois de
uma temporada no Brasil voltaram para viver um tempo em Aida.
A entrevista com a brasileira contribuiu para o trabalho de uma forma muito rica pois
facilita o processo de identificao. A entrevista em portugus, as palavras que fazem mais
sentido para o pblico brasileiro que ouve. Apesar de no ser palestina, Manuela viveu
diariamente a realidade de um campo de refugiados e casada com um refugiado palestino.
Desde setembro de 2016, Manuela e Dawud esto morando temporariamente na
Esccia, onde Manuela conseguiu uma bolsa de mestrado. Em entrevista publicada no Dirio
Catarinense por conta da obteno da bolsa, o jornalista Erich Casagrande afirma que as
experincias culturais deram a Manuela o entendimento de que as relaes humanas e entre
pases so extremamente conectadas e consequncias umas das outras.

O mundo muito mais do que vemos em casa nos noticirios. Construmos valores
de "isso sempre foi assim, isso est longe demais, no me afeta" e esquecemos que
so pessoas e que, sim, as consequncias impactam o mundo inteiro, diz. (JORGE
apud CASAGRANDE, 2016)

2.3.7 Mohammad Kabneh 10

O agricultor beduno morador do Vale do Jordo que prefere ter seu nome verdadeiro
no revelado por questes de segurana conta as atrocidades sofridas diariamente por sua
famlia, seu) animais e s duras condies em que precisa viver para manter sua pequena roa
de subsistncia, que rodeada por assentamentos israelenses ilegais. Esta entrevista foi
conduzida em rabe e traduzida para o portugus pelo brasileiro Gabriel Matyias, do
Programa de Acompanhamento Ecumnico na Palestina e Israel (EAPPI), que foi quem me
levou at o entrevistado e quem assumiu o papel de entrevistador por questes culturais.
Como os bedunos de idade mais avanada se sentem desconfortveis na presena de
mulheres que no so de suas famlias, preferi manter uma certa distncia e deixar o Gabriel
fazer as perguntas, j que o tema e as questes da entrevista j tinham sido acordados
previamente. O entrevistado tambm no quis ter sua entrevista gravada em vdeo.

10
Nome fictcio.

25
2.3.8 Mona Sabella

Palestina moradora de Ramallah, Mona Sabella pesquisadora jurdica e assessora de

Advocacy11 na ONG Al- Haq, uma organizao palestina independente de direitos humanos
estabelecida em 1979 para proteger e promover os Direitos Humanos e o Estado de Direito
nos territrios palestinos ocupados. A organizao tem status especial consultivo no Conselho
Econmico e Social das Naes Unidas.
Mona formada em Poltica e Relaes Internacionais pela Universidade Earlham e
tem mestrado em Direitos Humanos e Direito Internacional Humanitrio pela Universidade de
Essex, na Inglaterra. Trabalha com a Al-Haq desde 2010, tendo ao longo deste perodo atuado
tambm como consultora das Naes Unidas.
Em suas falas, Mona explica didaticamente o papel da Al-Haq e as principais questes
legais enfrentadas pelos palestinos e o papel da comunidade internacional no processo de
combate s injustias sociais que ocorrem na regio.

2.3.9 Sireen Khudairi

Palestina da cidade de Tubas, ao norte da Cisjordnia ocupada, se mudou para o

campo de refugiados de Deheisieh quando casou com Mahmoud Abujoad Frarjah, em 2015.
Logo aps o casamento, o marido foi preso sem condenao, e permaneceu na cadeia em
condies sub-humanas at 18 de julho de 2016, quando finalmente foi libertado e voltou para
casa.
Enquanto aguardava o julgamento do marido, que, em janeiro de 2016, fora acusado
de jogar pedras em um soldado israelense durante uma manifestao que ele no estava
presente, pois era o dia de seu casamento, Sireen alternava-se entre temporadas no campo
com a famlia do marido, em Tubas com seus pais e no Vale do Jordo ajudando seu irmo
Rashed, que coordena a ONG Jordan Valley Solidarity.

11
Advocacy o termo utilizado para o lobby do terceiro setor. Mrcio Zepellini explica no portal IPEA que na
realizao de processos de comunicao, reunies entre os interessados e os pedidos entre essas influncias que
se d o verdadeiro advocacy, que pode ter vrias vertentes, como social, ambiental ou cultural. (ZEPELLINI,
2008)

26
 Em sua entrevista, Sireen conta como difcil viver sob ocupao, ter um marido
preso sem condenao logo aps o casamento e viver com a incerteza de liberdade e sob
constante vigilncia de autoridades israelenses. Sireen tambm j foi presa e torturada por
autoridades israelenses por dar aulas a crianas que no tinham direito a irem escola no Vale
do Jordo.

27
3 RELATRIO DE PRODUO

Como j dito anteriormente, a ideia de falar sobre a Palestina veio em 2014. No

segundo semestre daquele ano cursei a disciplina de jornalismo em mdias digitais e comecei
a procura por uma histria, a guerra de Gaza me fez abrir os olhos para a questo da cobertura
jornalstica da Palestina, e no final do ano decidi me aproximar do tema para transformar a
ideia, ainda imatura, em um projeto concreto.
Em maro de 2015 comecei o curso intensivo de lngua rabe no Consulado do Lbano
no Rio de Janeiro. Mesmo sabendo que em um ano no ficaria fluente no idioma, achava
imprescindvel poder conhecer o mnimo da lngua dos meus entrevistados. No mesmo ms
comecei a estagiar na Agncia das Naes Unidas de Assistncia aos Refugiados da Palestina
(UNRWA), para me familiarizar com os dados e relatrios oficiais.
No seria possvel ir para a Palestina com a ONU por eu ter menos de 25 anos e no
ter um vnculo empregatcio, regras da instituio para mandar expatriados. Assim, passei a
procurar uma forma que valesse pena ir, j que seria difcil encontrar fontes, alm de ser
arriscado ir para uma regio conturbada sem ter contatos no local.
Foi atravs da Rede Educacional para Promoo dos Direitos Humanos (FFIPP), que
eu fui para a Palestina de forma segura, tive uma semana de orientao in loco sobre a
situao da regio, onde aprendi muito e fortaleci as bases para realizar minhas entrevistas, e
realizei um trabalho voluntrio no campo de refugiados de Aida, em Belm. Para isso,
precisei ser aprovada em um processo seletivo com envio de currculo, carta de motivao e
responder perguntas sobre a questo palestina, fazer entrevista em ingls e portugus e
participar de um encontro de formao em So Paulo.

3.1 Financiamento Coletivo

Com a alta do dlar em 2015, minhas economias no deram conta de arcar com todos
os custos de passagem, hospedagem, equipamento e ps-produo. Assim, resolvi arriscar em
mais uma tendncia do novo jornalismo que d seus passos em tempos de web interativa: o
crowdfunding.
Segundo o Servio Brasileiro de Apoio s Micro e pequenas Empresas (SEBRAE)
(SERVIO, 2015), o crowdfunding ou financiamento coletivo uma nova maneira de captar
recursos para tirar do papel projetos inovadores e que geram valor sociedade. organizado
28
atravs de plataformas online, com o objetivo de reunir quem precisa de financiamento para
colocar ideias em prtica e potenciais apoiadores dessas ideias. Dorly Neto, da plataforma de
financiamento coletivo Benfeitoria.com.br explica em entrevista concedida ao SEBRAE em
2016 como funciona o crowdfunding:

O crowdfunding segue a dinmica da vaquinha, ao partir do princpio de que pessoas

colaboram e, juntas, realizam o que antes no poderiam fazer sozinhas. A diferena
que, agora, essa modalidade potencializada pela internet. No existe nada de
mgico nesse processo, apenas uma forma poderosa de realizao e de
engajamento de pessoas. (NETO apud SERVIO, 2016b)
Em 2013, o Banco Mundial divulgou no relatrio "Crowdfunding's Potential for
Developing World" (INFODEV, 2013) que o financiamento coletivo poderia vir a se tornar
uma ferramenta poderosa nos pases em desenvolvimento, j que essas economias tm o
potencial para impulsionarem o seu crescimento, passando por cima dos mercados de capitais
e regimes regulatrios financeiros tradicionais do mundo desenvolvido.
No mesmo ano, segundo ainda o SEBRAE (SERVIO, 2016a), a pesquisa "Retrato do
Financiamento Coletivo no Brasil", realizada pela plataforma Catarse em parceria com a
Chorus, constatou que os projetos que os entrevistados brasileiros mais tm interesse em
apoiar se dividem em: projetos artsticos e culturais de forma independente, projetos com vis
empreendedor e iniciativas com vis social e/ou ambiental, que fortaleam comunidades de
forma responsvel e solidria.
Acredito que este projeto pode ser considerado uma forma hbrida de iniciativa
artstico-cultural, empreendedora e de vis social, j que possui material audiovisual
(cultural), prope um novo modelo de jornalismo (empreendedor) e visa fortalecer e
empoderar, atravs da disseminao de fatos e histrias, a comunidade palestina. Assim,
resolvi arriscar o crowdfunding e lancei, no dia 9 de dezembro de 2015, na plataforma
Kickante12, uma campanha de financiamento coletivo.
A arrecadao foi lanada muito tardiamente, j que foram apenas 30 dias de
campanha, ento acredito que este tenha sido um dos fatores de a meta de R$ 11.500 no ter
sido atingida, j que a maioria das campanhas ficam entre 2 e 3 meses disponveis para
doao. O motivo do lanamento tardio foi a tambm tardia confirmao da ida para a
Palestina, tanto pelo vnculo com a FFIPP quanto pela compra da passagem area.
Ao todo, foram 61 doadores oficiais pela plataforma, somando um valor de R$
6407,00, mas tambm tiveram doadores por fora do crowdfunding, aproximadamente 20

12
Disponvel em: <https://www.kickante.com.br/campanhas/palestina-vamos-juntos-contar-esta-historia>.
Acesso em 06 dez. 2016.
29
pessoas que somaram um valor de doao aproximado de R$ 2500. Os custos que no foram
cobertos pelo crowdfunding foram cobertos atravs da tradicional vaquinha moda antiga,
entre amigos e familiares, e o restante foi completado com reservas financeiras pessoais. Na
tabela a seguir possvel verificar a descrio dos custos do projeto:

3.2 A viagem

A jornalista Adriana Carranca, especialista em cobertura de situaes de violncia no

Oriente Mdio, conhecida nas redaes por um modo peculiar de apurao: sempre que
viaja para produzir uma reportagem, como quando foi ao Paquisto para escrever o livro
infantil Malala: a histria da menina que queria ir escola, ela se hospeda na casa de
pessoas locais e vive como eles: dorme onde dormem, come onde e o que comem, e tenta, da
forma que possvel, entrar um pouco na cultura local, abrindo mo do distanciamento
provocado por hotis e formas de recepo turstica tradicionais.

Encontrar formas criativas de apurao que permitam o entendimento maior sobre a

realidade em questo consiste em outro caminho valioso. Prticas como acompanhar
o dia de um personagem, seja um morador de rua, um homossexual, um refugiado
[...] traduz-se em uma excelente oportunidade de testemunhar, como o olhar atento e
crtico que todo reprter deve ter, as dificuldades que enfrentam, injustias das quais
sejam vtimas, suas necessidades, medos e desejos [...]. Tais experincias
enriquecem muito uma matria e o prprio reprter, fazendo com que se torne mais
tolerante e aberto s diferenas e permitindo, assim, que se aprofunde no domnio
dos temas em questo. (CARRANCA In CANELA, 2008, p.313)

30
 Levando em conta os conselhos de Carranca, resolvi que seria interessante dar um
tempo para compreender um pouco melhor a realidade local antes de comear as entrevistas
de forma atropelada. O plano era passar cinco semanas observando a vida na Palestina,
vivendo na Cisjordnia ocupada e trabalhando em um campo de refugiados e mais duas
semanas fazendo as entrevistas.
Com um mochilo nas costas contendo roupas e produtos de higiene pessoal e uma
mochila com smartphone, laptop, trs tipos de cmeras de foto e vdeo, acessrios, trip,
bloquinho de anotaes, passaporte e dinheiro, embarquei para o aeroporto de Tel Aviv no dia
13 de janeiro de 2016.
A chegada no aeroporto no foi nada amigvel. Depois de quase 24 horas de voos,
conexes e diferentes fusos horrios, fiquei mais de cinco horas sendo interrogada na
imigrao de forma hostil e grosseira. Por ter relaes diplomticas conturbadas com diversos
pases, a imigrao israelense j conhecida por ser uma das mais rigorosas do mundo, mas
alm disto eu enfrentei o desafio de ter que omitir o objetivo da minha viagem, j que se o
dissesse, correria um alto risco de no ter um visto de entrada.
Em reportagem publicada na Al Jazeera em novembro de 2016 onde explica porque
Israel teme jornalistas, Eoin Wilson relata sua ltima experincia na imigrao, algumas horas
antes de ser deportado, ter seu visto negado e entrar para uma lista negra:

Ns planejvamos ficar algum tempo em um campo de refugiados palestinos, e ns

estvamos nervosos. Eu j tinha passado um tempo na Palestina antes e escrito
artigos sobre a ocupao. Ns obviamente no podamos dizer isto aos oficiais
israelenses, ento um balano tnue entre no dizer muito e no dizer pouco.
(WILSON, 2016)
Aps algumas horas de pesadelo, chantagem emocional, celular confiscado, digitais,
documentos e rosto registrados, consegui meu visto e meu celular de volta e entrei em
territrio israelense. Passei o resto de noite que me restava em Tel Aviv e no dia seguinte
peguei um nibus para Jerusalm, quando comecei a semana de orientao da FFIPP.
A semana de orientao consistiu em dez dias de atividades nos trs turnos que
incluam palestras, debates, rodas de conversas, visitas a museus, tours, pernoites em campos
de refugiados e reflexes coletivas dirias em grupo aps as atividades. Fui de norte a sul do
territrio israelense e palestino, conhecendo regies como Nazar, Belm, Hebron, Vale do
Jordo, Jerusalm, Haifa, entre outros.
Com o fim da semana de orientao, que foi imprescindvel para eu adquirir
conhecimento e me sentir um pouco mais preparada para fazer as entrevistas, comecei um

31
programa de voluntariado de um ms em uma ONG no campo de refugiados de Aida, em
Belm, na Cisjordnia.
Produzir uma reportagem independente exige preparo para lidar com imprevistos e,
principalmente, reconhecer os prprios pr-conceitos formados e ter maturidade (e liberdade)
para mudar a pauta. Adriana Carranca afirma que escrever sobre aquele que difere de ns
um desafio, e que nosso papel como jornalistas apenas de intermedirio, e que cabe a ns
ouvir e tomar nota do que o outro tem a dizer sem prejulgamentos.

Por mais que se busque a objetividade, e o texto jornalstico seja escrito com essa
finalidade, a subjetividade do reprter, seus valores e crenas orientam todo o
processo de construo da matria. A conscincia disso e o fato de que no existe
imparcialidade total a nica forma de minimizar seu efeito. Assim, dever do
jornalista questionar suas prprias opinies e ideias preconcebidas, perceber como
sua prpria cultura orienta sua percepo. (CARRANCA In CANELA, 2008, p.312)
As cinco semanas de vivncia anterior ao perodo das entrevistas foram fundamentais
para este processo de questionar minhas prprias opinies e ideias. Com o fim desta etapa, eu
mudei completamente o tema da reportagem, que antes seria apenas sobre os refugiados
palestinos, para vida sob ocupao. Tal mudana se deu justamente pela percepo de que a
Palestina ia muito alm da questo dos refugiados, que era a nica que eu conhecia at ento.

3.3 Entrevistas

Mesmo com o tamanho aprendizado da vivncia na Cisjordnia no perodo anterior

realizao das entrevistas, impossvel entender a realidade local, e, portanto, realizar uma
boa reportagem, sem entrevistar fontes relevantes para o tema. Para Cremilda de Arajo
Medina, a entrevista constitui sempre um meio cujo fim o inter-relacionamento humano.

