All language subtitles for BBC Mediterranean with Simon Reeve - 02 Eng

I'm on a journey around
the Mediterranean.

It's the sea that attracts
around a third of world tourism.

The birthplace of civilisations...

Just look at that!

..where extraordinary wealth...

This one has got a helicopter on it.

..meets shocking poverty.

I take my flipping hat off
to them, I really do.

Look at the scale
of the destruction!

They are on the edge of the Med.

It is a sea of wild extremes.

Yes, yes! Look!

On this second part of my journey,

I am travelling around
the eastern Mediterranean,

from the island of Cyprus,

across the sea to Lebanon

and on to Israel and Gaza.

It's a region of awesome beauty
and extreme landscapes...

Look at that!

That's not where we're going?
Yes. We are going there.

..torn by bitter divisions.

It's a fully active,
combat-ready patrol. Yeah, yeah.

GUNSHOTS

My God, there's somebody
living up here. Look.

Have you ever been down here? No.

In the eastern Med, ancient cultures
are struggling to survive

in the face of daunting challenges.

This is technology,
how you take money from the brain.

CHEERING

This isn't what you were
expecting, was it?

I am up a mountain, on an island
in the middle of the Mediterranean

and I'm starting
this leg of my journey in Cyprus!

Look at this!

There's a ski lift here.

There is a ski resort
in the mountains of Cyprus.

I had no idea.

The Mediterranean
is a place of such extremes!

Part of the reason I wanted to come
up here, into the mountains,

is because I think most of us
think of Cyprus

as being a place for summer sun,

but there is a whole world
of life up here,

well away from the beaches.

At the eastern end
of the Mediterranean,

Cyprus has sat at the crossroads
of civilisations, cultures

and great religions for centuries.

We're on our way to a village
and life up here in the hills,

in the mountains, is said
to revolve around three things,

God, goats and grappa.

Cyprus is a divided island.

Christian Greek Cypriots
now live in the south,

with mainly Muslim Turkish
Cypriots in the north.

In the south, I was going to see
and stay with the head of a large,

proud family of Greek Cypriots,
a goat farmer with a big character.

Michalis!

Simon, very nice to meet you.

We're going to walk up.

Here, here, here.

I'm impressed, Michalis!
Look at that! Hey!

GOATS BLEAT

Come on, come on! Inside!

How many goats have you got?

This is quite deep, this is...
Your roots are here.

After Cyprus gained independence
from Britain in 1960,

there were disputes and then
conflict between Turkish Cypriots

and then Greek Cypriots -
even neighbours.

Is it OK to come in?

Come in, come in!

VOICEOVER: In 1974,
Greek Cypriot generals

helped seize power on the island.

The Turkish Army
then invaded the north,

ostensibly to protect
Turkish Cypriots.

There was hand-to-hand
and street-to-street fighting,

followed by the division
of the island.

Relations between the two sides

are still the subject
of heated debate.

Do you remember a time
where Turkish Cypriots

and Greek Cypriots
lived happily together?

We are now nearly...
nearly four decades on from this,

it's more than four decades,

it's just unbelievable
that this situation

is still existing today.

THEY ALL SING

SINGING CONTINUES

It's not just families
where there is still disagreement.

I headed towards
the capital, Nicosia.

It's a city with a physical split
right down the middle.

So, this wall here marks
part of the dividing line?

Yes, this is the Buffer Zone.
And... Oh, my God, look!

A barricade at the end
of the street!

That is unbelievable.

Nicosia is divided by a wall
and the so-called green line.

A ceasefire, more than 40 years ago,
left Nicosia split

between the Greek Cypriot
half of the city

and the Turkish Cypriot zone.

In the middle is a no-man's land,

patrolled by a force
of British UN peacekeepers.

Colonel Wildish, hello there.

Welcome to Ledra Palace Hotel.
Thank you very much indeed.

Good to see you.
Simon Reeve, nice to see you, too.

Thanks for agreeing to meet us.
No problem at all.

Thank you very much, thank you.

VOICEOVER: Colonel Tim Wildish
and his men

oversee the abandoned Buffer Zone,

and help keep the peace
in Europe's last divided city.

This is one
of seven official crossings,

north to south, south to north.
North, south...

North, south,
and this is the patrol track,

which runs through the Buffer Zone.

Ricardo?

We're just going to...

So, this is the Olympus Hotel
on the left-hand side. Right.

