All language subtitles for ARTE Reportage - Hamas- Creating a Monster - Watch the full documentary - ARTE in English

The day Hamas
attacked the kibbutz of Nir Oz,

Sharon was at her home in London.

Her parents lived in this house.

The Lifshitz family
were avid proponents of peace,

frequently volunteering even

to drive sick Palestinians

from Gaza to Israeli hospitals.

My father's piano is here,
I think you probably...

This is what's left of his piano.

My father played the piano every day

of his retirement.

This is the safe room.

And if you look at the door,
there are five shots.

One, two, three,

four...
I can't see the other one now.

That was the bedroom,
my mum liked it

because, you know,
if there was a missile

they could sleep
through the night,

and, yeah, that's the bed.

There were six people
that came into this room.

One of them then hit my father

with the back of the weapon,

and they pulled him out.

My mum is not wounded.

She was taken
on a motorbike like that,

like a carpet between two men,

and she was taken
through the ploughed fields.

So the motorbike is very bumpy.

My mum is 85.

She was all black and blue

when she arrived in Gaza,

and then she had to walk barefoot

for many kilometres underground
through the tunnels.

They put it through the pipe
from the gas

and then they set it on fire.

Everything is gone.
Nothing left.

Sharon's mother

was held hostage 17 days

in tunnels beneath Gaza.

She was one of the first hostages

released by Hamas.

HAMAS PROPAGANDA FOOTAGE

It took place on October 23rd.

Only one Hamas cameraman
was there

to film the scene.

The hand she holds out
to her captor,

the farewell she offers him
in Hebrew,

shalom, "peace,"

and her statements to the media

left Israeli society perplexed.

She described the hell
she went through

without condemning her captors.

When we got first there,

the first thing they said

was that they followed the Quran

and wouldn't hurt us,

that we'd live like they did

in the tunnels.

The Israeli government

found her words upsetting.

The former hostage

has since stepped away
from the media.

With Sharon's help,

we got to meet her.
Her tone was matter of fact

describing her meeting with Sinwar,

the mastermind behind October 7th.

One of Hamas's leaders came to us

when we were down in the tunnel.

He came to where we were,

and I asked him,

"Why kill those

who have spent their lives
defending you,

those who do good works,

who have wanted peace?

Why kill them?"

Everyone living in the borderlands

have been actors for peace.

- Did he answer you?
- No.

He just looked at me,

then looked away, that's it.

Yocheved hasn't had word
from her husband Oded,

still held captive by Hamas.

For his safety,

she prefers
not to say much about him.

We're only allowed

to ask her one question.

What do you come away with

after what happened to you
on October 7th?

It's hard to say
that I've come away with anything

because all I've ever wanted

is to establish peace.

This hasn't changed my views,

and I think

that sooner or later

we'll have to find a solution.

After everything that's happened,

we have to find a way

for the two peoples

to coexist.

Despite your hardships?

The terrorist attack
perpetrated by Hamas on October 7th

killed 1,200 people,

women, children,
and Israeli military.

The al-Qassam Brigades
are Hamas's military wing.

They saw all victims as the same.

The attack was the deadliest
in Israel's history.

It prompted retaliation

the likes of which Palestine
has never seen.

In the Gaza Strip,

dead and wounded
number in the tens of thousands,

a significant number of them
women and children.

Hamas began as a fringe group

that has grown
into a fierce military force,

a formidable foe
to the Israeli army.

Hamas has redefined
the Palestinian movement,

which was non-religious
at the outset.

What has helped it
to grow so powerful?

Iran and Qatar's oil money?

The Palestinian Authority's inertia?

What about Israel?

In what ways has it played a role?

The occupation and takeover of lands

is the root cause of the violence

setting the two peoples apart.

It's the reason Hamas
was created in the first place.

As-salamu alaykum.

In Turmus Aya,

like the rest
of the occupied West Bank,

the olive harvest
is seasonal ritual.

Doing OK?

Abou Abdallah
oversees operations.

This grove has been in his family

for generations.

How are things looking over there?

Really good.

Thank goodness. How's the oil?

Incredible.

You should have seen last night.

They chased us out.

We were over there

and the army chased us away

"to protect settlers".

Chipped away at

and surrounded
by Israeli settlements,

lands in the West Bank

are disappearing at a rapid clip.

Those are all settlements.