A entrevista, nas suas diferentes aplicaes, uma tcnica de interao social, de

interpretao informativa, quebrando assim isolamentos grupais, individuais,
sociais; pode tambm servir pluralizao de vozes e distribuio democrtica da
informao. (MEDINA, 2002, p.8 apud CAPUTO, 2010, p.26)
Segundo a classificao de Nilson Lage em seu livro A reportagem: teoria e tcnica
da entrevista e pesquisa jornalstica, as entrevistas realizadas para este projeto se enquadram
como entrevistas em profundidade, ou seja, quando o foco est na figura do entrevistado,
em sua personalidade, sua vida e na atividade que desenvolve; ou entrevistas temticas, que
quando o entrevistado fala sobre um assunto que domina. (LAGE apud OYAMA, 2013, p.8)
Realizadas presencialmente com todas as fontes entre 22 de fevereiro e 2 de maro de
2016, as entrevistas foram agendadas pessoalmente, por telefone, redes sociais ou e-mail com

32
pessoas conhecidas ou indicadas por conhecidos. Conduzidas em sua maioria em ingls, duas
em rabe, com o auxlio de um tradutor, e uma em portugus. Todas foram gravadas com
gravador modelo COBY CXR190-2G e com notas realizadas em bloco de anotaes. A
maioria delas foi gravada em vdeo com cmera CANON EOS Rebel T3 e lente 40mm fixa
ou lente 18mm-55mm zoom, sustentadas em trip modelo monopod YUNTENG YT-188 e
com microfone de lapela sem marca registrada acoplado ao gravador.
Em respeito vontade dos entrevistados, alguns nomes foram modificados ou
ocultados, com apenas suas falas sendo usadas. Outras pessoas tiveram nome e falas
divulgadas, mas no autorizaram o uso de imagem. J entrevistas tiveram o tema alterado no
momento por desconforto do entrevistado em falar sobre o assunto, e algumas entrevistas no
sero publicadas diretamente, embora tenham feito parte do processo de compreenso e
percepo da realidade local. Tais atitudes so fundamentais, segundo Adriana Carranca, para
a manuteno de uma postura tica por parte do reprter.

Ajuda ser sensvel e atencioso, entendendo que pessoas que se sentem por algum
motivo segregadas ou excludas podem estas revoltadas ou com receio de se colocar.
O interesse genuno do reprter pelo drama da vida desses personagens da realidade,
o respeito aos limites dos entrevistados, o conhecimento dos riscos, que, de fato,
estes podem correr ao conceder uma entrevista so prticas e princpios ticos
fundamentais. (CARRANCA In CANELA, 2008, p.314)
A primeira dificuldade que encontrei, ainda nas primeiras entrevistas, mas depois me
adaptei, foi questo dos costumes locais. Os rabes so muito receptivos e amigveis, ento
em todas as ocasies me foi servido ch, todas as pessoas presentes no local me foram
apresentadas, nas tribos bedunas tive que retirar os sapatos, sentar no cho e fui avisada de
que deveria tomar cuidado para no mostrar a sola dos ps, pois considerado ofensivo, assim
como cumprimentar homens casados, que no devem tocar o corpo de uma mulher que no
seja da famlia.
No segundo dia de entrevistas j tinha entendido a lgica da recepo e marquei os
encontros com um intervalo maior de tempo entre eles e deixei as refeies de lado para poder
tomar ch e comer biscoitos em todos os lugares e no soar rude. Essa mudana de atitude fez
com que antes da entrevista em si acontecesse uma conversa de cunho pessoal, onde eu
tambm contava da minha vida, deixando os entrevistados mais vontade, o que me fez
conhece-los melhor antes de comear a entrevista e levou a uma conduo mais fluida e
natural das perguntas.
Impossvel no relatar, portanto, a diferena de comportamento de todos os
entrevistados quando eu ligava a cmera. Nichols (2001) afirma que na no fico as pessoas

33
so como atores sociais que continuam levando suas vidas mais ou menos como fazem sem
a presena da cmera. O autor afirma que: inibio e modificaes de comportamento podem
se tornar uma forma de deturpao, ou distoro, em um sentido, mas tambm documentam
como o ato de filmar altera a realidade que pretende representar. (NICHOLS apud
RAMALHO, 2015, p.25)
Outra dificuldade muito grande que eu tive neste processo de entrevistas foi entender e
respeitar o silncio do outro. Eduardo Coutinho retrata muito bem a sensao de ansiedade e
inquietao durante uma entrevista:

s vezes voc intervm e faz pergunta boa; s vezes voc faz a pergunta errada, s
vezes eu no falo e sinto que deveria ter falado. Voc erra a todo momento. Erra e
acerta. No h cincia nisso. s vezes uma pergunta imbecil gera uma resposta
absolutamente fantstica. Ou voc dubla, o que eu sou contra, ou vai assim mesmo.
Agora, o pior de tudo quando voc no respeita o silncio, que podia dar em
alguma coisa, porque fica ansioso demais. Mas muito difcil pois a pessoa pode
estar sofrendo. (COUTINHO apud RAMALHO, 2015)
No houve uma entrevista que no tivesse momentos de silncio. Os temas tratados
nas entrevistas eram histrias pessoais, de luta, sofrimento, esperana, resilincia, opinies.
Portanto, ao longo dos dias percebi que o silncio uma resposta muito comum entre os
palestinos. Minha impresso que este misto de sentimentos relacionados a certezas do
passado e incertezas do futuro geram a no-palavra, que num primeiro momento difcil de
ser compreendida, mas com sensibilidade e ateno passa a ser dita, como qualquer outra. O
jornalista americano Adam Shatz escreveu sobre os espaos entre as palavras em sua
reportagem Reprteres ou Missionrios? publicada em setembro de 2014 na Revista Piau:

Tudo o que temos so palavras, mas s vezes os silncios revelam muito mais. Em
Um Cativo Apaixonado, Jean Genet escreveu: se a realidade do tempo passado entre
palestinos - e no com eles - reside em algum lugar, h de sobreviver nos espaos
entre as palavras que alegam relatar a realidade. Alegam relat-la, mas na verdade
ela se enterra, encaixa-se nos espaos vazios e, fica registrada mais neles que nas
palavras que s servem para obliter-la. Outra maneira de dizer: cada espao entre as
palavras contm mais realidade que o tempo necessrio para l-las.
Mas como chegar ao espao entre as palavras, quando nossa nica maneira de faz-
lo por meio de palavras? No sei ao certo, mas posso sugerir que em grande parte
uma questo de escutar, observar e descrever - com uma compreenso do contexto
histrico e sem falsos consolos. Tambm requer resistncia no apenas aos clichs e
esteretipos muitas vezes qualificados como "orientalistas", mas tambm tentao
missionria de confundir nossas esperanas com a realidade. (SHATZ, 2014)
Apesar de ter ido com perguntas formuladas para todas as entrevistas, a maioria delas
surgia durante a hora do ch e ao longo da entrevista. Assim, as entrevistas tiveram perguntas
similares para quase todos os entrevistados, para contrapor ou somar opinies, perguntas essas
baseadas na pr-apurao realizada atravs de leitura sobre o tema e durante a vivncia, e as

34
perguntas espontneas que surgiram na hora de acordo com o que cada pessoa ia
respondendo, levando assim cada entrevista para um caminho diferente.

3.4 Ps Produo

Com mais de 200 gigabytes de material, entre adio, vdeos, fotos e textos, ficou
13
impossvel seguir o planejado e subir para a nuvem o contedo produzido na Palestina.
Tentei at meu penltimo dia no pas, mas a velocidade da conexo de internet era muito lenta
e eu no iria conseguir subir todo o material. Reservei um hotel em Tel Aviv com uma boa
conexo de internet para o ltimo pernoite antes de ir embora, mas consegui subir apenas os
50 gigabytes de udio do gravador. Na manh do dia 3 de maro de 2016, mandei pelos
Correios de Israel os meus cartes de memria e meus blocos de anotaes com as
entrevistas.
O material chegou ao Brasil no dia 6 de maro de 2016, mas ficou preso na alfndega
brasileira at o final dos Jogos Olmpicos, em setembro de 2016, quando consegui reaver
minha caixa com todo o material. Dois dos cartes de memria foram corrompidos,
justamente os que tinham vdeos de soldados jogando bombas de gs lacrimogneo em
crianas nos campos de refugiados. Um deles foi recuperado quase que integralmente aps
descriptografia de dados e o outro foi corrompido magneticamente, impossibilitando a
recuperao dos arquivos.
Com o deadline apertado, fiz uma transcrio dos udios, selecionei os trechos mais
relevantes das entrevistas e do material de apoio para serem mostrados e comecei as tradues
e legendagens. A transcrio dos udios foi feita com apoio do software livre transcribe14 e a
edio dos vdeos foi realizada no programa Adobe Premire, das fotos no Adobe
Photoshop e dos udios no Adobe Audition. Eu transcrevi cinco entrevistas e meus
amigos e familiares me ajudaram na transcrio de outras quatro: minha prima Camila
Imbuzeiro Camargo, estudante de cincias da computao, meu cunhado Otto Leone Corra,
estudante de psicologia, e minha amiga Amanda de Souza Santos, mestranda em comunicao
social.

13
Armazenar virtualmente os arquivos em um servio de armazenamento de dados conhecido como subir para
a nuvem
14
Disponvel em: <https://transcribe.wreally.com>. Acesso em 15 out. 2016.
35
 Os grficos e mapas foram produzidos nos programas Adobe Photoshop e Adobe
Illustrator com base em material colhido em campo nas organizaes locais e internacionais
visitadas e em sites institucionais. O material foi produzido em aproximadamente um ms e o
web design e programao ficou por conta do aluno de Estudos de Mdia da Universidade
Federal Fluminense (UFF), Glauber Mota, meu colega de estgio na agncia da ONU para os
refugiados palestinos em 2015, que prestou o servio a um valor abaixo do mercado para a
realizao deste projeto independente. A reportagem foi hospedada virtualmente no site
Existir Resistir criado para disseminar as histrias coletadas para este projeto, na aba Vida
sob ocupao15.

3.5 A Reportagem Multimdia

A questo palestina nunca saiu da pauta dos grandes veculos de comunicao, apesar
de j no ser novidade h mais de cinquenta anos. Alm da proposta editorial alternativa, me
propus a desenvolver a reportagem em uma plataforma nova, que facilitasse a compreenso
do tema que pretendia mostrar e atrasse a ateno do espectador. Vi na reportagem
multimdia um nicho para desenvolver o tema da vida sob ocupao na Cisjordnia.
Transformar entrevistas, cenrios, nmeros, fronteiras e territrios em vdeos, texto, fotos,
infogrficos e mapas apresenta de uma apresenta de uma forma mais clara e didtica o
contedo jornalstico coletado. Nas palavras de Edward Said:

O que estou sugerindo que, ao aproveitar aquilo que se oferece, na forma de

numerosas plataformas[...], a disposio criativa e alerta do intelectual de explor-
las [...] cria a possibilidade de se iniciar uma discusso mais ampla (SAID, Edward.
2012b)
O desenvolvimento da internet mudou tambm a forma de fazer jornalismo, que hoje
precisa atrelar interatividade informao para sobreviver, j que o consumidor do contedo
da Web 2.0, era da internet marcada pela interatividade que vivemos desde 2001, agente do
seu prprio consumo de notcias.

O modo como o jornalismo se desenvolveu est diretamente ligado ao prprio

desenvolvimento da World Wide Web. O surgimento de novas plataformas online ao
longo da histria da internet tornou o jornalismo mais prximo dos usurios e
incentivou a busca de uma linguagem prpria, sempre buscando levar a notcia
completa e recheada de informaes. (BARROS; MARQUES, 2014, p.11)

15
Disponvel em <http://www.existireresistir.com/vidasobocupacao>. Acesso em 08 dez. 2016.
36
 Marco do jornalismo multimdia, a reportagem Snow Fall - The Avalanche at Tunnel
Creek, publicada pelo jornal americano The New York Times em dezembro 2012 (BRANCH,
2012), um exemplo claro de como o uso integrado da tecnologia e a produo de um
contedo interativo facilitam a compreenso da histria apresentada. John Branch, autor da
reportagem pioneira, explicou em entrevista concedida Isadora Barros e Fernanda Marques
que o ponto crucial pensar se ns estamos fazemos isto para ajudar a contar melhor a
histria e opina sobre os caminhos da reportagem multimdia: Foi tipo vamos criar um
grfico que ajude o leitor a entender o que aconteceu aqui. Enquanto ns fizermos isso por
motivos jornalsticos e no por motivos decorativos, eu acho que estamos no caminho certo.
(BARROS; MARQUES, 2014) 16

16
Traduo da autora. Texto original em ingls: It was "let's create a graphic that helps the reader to understand
what happened here". And as long as we do it for journalistic reasons and not for decorations reasons I think is
the right move.

37
4 CONCLUSO

O processo de imerso no cotidiano dos palestinos foi muito alm do que eu esperava.
Me impactou, modificou e desafiou como jornalista e como ser humano. Ter a experincia de
cruzar a linha imaginria que ainda divide um mundo globalizado e multicultural em Ocidente
e Oriente me fez ver muito alm da questo da Palestina, refletir sobre como funciona este
espao desordenado dividido em territrios nacionais que chamamos de lar.

Reprimidos no interior dos Estados Nacionais, eles (os novos protagonistas) se

tornam visveis quando protagonizam novas relaes sociais na articulao entre o
nvel local e seus territrios tradicionais e a escala mundial. (HAESBAER; PORTO-
GONALVES, 2006, p.133)
Ao encontrar meu lado humano durante o exerccio do jornalismo, acredito que
cheguei bem mais perto do objetivo proposto ao tentar realizar o jornalismo humanitrio
que enxerga o lado da vtima. Ao sofrer abusos militares em postos de controle e imigrao,
deixar as lgrimas correrem sem poder esfregar os olhos ardentes aps a exposio diria ao
gs lacrimogneo jogado nos campos de refugiados, levar duas horas para me deslocar por um
trecho de menos de oito quilmetros entre Belm e Jerusalm porque existe um muro
separando vidas, as histrias que ouvi tiveram muito mais impacto porque apesar de no saber
como ser um palestino sob ocupao, eu consegui aproximar minha percepo de como
dever ser.
Eliane Brum, escritora que alia perfeitamente a sensibilidade humana aos fatos, ensina
que preciso aos reprteres vestirem a pele do outro, sem perder a conscincia de que
nunca estaremos, de fato, na pele deste outro. Nas grandes ruas do mundo o desafio olhar
para ver. E olhar para ver perceber a realidade invisvel ou deliberadamente colocada nas
sombras. Olhar para ver o ato cotidiano de resistncia de cada reprter, de cada pessoa.
(BRUM apud RAMALHO, 2015, p. 30)
Mais uma vez trazendo os ensinamentos da jornalista Adriana Carranca, que explica
que a imprensa tem um poder nico na contribuio para a formao de uma sociedade mais
justa e igual. Para ela, possvel que a imprensa identifique um denominador comum entre
todos e floresa como objetivo compartilhado.

Outra colaborao relegar ao desuso certas palavras, terminologias e conceitos que

ajudam a formar ou reforar esteretipos. Com suas palavras, os jornalistas podem
ecoar a ideia de igualdade e de respeito a diferenas, derrubar tabus, fortalecer ou
enfraquecer o preconceito, a xenofobia e os conflitos sociais. (CARRANCA In
CANELA, 2008, p.311)

38
 E exatamente no uso das palavras que eu acredito ter sido refletido o balano
perfeito entre a empatia proveniente do lado humano e a racionalidade proveniente do
conhecimento jornalstico. Como j mencionado na introduo deste trabalho, em minha
reportagem optei por usar certas palavras em vez de outras. As mesmas que meus
entrevistados usaram: ocupao ao invs de conflito, Palestina (apesar de no ser um territrio
nacional reconhecido internacionalmente), apartheid, situaes de violncia ao invs de
guerra, entre outros.
A percepo de hegemonia miditica que tive em 2014 durante a cobertura jornalstica
da Guerra de Gaza no foi s minha e no atual. No prefcio da edio de A questo da
Palestina, de 1992, Edward Said comenta seu desgosto em relao ao que chama de
hipocrisia do jornalismo e do discurso intelectual do Ocidente:

Desde 1967, com a ocupao da Cisjordnia e de Gaza por Israel, no se tem notcia
de esmorecimento nos abusos dirios da ocupao israelense, e no entanto, nada
inflama mais a imprensa ocidental (e os meios de comunicao israelenses) do que
uma bomba em um mercado de Jerusalm (SAID, 2012, p. xlix)
Acredito que este trabalho possa contribuir de alguma forma, mesmo que muito
pequena, para diminuir o desgosto de Said, j que seu propsito maior justamente mostrar os
abusos dirios e os desafios de vidas sob ocupao.
Esta iniciativa no acaba por aqui, s o comeo. Com o dinheiro arrecadado ser
lanado em 2017 a reportagem Existir resistir, onde Vida sob ocupao compor um
captulo hospedado no website, onde estar disponvel o contedo produzido durante a
realizao deste projeto.

39
5. REFERNCIAS BIBLIOGRFICAS

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______. Water for one people only: discriminatory access and Water-Apartheid in the
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AMARAL FILHO, Nemzio. O passo-a-passo da monografia em jornalismo. Rio de

Janeiro: Editora Quartet, 2011.

BADIL Resource Center. Forced population transfer: The Case of Palestine: Installment
of a Permit Regime. Belm: Badil, 2015a.

______. Forced population transfer: The Case of Palestine: Introduction. Belm: Badil,
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______. Forced Population Transfer: The Displacement of Palestinians in the Israeli

Policies. Belm: Badil, 2014b

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[S.l.], 2015c.