Winston Churchill stayed
here several times,

it was the only five-star
hotel at the time.

It's seen happier days, hasn't it?
Seen better days, yeah.

As has this part of the city.
As has all of this.

These buildings have just
been abandoned and cleared out.

Ahead, we've got a Turkish Cypriot
outpost, is that right?

Are we allowed to film that,
or you'd rather we didn't?

No, don't film that,
if you wouldn't mind. OK.

What's the closest that
the two sides along the line?

It goes down to about
two to three metres in places,

so you get tensions,
you get low-level problems

with discipline, throwing stones
at each other, that kind of thing.

Stone-throwing sounds
like little stones,

but it can be some pretty big rocks,

launched from catapult-type things.

Want we don't want is some sort
of low-level incident

rapidly escalating into something
that gets out of control,

and that's one of the reasons
that we're here,

to keep things under control,
keep the status quo.

This is actually
quite a huge area of the island

that is in the Buffer Zone,

something like 3% of all of Cyprus
is inside the Buffer Zone.

My God, there's somebody
living up here! Look!

You can somebody putting
their washing out.

Yasou! Yeah.

How long have you lived here?

Have you ever been down here?

No, no, no.

You've never stood down here? No.

What if you dropped
something down here?

We are calling to the UN
and we are asking for help!

You would have to ring the United
Nations for assistance? Yeah, yeah.

Do you think there
will be a solution,

do you think there will be peace?
No.

No, immediately, you don't?
No, no. Why?

Because, I don't know,

Turkish people and Greek people,

they hate each other for no reason,

because before 30 years or more.

VOICEOVER: I was stunned
to see this divide.

We've got the UN on patrol again.

Turkey says, perhaps
with some justification,

it invaded the island
to protect Turkish Cypriots,

but the Turks stayed.

The European Court of Human Rights
has ruled the invasion

and subsequent occupation

of the northern third
of the island illegal.

Decades of talks have done nothing
to resolve this bizarre situation,

on an island in the European Union.

I crossed the border
to find out more

about Turkish
occupied northern Cyprus.

Ezra? Hi, Ezra!

Simon Reeve, nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you, too! Welcome.

Thank you very much
for coming to see us.

Are you going to show me around?
Sure, let's go. Is that OK? Yeah.

Thank you.

Ezra is a Turkish Cypriot.

Her family was one of thousands,
from both sides,

uprooted by the conflict.

My parents are from
the south of Cyprus,

and they had to flee,

they had to move to Kyrenia in 1974.

So, they came north, why?

There was a war.

Greek Cypriot Army
attacked Turkish Cypriots.

I mean, there was a lot of
fighting and people were scared.

There was conflict and people
feared, not just... For their lives.

For their lives? Definitely, and
there have been a lot of people

who went missing, who died,
on both sides.

Because of the occupation,

the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state
is under an international embargo,

which blocks its business,
financial, sporting,

cultural and trade connections
with most of the planet.

We feel that we are cut off
from the whole world.

Everything has to go through Turkey,

from flights to telephone lines

to postal services.

It sounds like it must
dominate life here?

It does, it does dominate life.

Of course, we have had
a big population transfer, too.

Turkish people who
accepted to come and settle here

were offered two years of salary,

a house and agricultural land.
Wow.

So, they were offered incentives
to come and settle in Cyprus,

and, of course, this changes
the political will of the community.

It takes away from the culture.

So, there's almost been a degree
of social engineering, then?

Definitely, definitely
there has been.

And it still continues.

Turkish Governments have encouraged
hundreds of thousands

of Turks to settle here, and many
think they're trying to link

Turkish Cyprus more closely
to Turkey.

Settlers are now thought
to be more than half the population.

Many Turkish Cypriots feel
they're more religious.

The Turkish Government is paying
to open huge new mosques for them.

The people who came
to Cyprus from Turkey

were more from the conservative
rural areas of Turkey,

who were looking for a better life.

So, you got that cultural clash
right from the beginning.

And the feeling is like they are
pushing Turkishness on us.

When you push it in my face,
then the reaction you get

is the exact opposite.

Turkey seems to be encouraging
a more traditional

Turkish religious
and patriotic culture here.

Many Turkish Cypriots aren't happy -

they say they're more liberal
and laid-back.

We're going to a village

that's still very strongly
a Turkish Cypriot village,

and I'm going to meet the head of
the village, the Mukhtar.

This is proper agricultural area,

not cars parked outside
people's houses but tractors!