All of that over there,

all the way to over there.

Behind those settlements
are more settlements.

See that mountain?

We're not allowed on it.

They built one house to claim it.

Past those cars,

we're legally prohibited from going

or the army
and the settlers come after us.

- Who does the land belong to?
- Us.

It's our land.

ABOU WALID
FARMER

Our trees, our children.

The trees are like children.

We look after them.

We pamper them.

They're more precious than children.

I need to tend to them every day,

but I'm not allowed over there now.

OCCUPATION

TURMUS AYA 6/21/2023

What happened?

They set fire to homes

and cars
and beat people up.

We haven't been able
to put the fire out.

The army is shooting live rounds.

Four people are injured.

Three-hundred Israeli settlers
attacked Turmus Aya,

yet another reprisal
in the fight

between the two peoples.

The attack was extremely violent,

reinforced by the Israeli army.

I have three daughters
and five sons.

One of my sons was killed.

Four remain.

My son went out
with the other men

to help evacuate women,

children and the elderly
from their homes.

If they hadn't come sooner,

it would have been a massacre.

The settlers blocked doors
with iron bars

to keep people locked inside.

He joined the men

not to fight but to help people,
he wasn't armed.

My son got there,

saw my sister's son was there,

injured,

and when he leaned over

just to tend to him,

the army opened fire on him.

He died not having countered

the occupation or the settlements.

When his children ask,

"Where's Dad?"

we say, "In heaven."

But whenever anyone

comes to our door,
his kids thinks it's their dad

returning home.

It makes things even harder for us.

Settlers aren't just
in the countryside.

They are also settlers

in the Palestinian districts
of Jerusalem.

I was two
when occupation militants came

and took over part of our house.

I kicked one of them.

I was so little then.

Muna al-Kurd

is a Palestinian icon.

She owes her fame

to a video she made
that went viral.

In it, she stands up to a settler

sent by Israel
to occupy part of her home

in occupied East Jerusalem.

Yacov,
you know this is not your house.

Yes, but if I go, you don't go back.

What's the problem?
Why yell at me?

You are stealing my house.

If I don't, someone else will.

No! No! No one...

is allowed to steal it, man!

Jerusalem is surrounded,

Jerusalem is under threat,

Jerusalem is caught in the grip
of an occupation

that wants to choke the city

and rid it
of its Palestinian residents

to make it the capital of Israel.

Muna's home is located

in the occupied Arab quarter

of Sheikh Jarrah.

A process of methodical Judaisation
is underway here.

The homes of 500 Palestinians
are at risk of being taken over.

Muna's is one of them.

She's grown up here
amid settlers and the army,

and is now forced to share property

with Yacov.

What's so interesting?

You are very famous now, Yacov.

You don't need
to film me everywhere.

Yeah, yeah!
Because you're famous now!

To fight back,

Muna is wielding social media

and derision
as her weapons of choice.

Her stand-off with a settler

has got her community inspired.

If I don't steal it,
someone else will!

If I don't steal it,
someone else will!

All we are

are young people

defending our homes, that's it.

We could be removed at any moment.

We took it upon ourselves
to fight back

on social media, simply saying,

"Save Sheikh Jarrah."

From all over,
young people flocked

to Muna's neighbourhood
under threat.

Chanting, sit-ins, street parties,

all was above board.

Yum, yum!
The heart of our district!

Palestinian maqluba.

The hashtag #SaveSheikhJarrah

was everywhere online

and at protests alike.

When efforts
to repress the movement began,

an escalation was inevitable.

There's no doubt

our social-media campaign

and the hashtag we used,

#SaveSheikhJarrah,
played a key role

in what's unfolded.

It got the entire region

up in arms.

But at the time,

we were simply in danger
of losing our homes.

Hamas sees the threats of expulsion

as justification for war.

The head of the armed wing

of Hamas, Mohammed Deif,

warns settlers and the IDF

that if violence

against residents of Sheikh Jarrah

doesn't cease immediately,

Israel will be forced

to pay a high price.

As soon as Hamas's ultimatum
was spoken,

rockets rained down all over Israel.

The response was swift,

and 300 lives were lost.

Muna has made the list

of TIME Magazine's

100 Most Influential People
of 2023.

A PEACE DESTROYED

Enough of blood and tears. Enough!

Thirty years ago,
peace seemed possible

after the signing
of the Oslo Accords

that championed
a two-state solution.