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BARROS, Isadora Soares de Arajo; MARQUES, Fernanda Prestes. Do Rio para o Rio:
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BRANCH, Jonh. Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek. The New York Times. Artigo
virtual, dez. 2012. Disponvel em: <http://www.nytimes.com/projects/2012/snow-
fall/#/?part=tunnel-creek>. Acesso em: 06 dez. 2016.

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Rio de Janeiro: CCOPAB, 2015.

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CARRANCA, Adriana. Dar voz diversidade. In: CANELA, Guilherme (Organizador).
Polticas Pblicas Sociais e os Desafios para o Jornalismo. So Paulo: Cortez Editora,
2008. p. 307-320

CASAGRANDE, Erich. A histria da catarinense que trabalhou como voluntria em campo

de refugiados na Palestina. Dirio Catarinense, 18 ago. 2016. Verso online. Disponvel em:
<http://dc.clicrbs.com.br/sc/estilo-de-vida/noticia/2016/08/a-historia-da-catarinense-que-
trabalhou-como-voluntaria-em-campo-de-refugiados-na-palestina-7289573.html>. Acesso em
17 nov. 2016.

CENTER, Lajee. The Boy and the Wall. Belm: Lajee Center, 2005.

_______. The Power of Culture: Photography by the New Generation of Palestinian

Refugees. Belm: Lajee Center, 2012.

COSTA, Luciano Martins. As chances da imprensa participativa. Observatrio da

Imprensa. Ed. 313, Verso online, 25 jan. 2005. Disponvel em: <
http://observatoriodaimprensa.com.br/saidas-para-a-midia/as-chances-da-imprensa-
participativa/>. Acesso em: 06 dez. 2016.

DE MELO, Guilherme Ramalho. Extramuros: um documentrio sobre a ressocializao

de presos. UFRJ: Rio de Janeiro, 2015.

DUPAS, Gilberto; VIGEVANI, Tullo (Org.). Israel-Palestina: a construo da paz de uma

perspectiva global. So Paulo: Editora Unesp, 2002

ESTADO DE ISRAEL. Lei da Propriedade Ausente, de 14 de maro de 1950. Sistema de

Informaes das Naes Unidas na Questo da Palestina (UNISPAL). Disponvel em
<https://unispal.un.org/DPA/DPR/uni
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ocument>. Acesso em: 06 dez. 2016.

FLINT, Guila. Miragem de paz: Israel e Palestina: processos e retrocessos. Rio de Janeiro:
Civilizao Brasileira, 2009.

FROMKIN, David. Paz e guerra no Oriente Mdio: a queda do Imprio Otomano e a

criao do Oriente Mdio moderno. Traduo: CARNEIRO, Teresa Dias. Rio de Janeiro:
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GUEDES CAPUTO, Stela. Sobre entrevistas: teoria, prtica e experincias. Petrpolis:

Vozes, 2010.

HAESBAERT, Rogrio; PORTO-GONALVES, Carlos Walter. A nova des-ordem

mundial. So Paulo: Editora Unesp, 2006.

HOBBSBAWN, Eric. A era dos extremos: o breve sculo XX: 1914 1991. Traduo:
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HOURANI, Albert. Uma histria dos povos rabes. Traduo: SANTARRITA, Marcos.
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Cuestin de Palestina Y las Naciones Unidas. [S.n]: Nova York, 2008.

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ONU. Disponvel em <https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/RESOLUTION/
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PEREIRA, Juvenal Antunes. Mistrios Manicos, Smbolos Perdidos e Rastros de

Intolerncia. Braslia: Alpha, 2013.

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como funciona esse tipo de ferramenta. Artigo virtual: [S.l.], 13 jun. 2016b. Disponvel em
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______. Area C of the West Bank: Key Humanitarian Concerns: update August 2014.
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44
 ANEXO Entrevistas

Entrevista com Amaya el-Orzza (BADIL Resource Center)

Could you start introducing yourself?

My name is Amaya el-Orzza, I'm a legal researcher at Badil Resource Center and I basically
document human rights violations all over historic Palestine connected to forced population
transfer. So, we cover, like, two main groups: one of the groups is people who already been
displaced, so this would be refugees and internally displaced Palestinians, and the other group
we cover is people in risk of displacement.

Can you explain the difference between internally displaced person and refugees?

So, basically, both groups of people are people who feel forcibly displaced from their homes.
The main difference is that refugees, when they were displaced, they crossed an
internationally recognized border, and, therefore, they ended up in a different country and
their status is as refugees. Whereas internally displaced persons, they've also been forcibly
displaced from their homes, but they never actually crossed an international border. So it's
like they are internally displaced within their own country.

How about the situation that we have, like, Palestinian refugees and they are inside
Palestine, how is that?

So, in nineteen...the main group of Palestinian refugees are Palestinians who were displaced
in 1948 which is known as the Nakba, and their descendants. So in 1948 when the state of
Israel was created, around 750.000 Palestinians were displaced from their homes. The
majority of these people ran away from what became the state of Israel. At the time, in 1948,
Jordan occupied, what is today known as the West Bank, and Egypt took over the Gaza strip.
So, in 1948, when these people were displaced, both the West Bank and Gaza were not
connected in any way to Israel, and therefore, the borders were an international border, and
they became refugees. Later, in 1967, Israel occupied these territories. So, it is a strange case
because these people are refugees within their own country of origin.

Despite, like, Israel occupying the West Bank and Gaza strip, internationally, the legal status
of these two areas is now under the Palestinian authority. So, the Palestinian authority will
legally be considered the host country of these Palestinian refugees, because their country of
origin is Israel. So even though, when they were displaced, it was all one country, in the
45
current situation their country of origin is Israel and not Palestinian Authority governed areas.
So, technically, they are in a host country, even if it is a country, with, you know, their own
people.

What do you think are the main problems that they face, as being refugees, and
internally displaced person?

The main problems, well, obviously, like, one of the main issues that, you know, Palestinian
refugees and internally displaced persons face is the...they are not allowed to return to their
homes of origin. This has...(pause). One of the main reasons why this is like that is because
Israel doesn't allow them to go back to their homes of origin. Even if international law
recognizes this right. One of the reasons why this right, you know, has also not been
applicated more, internationally, it's because when Palestinian refugees were originally
displaced, the United Nations created two agencies, to kind of be responsible for Palestinian
refugees, I mean, internally displaced Palestinians. These two agencies were on the one hand
UNRWA, which until today provides humanitarian assistance. It stopped providing
humanitarian assistance to IDPs in 1952, but it still provides humanitarian assistance to
Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. The other agency
that was created in 1948 was the UNCCP. It's the United Nations Conciliation Commission
for Palestine Refugees. This Agency was responsible for protecting Palestinian refugees,
which includes advocating and pushing for a durable solution to their cause and to the right of
return. This agency stopped operated in nineteen fifty ... the nineteen fifties and until today,
even though it still exists, it's completely inoperative. So... this created a gap for Palestinian
refugees, because every other refugee in the world, except Palestinian refugees, are covered
by UNHCR. UNHCR was created in 1951 and it provides both protection and assistance to
refugees. This means that not only they provide, like, basic, you know, like, education, health
care, etcetera, but they also, you know, take care of the legal status of these refugees and they
work to achieve a durable solution for refugees. Palestinian refugees lack this side of
protection. Palestinian refugees do get humanitarian assistance but at this moment there is no
international agency responsible for providing protection. I'm talking about legal protection,
including durable solutions to Palestinian refugees. And this is, what we call in BADIL, the
protection gap of Palestinian refugees.

46
Could you explain what is the Right of Return ?

So, the Right of Return is (pause) - not just for Palestinians, for every refugee is recognized
in different bodies of International Law. So in the case of Palestinian refugees, for example,
we have Human Rights Law. In the International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights,
article 12, recognizes the right of every person to leave their own country and to come back to
their own country. This will apply in the case of Palestinian refugees. In connection to
Nationality law: Nationality law says in the case of succession of states, so when one state
becomes another, the...(pause) let's say, like, a state that comes afterwards, has the application
to provide nationality to of the former residents of the previous state. So, in the case of
Palestinians, when Israel was created, Israel is under the obligation to provide all those who
are residents of that area with nationality. Even (emphasis) if those people were not in the area
in the moment the state was created. So this means that all Palestinian refugees originating
from what is now known as Israel, have the right to Israeli nationality, according to
Nationality law. And this, connected to Human Rights law, will give them the right to leave
their own country and to come back to their own country. This is like an implicit right of
return. Also, International Humanitarian Law, which is a law of war or what's known as law
of war, recognizes the right of people fleeing conflict to go back to their homes of origin. And
then you have Refugee Law, of course, recognizes, you know, the Right of Return as a right
for every refugee. So, internationally legally speaking, the right of return is very well
established. On top of, you know, general international law, there is dozens of United Nations
resolutions recognizing the right of Palestinian refugees, specifically, to return to their homes
of origin now in Israel. The main resolution is resolution 194, which is was passed in 1948
and it's been renewed every single year ever since. On top of that there is many other
resolutions recognizing, you know, in different parts of the resolution the right of return of
Palestinian refugees.

You were to talk that time about the protection gaps...

Yes. So, all us in BADIL made a survey with over 3000 Palestinian refugees in all UNRWA
areas of operation. We were not able to access Syria because of the current situation, but we
managed to make this questionnaire with around 3000 Palestinian refugees in Gaza, West
Bank, Jordan and Lebanon. Some of the questions we asked them was what were the main,
you know, issues they suffered from in terms of protection. What were their main protection
gaps. So, let's say, like, the three main protection gaps that came out of the questionnaire

47
were...the main one was lack of humanitarian assistance. The humanitarian assistance
refugees receive...it's insufficient. And especially in the area of, like, Gaza or, like, Lebanon,
like, this is even more dire, because, you know, like, the past destruction that they have
suffered from, like, following different wars (pause). And another gap they suffered from, was
lack of equal implement opportunities. A lot of them feel like implement opportunities
they have are, you know, they are not equal to other people around them. We believe, in the
cases of the West Bank and Gaza, this is mainly in relation to, you know, like, Israeli people
inside Israel. In cases like Lebanon, Palestinians are discriminated and legally they are not
allowed to work, in those sets of jobs. So there is a list of jobs they just don't have access to.
They can't be lawyers, they can't be engineers, like, they only have access to very basic jobs
(pause). For instance, like, in the West Bank, one of the main protection gaps was lack of
security in camps. Like, refugees who live in UNRWA camps they feel very insecure because
of the Israeli incursions. They feel they are not protected and no one is protecting them
against these incursions and that soldiers can, you know, just walk around the camp and enter
houses at any moment (pause). In Lebanon, you know, discrimination was a huge protection
gap. Like, not only you don't have access to jobs, they also are not allowed to buy land, they
are not allowed to open their businesses, like, there are many, many areas in which they are
discriminated against. Defending Jordan, in Jordan they suffer from, you know, a significant
discrimination as well.

Just a question that occurred to me now: can you talk a bit about, like, the water
apartheid?

The water apartheid, like, here in the West Bank.

Yeah, here in the West Bank.

So, but that doesn't only affect refugees. If you want...

Yes, I know, I know.

Ok. So, Israel uses different policies in order to cause displacement of Palestinians. So
forcible displacement does not only happen because of direct actions against people, that's
also forcible displacement, but creating a corrosive environment that makes living conditions
unbearable so that people leave it's also, you know, considered forced population transfer.
According to international law this is a war crime. So, one of these policies Israel uses to
create such a corrosive environment, is the confiscation or stealing of natural resources. In the

48
case of the West Bank, one of the main natural resources that is taken away from Palestinians
is water. Water is a big problem in the West Bank and all Palestinians across the West Bank,
both in refugee camps, towns, cities, suffer from water shortages. The West Bank has one of
the main water reserves in all historic Palestine. The main aquifer is located in the North of
the West Bank in Nablus area. This aquifer, like, would provide water for all the West Bank.
Israel at the moment, they take 70 percent of the water in the West Bank and they redirect it to
Israel for Israeli citizens. They take an extra 13 percent - around 13 percent - for Jewish
Israeli Settlers located in the West Bank and that leaves 17 percent of the total water in the
West Bank for local Palestinian residents, which are over 2 million. This creates, you know,
considerable problems, especially in summer, where in many areas people don't get water for
like, two, three weeks. So, when people depend on water, water tanks and water pumps for
water. So whenever the first water arrives to the main source, they activate the water pumps to
fill in the tanks they have in the roofs. Every single Palestinian house in the West Bank has
water tanks. These water tanks don't last forever, if the water doesn't go for two, three weeks,
the water tanks get empty and then, you know, families have to live without water for, you
know, like, two, three days. If they have money, they sometimes can buy water. Like, if they
don't have, they just have to, you know, find a way to live without water. And there are some
communities, like, especially, Bedouin communities and shepherd communities, for instance,
in the Jordan valley, where people need to buy water constantly. They need to buy their own
water.

I've heard a lot of times, since I got here, and that's one of the main issues that I talk to
with my family or my friends in Brazil and they stay like Wow, it's that every
Palestinian that I met said that here is not a conflict, it's an occupation. What do you
think and why?

I need one second to... (pause). Legally speaking, the...what's happening here today, is
considered a belligerent occupation. It's also considered apartheid, and it's also considered
colonization. If we go to the law, and we read the requirements for all colonization, to be...to
have that, or apartheid, like, the circumstances here, they have all...they mark all the ticks.
Now, when people sometimes, like, frame the situation here between a fight between two
groups or sometimes even a religious conflict, like, that doesnt really represents the fights on
the ground. If you, you know, like, research, like, the history, or even, according to
international law, like, the way Israel was created, displaced all the Palestinians and
confiscated the land and then inserted, you know, like, settlers, in this land, it's considered
49
illegal according to international law. International law also recognizes the right of
Palestinians to resist these occupations with all means necessary. So, when we see
Palestinians throwing stones to Israeli soldiers, this is, you know, like, a conflict area
according to international law. Humanitarian law applies, but in the framework of an
occupying power versus an occupied people. So we are not talking about conflict between two
equal parties.

Entrevista com Baha Hilo

Can you start by introducing yourself, please?

My name is Baha Hilo, I'm 35 years old, I'm a Palestinian and I work at a local initiative
called "To be There" and it is simply to help people understand the reality in Palestine by
being here physically, so encourage people from around the world to be there as in Palestine.
Much of the work we do is to help exposing as much of the reality as possible in order to help
people understand the reality imposed in Palestinian people, at least on being engaged with
the worldwide-like Palestine's solidarity movement, and try to support or be part of
Palestinian quest to liberty, freedom and justice.

Can you talk more or explain how it works the Olive Planting?