Look at his place! Merhaba.

Merhaba!

Very nice to meet you, sir.

Wow, look at your place,
your office here! My office.

How is that specifically
Turkish Cypriot?

Not specific to one
side or the other?

From his village HQ,
Mukhtar Omer Merakli

is leading a campaign to preserve
traditional Turkish Cypriot culture

and stop it
being overwhelmed by Turkey.

He's become a bit of
an online celebrity.

You're on Facebook here!
Yes, my Facebook.

This is your Facebook page.
Look, it's you, you're on a donkey!

Is he always checking Facebook?

The Mukhtar gave me a speedy
tour of the village.

We're going off road.

This is like a rally!
It's a rally car!

We made it up the hill!

All right, let's have a look.

Unlike much of northern Cyprus,

Turkish settlers have yet to
populate this area in large numbers,

and it seems the Mukhtar
would like to keep it that way.

When you look out at the village,
what are you most proud of about it?

What does that mean?

As if the divide between
Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots

wasn't bad enough, there are now
tensions in the north

between Cypriots and settlers.

On Cyprus, there seems
little prospect of resolution.

There it is.

The Mediterranean!

Looking particularly beautiful.

It's the very size and shape
of the Mediterranean

that makes it so extraordinary.

Wide enough to support countless
empires and civilisations,

yet narrow or small enough to ensure
they come into plenty of contact,

and often conflict.

Radically different cultures
and religions have always lived,

existed, in close proximity
around the Mediterranean,

often they've thrived together.

But here, now,
there's a bitter divide.

Cyprus has long been
the Mediterranean gateway

to the Middle East.

I headed to Lebanon,
just 200 miles away.

In recent years, as the Middle East
has plunged into war and chaos,

Lebanon has been a haven
of relative calm,

even though it's another
country with a history

of religious and ethnic division.

Lebanon is a small country
but it's a real melting pot

of something like 18 different
sects and religions,

all living together.

The ultimate Mediterranean mix.

Look at this sight.

Man and dog!

Raja! Welcome to Lebanon!

Thank you very much indeed, mate.
This is Sam.

He's wandering around
behind the car! Hello, Sam.

Sam, this is Simon.
Are you coming with us, as well?

Yeah, he will spend
the week with us!

Excellent, fantastic.

Thank you. Agh!

Today, we'll discover Lebanon...

..but in another way.
Another way?

Yeah, not walking and not driving.

You've got just this sort of
cheeky look on your face

that is causing me
a small degree of concern.

What have you got planned?
I'm smiling because I'm happy.

Welcome to the take-off, Simon.

What have I let myself in for...?

My guide, Raja Saade, was about to
give me my most spectacular view yet

of the beautiful Med.

Not good.

This is much, erm, higher

and more vertical

than I imagined...and want.

Simon. Yes. Keep running.
Keep running, OK, keep running. OK?

Even if you feel you can't run,
you keep running, OK?

Keep running. OK, yes, boss.

Are we ready? Yes!

One, two, go!

You have to run more.
More, more, more. Run.

Keep running,
keep running, keep running.

Agh!

Very nice day.

Oh, my God!

We're flying over Lebanon!

And it is incredible!

Very good.

Oh, this is blissful!

Blissful and...and nervy
and wonderful and...

..and a long way down!

This is the eagle eyes, you know,

you see,
we can see the whole Lebanon.

I see Beirut, down the coast.

You see why I like my country?
Look, Simon, around.

This is just stunning.

Look at Harissa, you see?

It's Virgin Mary,
very famous in Lebanon.

Agh!

Gently, gently.

Looks as though we're about
to land into the hotel!

Agh!

What do you want me to do?
OK, you can stand up. Stand...?

Ready to run, OK?

I'm ready!

Remember, ready to run, OK.
I'm ready. Ready to run.

Agh!

OK, stand up.

Very nice.

Oh, my goodness!
Congratulations. Bravo.

The best landing ever! Nicely done.

Well, not bad anyway!

Like more than a third
of the population,

Raja is a Lebanese Christian.

When it was founded,
the country was a predominantly

Christian nation.

Raja is an adventure tour guide
in Lebanon.

To get more of a sense of
the country he loves,

and see the ancient roots of
Christianity

in this area of the Mediterranean,
we headed up into the mountains.

We'll be halfway now between
mountains and... And sea.

And sea. Perfect.