At the signing, Bill Clinton

got prime ministers
Yitzhak Rabin

and Yasser Arafat

to agree on one thing:
peace above all else.

Yet on either side,

extremists opposed the Accords.

On the Israeli side,
Rabin paid with his life.

He was assassinated
in November of 1995

by a Jewish right-wing extremist.

On the Palestinian side,

one man swore never to allow peace,

a man who lost his land
when Israel was founded

in 1948, Sheikh Yassin.

We do not hate Jews

or oppose anyone for being Jewish.

Jews live by the holy book,
as do we.

We love all religions.

If my brother

were to take my home from me,

I'd fight him too.

Sheikh Yassin was
in the Muslim Brotherhood.

His life mission
was to spread Islamic principals

in Palestinian society.

At the outset,
he was a charity worker.

He ran soup kitchens
and organised summer camps

until 1987.

That was when the first intifada
took place.

It was a popular uprising
in occupied territories

in which young people wielding rocks
clashed with the IDF.

Yassin wouldn't stand idly by.

He resolved
to embrace armed conflict

and founded Hamas.

Seventeen years later,

he died
in an Israeli missile attack.

Ami Ayalon
headed Israel's secret service

for four years.

He watched the Oslo Accords
crumble to dust.

For Fatah at the time,

after signing Oslo,

it was to achieve...

to create a state alongside Israel.

Hamas never accepted this idea.

Hamas fought for liberating...

bigger Palestine,
from Jordan to the sea,

and Hamas,
once Palestinian Authority

signed on Oslo,

became our major terror threat.

It was the most waves of violence,

of terror that we faced

since the creation
of the state of Israel.

I remember
that 57 Israelis were killed

and more than 2,000 were wounded

in less than 10 days

in buses that exploded

in Jerusalem, in Tel Aviv.

This was the reaction
of Hamas against Oslo.

Hamas's suicide attacks
were justified

by an Egyptian theologian
and preacher

with a huge following
in the Arab world,

the spiritual guide
of the Muslim Brotherhood,

Yusuf al-Qaradawi.

If the community feels it's best

to engage in suicide attacks,

they must perform them
and aid those who commit them

in such a way

that the number of lives lost
is kept to a minimum.

These attacks are not legal
according to normal Islamic law,

because when you fight,

you must fight against soldiers.

You cannot fight against civilians,

but Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi
was the religious authority

that gave Hamas a religious ruling

which says that Israeli society
is a military society.

This means
that men usually go to the army

and also part of the women in Israel
go to the army.

The elderly were once in the army

and the youngsters
will be in the army,

so there is no problem
to kill them all.

Hamas's mission

was to derail the Oslo Accords

while some in Israeli society
have held onto hope

that the two peoples can co-exist,

people like Sharon's dad, Oded,

who's now spent weeks held hostage
in tunnels beneath Gaza.

For those longing for peace,
the October 7th attacks

represent a twofold tragedy.

This happened as a wave of hate.

You know? That it is hate,
that we should fight,

that it is this very basic notion

that when we see each other,

do we see humans
or do we see somebody

that undermines the story that we...

You know, there's a story,
whether it is Quran,

whether it is this or that,
there's a story

and the story can blind you

from the very humanity
of the person in front of you.

In Tel Aviv, families of hostages

gather at the Ministry of Defense

to hold vigil
for those still missing.

Striking back without risking
the lives of remaining hostages,

it's a catch-22.

There is no peace with Hamas.

There's no peace possible
with Hamas.

It's a horrific organisation.

It should be eradicated,

not the Palestinian people,
but Hamas.

Eradicate Hamas.
Easier said than done.

Many are those
who have abetted Hamas.

It's not who you'd expect.

ISRAEL'S MISCALCULATION

Establishing peace

without giving up occupied lands.

Israel believed it possible
and saw Hamas

as a willing partner to that end.

When we decided to...

AMI AYALON
FORMER HEAD OF SHIN BET 1996-2000

to assist these small groups

in Gaza and in the West Bank,

that they came with the concept
of Muslim Brotherhood,

it was not a formal policy
of the Israeli government.

It was created...
It was something,

an idea that was brought
by the Israel security,

by the Shin Bet

in order to explain
or in order to try to confront

the nationalist PLO and Fatah

with a different concept

that will be adopted
by the Palestinians.