Some of the work we do through the initiative is related to supporting people who are
struggling to maintain their ownership of their property and land. We do that through simple
work of planting trees to give people means of staying on their land and continue to call the
ratings. One of the main trees that we plant during this initiative is Olive trees, and we do
that simply because Olive tree has been around Palestine for more than five thousand years,
so in a way we want to continue that five thousand years old habit of planting for the present
and planting for the future. Of course the Olive trees fits perfectly with the unstable climate
we have on Palestine, where you have aggressively cold winters and aggressively warm
summers, few cool months around spring and autumn. Through that climate for the past four,
five thousand years the only thing that continues to survive is the Olive trees, because of the
significance of it and because of its importance in the culture of the population here and
because it's considered to be a sacred tree in older religions that existed in the Holy Land,
existed in the Palestine, so because of all these reasons we want to plant more trees. But the
reason why we do it now is simply because theEvery since the state of Israel took control of
Palestine they have been engaged, the state itself has been engaged systematically in the
50
destruction of all the trees. Simply the state of Israel existed in Palestine they claimed
Palestine is a land without people, so from day one the started a war where they started
eliminating the people of Palestine, to the point where they've moved more than 65% of the
population, more than 65% of Palestine's population no longer live in their place of origin, in
Palestine. So they succeeded in eliminating the population, and the next thing is the evidence
that there was a population here, since we are talking about Olive trees that have been looking
after for more than five thousand years, so it's evidence that Palestine have been populated for
the past five thousand years. Well, this doesn't actually work for the narrative of the state of
Israel, so they've been engaged systematically in the destruction of Palestinian Olive trees.
Just to give you, let's say, to give you an example on how systematically that destruction is,
from the year 2001 until today the state of Israel has been involved in destroying more than
one million Olive trees. And that's about, yeah, one million Olive trees that we've harvested
over the past decades or centuries. And the way they have been doing that is, one is through in
every military operations, see how there are tanks and motor carriers going through all of
groves and destroying everything in the way, and the second thing is by constructing their
walls all around this, in the West Bank and also in Gaza, through the construction and
expansion of Israeli Jewish colonies around the West Bank, through the continued settler
violence, Israelis who live in the side of the west bank, some of them engage in attacking
Palestinians, but if they don't catch a Palestinian to rage or attack they would attack the
closest olive grove or the closest olive farm. And then another way is by building or paving
Palestinian cultural land to stole roads to connect Israeli settlements together with the city of
Israel in West Bank. So that systematic destruction has been going on ever since the state of
Israel was created in Palestine. So what we try to do is to use the Olive tree or help people
plant Olive trees in order to make sure people are aware of the stories of destruction. We are
not naive in saying what we do is replacing the Olive trees that the state of Israel destroys,
because what the state of Israel destroys is an olive tree that has 2, 3, 4 hundred years or
sometimes 2 or 3 thousands years old, so we cannot replace these trees, but what we can do is
plant a tree today and maybe in a thousand years it will replace the ones destroyed today. The
destruction of olive trees is not seen as a crime by the state of Israel, in fact, an Israeli human
rights organization called Yesh Din issued a report recently saying that more than 93% of
Palestinian complaints about the destruction of olive trees is by Israeli settlers. Go and check,
you know. The other 7% are maybe investigated, but the state of Israel until today fails to
catch one Israeli settler that has destroyed an olive grove or has burned down like a thousand

51
years old tree, up until today. Israel state is known for its advanced investigations, they can
catch any Palestinian kid that throws a stone, but somehow they cannot catch an Israeli settler
that burns down olive groves. So in any ways, the state is kind of like either engaged in the
destruction or protects Israeli civilians who are involved in the destruction of these Palestinian
olives sectors. One thing I can say about this official stand or official position on the
destruction of Olive trees is what the Israeli Chief Spector said in year 2006, his name is I
think is David Kishik, he's Chief Spector of Israeli headquarters Ramallah and he says that
like their children, like the Palestinian children, the trees look so naive as they can't harm
anyone, but like their children, several years later they turn into a ticking bomb. So the Israeli
view of Palestinian olive trees is like the Israeli view of bombs, bombs have to be removed so
Palestinian olive trees have to be removed. This kind of like sick view of a tree that has
existed around, survived like thousands of years, but in a way it's being threatened to survive
the Israeli oppression. The state of Israel does not destroy olive trees for any purpose other
than maintaining their control over the land. We all understand, the Israelis understand, the
Palestinians understand, that Israel in Palestine is to take over as much as land as possible in
Palestine and make sure that Palestinians live as limited space as possible. The way I can
describe is by an Israeli historian called Benny Morris who once said that "The founders of
the state of Israel made a big mistake by not removing all the Palestinians, so we found
ourselves in a situation where we have to be build cages for them, cages for Palestinians" and
he says "I know it's bad I know it's cruel, but there is a wild animal that needs to be
controlled". So, the aim of the state of Israel is turn Palestine into Israel, into Jewish-only
place, but there are Palestinians who have righted the place, so what we do to these
Palestinians? We put them into reservations, like the biggest reservation we see today is Gaza,
and then we see the West Bank being turned into about more than two hundred separated
reservations throughout the West Bank, where Palestinians live on the smallest piece of land
possible while their land that surrounds their communities is under the control of the State of
Israel. So, the State of Israel cannot just go on and steal land just like that, it's a bureaucracy,
it's a state of a law. So if they want to steal land, they make laws that enables them to steal the
land. An example to that is, you know, Fourth Geneva Convention states that any occupying
power should operate based on existing rules and regulations. So that became rally to the
Israelis because they could define existing rules and regulations as any rules and regulations
that existed in the west bank before Israel's control, before 1967. So we are talking about
Jordanian laws, we are talking British laws and we are talking about Ottoman laws. So the

52
laws that we found ourselves encountering by planting Olive trees are actually laws that come
from Ottoman Era. So the State of Israel took a land law from the Ottoman era and applied to
today.

[Interview interrupted by a telephone call Baha had to answer].

...So, we were talking about the Ottomans laws

So yeah the State of Israel like picks and chooses and any land laws from previous eras, or
from previous administrations over Palestine. During the Jordanian time, the land law of
Jordanians, the land law of the British and the land law of the Ottomans. The one law we
found ourselves encountering when we plant olive trees is the [incomprehensible] of the
Ottoman Law. In the 1850's the Ottoman empire passed one law to encourage land
cultivation, and it's a very simple law that says that any land that is not cultivated for longer
than 3 years will be declared property of the premise. So it will become like land of the State.
The reason the Ottomans did that is to encourage cultivation, if you cultivate in your land you
make money and part of your money is paid as taxes for the State. Now the State of Israel
applies or claims to apply the exact same law here. But we know the State of Israel is not
interested in taxes, right? They have been really impoverishing the Palestinian population for
about forty-eight years, they know Palestinians don't have enough money to survive, so how
they would they have money to pay taxes? But the interest of the State of Israel is the land
itself, so what they do is impose obstacles between you as a Palestinian land owner and the
cultivation of your land. Obstacles like building a wall between you and your land, so you're
forced to abandon your land, you're forced to stop cultivating your land, and later on they
come and say well this land has not been cultivated for a certain period of time so it's an
abandoned land, we declare state land for the State of Israel. Also obstacles like preventing
you from building a shed or a barn or a small farm house in your land, cause you know you
cannot build on your land for whatever reason or justification that sounds civilized, but the
heart of it is racist, is motivated by racism, because you as a Palestinian you are not allowed
to build in your land, but the State that prevents from building in your land is the same State
that builds mansions and swiss cottages on your neighbor's land for Jewish Israelis because
they want it, right? So you ask like why I can't build on my land while right next to my land
there is a huge Jewish Israeli settlement? And then other forms of obstacles is preventing you
from having access to running water, you have in a lot of cases in the occupied West Bank,
you have people who have land that water pipes that feed the Israeli settlements go through

53
their land, these people are not allowed to have access to the water that is running through
their land, right? The State of Israel say well you are not allowed to have access to this water
because you don't have a house here, so they prevent you from having a house and then they
prevent you from having water on your land because you don't have a house, so the point is
like this progressive loop ends at one thing: which is preventing you from cultivating in your
land so that they can come in three four years later and say well the Ottoman law says this
land is abandoned so we declare as a State land. So how do we counter this absurd practice?
Simply by planting olive trees. Because planting Olive trees is evidence that the land is
cultivated, and olive trees that can survive the aggressive climate that we have, can also
survive Israeli oppression, right? So, well let's say racist and discriminating Israeli practices,
so by planting olive trees on the land you put into evidence your land is being cultivated.
Olive trees do not need so much water, all what they need is just drops of water in July and
August and then they will survive, and then they don't need so much maintenance, like other
types of trees, all you need to do is go cultivate them and prim them in the process. So like it's
a tree that help Palestinians adapt to all the racist and absurd rules and regulations imposed by
the State of Israel to prevent Palestinians from maintaining their property and maintaining
their ownership of their land. So by simply planting olive trees you help Palestinians
encounter all these kind of absurd applications of law, the law itself seems very civilized,
seems very all right, like yeah, if you dont cultivate your land for three years you don't
deserve it, right? But the way it's applied, it's applied in a very discriminatory and racist
manner, cause the State of Israel never declared land owned by Jewish Israelis who
abandoned it since the forties or abandoned since the seventies, never declared as a State-land.
As a Jewish Israeli you can own land and leave it and nobody will challenge your ownership,
but only when you are a Palestinian, right? that somehow your land will be stolen. It's just
evident that like in 99% of the cases, like homes demolitions for example are things that only
Palestinians have to deal with. You don't have Jewish Israelis dealing with home demolitions,
maybe you have few settlers here few settlers there, but you only have Palestinians who are
denied like freedom to manage and maintain their land, denied freedom to live wherever they
like to live, denied to live on their land, on their property and so on. And the absurd thing is
that the same regime that prevents a Palestinian from developing his land, it's the exact same
regime that encourages a Jewish Israeli to go and become farmer inside the occupied West
Bank. Israeli minister of agriculture will support you as a Jewish Israeli to become a farmer
and occupy West Bank, by the same time a Palestinian farmer is destroyed by the different

54
Israeli obstacles and different Israeli practices that aim at removing him off their land. So
simply by using a five thousand years old tradition of planting Olive trees you can expose so
much of their racism and disgusting and absurd behavior of the State of Israel towards
Palestine and the people of Palestine. So, our aim is: one to help people survive this
oppression; and two help expose the State of Israel of what it is, you know, expose the true
nature of the State of Israel. One of the things we all know about the reputation of the State of
Israel is that they made the desert green, right? Only when you come here that you see that
Palestine has always been green until the State of Israel took over, wherever there's
Palestinian green scenery, it is destroyed, but you need to be here to see that and see how that
happens. So yeah, come and plant olive trees and learn about the reality in Palestine.

You said that most of the demolitions of the olive trees are from the settlers, but most of
them are from the army, the State, what's their excuse, or they don't even give excuses?

Ok. Olive trees are destroyed as I said in five different and continued essential methods. Four
of these methods are carried out by the State of Israel, one is carried out by its Civil Union. So
the State of Israel can't say it's us, but it's people the State protects. So, the first method I can
count most of the three hundred fifty thousand olive trees there were destroyed in Gaza
between the year 2002-2006 were destroyed by military operations. Israeli law enforcement
was engaged in destroying olive trees. So through the military operations, you have these
railing military going in with their tanks, motor carriers, and bulldozers through Palestinian
olive groves and destroying them. So the State is responsible for their destruction. The second
way of destruction is the destruction of Olive groves to build Israeli Jewish only settlements
inside the West Bank, so these Jewish-only settlements are built by the State of Israel, so in
order to build the settlement nearby the olive grove you need to destroy the olive grove in
order to build it. So the State itself has been these settlements is involved in destroying these
olive trees. The third way of destruction of olive trees is in order to pave highways throughout
the occupied West Bank, there is more than one thousand six hundred and sixty kilometers of
these bypassed roads or these settlers roads, that are paved throughout the west bank. The
State of Israel is the authority that paves these roads, so the State is responsible for the
destruction of the farm land and the olive trees on the way that existed before these roads. So
these are four, three ways, the fourth is by building the Israeli wall. You've seen the white
structure, like not the concrete wall, the concrete wall destroys about twenty meters wide land,
but the structure that is made of barb wires, ditches, electric fences, roads and so on is a
structure that is about 50 to 60 meters wide and paves through agriculture land. That is also
55
built by the State of Israel, the State who destroys the groves in order to install those is the
State of Israel itself. Now the fifth way is a more continuous one, is the settler's violence or
price tag, this one when Israeli settlers, Israeli civilians would attack a nearby olive grove.
Palestine in fact lose up to ten thousand olive trees each year because of settler's violence,
because of its very settler uprooting nearly planted trees, or burning down, or chopping off old
trees and so on and so far. I say these settlers are protected by the State of Israel simply
because up until today, not one Israeli settler that torched or cut down or uprooted one olive
tree has been caught for the destruction he or she caused, you know, up until today. So, when
you do not arrest the person who destroyed the property of others, then what are you doing is
just providing protection for this person. The State of Israel protect these criminals, they do
not hide it, at least accordingly to some Human Right's reports, as I mentioned to you earlier,
Yesh Din, which is a Human Right's organization, has the reports proving that out of all
Palestinian complaints about Israelis destroying and attacking Palestinian properties and
destroying olive trees, not one person was arrested. So the authorities protect these criminals,
in a way State of Israel is involved in the destruction of olive trees, whether is through its
army, law enforcement or its citizens. It's not like that I'm accusing the State of Israel of
possibly being involved in this, they do it, they are proud of it, you know?

The first thing people started saying to me when I got here and like and doesn't get to
what was in Brazil, like we hear being in Brazil, that here we have a conflict. When we
arrived here, we see that everybody of the Palestinians I've met they told me it's an
occupation it's not a conflict, do you agree? What do you think and why?

The impressions that are given to people away from Palestine is that there is an entity called
Palestine, and an entity called Israel, and these people do not like each other, so they keep
fighting. So you've Palestine with its supporters, its president, it's police, it's government, and
so on, and they you have the State of Israel with its Prime Minister, military, police and so on
and so forth, and these two separate entities are fighting each other. What people are
prevented from understanding is that Palestinian people live under the direct control of the
State of Israel, that the live of every single Palestinian is controlled by the State of Israel. That
every inch of Palestine is controlled by the State of Israel. What people are also prevented
also from understanding is that Israel and Palestine are two different names for the same
geographic territory, it's not like we're talking about two separate places, no, it's one place. If
you are part of indigenous population of Palestine, you call the place Palestine. If you are part
of the force that turned Palestine into a Jewish-only place you will call the place Israel. It's the
56
same territory, it's the same place. Now, I do understand why people feel confused about it,
that there is a conflict, that there is war sometimes...

Even if you say like there are occupations, what does that even mean to like somebody from
Brazil, somebody from United States or somebody from Europe. You need to explain that to
them and you will still fail, to tell them, to explain the reality. So what's happening, what has
been happening here is systematic turning of Palestine from being home for the diverse
Palestinian population into being a place where one group of people, namely Jewish Israelis
are privileged and the people who have old kind of privileges and let's say superiority status,
well where everyone else has an inferior status. This matches if you live in West Bank, or
Gaza, or Israel, or Jerusalem, or any area throughout of Palestine. The system on control,
which is the State of Israel grants a superior status for certain group of people, which is
Jewish Israelis, over another group of people which is the Palestinians, the people of
Palestine. And that happens all over the place. Now where does come the huge conflict? Is
like when you hear that Palestinians have a president, or Palestinians have a flag, or
Palestinians have a government. But you know the same system that is applicable on the
farmer we were helping today is applicable on the President of Palestine, both the farmer and
President live under occupation, under Israel's control. It's very difficult to explain that to
people when you are far away from here, they have to come and see it, they have to go
through the exact same Israeli military checkpoints that the President of Palestine has to go
through. Like, we are near Bethlehem. And our president lives in Ramalah, there are three
Israeli military checkpoints between here and Ramalah, so if the president was to come visit
Bethlehem he has to be allowed by the Israeli solider at the checkpoints, which means that
any Israeli soldier has more authority than the Palestinian president, the most powerful
Palestinian in Palestine. So these things are very difficult for people actually understand in
practice, because you say Israel and Palestine are two separate places. No, the separate things
are different ways Israel control the land of Palestine. If you have time I can explain that to
you.

Ok!

The complicated things to help people understand is how the State of Israel is in control of the
lives of every Palestinian that exist today. The Palestinian people, those who live within
Palestine or Israel are about half of the whole Palestinian population. There is more than 6
million Palestinians living in exile or outside the Palestine, while almost 6 million

57
Palestinians live in Palestine. The way the State of Israel controls the lives of those people in
Palestine is this way: first of all the Palestinians who live outside Palestine as refugees
whether in Jordan or in Syria or Lebanon, or let's say Egypt or the gulf countries, and you
know, in the region, these people are not allowed to have access to Palestine, not even as
visitors. While at the same time any person who happen to be born in a Jewish family,
anywhere in the world, can not only can come to Palestine to visit, but also to live forever.
That's the first way how Israel controls the Palestinian or the access of Palestinians to
Palestine. The Second way of control is controlling the live of Palestinians who live within
the State of Israel, within the internationally recognized borders of the State of Israel, these
people are not even allowed to refer to themselves as Palestinians, these people are Arabs.
The State of Israel call them Arabs, not because they speak Arabic, but because it is a
suggestive way to say they belong to any Arabic speaking country but definitely not in their
land. They don't live in any Arabic country, they live in Israel, right? So they do not belong
here, their presence in Israel is temporarily not permanent. So you find Palestinians in Israel
who are called Druze, Arabs, Bedouins and non-Arabs. So Palestinian Christians living in
Nazareth, for example, by march 2015, I think, they were considered Arabs, the Israeli
parliament had a vote in April that year to decide that now we can refer to Palestinian
Christians as non-Arabs, so they were Arabs in March and non-Arabs in April. So what
Palestinians in Israel are subject to is more than 50 laws that discriminate against them, and
they differentiate between the rights and duties of Palestinian living in Israel and a Jewish
Israeli living in Israel. So that's like the second way of controlling Palestinians, but this time
in Israel. The third way of controlling lives of Palestinians is Palestinians who live in
Jerusalem. The State of Israel does not refer to those Palestinians as Palestinians, they refer to
them as Permanent Citizens of Jerusalem. So they are not Israelis, they are not Palestinians,
they are not other occupation, they are not in Israel, they are permanent citizens of the State of
Israel. If you actually have a closer look at the Palestinians in Jerusalem, you'll find there's not
much a lifestyle that makes their live in Jerusalem permanent, because there are different rules
and regulations that aim at eliminating Palestinian presence from Jerusalem. You can lose
your right to your house in Jerusalem if you lived away for longer than 3 years. The State of
Israel has invented a law specially for Palestinians residents of Jerusalem called the Center of
Life Law. So the State of Israel can find different ways to prove that your home in Jerusalem
is no longer the center of your life. Therefore they can revoke all kind of documentation that
enabled you to live in Jerusalem. And that's only applicable in Palestinians in Jerusalem. So if