We are just a short distance
from the Mediterranean

and we have climbed
straight up into the mountains

and ahead of us
is a giant snowy peak,

straight from the Swiss Alps.

Just inland from the Mediterranean,

this rugged mountain range stretches
the length of the country.

We were heading to the Qadisha,
or Holy Valley,

a sacred area for
Lebanon's Christians

and one of Raja's
favourite places to hike.

Look at this!

This is...

This is incredible.

Yes, Sam, look! Look at the view!

Wow.

You see, this is the valley.

Raja was taking me to an abandoned
monastery deep in the valley.

Look, from here, you can have
a look. You see?

That's not where we are going.
Yes, we're going there.

We'll sleep here tonight.

And this is the monastery of
Mar Aboun, the first Christian,

the first Maronite
choose them to live.

This is why they were
happy in this valley,

because it's full of caves.

Maronite Christians
are an ancient Christian sect.

It's thought they were originally
driven away from the Mediterranean

and up here into the mountains,

where they found seclusion
and safety.

Millions of them have since
fled into exile abroad,

now living in the Americas
and Europe.

Look at this.

It's completely epic.

Built inside a cave,
this Maronite monastery

is thought to have stood
for 1,000 years.

Hey, why were you saying we have
to be careful with our lights?

We can have hyenas.
"Hyenas"? You're pulling my leg.

No, really.
There are no hyenas here.

I can show you some pictures,
for sure there... Seriously?

Yeah, there are hyenas.
Oh, my goodness' sake.

Every winter when
there is a lot of snow,

they found hyena in the village,
they come to the village.

Right. My goodness.

If you meet a hyena,
you don't have to look to his eyes.

Because if you look to his eyes
you can't move after.

Do the stories you have of hyenas
end well for the humans?

There is no story with well...
No story ends well!

Yeah! Bloody hell!

Do we have any sharpened
spears or anything?

I've slept in some strange places,

but this takes the biscuit!

DISTANT YELPING OUTSIDE

What is that noise?

He's really spooked me
by talking about the hyenas!

YELPING CONTINUES

There was quite a lot
of howling in the night.

I can't wait to get outside.

This is going to be the best
view for morning ablutions,

possibly ever!

The Middle East was
the birthplace of Christianity.

But today, the persecution of
Christians across the region

is a forgotten
human-rights tragedy.

100 years ago, one in seven people
in the Middle East were Christians.

Now, it's just one in 20.

Lebanon has long been
one of the safest places

in the Middle East
to be a Christian.

Now, it's becoming a sanctuary.

Brutal civil wars and targeted
attacks in Iraq and Syria

have resulted in their Christian
populations collapsing.

Thousands of Christian refugees
from across the region

have fled to safety here in Lebanon.

Raja took me to meet one Christian
community with a defiant message.

Oh, my goodness!

That is a big cross!

That's a tower! Yes.

Can you actually go up inside it?
Yes. That is a very big statement.

Father, hello. Hello.

Lovely to meet you,
Simon Reeve, hello.

Father Charbel Khachan.

Very nice to meet you.

Oh, flippin' heck.

My vertigo's going
to get a workout here!

VOICEOVER: This is said
to be the largest

inhabitable cross in the world.

OK...

Oh!

Oh, no, I don't like this!

I don't like this,
I'll just stay just here, I think.

Sadly, I don't have your faith!

In any sense!

Sam!

Sam, don't go near the edge!

Sam is OK, don't...

Just be careful!

Overlooking the Mediterranean,

the giant cross, 60 metres high,

is going to house a church
and a prayer centre

for the Christian community.

How would you describe the situation
at the moment for Christians

in the Middle East?

This community might be staying,
but elsewhere in the Middle East,

Christianity is facing collapse.

Church leaders are
starting to wonder

whether Christianity could vanish
from the region of its birth.

I continued my journey
around the Mediterranean

as Raja drove me towards
the south of Lebanon.

I can see what looks like a big
military checkpoint up ahead.

These checkpoints actually
have been quite a surprise to me,

I think they're a constant reminder
that there is fragility here,

there is risk, there is instability
still in Lebanon.

We're heading into the territory
controlled by Hezbollah.

Hezbollah is a militant
Shi'ite Muslim group

that Israel, the United States,

European countries and
Arab countries, as well,

say is one of the biggest
terrorist groups in the world.

Hezbollah is backed by Iran.

Here in Lebanon, Hezbollah
controls an area

bordering Israel to the south.