And today we understand
that it was not very clever.

Yes, we did a mistake,

and we did not understand

the long-term consequences

that was created by us in a way
during the '80s.

The divide-and-conquer strategy

was the brainchild
of Benyamin Netanyahu

and the Israeli far-right.

Sheikh Yassin's Islamist group

was even openly embraced
by a far-right settler,

Bezalel Smotrich.

On Israeli television in 2015,

the bigot

who's now
Israel's minister of finance

defended divide-and-conquer.

The Palestinian Authority
is a burden and Hamas an asset.

No one will recognise it,
give it status,

or accept
its UN Security Resolutions.

Be not afraid of Hamas.

A jarring statement to make

considering that
at the time Hamas attacks

against Israel were constant

with Israel retaliating in kind.

Israel and its sworn enemy

were double-dealing.

Netanyahu came with a concept.

To manage the conflict,
we have to make sure

that Palestinian society
will be divided.

That it is in our benefit

that Hamas will control Gaza

and Palestinian Authority,

meaning Fatah
will control the West Bank

so they do not have
a unified leadership,

so there is nobody to talk with,

nothing to talk about.
In order to do it,

you have to make sure
that Hamas will not collapse.

You have to make sure
they will have the minimum level

of economic benefits, you know?

People will work in Israel,
not too many,

maintain the fishery
in the Mediterranean,

not many of them,
but the minimum necessary.

This is the way to make sure

that Hamas will survive
when you do it.

Even if this is not your intention,

you increase the power of Hamas.

According to
the Palestinian Authority,

this strategy from Israel

has been at work
since Hamas was created.

Israel does not want
a Palestinian state

with Jerusalem East as its capital.

When Fatah was created

and took over the PLO,

Israel openly backed

any competing parties
that supported separation

of Gaza and the West Bank
to undermine

state formation.

It came to fruition in 2006.

Hamas won resoundingly

in Palestinian
legislative elections.

The Quran in one hand,

a rifle in the other!

When Fatah refused to step down,

Hamas supporters
stormed the Gaza Parliament.

The non-religious and Islamists

had locked horns
in fratricidal war.

The Palestinian Authority

fled to the West Bank

and Hamas took over Gaza.

Israel wiped its hands

and isolated Gaza.

Egypt followed suit.

Gaza became an open-air prison

and sank into desperation.

To help Hamas keep its head
above water,

Tel Aviv turned
to an extremely wealthy state,

one of the first Gulf States

to establish formal ties
with Israel: Qatar.

The small Emirate
has been Gaza's financial backer

for several years.

The people of Qatar came to Gaza

with the money, with cash.

It was approved by the Israel state
and Netanyahu

because it was part of his policy

in order to make sure
that Hamas will not collapse.

Since 2018,
the Emirate has gone so far

as to foot the payroll bill
of Gaza's 50,000 public workers,

to the tune of 30 million dollars
per month.

It's a "Cash for Calm" bid,

shelling out money for peace.

Israel made a mistake

by financing Hamas

and deliver the Qatari money
to Hamas.

Maybe they... some thought
that Hamas will use this money

to develop Gaza Strip

and to help the Gazan population,

but as we can see
Hamas doesn't care at all

about the population in Gaza

and uses all the money
he got from the Qatarians

in order to buy more
and more weapons

and build tunnels

and also to take the money
to them personally.

It's unclear how Qatar benefits.

For years, it's provided asylum

to the Arab world's
most famous preacher,

the Egyptian Yusuf al-Qaradawi.

Qaradawi is the spiritual leader

of the Muslim Brotherhood.

There is a dispute, of course,
between the Qatarians

and the Saudis, and Qatar,

it's a small state
that tries to have

a role in the Islamic world
and influence.

So, if the Saudis
have the most significant role

to control over the two
most sacred cities of Islam,

Mecca and Medina,

so Qatar has
the most religious authority

of our generation
in its country.

From Qatar, Qaradawi voiced support

for the Muslim Brotherhood,

then preached his fatwa

condoning suicide attacks.

Israel's Gulf State arbiter
of choice

is a country aligned

with Hamas's religious ideology.

REPUDIATING
THE AUTHORITY

In the ongoing crisis
since October 7th,

Qatar has been negotiating

to get Israeli hostages freed

in exchange
for Palestinian prisoners.