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a Palestinian from Jerusalem decides to move 10 minutes down the road to live in Bethlehem
and stays there for 4 years, the State of Israel can prevent them from visiting their family's
house in Jerusalem, because Jerusalem is no longer the center of their life. It's something that
a person who was born in a Jewish family, let's say from Brazil, would come live in Jerusalem
for a year, and decide to go back to Brazil, that person will never lose his right to Jerusalem.
He will always be welcome in Jerusalem. What's happening in Jerusalem is also like
disgusting for the Palestinian residents of Jerusalem by as fine for anyone who happen not to
be born in a Jewish family. There are also, like, there is a long list of absurd application of
laws in Palestinians, in Jerusalem they aim squeezing the Palestinian population out of the
city. One of the outcomes you can see is like, for example, 1967, 100% of the population of
the old city of Jerusalem happened to be Palestinian, today less than 40% of the residents of
Jerusalem are Palestinians. And that percentage has been reformed artificially, it's not like
kind of change of population, it was artificially reformed to make sure that Palestinians
become a minority in the cities that they were 100% of the population in 1967. And all of that
is done simply because the State of Israel decides so. The fourth way of controlling the
Palestinians is what we see in Gaza. Now, the State of Israel claims to have left Gaza in the
year 2005, right? Well, incorrect, because the State of Israel stands in control of 24% of the
Gaza Strip, the land from the Walls of Gaza into Gaza are declared by the State of Israel and
are about one thousand and five hundred meters from the Walls of Gaza into Gaza are
declared as closed military zone. If a Palestinian is present within that area, he can be killed,
right? So they are over like in control near one quarter of the Gaza strip. They are in control
of also how far a person can swim in the sea, or how far an official rank can go into the city, if
you go up into certain point an official Israeli member of force will shoot you and kill you or
arrest you as like that happens as a regular procedure. Also the State of Israel is in control of
how much water you can drink, how much gas for cooking you can have access to, how much
electricity you can have, how much food you can have. In fact, an Israeli lawyer once said
something like we should not starve the population of Gaza, we only need to put them into a
diet. His name was Dov Weisglass and he's one of the lawyers that is very close to Israeli
government. He was an advisor of a previous Israeli war criminal called Ariel Sharon. So he
was saying like, yeah, we need not to starve, the Palestinians in Gaza, we need to put them
into diet. So you had Israeli officials who took that and said like yeah, they calculated how
many calories you are required for human survival multiplied that number with how many
people live in Gaza, and decided to allow that amount of calories into Gaza. So yeah, they

59
maybe they are not inside Gaza 24/7 but they are all over the place, they are in control of the
lives of the people who live there. The State of Israel that destroyed homes of half a million of
people in Gaza in summer 2014 up until today they prevent these people from rebuilding their
demolished houses, because they prevent them access to construction materials. So, yeah, the
Israelis can say well we left Gaza, but well they are in control about of everything that makes
life possible for Palestinians. And the fifth way of controlling is what you see around here the
occupied West Bank. The occupied West Bank is barely a system of control, like directly
under a military rule. That for example subject the Palestinian who rejects Israel control at the
age of 14, if you have a Palestinian kid that at the age of fourteen dares to throw a stone at the
Israeli soldiers, he will be arrested and put into jail, because he's considered an adult at the
age of 14. He will stand at a military trial, The Israeli military control of Palestinians in
general has resulted on the arrest of nearly eighty hundred thousands of Palestinians, you
know eighty hundred thousands of Palestinians that live in West Bank, in Gaza have
experienced military imprisonment. The Israeli military occupation has caught the
administrative destruction of about 48 thousand homes for Palestinian families. The Israeli
military control in the West Bank only means installing about 6 hundred Israelis checkpoints.
Israeli military control in the West Bank means the confiscation of, declared one third of the
land of the West Bank as closed military zone for Israeli military training, because obviously
there's not enough land for the Israeli Military to train in Israel. They have also to train inside
the West Bank, right. And by the way, accordingly to an Israeli Human Rights Organization
called [incomprehensible] has a report saying that nearly one third of the West Bank is, the
West Bank land is confiscated for military purposes or military reasons for Israeli military
practices, and the Israeli military uses on average one day every three months, right? So the
State of Israel through its military occupation has stolen about or is in the process of stealing
like nearly one third of the property to land of the residents of the occupied West Bank. The
Israeli military control, the West Bank is like, you know, you see that the Israelis soldier has
more authority than anybody that has any kind of control inside the West Bank. So like, they
are five different ways through which the State of Israel can control the lives of every
Palestinian. There are five, these five different ways are five different and separate systems
that function every single day. So what makes it pretty and much confusing to people is like
which one of the systems should be followed, you know? But they function smoothly, and in
every one of them the State of Israel guarantees a form of superiority for any Jewish person
over any Palestinian person, you know? Which is in essence a definition of the crime of

60
Apartheid, you know. Unlike Apartheid in South Africa where you had one system that grants
white superiority over the rest of the people, here you have five different systems, so
Apartheid practiced by the State of Israel is five dimensional, you know. That's what confuses
people and makes impossible for people to understand that. You would ask like how can they
do that? How can they create these complicated systems? When you look at this, pretty easily,
the State of Israel is in control of the land of Palestine, and is in control of the birth
registration of everyone that lives in Palestine....

...The Palestinians in Gaza are treated, if you are a Palestinian born in Jerusalem, you will be
treated the same way a Palestinian in Jerusalem district, if you are born in West Bank is the
same thing if you are born into Israel you are treated in that way. So you have these things,
and of course if you are not registered within the birth registration system, then you are not
allowed to be here, right. So by the control of birth registration and by controlling the land
you can't divide old Palestinians and you can't come to the reality which is practiced today,
where a Palestinian from the occupied West Bank can have no free access to Jerusalem, or
Gaza or any Palestinian community in Israel. A Palestinian from Gaza cannot have any free
access to Gaza, or a Palestinian from Gaza cannot have any free access to a Bedouin
community in Israel or a Palestinian communicate the occupied West Bank. So like these five
systems of control, or five ways to control the lives of Palestinians they function clearly and
smoothly, and that's the things that makes a little bit complicated for people to understand
from outside here, given the fact the State of Israel has a very, very, very positive reputation
outside, you know. Outside the State of Israel, Israel is known for being rollercoaster
survivor, in here the State of Israel is a nuclear power. Outside the State of Israel, Israel is
known for being a progressive State, right here the State of Israel is a criminal regime.
Outside the State of Israel is known for making the desert blue, over here the State of Israel is
destroying the environment and destroying the life of Palestinians. So the reputation is simply
really beautiful. But the reality of the matter is the complete opposite.

And the, I think probably a lot of people ask you that, but do you have hope?

Do I have hope? You know, I don't know if you are surprised to, when you have yes as an
answer for almost every Palestinian you meet. The reason for that is like when you belong to
a population that has 10-thousand-year long history of rising and collapsing empires, like if
you count how many empires who rose and collapsed in Palestine I think you'd come to the
number of like maybe 23. None of them survived, where is the Ottoman empire? Where is the

61
Roman, where is the Crusaders? Where are all these empires? You know that this is the
reason the Palestinians have blind hope, that oppression and injustice is not going to last
forever, you know? Maybe its our bet that we survive now, you know? But the State of Israel
is a form of oppressive and racist regime is not going to survive forever. So the Palestinian
have blind hope on that. I do not think they are wrong in that, we are definitely not wrong in
believing for sure that the same way Palestine absorbed the Ottomans or the Crusaders, or the
Romans, or Islamic empires or the Persians, it will absorb these fascists whether they like it or
not. Palestine is much stronger than them, it has proven that for 10 thousand years and it will
prove that in the out-coming 3 hundred years. The thing that is, let's say, the thing that is like
we need to be a little bit more realistic about is that the State of Israel has a quest, which is the
you know, one of the founding principles for the State is land without people for the people
without land. People without land has been like the correct Jewish people as far as the State of
Israel is concerned about the correct Jewish person, because if you are a Jewish person that
believes in justice, equality and Human Right's then by default you are an incorrect Jewish
person for the State of Israel. If we are left as Palestinian people for the State of Israel to
manage us the way it has been managing us for the past 70 years, then maybe none of us will
survive. The State of Israel has managed to eliminate more than 65% of us, and that's only in
the past 70 years. If the State of Israel continues to get away with every crime, then yeah, it
will not take more 70 years to finish us. So in order for that blind belief in hope, and blind
belief in Justice to formalize, we need to see the support the State of Israel is provided with in
terms of diplomacy, economy, military, we need to start seeing that stopping and coming to
an end. Because without the State of Israel being held accountable for every crime that the
State has been committing for the past 70 years, it will keep going on, and it will keep until
they manage to finish the Palestinian presence in Palestine. And they just had like for the past
like more than 65% of the population in the past 70 years, so it's not going to take another 70
years. I understand that the Brazilian government refuses to accept an Israeli settler to be the
ambassador of Israel in Tel Aviv, in Brasilia I'm sorry. Which is like a good step in the right
direction, but the question is why is an Israeli ambassador in Brasilia, that's the question. It's
not whether he's a settler or not a settler. The question is why do you have a racist
representative, a racist regime in Brazil, you know. Brazil did not have, in the 80's at least,
they did not have an ambassador of South Africa in Brazil, you know. When is the
government of Brazil is going to treat the State of Israel for what it is, you know? That's the
question, doesn't matter whether you are a settler of not a settler, the question is whether you

62
are racist Zionist or not a racist Zionist. Whether you believe the Palestine belongs to Jews
only or Palestine belongs to everyone, whether you believe Palestine has to be home for
Jewish people only or Palestine has to be home for everyone. Whether you believe Palestine
has to have a form of Jewish superiority or shouldn't have no superiority whatsoever, you
know. That's it. Anyways.

Any more questions? (Laughs) Yeah you have a lot of questions in your mind.

(Laughs) Yeah, actually you started talking about a lot of things and I don't stop
thinking as well. Like so, you said Palestine is a place for everybody, so you also believe
in a one State solution?

I don't believe in a State solution; I don't believe in any of that bullshit. (Laughs).

No I said the word bullshit, but... It doesn't matter what form of government, like Palestine
should be governed with, as long as the system in control would grant and protect the rights of
every single person, regardless of their ethnicity, language or religious background. The
system in control of Palestine treats people based on what wound they came out of, if you are
born in a Jewish family, then you are born with a superior status. If you are born in a non-
Jewish family in Palestine, you are born with an inferior status. Doesn't matter what you do,
you are born in that status. And the system in control grants that status, you know? It's very
obvious that the life of every Palestinian would be completely different you know if they were
born in Jewish families, you know. I think in the 21st century it's very absurd that we still
have regimes that treat people based on what families they were born for; doesn't matter what
kind of State it is. Today is a State that is in control, the problem is probably not one State, the
problem is with the fact is that the State is fascist and racist State. That's the problem, the
State that is in control of Palestine today is a State that provides superior Status for certain
group of people, and inferior status for another group of people simply for you being born
within this family or being born within that family. How is that different from any racist
regime? A Jewish person was discriminated against in Germany not because he did anything
that calls for being treated in a criminal way, no, simply for being born. And I think in the
21st century, in the 21st century we need to stop believing that is okay to be treated the way
you are being treated simply because you are born. I think yeah, it's kind of racist and it needs
to stop. It's a one State already, you have a lot of distractions, like for example everyone is
talking about two States solution, you know? Or three states solution or non-State solution.
Before you talk about solutions, you need to actually recognize the problem that you want the
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solution for, and the problem is racism, the problem is fascism, the problem is discriminatory
systems. Let's say the Palestinians have a state in the West Bank in Gaza, how would that free
non-Jewish people from the racism of the State of Israel within the State of Israel? Let's say
Palestinians have like a reality in which they will live under the direct civil control of the
State of Israel in West Bank in Gaza, how does that will make sure they will not be an outcast
population? Like Palestinian population is not even a second or third or fourth or fifth class of
the State of Israel, they are completely outside the class system, you know. It's not like they
even are tenth class, they are completely outside, because the State of Israel stands for jews
only, that says by default if you are not Jewish you have no rule in this State. The problem is
not with the number of States here, the problem is with the nature of that State, do you want a
racist State or do you want a State for everyone born in it, regardless of skin color, regardless
of their religion, regardless of their ethnic background, regardless of all these things. Rights
have to be granted and protected, how many states there are in Brazil?

27

27 states. And seems all right, right? You can't say a black person has more rights than a
white person, you can't say that. Or a catholic has more rights than a non-Catholic person. The
number of states does not matter; what matter is the behavior of that State.

Entrevista com Hamzeh Dagash Abedrabbu

My name is Hamzeh. I'm living in Deheisieh refugee camp. I was born here and I grow up
here too. I was raised here, but I'm originally not from here, from this refugee camp exactly.
I'm originally from a village in the south of Jerusalem, which is 12 kilometers far. I can't go, I
can't go to live there because my grandfather was fled out since 1948, since the Arab Israeli
war, the catastrophe, in Arabic is called the Nakba. So, since that day we became refugees and
my father was born here too, but my grandfather was born in Jerusalem, was born in that that
village and he was grown up there, he was raised there. After the 1948 war we came to this
refugee camp temporarily but until now we have no solution. We have no other property to
move to. So, we are here.

How is to grow inside a refugee camp? What are the main issues you face?

The main issue that I face in the camp was the day when I was born. The 24th of February,
just two days ago (laughs). The thing is when my mother was giving birth, on that time there
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was a curfew. Curfew, I'm not sure if you know what does it mean curfew. Curfew it means
that you are in the house, like a home arrestment for everybody. You can't move even if there
is a humanitarian issue. And this was an humanitarian issue, but the camp was totally closed
by the soldiers, by the military and you can't go outside you home. It was hard for my mother
to give birth without a midwife to help her so my father break the curfew. He was stopped
many times by the soldiers, they faced him in the camp, the reason was "I want to bring the
midwife for my wife". And the midwife came after one hour and a half, while it was snowing
as well. There was a curfew, there were soldiers in every corner in the camp. So she came and
helped my mother and I came. But this is the main obstacle for my mother. I felt ashamed
somehow that my mother suffered because of me. We both suffered because of these
circumstances and the situations was tough during the First Intifada because I was born in
1988 and the Intifada started in 1987. So, I ask myself a lot about "why me?" I never say
"why not others?". I never say this. But why me exactly. Why us Palestinians ? On the other
hand, on the other side there is someone at the same time, the same hour, the same day his
mother or her mother she gave birth with good care. Doctors, nurses around here. Warm
place, not while it was snowing we had no heather inside the house and if had there was no
electricity. So, why is that? I never find answer for my question. And I was too questioner at
this life. In my life I was too questioner. I'm always asking about everything. I like to know
all the details about that. So all that I've learned about Palestine what I've learned since I've
grown in this refugee camp. All the think that I got, all the History, only by talk. The school,
for me it wasn't...My school wasn't in the camp. What I've learned not in the school because
I've studied about Jordan, totally. Everything about Jordan: the Geography, the History,
everything because there were no Palestinian books at that time. So my grandfather, my
grandmother, my father, my mother they were all the time teaching me about this life. Why
we are here and what does it mean Palestine because at that time I didn't know. I knew only
this place this refugee camp. This is my own place or not my own place. I didn't know exactly
what does it mean because during that time also the camp was totally closed by fence. It was
a big prison for me. My childhood wasn't that amazing. It's not an amazing life to grow up and
to raise in a refugee camp while there was everything closed. No place to go, no place to play,
no playground around. The stereotype I have about Israel when someone mentions Israel in
front of me or I hear that word I imagine like a soldier with a gun because I was raised in the
First and the Second Intifada. The second Intifada started I was thirteen already, so yani that's
what Israel means to me. That's the stereotype. (Pause)

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You said you didn't have the books about Palestine because you studied in Jordan
books. So you think the role of your family was important to your knowledge about
Palestine?

For sure. I'm lucky that I grow up while my grandmother and my grandpa were still alive.
They could tell me something. My grandfather he is dead now. He passed away in 1993, but
he had a strong mind, he could remember everything he could talk to you. But my
grandmother passed away in 2008 but she had Alzheimer. (Pause)(cough) She had Alzheimer
(choking up). She can't remember my name, the name of my father, about her life but she was
all the time remembering the life in the neighborhood before the leave, before the Nakba. All
the time you tell her "What's my name? " She told me: "Ahmed". I told her: "No, I'm not
Ahmed". So she told me" I don't know you. Who are you? Who's you father? Who's your
mother?" But when I tell her like: "Grandma, please tell me what's happening during the
Nakba, (choking up) she started (pause).I never forget, she had something...really. I was
surprised. Once I told her like, this is so funny (laughs). Once I told her: Grandma, how old
are you? She told me: 350. I told her: what? You finished since long time (laughs). I was
more child. Because our relation was so strong because she get the Alzheimer. I was all the
time with her and do shops for her. So the lovely person who all the time make you annoyed.
So she was the one loves me a lot. She told me 350. I told her: "No, they finish. The people.
They live like for 300 they finish since long time. She told me: "Shut up! Yani, count with
me! Yalla! Yssa my uncle. His age is like 70. Mousse is 60". She started to count the age of
the sons and daughters and plus (lots of laughs).