In 2006, Hezbollah fought a brief,
but bloody, war with Israel,

a conflict which still
defines this area.

Wow.

So, that's a huge poster,
a martyr poster, basically,

with the faces of almost entirely
young men who have died

fighting for Hezbollah.

And here you see three, basically,
three young guys. Look at them!

So, look, we're coming to,

so, "Hezbollah Resistance Museum".

To mark what they say
are their victories against Israel,

Hezbollah have spent
a reported $20 million

building a strange
tourist attraction

that's been described
as a terrorist Disneyland.

Oh, my God.

So, this is what
they call the Abyss.

The Abyss proudly displays
the spoils of war

captured from Israeli forces
and their allies.

I think what's really striking
about this site

is just the scale of it,
and what it really says to me

is that obviously this isn't
just a small militant group,

Hezbollah is now a rich and powerful

militant military organisation.

A mini army! They have their own
tank divisions, for goodness' sake!

In Lebanon, they have become
like a state within a state.

Hezbollah also run hospitals,
schools and welfare.

Many people in Lebanon think
they stand up against the might

of Israel and describe
Hezbollah as the "resistance".

Tensions between Israel and
Hezbollah are again escalating,

and, tragically, both sides have
said they're ready for another war.

So, this is the divide
between Lebanon and Israel.

We've got our United Nations
armoured truck here.

We're going to pull over
and have a look.

At a viewpoint, there's a group
of United Nations soldiers here

playing cards or something next to
a poster of the leader of Hezbollah,

this is just surreal.

This is a really, I suppose,
defining feeling

and point for me
travelling around the Mediterranean.

I cannot believe we've gone
from the green line dividing Cyprus

to the blue line dividing
Lebanon and Israel.

And on both of them, the United
Nations is keeping neighbours apart.

There are tensions
elsewhere in the Med,

but this is one of the world's
most dangerous flash points.

It is perhaps the most extreme
of all Mediterranean borders.

There is no way of crossing here
from Lebanon into Israel.

So, to continue my journey
around the Mediterranean,

I've got to fly to Jordan,

and from there, to Tel Aviv
on the coast of Israel.

Surrounded by often hostile
countries on land,

and with few open border crossings
to its neighbours,

Israel is almost an island
in the Middle East.

The Mediterranean is
the country's main connection

to the outside world.

Perhaps more than any other
country around the sea,

Israel relies on the Mediterranean
for its survival.

The colonel commands
the Ashdod Navy fleet.

We have patrol boats that patrol
24 hours a day, 365 a year.

Patrolling your patch of
the Mediterranean? Yeah, yeah.

It's going to get crowded
in here, isn't it?

Before you are going to the sea,

you're checking everything and
you see that everything is in order

and it's correct and it's OK, and
then you can go on your mission.

So, it's a fully active,
combat-ready patrol? Yeah. OK.

Now finish everything
and check everything

and now we can go out
to the sea. OK.

This is what we are doing.

And you can see the big ships
that are coming in and out

to bring all the stuff to Israel.

Israel, it's like an island.

Because all around of us,

we have, most of the countries

we don't have a relationship
with them,

and then we have to use the sea

and this is the reason
that the Mediterranean

is so important to Israel.

With most of its
land borders closed,

an incredible 99% of Israel's
imports by volume

arrive via the Mediterranean.

Defending three key commercial
ports has long been a major part

of the Navy's mission.

But now, it's what's under the
Mediterranean that is a new focus

for Israeli security.

We have not only the trade
through the Mediterranean,

now we have the electricity,
you have the energy.

For a long time, Israel's
been relatively starved of energy.

In a part of the world
that is completely awash with oil,

Israel has always been the country
that didn't have the oil reserves.

Now, in the last few years,

underneath the eastern end
of the Mediterranean

have been discovered
some of the largest

remaining gas reserves
on the planet.

And that's a complete game-changer
for the country.

From a security point of view,
of course, the problem is,

these rigs are like sitting ducks.

Defence experts say the rigs are
vulnerable to attacks from rockets,

divers and even
remote-controlled submarines.

The Israeli Navy has
deployed countermeasures,

including missile systems,
undersea sensors

and even the first operational
combat unmanned drone boat.

On this ship, they have guns,
they have cameras,

they have radars, all this stuff,

and they control the ship
from the shore.

Israel and Israelis
have really led the world

in airborne drone technology
and now, they're extending

the same sort
of technology to the sea.

Look at the weapon on the top there.