One night,
as Gaza was being shelled,

Ramallah was eagerly awaiting

the release of 39 prisoners,

all women and minors.

Nooman came in search
of his son, Ahmad,

who was 16
when he was thrown into prison.

All he cares about
is bringing his son home.

He's been in prison for 12 months.

He has a month left
in a 13-month sentence.

NOOMAN ABOU NAIM
FATHER OF A PRISONER

What was he imprisoned for?

For inciting violence against police

and throwing rocks.

Are you grateful to Hamas

for freeing him?

I mean, sure.

You can't be upset
to get your child back,

but the numbers

of dead and wounded in Gaza

you can't be exactly thrilled about.

The victims of Gaza
are the ultimate price

Hamas is willing to pay
to hoist its flag.

The organisation likewise
has a presence in the West Bank

and treated the prisoner release
like a military victory.

The people are in favour
of the al-Qassam Brigades!

The prisoners freed

are West Bank Palestinians.

Their government
is the Palestinian Authority,

but Hamas negotiated their release.

The Islamist group

presents itself
as a defender of all Palestinians

and made sure the event
was awash in their green banners.

Among the freed juveniles
dressed in grey

was Ahmad, Nooman's son, now free.

Far from the crowds
is the Palestinian Authority,

cut off from the reality
on the ground.

It spends its days walled off,

shirking all accusations
of being inert, corrupt,

and in league
with Israeli occupation.

These are tactics
of psychological warfare

against the Palestinian Authority.

People want to divide us,

and we won't stand for it.

Our cause is a holy one.

Members of your government,

the Palestinian Authority,
are accused of corruption.

We reject those accusations.

They serve Israel's interest
of obstructing the creation

of a Palestinian state

and depriving Palestinians
of their rights.

Might you describe for us

what Hamas is in a few words?

Now's not the time
for that kind of thing.

We're under occupation,

in the midst of full-on warfare,

so we'll table that sort of thing
for now.

Waiting in limbo

is the fate of Palestinians.

AL-MUGHAYYIR, OCCUPIED WEST BANK

We return to an area
near Turmus Aya

amid more olive groves.

Nooman's son Ahmad
is back in his element

and reacclimating to freedom

after a difficult time in prison.

I don't even want
to describe prison.

You get humiliated there.

The youngest prisoner there...

was 12,

the oldest 17.

There's no silverware

for you to eat with.

We demanded plastic silverware.

You're given no clothing to wear.

Eleven or so of us would have

to share one box of cheese.

Prisoners would return to our cell

all beaten up.

There was blood in the hallways.

When police came for him,

they wouldn't wait for me

to open the door,
they broke it in

with the butts of their rifles,

even though I said I'd open up.

Be reasonable,
there were children around.

They behaved savagely like animals.

Who freed you in the end?

Hamas's prisoner exchange.

Are you OK with that?

That's fine by me.
I have no problem with it.

Does your family
have a party affiliation?

No.

- No affiliation?
- None whatsoever.

What's your opinion of Hamas?

The members of Hamas
are Palestinians.

We're a people united.

Israel's plan to divide
to assert its hegemony

didn't only fail,

it pushed

otherwise moderate Palestinians
in occupied West Bank territories

into Hamas's open arms.

Since the October 7th attacks

and in the wake

of Israel's backlash against Gaza,

tensions have been mounting

in the West bank,

in Jenin especially.

Three Palestinians were killed

and several others wounded
in drone strikes

on the Jenin refugee camp
in the occupied West Bank.

Israeli forces have surrounded

Ibn Sina Hospital

near to the camp...

Among the dead in Israel's attack

was a Hamas fighter.

Hamas didn't hide the fact
he was present

in the Fatah-governed West Bank.

God is our destination!

The Prophet is our guide!

Jihad is our path!

The Quran is our constitution!

To our heroes fighting in Gaza,

we stand with you and promise you

to follow the path
paved by Yasser Arafat

and Ahmed Yassin

until this, our land, is delivered!

A speech

unifying two deceased
Palestinian leaders, Arafat

from Fatah
and Sheikh Yassin from Hamas.

The two organisations
have long been at odds,

but now they're forced
to stand together.

I've been a resistance fighter
since I was a kid.

I was maybe 12 or 13,

throwing rocks at tanks.

That was back in 2002.

They came into our camp,
took my father

and the other men.