The UNRWA Commissioner General said the Palestine Refugees are not like the other
refugees because they are refugees inside they own territory and they don't have a place
to come back. How do you feel and what do you think about that?

(Silence) I only think that there is a resolution from 1949. The number of that resolution is
194. This is important for me to keep. To still hold the dream that one day we're going back to
our homes where we came from. This is the only thing. I don't trust any politician. I don't
listen to them. I never feel that there is someone right know that could solve our problem that
could solve our crisis. Not one crisis a lot of crisis. With the United Nations. With the Israeli.
With the Palestinian. We have a lot of crisis about who could represent us. The one who
represents me is me. The refugees. Is me as a refugee so the group of refugees and the
resolution 194. So this is the one who represents me and could take me to the village where I

66
came from because I feel it's holy. I can't judge there is no work and no one can succeed. I
can't judge because it becomes complicated. They have now a state, they built the wall, they
built everything, they built checkpoints. They did whatever they wanted to protect themselves.
But the Israelis themselves don't know who are the refugees or who are the Palestinians. Who
lives on the other side? Who lives behind this wall? They don't know. So what I would like to
tell them is that there is a human being who lived in Jerusalem, who was born there and must
go back one day to their homes. I have no comments. I have no comments about this because
I'm out of words most of the time when I talk about that issue. The only think I could talk
about is 194 is ensured by the United Nations and ensured for the Palestinians to solve that
problems. I wish that Israel let we come back to their homes and then live in peace with their
neighbors.

You said you are represented by the refugees and by the 194 UN Resolution. And what
about the youth? Do you have hope in them?

I hadn't, really. I told you I got lucky to have my grandfather and grandmother alive when I
was growing up. You know, when you teach a small kid is not like teaching an old person
who have knowledge Its important to teach you own kid while he or she is growing up in this
tough place. I told you I never stopped questioning about this life about why I'm here about
everything. Things that were very important to know when I was a small child. This youth
today (pause) I never expected anything from them. But if you look to the media today about
who is leading all the clashes all the demonstrations are seventeen, sixteen years old. This is
the fourth generation of the Nakba. This is the fourth generation of refugees. This is fourth
generation of local Palestinians, not only refugees. They are the fourth generation of the
Nakba and they still continue. Now I feel there is no fear. We still hold the dream of the right
of return. There is someone tomorrow that could speak for one of them, that might be in a
position to talk about the problem better than anyone.

What do you think are the main differences and similarities between your generation
(third) and their generation(fourth)?

The school was a big challenge. I didn't have a good education but I graduated from
University. The books about Palestine didn't exist at that time. They have the chance now to
read and to get more about exactly what does Palestine mean to us as refugees, as locals, as
Palestinians in general. Everyone has the chance to read and to know more about the
Palestinian. Also they have Facebook, they have Youtube, yani...I hadn't. A long time ago
67
there was no Wi-Fi, there was no Skype, there was no messenger, nothing. The life is
changed.

And you think this new life is good for the struggle?

Yes, it's good. I mentioned the clashes. I mentioned the demonstrations. I'm not against them
but I'm not with sometimes. People when they hear about this in the western world, when they
hear about clashes and everything they think we started. So I'll not comment on this. Who
lead now all the actions is the youth, and this is good.

Is the situation of Palestine a conflict? An occupation? Why?

Actually what I think is that it's not a conflict, it's not an occupation. It's colonization. It's
colonization exactly. This is the right word to talk about because it's colonies, not settlements,
colonies. Because settler is the one that settles in a place. So no, it's colonization. It's
completely colonization. They want to delete the Palestinian id, the Palestinian culture, the
Palestinian history. So this is a colonization. The occupation must leave one day. Since 67,
almost 67 years we have no idea about when this occupation will leave. So it's a colonization.
Occupation it's a beautiful meaning for something, but on the ground what happens is
colonization.

And something I would really like to say is that what happens here it's not a religious conflict.
It's political. We're talking only about politics. Poltica (Laughs for trying to say the word in
Portuguese).

I know you hear this question a lot of times, but I need to ask: do you have hope?

For sure. For sure. The children that I'm working with. The youth that I'm working with. I
teach them "No hate". (Pause) (writes "no hate" in a notepad and keeps underlining it) That is
"Yes for hope. Yes for hope. (Writes hope in a notepad and underlines it) Yani... That's a
vote for hope all the time. Keep the hope alive. Keep it. Keep it. One day will happen. If you
don't have hope that one day you will come back to you home, hope that one day you could be
a doctor. You could be a teacher. You could be water and sanitation officer. You work for you
own community, you own society, you own people. Never lose hope. Really, if I had lost
hope I was dead since a long time. I must had passed away since a long time, since ten years
ago or since the time when I grew up in this refugee camp during the first Intifada when I was
seven years old and the big prison was pushing me down. The thing is that I was making
jokes. I was making something that could refresh my ability, could refresh my mood about the
68
things in the ground. Nobody looses hope in this country. Nobody. That's why you see people
like social workers, doctors, nurses, volunteering. They stay with the children. Not for, but
with. I hate that word "for". We work "with" them because they are the base of the society.
And yes, everybody has hope. Everybody keep the hope alive since a long time. That's why
we still alive.

Entrevista com Jamal Juma

I'm Jamal Juma. I'm the coordinator of Stop the Wall Campaign, which is a Palestinian
grasroots movement for popular resistance against the occupation, wall and settlements, all of
this.

Could you explain Stop the Wall's work?

Yes. We started the movement immediately when Israel started building the Wall in the West
Bank in 2002. We started like in the model of the First Intifada which was forming the
popular committees to resist the bulldozers and the destruction of the land, and their
endorsement of the agricultural areas, because when they started in the north they started in
areas where people depend on agriculture. So they cause a lot of destruction to the villages
there, to the communities there. So we started following these popular committees to start,
like, organizing demonstrations, activities and to address this for journalists, to media for the
internationals in solidarity with the cause that comes from outside. The other thing that we
were doing was the media work and the documentation. So we were documenting everything,
all the violations of the occupation, the activities we were doing. And the third part is the
international outreach, which is to show the people the real face of Israel. Specially on that
time we had the Second Intifada and we were under siege, the situation was really, very, very
bad, so we had to take the word out. As we have been being accused by terrorism around the
world like yani, on that time it was very important to show the real terrorism that was
happening. From the early beginning for us it was clear what Israel is doing is leading a big,
big colonial project, which is the role that they meant to control the Palestinian people to
steal as much as the the land of the Palestinian. It's in total it's changing the total geopolitical
map of the Palestine to enable, to control the Palestinian people within ghettoes, divide them
and lock them in those ghettoes and bantustans , closed areas, and take over all the Palestinian
resources from land and water. So that's why we built our international outreach campaign
which is based mainly, specially after the ICG ruled the wall is illegal and must be finished
69
immediately and stopped immediately and return back the land to the people. This is a racist
colonial project. It's an apartheid. So that's why we started calling for BDS. From that time
and we started working with the Palestinian society on establishing the Palestinian National
Committee for BDS, which is the leading movement, the leaders of the movement around the
world, the BDS movement. In 2005 we launched the Palestinian civil society, the BDS
movement a call that we launched to the world asking the international community to work
with Israel isolated and disinvested from them, and to comply the International Law. And the
Palestinians have their fundamental rights. We are based in three fundamental rights: ending
the occupation from 67, the right of return from the Palestinian people to their homelands that
has been expelled from them from 1948 and 1967, and also to end the racial discrimination
system against the Palestinians, specially in 48 and the apartheid system as well, is 48 and 67.

The movement was growing in the last years by the struggle we came growing up against the
wall and the settlements. It became the leading of the popular resistance in Palestine with
other popular committees that started to form here and there. And the main confrontation with
the occupation was done by the anti-wall movement in general. Lately, in 2013 we had a kind
of evaluation of our work and we decided to expand the grassroots movement, so we
established what we call today the land defense coalition, which is an umbrella for the
grassroots movement, including the Stop the Wall, the Farmers Union, the new Trade
Unions, the Youth Movement, which is called Palestine Social Youth Forum, and also the
Jordan Valley comes, which is a popular council to protect the Jordan Valley and some other
grassroots organizations as well as they fit under this umbrella. In a way we are like, yani,
expanding the grassroots to create like a national social movement, political, against the
occupation, that would lead the Palestinian civil society on the ground or continue the leading
with the resistance. In 2006 mainly we started working directly with the youth. And we were
trying and started to work with the youth in order to have a youth movement. The first thing
that the youth, we started working with the youth at the universities and some other groups,
particularly on the local medias and universities. After 2011 when the Arab revolutions
started and we had here like the youth movement started to get in solidarity with the Arab
revolutions and that's where the youth started to be expanded. (Pause). Until 2013 when we
had the sidewalks to build, to establish what we called the Palestine the Youth Forum, which
is going on now in several cities in the West Bank and now we have groups of youth that
became coming together first of all involving the resistance and continue their discussions
between them and making different activities to launch the movement. In June, 1st of June
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they I'll have their big conference when they'll come together from around the West Bank.
Some 250 - 300 youth together ready with their bylaws, with their strategies, with their action
plan and to be clear about themselves. And they are artful, so the land defense coalition. So
most of our work is focused really on the grassroots and in how to strengthening the different
bodies in their fields to become together like, yani, in a Palestine wider movement. That we
continue the struggle.

As you mentioned the youth, what do you think are the main differences between your
and their generations?

The time is different. During my generation for example, like, in the early twenties I've just
finished the University, that was in the 80's so in that time we didn't had Oslo, we have strong
political parties, all of us worked underground, we work on civil society as well, so we had
grassroots organizations working on the top of the surface as like an arm in the civil society, a
civil society arm of the political parties. So our generation were involved strongly in the
movements. We had been learned within our own movements, we had been educated by our
parties, so our political education, our social building the movement, all of this we've been
educated there. The nation was much more aware, much more in to it's issues from who are in
the school. So the problem of this generation who born after Oslo, they born while we have a
weak national movement and parties and they stop trusting and educating the youth and that
has been left to the Palestinian Authority, and the PA does not care about educating the youth,
especially politically. So in a way they want a generation who is not interest in politics and
they don't have to much loyalty to their cause. So that's I would say for one to politicians
together that where like the Israelis and also the Authority, everyone was talking about this
generation is a loser generation because they have...their interest in life is not politics and they
don't have loyalty to their cause, thy are loyal to their own personal issues and they are
uneducated. But the thing that shocked everything and shocked the hole system is the Intifada
that started in October, last October [2015] which was started by teenagers, by this generation
that everybody was talking about them as losers, and they proved they are a very strong
generation. We can rely on them, they are politicized and they have loyalty to their issues and
to their country and to the cause. And I'm really happy for that, yani, like we have the
generation that we can trust. So it means that the resistance will continue, generation after
generation. It's just like relax you, even in the worst situation you have a generation stand up
and lead the revolution. At the same time the political parties were not able to do that and they
don't want to do that. At the same time you have a corrupted government and Authority that
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even against their people against the Intifada and we are no way, yani, we are not doing any
resistance against the occupation, they have a cooperation with the occupation either in the
security and the economy. So to have a generation in the middle of all these things, like they
are stand up strongly and start on their own. This Intifada, that was amazing and just
like relaxing that we can asure that our cause is alive when we stay alive and like you can't
break it's people. So now we became much more convinced and we now became more
determined that we have to work strongly with this generation and with the youth we're
working in order to create their own movement, independent movement where they can talk
about themselves, and talk about their issues and lead their own struggles. For either social,
economic and political issues by themselves. This is one of our main mandates we're going to
stay strongly behind and we're going to continue it until we see this happen. This is the hope.

Most people think what happens here is a conflict and not an occupation. Could you
explain?

When you come here, like, yani, Israel try to show around the world that the issue is a
conflict, a conflict on land and a conflict between two entities that are equal to each other and
the thing that strengthens this believe around the world is Oslo Agreements, which is
reproduced by Palestinian Authority, so we have presidents, we have ministers, we have
legislation of council, we have police, so this is a kind of yani, a sentence for a State, which is
untrue, because this Authority has no sovereignty of anything. Even Abu Mazen [Mahmoud
Abbas] if he wants to move to a place to another he have to have a permission from the Israeli
soldiers. Our economy is totally controlled. When you come here you are talking about a very
restricted military ruling, military occupation that's controlling every single thing of the
Palestinians life. And there's some colonialist settlers whose criminals are cooperating with
the army into stealing the Palestinian land, destroying their houses and committing crimes
against the Palestinians and we're just like... So, last year, one of the much more horrible
crimes that has been done by this fanatic criminal settlers by burning a family and the children
in their homes. And they did it twice. They did in Jerusalem against
the [incomprehensible] they watched the family in, and they are ready to do much more
bigger crimes than that. That besides all the other crimes they are doing almost daily in the
Palestinian areas. Attacking the Palestinians cars, burning their fields, (emphasis) even killing
them, attacking them by their cars. Yani, one day a Palestinian was crossing over the street he
was run over by a car. And there's no law to take them to courts. The settlers could kill a
Palestinian and go home. Even in the worst cases in crimes like killing or burning people, the
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Israeli government will find excuses that this person might be crazy or psycho, so... and they
don't judge them, give them a sentence for long years. While for Palestinians, any Palestinian,
youth, he will doubt he will have a knife or he doubt he has something suspicious he would
shoot him immediately and they will destroy his family's house and would chase them from
where they are and they became living in a disaster from the Israeli chasing. So other than the
hole stealing the land of the people that's happening daily so where's the conflict? This is an
occupation; this is like an oppression that is going on daily against the people. It's an ethnic
cleansing that's going against our people. If you talk about Jordan Valley you talk about like
30% of the West Bank is the most important agricultural area, resources, and all these
Bedouin communities are with, yani, the life stuck in those areas. Now, the vast majority of
these communities are under ethnic cleansing and they are destroying everyday their homes
and they want to wipe out the hole area from Palestinian farmers, Bedouins in that area.
Where is the conflict in this? It's not like two bodies fighting each other. It's a military that
goes with their bulldozers, with their guns destroying and moving people from their areas and
building colonies on people's land that have been stolen. So we're talking about a military,
about a huge power, a military power that is considered one of the best armies in the world.
Like yani, against the people whose civilians are disarmed.

What do you think is the role of the International Community?

Look, if you talk about International Community you talk about two things, to be fair, yani:
We're talking about the governments and the mainstream, the systems that are running in the
world and the organizations like the United Nations and there's the European Union, all these
things, which is totally biased, totally biased and never hold Israeli accountable for any of
the crimes that they did. And this is one of our main struggles. You know, how to pressure
these governments and this political bodies in order to take the responsibility over the hole
violations that happens against the Palestinians and the crimes that are committed against the
Palestinian people. The other part the International Community is the Civil Society and their
movements. This part is the one we are relying on. This one that we stand up since now
twelve years we'll like a very effective solidarity with Palestine which is the BDS movement.
BDS Movement that started now Israel to consider them the BDS movement is one of the
main threats for the Israeli as a Jewish state. So this is ironic, this is yani, this is not true.
BDS movement is a civil right movement. Is a human rights movement that is calling the
International Community to implement the International Law and to support the Palestinian
rights, the main fundamental rights for liberation, for freedom, for the return back to their
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homelands [incomprehensible]. They have the right like any other people in the world to live
in their own state in their own land, enjoy a normal life, not being chased, not being
oppressed. All these decades one after the other, seven decades almost now under this very
brutal occupation that's going on. So what's really needed from the International Community
it's to strengthen the pressure on the government. (Pause) What we need is to strengthen the
expanding of the BDS Movement and expanding the pressure on the international bodies in
order to sanction Israel, in order to stop like funding the occupation, to stop dealing with
occupation. It's responsibilities in different angles. There's like the companies
responsibilities. International companies to stop doing investments and benefiting from the
Israeli occupation and to boycott the Israeli organizations, Israeli state, Israeli banks,
corporates because they are deeply involved in the oppression and in the violations of the
human rights. This responsibility we're doing in the universities as well for the academic
boycott to put pressure on the Israeli universities who's backing on the occupation. The Israeli
universities like, their laboratories are open for military, for the producing and testing and
researching about the arms and the different needs of support of the occupation. So I think this
is one of the main effective strategies for solidarity with Palestine. It has proved itself to be
very effective. And we think as it worked with South Africa, like with the International
Community standing up for the rights of the south-african people to end the apartheid system,
I think there's a big responsibility of the International Community to stand up with the
Palestinian struggle for the rights and to end up the colonization, the occupation and the
apartheid system that Israel is practicing worse than South Africa in Palestine.

And a question I know everyone asks you: Do you have hope?