It looks like Star Trek
stuff, doesn't it?

This was a live-fire
training exercise.

The Israeli military have faced
criticism and condemnation

for using excessive force on land,
but also at sea.

It's looking for a target
or a terrorist boat.

And then when he will find it,

he will go and he will fire it on...

He will fire first of all in the air
and then on the target.

RAPID GUNFIRE

Goodness me.

That's really rather extraordinary.

It really does feel like
the future of war.

In horrific...

and a sophisticated way.

Israel was founded
in the aftermath of the Holocaust.

Its early years
and often the decades since

were marked by conflict
and the threat of annihilation.

In response,
Israel invested heavily

in the military and innovation.

I suppose, the first thing
you think when you come here

for the first time is,

this wasn't quite
what I was expecting!

Personally, I've been
raised my entire life,

the Arab-Israeli conflict
has been just endless.

Here, this is party town!

Israel the best!

In Tel Aviv, the problems of
the Middle East

can seem a long way away.

Israel has become one of the most
crowded countries in the world.

And its population is likely to

at least double
in the next few decades.

To face the challenge,

Israelis are using the Mediterranean
Sea and cutting-edge inventions.

It is very green here.

Which is weird,
because it hasn't rained very much

this winter in Israel.

But the grass and the crops
are still growing.

There's no drought here.

And that is because
the Israelis have learned

to make drinking water
out of sea water.

The Sorek Desalination Plant,

right next to the Mediterranean,

is the biggest
of its kind in the world.

So, we take the water from the sea

directly from the Mediterranean,
it is, in distance,

about two kilometres from here
inside of the sea.

So, you have a big pipe
sticking out into the sea?

Yeah, you can see this pipe,
this is the size of the pipe,

the big one, you can see it.

Just a few years ago,
Israel teetered on the edge

of the worst drought
in more than 900 years.

It faced catastrophe.

But innovators
like Dr Boris Liberman helped

turn the Mediterranean
into Israel's salvation.

Today, five huge plants
like this line Israel's coastline,

producing an astonishing 2 billion
litres of fresh water every day.

So, this is where the magic happens.

Yeah, if you like!

It's absolutely enormous!

Where is everybody?

It's hard to understate
the importance of these plants.

Clean water is liquid gold.

Israel, one of the driest
countries on Earth,

now has more water than it needs.

OK, this is the place
we can try water.

This is the water.

You see, I immediately feel
like I should turn them off!

Doctor, what are you doing?

You cannot run all the taps!

Keep it, keep it, keep it!
What on earth are you doing?

Keep it, keep it, keep it!
Take a glass.

Even in Britain, where we have
a fair old amount of rain...

Plenty of water.

..we have to conserve water.

You can't do this
in the Middle East! You can!

But now you can. You can.

It does taste like mineral water.

It is, it is high-quality
mineral water.

You can start bottling this!

Yeah, but it is not our business
to make bottles,

our business is to make
the mass production.

Let's go, guys.

Follow me!

In the past,
large-scale desalination,

turning salty sea water
into drinking water,

required huge amounts of energy
and polluting chemicals.

There are still environmental costs

but this new process
is energy-efficient

and almost entirely chemical-free.
Oh, my goodness, look.

It is absolutely natural sea water.

Maybe we will later see some fishes
or crabs can be in the water.

You really can, look.
There you can see one fish. Yes.

One, two... There's lots. You see?

So what will happen to the fish?

During backwash process
from this pool,

they can go back to the sea.

Turning sea water
into drinking water is...

There's something quite
biblical about it.

It's something that humans
have never really done

in large quantities before.

Yeah, the problem technologically
is solved,

we can do it and we can do it
in very large quantities.

And we can do it
for relatively low cost.

This is also, I think, an example
of Israeli innovation,

which is something very special
about the country.

Israel is made from the brain.

This is technology,
how you take money from the brain.

You have to know how to do it.

And there are a lot of money
inside of the brain.

While other wealthy
Middle East nations

have relied on oil
for prosperity,

Israel has relied
on innovation technology,

one of Israel's biggest exports.

It's helped make
the country wealthy.

By contrast, my final destination
on this leg of my journey

is one of the poorest places
in the region.

I took a train south.

I was heading to the Gaza Strip,

a tiny stretch of land
along the Mediterranean

around 25 miles long.

Nearly two million Palestinians
live there.

It was the most dangerous
part of the journey.