Of course, the hope is always there. Without the hope you can't continue the struggle and we
will surrender we will surrender to this leveling system we are creating. We are hoping for be
and a 100% sure that Palestinian people is very optimistic people because we believe deeply
that oppression can't go forever. Colonization can't go forever. The historical experience has
been showed that the racism, colonialism has been finished and has not continued forever as
long as the people continue their struggle. And we trust our people, we trust ourselves that we
are very good, very kind people, but at the same time we are a very strong people as we were
able to stand now close to seven decades in front of this huge military power that they have all
the support from the international ministry establishment and we're still fighting, still stand
up, we are still smiling, we're still continue struggling generation after generation. Palestine
was under colonization most of it's life, since two thousand, three thousand years Palestine
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was suffering from big empires that colonized Palestine. And all of them done. So why Israel
will stay which they are one of the most brutal occupation and colonization that have been
past in Palestine. So believe in our power, believe in people's power around the world,
people's supporting around the world, that we are fighting for human rights, we are fighting
for humanity. That's what makes the Palestine problem as International. Because here we are
freedom fighters, we are fighting for the humanity and for the morals for the human beings.

Entrevista com Jameel Jahalin

Can you start introducing yourself, please?

Yes. My name is Jameel Jahalin, I am from a tribe called Al- Jahalin and I was born in this
area 1948, we are from South Palestine, from the Negev area called Tel Arad. We transferred
from this area, our tribe and another tribe, in the 1948 war, and after the 1948 war most of our
tribe transferred to the east top of the West Bank, and this area in this time was under the
Jordanian control, and in 1967 war, the Israeli occupied this area, our tribe transferred to the
Jordan and part of our family stayed here. We are the Bedouin, we have the life stuck in the
rife. We have a special life because we move in season time, we sometimes have a place in
the winter, and we have a place in the summer. We go to the hot area in the winter, and go to
the mountain in the summer.

After 1967, when the Israeli occupied this area, we started to see a difficulty to move from
this area to another area. After 1970, we have the Bedouins in this area fixed the community,
in Beer Shevaa moving with the sheep and coming back to the main community. In this time,
in 1994, Israel classified this area, make the agreement with the PA, make agreement the area
where we live, the C area (all of this area under Israel control. Israel have classified with
many classifications to this C area, Part this area, military zone, part of this area natural area,
part of this area settlement area. And after this Israel see we are here illegal, we dont have the
right to live here. We should be moved or transferred from here to the village or to the city,
and this is a problem to our tribe and our family because the Bedouin life is very different
from life in the village and in the city.

Because after 1948 war, all the Palestinian were transferred from the 1948 area, all the family
go to the refugee camp, but the Bedouin tribe lives in the desert and in the open area because
need this area, to its special life, its special culture. Each community depends on the

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component of the family, each from the same family, and because all of them have the
animals and livestock we need to the wide area to the best grazing grant to our animals.

After 1995, Israel started to give the Bedouins in this area demolition order, demolition order
and transferred a lot of Bedouins families from the land to build the settement, to build the
way to make training, to military training and transferred in 1998 the Bedouins from east
Jerusalem, from where is now built Maale Adumim Settlement to another place to the land
onto another people and come to these Bedouins, small come and these Bedouins lost all of
the source of their life, lost all their animals, lost all sheep and camels.

After 2003, all of the Bedouin community had the demolition ordered. In this community,
about 15 families live here, about 74 people live in this community, Al Hamadeen
community. We have the demolition order. They give us the demolition order in 1997 and in
2012 they gave us the demolition order, and in 2014 they gave us the evacuation order to
leave from here and transfer because this area is Israel occupation, they tell us this is area for
the training, military training. But we see no training in this area, because we use this area
[since] before 1967, and we see the man away far from here, about 400 meters, and Israeli in
1972, built the Netiv Hagdud around 800 meters from here. We cannot make any training
from here, but maybe this is in this case this is the reason, one of the reasons, to transfer our
family from there to another place to increase the area and built another settlement.

But this is the case, we work with the UN, National Organizations, with the National Country,
with PA, Palestinian Authority, with all of the families in this area, with NRC, Norwegian
Refugee Council, to stop this plan because or we return to our land in the Negev or we stay
here to make a solution between the PA and Israel.

Ok. And, as you said, you are illegal for them, so how do you manage to live here, like
water and natural resources you need? How do you resist staying here?

In the last year, we used our tractor to bring the water from Nabi Musa and sometimes we use
the sheep and goat, water in [incomprehensible]. But 10 years ago, Israel closed the main
branch from the main way, and we make the nature area. We bring the water by difficult
method, by tractor. Its very expensive to us to bring water from Nabi Musa to go down
around 6 km and then go up 10 km, to recycle from the settlement to go down and then come
here.

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In 2012 our community we see to solve this problem, because if we cannot solve it, this is a
problem, we cant transfer without any forest. We make a water pipe from another community
around 4 km from here, we make a plastic pipe to here. Maybe, the water enough in the winter
maybe in the summer very problem because its not enough to us but this was good than last
time.

In 1997, all students from here go to school by the donkey and they go far, far from here to
Aqbat Jaber Refugee Camp to come to school and come back to here. But in 2012 we go to
the PA Palestinian Authority , to Ministry of Education, because we lost students in the
way. When the students crossed the way and come back to the school we lost small child from
our community, and we need to solve this problem. And the Ministry of Education gave all of
the Bedouin community here minibus to transport the students from here to the school, to
Aqbat Jaber Refugee Camp and come back to here.

This is too problem, we need to solve this: I see if you need to support or develop the Bedouin
community. We cant develop this community from the Bedouin family, and youth and the
people. But we can not demand on Israeli to close all the resources, the resources very
important to their lifes, so it need to close all of this because we need to transfer all the
Bedouin to another place. But now we work with many NGO to provide the Bedouin, all the
family here, with solar panels, because the electricity is very important to the life in this time.

Last year, in April we connected all the Bedouin tents with the solar panels, this is electricity
for the light and the simple occupant. This is very important to the Bedouin because the small
child need to study in the light, the woman need to see when they enter to the tent or anything,
this is very important. We see the Bedouin have the traditional life, the Palestine community
is classified to 3 type: the city, people in the city, the people in the village, villagers, and the
people in the desert called Bedouin. This is 3 classifications of the people in our land. If we
transfer all of the Bedouin in the desert to the village, we can not see any component of the
desert. This is people, this is men, this is people, this is women, live in the desert, adapt with
this weather. Why Israel want to transfer all the Bedouin to another place, to another land, to
another people?

Entrevista com Manuela da Rosa Jorge

Bom dia. Meu nome Manuela, eu sou de Florianpolis. Sou formada em Relaes
Internacionais e assim que eu me formei, em 2013, eu decidi vir para a Palestina para
77
aprimorar meus conhecimentos e para fazer um internship, um estgio, na BADIL, que eu
posso falar um pouco mais depois, e eu passei seis meses aqui, depois voltei para o Brasil,
fiquei um ano e meio l e agora voltei para c em setembro de 2015.

Por que voc decidiu vir para a Palestina?

Mais por interesse pessoal mesmo. Por interesse no Oriente Mdio em si e na questo
Palestina-Israel e para tentar entender um pouco o que a mdia no mostra n. E ento eu
decidi participar do International Summer Camp da Lajee Center que so duas semanas de
palestras. Ns ramos vinte e cinco voluntrios do mundo todo. Ns ficamos hospedados em
uma escola aqui em Beit Jala, que aqui pertinho do Aida Camp e ficamos duas semanas
todos juntos e tivemos palestras, trocamos experincias. Tinha gente que sabia um pouco
mais, gente que sabia um pouco menos. Foi muito bacana. Foi bem bacana. E depois eu
participei seis meses no estgio em comunicao na BADIL, que uma organizao palestina
que foca no direito de retorno dos refugiados palestinos para as suas vilas, para as suas
cidades.

E por que voc voltou para a Palestina agora?

Ento, quando eu estava aqui eu conheci o Dawud, que daqui do campo de Aida. Eu conheci
ele durante o Summer Camp porque ele trabalhava na Lajee e ns acabamos casando e ele foi
comigo para o Brasil, ficamos l um ano e meio e resolvemos voltar para c para ficar um
pouco aqui, ficar um pouco com a famlia dele, para viver um pouco aqui no campo. E por
isso que eu voltei com ele agora e aqui estamos.

Como morar em um campo de refugiados na Palestina?

difcil. difcil por conta do dia a dia porque a qualquer hora os soldados podem invadir ou
os meninos vo jogar pedras no muro ento os soldados vo revidar, ou s vezes eles esto em
treinamento e entram no campo apenas para treinar e neste treinamento eles jogam gs
lacrimognio e tambm a skink water que uma gua com um cheiro horrvel que fica
impregnado nas paredes das casas, e tambm balas de borracha, que tendem a machucar
muito srios os meninos. Ento o dia a dia no campo por conta disso difcil. Tirando isso a
comunidade maravilhosa. Assim, no tem muita privacidade porque as casas so coladas
umas nas outras, mas eles so muito famlia. Tirando a questo dos soldados tranquilo. Mas
difcil.

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Como foi para voc sair do Brasil e vir para c? Quais foram as maiores diferenas que
voc percebeu?

Acredito que pra mim no incio as maiores dificuldades foram as culturais, de morar dentro de
uma comunidade como um campo, porque aqui todo mundo se conhece. Como eu falei as
casas so uma do ladinho da outra, todo mundo sabe o que est acontecendo, alm da questo
cultural tambm de relacionamento n, de "eu estou namorando, mas eu no posso dizer que
eu estou namorando" e tambm da questo da ocupao em si n, de eu poder ir pra
Jerusalm, mas ningum aqui do campo pode ir pra Jerusalm porque eles no tm
autorizao, de se sentir um pouco impotente de no poder fazer nada, no poder fazer nada
para ajudar, nada para contribuir. Ento isso tambm foi uma dificuldade de aceitar a minha
impotncia de no poder fazer nada. No mximo talvez escrever um artigo ou tentar talvez
trazer mais pessoas para fazer um voluntariado n, mas no mais difcil aceitar essa
dificuldade de no poder fazer nada.

E quais so as maiores dificuldades de se viver sob ocupao?

Eu acho que uma das principais dificuldades eu acredito que a impossibilidade de

movimentao, de eu querer ir de Belm para Ramalah, ou mesmo querer ir de Belm para
Jerusalm, que seria quinze minutos, e mesmo se tu puderes ir como estrangeiro demoras
quase uma hora com nibus por conta dos checkpoints. Mas como um palestino ou como
vivendo em uma famlia palestina, como o meu caso agora, eu acho que a falta de sonhos,
a falta de esperana mesmo tendo esperana. querer um amanh melhor sabendo que esse
amanh no vai vir ou sabendo que tu no vais estar aqui para ver este amanh melhor chegar.
Ou de na tua famlia tu presenciar coisas que tu no podes mudar e de ter raiva, e querer fazer
alguma coisa, mas tu sabes que no vai poder fazer nada para mudar isso, e que se tu fizer
alguma coisa ou tu vai acabar morrendo, como os meninos agora que esfaqueiam ou que
jogam pedras, acabam na priso, acabam morrendo, ou tu vai acabar sendo deportada ou
banida, que o que acontece com estrangeiros que tentam fazer alguma coisa.

Voc j passou por algum momento de medo, de querer voltar, de desespero?

Passei. Na primeira vez que eu vim os soldados israelenses...Estavam

tendo clashes, confrontos entre os rapazes do campo e os soldados aqui em Aida e uma noite
estava chovendo muito, muito frio. Os soldados invadiram o campo. Mas eles invadiram,
invadiram, assim. Eram mais de 500 soldados. Eles entraram em todas as casas. Foram 85%
das casas que eles entraram. A minha casa foi uma das que eles entraram. Eu no morava com
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o meu marido ainda porque eu no era casada, eu morava em um apartamento mais aqui para
trs. Eles entraram no apartamento, revistaram todos os quartos, pediram meu passaporte,
meu visto, meu telefone, por que eu estava aqui...e nesse momento eu fiquei, eu fiquei sem
palavras assim. Eu queria dizer: "no, voc no pode ver meu passaporte porque eu estou sob
a lei internacional, a lei civil", mas eu no consegui fazer nada. Eu simplesmente dei meu
passaporte, fiquei olhando que nem, sabe? De ficar sem reao. E depois, na internet, durante
a noite. Ningum dormiu, todo mundo ficou acordado, eu vi que em outras casas foi um
pesadelo assim. Eles destruram as casas, eles fizeram xixi nos sapatos, assustaram as
crianas, simplesmente sentaram na mesa e abriram um mapa do campo: "vamos invadir tal,
vamos prender tal". Ento quer dizer, comigo no foi nada demais comparado com as outras
famlias. Mas por ter sido a minha primeira vez dessa situao eu fiquei chocada, sem reao
e foi bem difcil. E agora quando eu voltei, por conta dessa onda desde outubro que esto
tendo esses clashes, esses confrontos dirios, teve um noite em que os soldados tambm
invadiram o campo, e eles soltam sound bombs, so bombas de som que soltaram aqui perto
da minha casa e esse dia parecia uma zona de guerra assim, porque a teve tiros, e teve essas
bombas, e esse dia eu tremia e sentei no cho e falei: "Dawud", falei pro meu marido: "Que
isso? Eu quero ir para casa! O que est acontecendo?" Foi horrvel, mas foi s esse dia
tambm porque no final triste, cruel, mas tu se acostumas. E essa uma das crueldades eu
acho, de tu morar na Palestina, ou tu nascer palestino, porque esse dia a dia vira a tua
realidade, e por mais cruel que seja tu acabas se acostumando, ento eu acabei me
acostumando. Tem um dia ou outro que eu ainda fico um pouco: "ai", uma bomba, ou uma
coisa assim, um som que me faz pular, mas no geral eu acostumei eu acho.

O que voc acha dessa sensao de se acostumar?

Eu acho cruel. Eu acho cruel, eu acho desumano porque eu acredito que nenhum ser humano
tenha que se acostumar a viver em uma ocupao militar ilegal. Perante Conveno de
Genebra e perante Conveno tal e Conveno tal e resolues da ONU uma ocupao
ilegal, mas que perante aos olhos do ocidente ningum fala que ilegal. No querer
vitimizar os palestinos e demonizar os israelenses, mas isso aqui uma ocupao ilegal, os
assentamentos so ilegais, essa restrio de movimento ilegal, ento eu acho que isso
muito cruel, essa sensao de te acostumares a viver em uma realidade que ilegal e ser
refugiado no teu prprio pas, que uma coisa que difcil de entender, mas ns estamos em
um campo de palestinos que so refugiados na prpria Palestina, ento para mim uma palavra

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que definiria seria crueldade, de tu te acostumar a uma coisa que tu no deverias ter que te
acostumar.

E voc tem esperana?

Eu tenho esperana porque eu quero que os meus filhos possam vivem em uma Palestina
livre, que eles possam visitar Jerusalm, que eles possam visitar Nazar, Haifa, Yaffa, Jaffa,
mas eu acho difcil, eu acho difcil porque no fim das contas nenhum dos lados quer ceder,
querendo ou no. E a gente no pode chamar de conflito quando um lado o opressor e o
outro lado o oprimido, no um conflito porque no so lados iguais na balana de poderes,
na balana de foras. Ento eu tenho esperana porque eu tenho que ter, mas difcil, difcil
ter esperana em um cenrio to desigual e to desumano como a questo da Palestina.

Entrevista com Mohammad Kabneh*

Voc pode contar um pouco sobre como a sua vida em rea C ?

Ns vivamos naquela regio (aponta) e fomos expulsos para c. Ns vivamos em uma rea
aberta, natural. Tirvamos a gua das fontes naturais, como poos subterrneos, e da chuva
para as ovelhas e para as cabras. Nasci l em 1965. Vivamos ali, mas estudvamos no campo
de refugiados de Aqbat Jabr, prximo daqui. No incio no tnhamos problemas, no haviam
os israelenses, mas a partir dos anos 1970 eles comearam a nos assediar.

Comearam a ocupar a rea em que vivamos e determinaram-na como rea militar fechada
para treino, o que ingls chamado de fine zone, zona de prtica de tiro, zona militar.
Trouxeram um papel com uma ordem de despejo dizendo que eles no poderiam mais ficar l
e ordenando que sassemos. Colocaram blocos e fecharam o local. Como as pessoas no
queriam sair, eles comearam a atirar nos animais, mataram alguns animais e essas famlias
foram embora. A eles diziam: "vo embora que a gente no mata mais nada".

Os israelenses chegaram para o lder da comunidade e disseram que quem tem a identidade de
Jeric vai para Jeric e quem tem a identidade de Ramalah vai para Ramalah, pois agora aqui
era uma rea militar fechada ento ns no poderamos ficar aqui. Como ns, bedunos, temos
um estilo de vida rural, precisamos viver em espaos abertos e no teramos como manter
nosso estilo de vida na cidade, ento viemos aqui para essa regio, que aproximadamente
quatro quilmetros distante de onde vivamos antes e foi cercado pelos militares.

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Precisvamos de um lugar para as ovelhas pastarem, de gua e recursos naturais para manter
nossos meios de subsistncia.

Foi s darmos um jeito de sobreviver que Israel declarou a rea que estvamos como rea de
proteo ambiental. A partir da confiscavam nossas ovelhas alegando que elas estavam
pastando em rea ilegal e levavam-nas para quarentena. Eles prenderam as minhas ovelhas!
Para consegui-las de volta tivemos que pagar metade do valor que elas valiam e fomos
proibidos de lev-las para pastarem na regio.

Em 1975 ns nos estabelecemos aqui. E como eles continuaram nos oprimindo? Dando
ordens de demolio. Alegaram que era proibido construir casas, estbulos e currais devido
regio ser uma zona de proteo ambiental. Ns ento nos juntamos, todos com ordens de
demolio, e contratamos o advogado israelense Shlomo Lecker, famoso em lidar com essas
causas de demolio de casas de palestinos bedunos, para que as ordens de demolio fossem
suspensas e que consegussemos levar nossa causa para a Suprema Corte de Israel.

Existe um plano de transferncia forada que quer nos remover para a-Nuwei'ma. O plano
prev ceder dunam (o equivalente a 500 m2) de terra para cada famlia, o que no
suficiente, j que o que precisamos no mnimo 5 dunam para construir os currais, nossa casa
e ter espao para os animais serem criados. [O dunam mtrico equivale a: 1.000 metros
quadrados].

Quando construram o assentamento aqui, no lugar onde antes ns vivamos, fomos proibidos
de levar os animais para irem pastar l. Enquanto ocupamos - "ilegalmente"- segundo eles,
estes pequenos espaos, famlias de colonos judeus estrangeiros vindos da Europa recebem
pedaos enormes de terra, como voc pode ver, para plantar tmaras. Eles recebem gua,
eletricidade, estradas, rea verde, e toda a estrutura necessria para plantarem. Enquanto isso,
ns precisamos tomar muito cuidado com nossos animais porque se eles ultrapassam para o
territrio deles, so mortos tiros. ( colonos tem posse de arma e direito segurana privada,
pagos pelo governo. No h punio para a morte de animais nem para a agresso de pessoas
que venham a invadir seu territrio).

Ns ento recusamos o plano de a-Nuwei'ma e dissemos que vamos ficar aqui, que eles
devem fazer um plano especfico para cada comunidade, que j esto estabelecidas em suas
regies. (risos por conta de um bode que invadiu a entrevista para comer os biscoitos que
estavam em cima da mesa).

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Outra questo importante que eles no esto respeitando a nossa cultura com esse plano de
transferncia: esto querendo misturar tribos diferentes em um espao pequeno. Temos muito
respeito com nossas famlias e tribos, com nossas mulheres e viver to prximos de outras
tribos pode gerar problemas. Levamos o processo para a administrao civil israelense e
depois para a Corte e dissemos "citem um lugar dentro de Israel que vocs do apenas 1/2
dunum para uma famlia". Os assentamentos aqui so 10, 20 dunums para um famlia, alm de
toda a estrutura. J fomos expulsos de Enghed h muitos anos e agora querem nos expulsar
de novo? O objetivo sempre reduzir nossa comunidade e viver expulsando e nos confinando
em lugares menores, fazendo com que abandonemos nossos costumes e tradies.

Temos dificuldade em pastorear nossas cabras e ovelhas, no podemos levar pra direita
porque tem um assentamento onde vo matar nossos animais, e esquerda uma rea militar
fechada. O que fazemos s sextas e sbados nos aproximarmos com muito cuidado dessas
regies, j que feriado religioso judaico e no h tanta vigilncia.

Ali atrs daquela montanha tem um tanque de gua do assentamento, ligada a uma bomba de
gua que drena a gua dos nossos poos. Pelo menos tivemos a sorte de conseguir uma outra
fonte de gua e construmos uma estrutura aqui para retirar gua dos poos, mas em algumas
tribos bedunas, como Fasayil e Bardalah, eles constroem a estrutura deles dentro da tribo e
probem a tribo de construir outra, obrigando-os a comprarem gua de caminhes-pipa.

O que voc falaria para as pessoas no Brasil?

Eu gostaria que vocs soubessem da opresso do povo palestino, do processo de expulso, de
demolies, de terrorismo com o povo, desse dia a dia que faz a gente preferir s vezes estar
morto. No temos economia, as vezes temos que ir trabalhar nos assentamentos a 50 shekels
(aproximadamente 50 reais) a diria para trazer comida e gua para os animais para poder
manter o estilo de vida. Eles nos tiraram de Enghed, agora querem nos tirar daqui e nos dar s
1/2 dunum para vivermos, uma opresso violenta.

Entrevista com Mona Sabella (Al- Haq)

Can you start introducing yourself?

Yalla!. So, my name is Mona Sabella, I work for Al Haq. It's a Palestinian Human Rights
Organization and I work as a legal researcher and an advocacy officer.

Can you talk a bit more about Al Haq and what is the work that Al Haq does?

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Sure. So, Al Haq is actually the oldest human rights organization in the Arab World. It was
founded by a group of Palestinian lawyers who thought that the way that we have to deal with
the occupation and what's happening in Palestine is through international law. So, they've
established this organization, basically, and it's grew since 1979 until today, and we're
basically going on their footsteps using international law to promote the rule of law in
Palestine and work for advocate and advocacy for human rights, basically.

Can you explain the main issues, especially the legal issues, that Palestinians face?

So, one of the things that Al Haq has focused on a lot these days is the issue of natural
resources. So, Al Haq is looking at how Israel exploits natural resources in the occupied
Palestinian territory, so, mainly you're looking at natural resources in Area C. So, you have
quarries for example, that are being exploited by Israeli companies with the help of Israeli
governments that provides incentives to these quarries. And then, you have, also agricultural
settlements within Area C, which makes up basically 62 percent of the occupied Palestinian
territory. And then, besides these agricultural settlements, you have also industrial settlements
that are also located within Area C, and also different parts of East Jerusalem as well. So our
major...major issue that we deal with is that Israel is benefiting so much from it's occupation
of Palestine. And mainly, it's benefiting from a business standpoint. So, it's very profitable for
it to continue with its occupation. So, businesses - it's really businesses - but also
multinational corporations and companies that are abroad are also taking part in this in terms
of benefiting from the ongoing occupation of Palestine. So, we work mainly on trying to, kind
of, raise awareness about this issue primarily, but also try to do advocacy in order to try and
change policies abroad. So, in Brazil, for example, I'm relatively new to doing advocacy in
Brazil, but in Brazil we have started trying to kind of explore different avenues to involve the
Brazilian population and see how they could help us in terms of advancing some of our
strategies here towards ending the Israeli occupation. So, as you know, the Israeli occupation
involves also great violations of international law. So, you're talking about crimes against
humanity, you are talking about war crimes, you're talking about...within those, you're talking
about acts of collective punishment, punitive house demolitions which is unlawful under
international law, a great violation. You're talking about willful killing and you're talking
about a lot of different violations of fundamental rights. And among those rights is something
that is kind of overarching which is the Palestinians right to self determination. So, within
that, also, is the Palestinian right to sovereignty over land and natural resources. So it goes
back to the issue of land and natural resources. But when you look at the policies that Israel
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implements generally, whether it is collective punishment or punitive house demolitions or
excessive use of force, or, or, or...they're all going towards one specific goal, and one specific
agenda, which is this colonialist agenda of keeping and maintaining the occupation of
Palestine and maintaining the status quo and maintaining the state of, you know... of
violations...of great violations of human rights of one population, which is the Palestinian
population, at the expense of this.. this colonialist...agenda, basically. And I think one of our
issues is that we know that people in Brazil, for example, people in Latin America, elsewhere
in the world identify. In Africa, in the African continent as well, [people] identify with this
issue of colonialism. And they...in that, it is easy for us to speak to, for example, to countries
in the global south specifically about what is happening here because it's widely understood in
their history and in the history of the global south. So, what were trying to do is engage with
these... with these countries from that perspective and to involve them as well in the process
of how we can combat this together not only because it's Israel's and Palestine but also
because it's more of a principled issue where it influences a lot in terms of the regional
politics and then, more generally, in terms of the global politics. (Laughs) Sorry, that went on
a tangent.

Can you talk a bit more about the water issue?

Yes. In terms of water, we take a lot of derogations that come here to Area C, but specifically
to the Jordan Valley, so - I'm sure you heard from other organizations, but... - one of the
things we try to highlight when we take people on these field visits is how green all the
settlements are and how dry all the Palestinian areas are. And the reason is because a lot of
these Palestinian areas are actually not connected to a water source, or, if they are connected,
they are connected quite poorly. And what does that mean? So, basically, the company that
operates this water system within Palestinian territory is Israel's national water company,
Mekorot. And, fundamentally, as it is operated through government, Israeli government, and
the occupied powers government, it naturally wants to carry out the agenda of the Israeli
occupation which is to maintain these Israeli settlements within Area C by connecting them
primarily and over any of the Palestinian villages around. So, you have there is an apartheid
system where settlements, illegal settlements that are illegal under international law, are being
connected to these water sources by Israeli's national company and then Palestinian villages
suffering at that expense (pause). And the problem here, is that....it's...it's in term of legal
terms, I mean, in terms of legal issues, Israel has a responsibility as the occupying power, first
of all, not to discriminate, second of all (pause)...you can't even talk about discrimination at
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this point because the status of Israeli settlements within occupied Palestinian territory is
unlawful. So, you are connecting little settlements that are not even meant to be there. And
then, second of all, your...as an occupying power, your responsibility within the occupied
territory should be primarily to the occupied population. If you are an occupied power, you
have responsibilities under international Human Rights law and under international
Humanitarian law to make sure that the Palestinian population that you occupy has their rights
sufficiently, including their (?). So, they need to be connected to water sources, they are the
ones that need to be having these green lands when you are passing through, they need to
have their land taken care of by the power that administers their territory. But that's not what's
happening, because, what we know as occupation, for example, within international law, says
that it is of temporary nature, but what Israel is doing is something more of a prolonged
military occupation, the first of its kind, and creating dangerous precedents of what
occupation is and what occupation looks like. And as of today, when you look at international
law and the protections that international law offers, we are reaching a point we are not sure
how international law can protect the Palestinian population, because this has never been done
before, because there has never been this long of an occupation that is ongoing that doesn't
look like it's going anywhere, which is quite frustrating for the Palestinian people. But that's
generally the water issue, I mean, there is a lot of statistics on the consumption of
settlements...or, the consumption of water by settlers, and then the consumption of water by
Palestinians, where settlers consume six times more in comparison to each Palestinian that
you're...that you're taking in to account. So, I mean, the information is out there, but I think
what is... what needs to be more looked at is how do we ensure that Palestinian people living
in these communities without a connection to water, or with really poor connection to water,
have their rights fully realized by ensuring that international law is implemented correctly.
And, if not...if not implemented correctly then at least how is international law going to
change and develop in order to ensure that these population are protected, because that needs
to be happening as well.

Just one last question.

Yes.

It's something that, when I first arrived here...in Brazil, the media tells us that it's a
conflict, and not an occupation. So, the first thing that I heard when I talked to the first

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Palestinian when I got here was that it's not a conflict, it's an occupation. So I wanted
you to explain what do you think and why.

I mean, you know, people call it different things, right? They call it conflict, they call it
colonialism, they call it occupation, they call it...you know, crisis...I mean, there has been a lot
of things that I've heard this particular situation be called. So even 'situation' as something that
people refer to Palestine as. But, I think honestly, it's clear what it is, in my opinion: it's a
colonial regime that we're dealing with, it's a modern age colonial power. It's very similar to
what has happened in a lot of countries in the past, in Africa, in Latin America. So, it's easy
for me (emphasis) as a Palestinian living here to identify it as being that. You know, so, when
you say conflict, you have this misconception that it's, you know, an equal...an equal battle
between two parties, where both are the aggressors, and both are in conflict about one thing or
another. Sure, it's...it's...it's easier for people to take that in as, you know, as...as a starting
point for what's happening. Sure, there is a conflict, if you talk about it from an international
legal term, it's an armed conflict of one kind, but, if you're talking about it from the point of
view of...well, it really is on the ground and what it really means then it's clear what it is, at
least for me. It's clear that it is an oppressor and an oppressed. It's clear that it's an occupier
and the people that are occupied. It's clear that it is a colonial power and people are being
colonized. So, there is no equal (pause) there. There is no equality there. And it's up to
promote the sons of victim-hood but it's really clarify what it's going on. If you look at
history, if you look at where this world is today, economically, financially, politically...if you
look at their policies, their (pause) racist (pause) policies, then it is clear to see who has the
upper hand and who is the powerful and who is the colonial power and who is the oppressed
and who is the occupier, rather than a party to the conflict. They are not just a party to the
conflict, they are the instigators. So, I think that need to be clarified, and that needs to be...that
needs to be recognized, because, if you don't recognize that then there is a whole issue behind
what you are advocating for or at least what you will be, you know, understanding of the
conflict...or, no...the conflict (laughs), right...or the occupation...whatever you wanna call it,
really. But at least if you understand, Yani, whether you call it conflict or occupation or
colonialism...or whatever, as long as you understand what is at...what's the issue and what are
the power dynamics, then, I think that's the more important part of it.

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 Entrevista com Sireen Kudairi

My name is Sireen Khudairi. Im 28 years old. I volunteer with Jordan Valley Solidarity
Campaing Since 6 years and Im a Palestinian.

How is to live in an occupation?

Its a big question. (Pause). Actually I could say that its helpful but makes you tired by the
time. Its helpful because for myself I have aim, I have my life, I think for this is my one
of my main aims. Otherwise I would be like living, working, doing things which makes me
happy but without aims. So, yeah, I would think like in this way in a positive way I could say
that it is helpful. But on the other side it could make the people under the occupation so tired,
specially with all that change doesnt come quickly. It takes time, so during this long way for
sure you will feel, you will have that feeling so tired. And sometimes you need to be
encouraged and people push on the others the continue and to have the [incomprehensible].
But for sure its not easy to live under an occupation. To be slaves in your land. Under the
others who destroyed all your live and you should be that one who says yes for them.

Is the Palestine situation a conflict?

I dont see it as a conflict and also is not a war. If we would talk about conflict, its about two
equal sides and its not. Theres people who they are fighting to have their freedom and
theres - I cannot say its a country because its an occupation - but they use all the ways to
destroy the others life's. So, its not a conflict.

And what are the main obstacles you face living under an occupation?

If you talk about the problems that comes by the occupation, we cannot calculate. But I could
say for us as human beings first the psychology, psychology problems. Ok, we could say we
are heroes and we fight, ok, we are. But we still humans as well. For me, personally, it
affected on my side. It affected on my psychology, specially at nights. Its scaring nights to be
here, in Palestine. Especially if you live alone, especially if you have a warm hearth.
Especially if you have grown up in this situation since you were a child. (Pause). All the
stories, all the horrible stories. Its effected in your body. Its dure. (Choking up) My dream is
actually to save all the children. To not let them live the same situation which I lived. (Pause).
Im sure that there are problems. Specially about education in Palestine, in area C, its not
allowed to build schools in area C, so its not allowed to the children to have education.
Water, demolition, illegal restriction of people, killing of people.
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Could you talk more about your education project in the Jordan Valley?

Were a group from the Jordan Valley volunteers who started since around 4 years a project in
the Jordan Valley to support the education of children in the Jordan Valley where there is no
schools. So we started to build 10 schools and we started to give classes to the students but we
found its not enough, because those children they are not like other children who lives in the
cities, in area A and area B, I mean. We found we also had to work on their psychological, on
their characters, at least to encourage them to live, to express about themselves. During our
experience there we found that they are shy to talk. If they want to tell you anything they
cannot do it directly, they use other ways which are tough ways: shouting, for example. Yeah,
so, this is the main part of the project now. We are continuing to engage them to read, we
started to build for them a library in the south of the Jordan Valley. It will be the first library
in area C and we started giving them theatre training, music. We hope it will help them, at
least it will help them to tell stories by themselves.

Thats so nice. Could you talk more about the water apartheid in the Jordan Valley?

As I said in area C is not allowed to have, to link water into your house, which is tend house,
dont imagine that, its not allowed also to have houses, they destroy most of the houses in
area C so people there decide to live in shelters. So its not allowed to link water pipes. So
you have to buy your water from the Israeli side which is more and more expensive. It cost
each one cubic meter 27 shekel (approximately 27 Brazilian Reais). If it was linked by the
water pipes it would cost each one cubic meter 3 shekel (approximately 3 Brazilian Reais).
On the other side, which is far away 5 meters from the Palestinian community, you can see in
the settlements is a green land with swimming pools, pools for fish...So this is the real
apartheid. And during the demolitions if there are water tanks they confiscate the water tanks
and they ask the people if they want these water tanks back they have to pay 400 shekels
(approximately 400 Brazilian Reais).

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