This is actually part of the train
station that is a bomb shelter

or a rocket shelter, because of
missiles launched from Gaza.

Look at the doors here,
it's unbelievable.

Anyway, so, I've got to go
through loads of security now,

we're going to have to stop filming

and then we'll pick up and start
again when we're inside Gaza.

I cross one of the world's
most heavily fortified borders.

So, this is a long
walk through a cage,

a caged passageway,

that takes us from the very modern,

pretty wealthy state of Israel,

to the much poorer
and densely packed Gaza Strip.

I've never been through a border
crossing quite like this.

It is extraordinary...

..in every possible sense.

And, my God, you look across here,

look at the barrier
that encircles Gaza.

It's a very forbidding,
foreboding place

to walk towards, quite frankly.

You know, there's a dehumanisation
of the people who live here,

the whole process makes you feel
like you're entering

the cage of the wild animals.

Westerners are at risk of kidnap
and shooting in Gaza,

but also from being caught up
in an Israeli military strike.

Our crew vehicle had some
special modifications.

We have to have, while we're here,

the back of the vehicle,

well, all the sides,
every part of the vehicle,

is heavily armoured.

You've got this armoured window

here that goes there.

Then this thick, solid
armour goes across...

..and then the outer shell closes.

And that is how you feel safe.

At least, when you're in the car.

So, we're now in Gaza proper.
We are now in Gaza.

So this is Rushdi here.

Rushdi is going
to be our guide in Gaza.

It's the most bizarre thing,
crossing.

Of course, they keep calling Gaza
as the biggest open-air prison.

Which is true because
it's closed from four sides.

So, Israel is calling this strip
of land, it's like a hostile entity.

Since elections in 2006,

Gaza has been controlled by Hamas,

a militant Islamic group
considered terrorists by Israel

and many Western governments.

It's not the only
militant group here.

That's the black flag flying
there of...

Is that Hamas or something else?

It's Islamic Jihad.

We've just gone past
an Islamic Jihad checkpoint?!

It's not a checkpoint, it's like
military compound. Bloody hell.

Is this a safe...?

This isn't a safe place.

They operate in this area because
it's not far from the border.

So, they always try to be ready
for an Israeli escalation or...

Checkpoint ahead. Put the
cameras down. Cameras down.

He wants to see what
you have been recording.

We've been stopped at a checkpoint,
they've taken our cameras out.

They're being serious about this.

This is not Islamic Jihad people.
Who is this? They are Hamas. Hamas.

They are the border police...force.

Hamas Border Force.

OK, well, that's...

I'm actually slightly relieved
we've been stopped by Hamas.

OK.

Since 2006, Gaza has endured
one Palestinian civil war,

three wars between Hamas and Israel,

ten years of strict rule by Hamas

and blockade by Israel and Egypt.

This has all crippled the economy.

For how long you can struggle?

For how long you have to find a way

to produce power
and to buy clean water?

This is basic
in any part of the world.

You don't have to worry about

electricity or water
or the safety of your people.

Israelis and Palestinians have
endured endless cycles of violence.

Here, militants can fire
rockets into Israel,

Israel can attack with
overwhelming force.

Weeks of conflict here in 2014
between Israel and Palestinians

left 2,000 civilians dead,

including an estimated 500 children.

18,000 homes were destroyed.

Israel restricts the supply
of many building materials

like cement into Gaza,

Israel says, to prevent Hamas
building tunnels for attacks.

But engineering graduate
Majd Mashharawi has invented

an ingenious way
to help rebuild in Gaza.

So, welcome to our factory. Right.

And so what are you doing here?

I'm doing building blocks!

I call it green cake.

"Green cake"? Yes.

And what is green cake?

Green cake is...

It's a building block, or a brick,

made out of ashes mainly.

I figured out that
building blocks in Gaza...

They depend 100% on importing
the materials from Israel,

and it's too much,
because, you know,

Gaza is under blockade since 2005,

2006, and that means we have to
depend 100% on the other side.

So, it's... We have to create
our self-sufficient community.

By inventing the world's first
building block

made from recycled coal
and wood ash,

Majd has avoided using anything
restricted by the Israeli blockade.

So, while we've been talking,

your noisy brickmaking
machine was working. Yes.

But... And I thought we'd be able to
get over there to have a look at it

but the guys have just
moved it to one side.

This is one of the problems
for us here, which is electricity.

We have just four hours
of electricity a day.

Four hours? Yes.

So, it makes...even the life harder.

You want two blocks?
We'd love to see two blocks, yes.

Is that possible?

So, you've got six minutes
of electricity left?

Yes. Can you make
two blocks in that time?

Can we see?

THEY CHATTER IN OWN LANGUAGE

OK, here comes the...
Yes. OK.

Right, here's a rich mix.
Exactly.

For green cake. Yes.

I love that you call
it "green cake".

They think it's a cooking project.

It comes out from the side.

They put it down here
and then it comes out.

What are you laughing about?

ALL GIGGLE

It's OK!

We know you just did
this to show us.

Everybody's laughing
about the state of your brick.

They want to repeat it.
Oh, my goodness. OK.

Oh, look, he's proud.

He's embarrassed about the state
of the bricks that have come.

He saying,
"They shouldn't be like this."

It was just a quick demonstration.

See? Oh!

APPLAUSE

There we go.

Now everyone is happy. Look
at the guys up here, as well...!

These are good quality bricks.

You're happy now?

After it dries,
it became even nicer.

It's OK.

Come on...

What do these bricks mean to you?

It means hope.

Yes, you can't imagine how my life
changed after this.

When I got opportunities
to stay outside forever,

I cannot live having happy life

while my people
are suffering inside.

You've had the chance to leave Gaza

and live somewhere else. Yes.
And you've chosen to stay?

Yes, and it was very
hard decision for me.

People around me said, "You're crazy
if you want to go back."

But I left for the reason to help
my people, so I have to come back.

And the green cake,
it's not just hope for me,

it's hope for many,
many, many people

in the same faculty
of engineering who feel that,

yes, we can make it one day.

Your dream will come true one day.

And this is the idea.

Majd's invention is helping
to rebuild Gaza

and create vital jobs.

But the blockade here
has devastated Gaza's economy.

Gaza now has among the highest
unemployment rates in the world,

and it's believed most of its people
survive on less than $2 a day.

This is the Gaza harbour.

There are the fisherman ports.

There are a lot of boats,
aren't there? There are.

They're mostly in harbour.

THEY EXCHANGE GREETINGS

Gaza is an ancient
Mediterranean port.

For centuries, people here

have depended on what the sea
can provide.

But today, Gaza's fishing
industry is in crisis.

It's thought less than half
of Gaza's fishermen

are still putting out to sea.

Across the Mediterranean,
fish numbers are in steep decline.

Here, fishermen
face additional challenges.

You can see it stretching behind us.
It's already a big old chunk of net.

Interesting to see what they get.

I can hear something in the air.

What the hell is that?
Israeli drone.

What, like a Predator? Yes.
It's day and night.

It's all day and night,
it's buzzing above our heads.

Yeah.

A missile-armed drone
flies day and night around?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

There's one, two, and a third one

I can't quite see at the moment.

But there's definitely three

up above our heads,
just circling ominously.

It's really very intimidating.

And just frightening, frankly.

Look, for young people in Gaza,

the only thing they know
about the Israelis

is that they are the occupier,
who came in tanks

and aeroplanes and bombed Gaza.

You don't sound very hopeful
for the future.

The economic situation is hard.

And people are losing hope.

They don't have jobs, they don't
have money, they don't have...

The poverty is very high,
the unemployment is more than 60%.

There's going to be
an explosion, I think.

But where, I don't know.
When, I don't know.

But the possible of war,
I think it's 50%.

50/50.

THEY SING IN ARABIC

Rajab, are you pulling in
fish for your family?

You just pulled
absolutely nothing out.

This part of the Mediterranean
is completely empty.

What does the future hold for you?
Can you carry on fishing?

Can you carry on like this?

We weren't able to verify
Rajab's account of the incident.

The Israeli Navy says
it always fires warning shots

before opening fire on fishing boats

that cross out of their authorised
fishing area of the Mediterranean.

The situation here
is utterly shocking,

and maddening.

So much about the Arab-Israeli
conflict is about picking a side,

and, personally, I refuse to.

My heart breaks for the suffering

of the Jewish people
throughout history.

My heart breaks for the suffering
of the Palestinians.

So many opportunities for real,
lasting peace

have been lost here.

And we see two sides that seem,
in many ways,

to be moving further apart,
not closer together.

On the next leg of my journey
around the Mediterranean,

I'll meet the sisters taking a stand
against the Sicilian Mafia...

..and the last survivors
of a vanishing culture.

Look at this! The whole thing's
moving. Well done, mate.