We kids were left alone
with my mother.

ABOU-IZ
HAMAS FIGHTER

Bombs were falling everywhere.
We were kids.

I remember hiding
beneath a staircase.

A missile exploded over our heads.

I was afraid for my life,
only age 12.

Since the attack,
Palestine's various factions

have been uniting,
in Jenin especially.

The sense of unity between factions
in Jenin is amazing.

You don't find that in other cities.

We've all unified
into a single battalion.

I'd pay the ultimate price for it.

If push comes to shove,
you'll fight with Hamas?

Not if push comes to shove,

I'll do it gladly, we're united.

Take this clip here,
it was given to me

by a friend
who's a member of Fatah.

Another friend from Islamic Jihad
repaired my gun for me.

Members of Fatah are my neighbours
and friends.

A holy, united front
facing down a common enemy,

both on the battlefield
and in urban warfare.

RAMALLAH, OCCUPIED WEST BANK

They say Hamas is a terrorist group!

Look how the people of the West Bank
support Hamas!

Hamas has organised for a protest

mere blocks from the seat
of the Palestinian Authority.

Every cross section of society
came out,

the non-religious left,

Fatah in the halls of government,
and even Christians.

Father Abdallah is one of them,

a member of
the Melkite Greek Catholic Church,

which is present
throughout the Middle East.

We're here to fight for Palestine.

It's the right thing.

Hamas is here,

but my brothers here are
from a great number

of other groups.

I'm here to say
that we are the same as them,

Christians are a part

of the Arab world.

So, you don't condemn Hamas?

No, they're our people too.

Europe sees them as terrorists

because they attack civilians.

There's more than one way
to fight for Palestine.

It was the same in France,

Italy, anywhere, you fight back.

These are fighters.

So, all's fair
to stop the occupations?

They occupy, we fight back.

We must fight back
as our conscience bids us.

IRAN

Iran is Israel's other enemy.

Eager to weaken
Israel's regional foothold,

the Mullahs of Iran
use the Palestinian cause

to their own ends.

If you ask me when
we understand the military concept

behind the attack
on the 7th of October,

this is an Iranian concept.

How to use air, sea and land,

how to combine everything,

how to destroy
our electronic sensors before.

It is a total Iranian concept.

BEIRUT, LEBANON

Lebanon is the land

where Iran's ace resides.

Hezbollah is Iran's military wing
in the region,

as is Hamas.

Oussama Hamdane
is the leader of Hamas in Lebanon.

He proudly attests

to his organisation's ties
with Teheran.

We don't hide our ties with Iran

or Hezbollah for that matter.

We cooperate in a number of ways,

all in the effort

of aiding Palestinian resistance
against Israeli occupation.

Our ties to Iran are multiple:

financial,

military in terms of training
and weapons,

and more.

MARJ AL-ZUHUR,
SOUTHERN LEBANON

Their ties were first forged
in 1992.

That year, Israel forced hundreds
of members of Hamas

into exile in Lebanon

as punishment for an attack.

There, on Hezbollah territory,
the Palestinian exiles

learned how to make explosives

and perpetuate suicide attacks,

many of them filmed.

A special bond was made

between Hamas and Iran,
a watershed moment

in an otherwise
illogical partnership.

When I was the director
of the Shin Bet, we had prisoners

that were trained in Iran,

and we understood
how difficult it is for them

to accept Iranian support.

It is against their ideology.

They are Sunnis.

Iran is representing the Shia,

but they are doing it
because this is the only state

or nation who supports them.

So, this is the way Iran
is getting influence on Hamas.

We've never had any problem

throughout our time working

with Iran or Hezbollah.

They've never tried
to influence us in that way.

Our relationship is rooted

in shared politics
and a shared enemy.

We know that our shared fight

is what brings us together

and unifies our nation.

South of Beirut

lies the Sabra camp
for Palestinian refugees.

Iran has made Hamas so strong

that the group

has overrun the camp.

- Palestine...
- Is for Arabs!

- Palestine...
- Is for Arabs!

Children don't get a chance
to be innocent here.

Marching to Fatah's drum,

they decry the massacres in Gaza

and celebrate October 7th.

Death to Israel!

Death to Israel!

- We die so that...
- Palestine may live!

- We die so that...
- Palestine may live!

One day, Hamas's future ranks
may get recruited

in these narrow streets.

EPILOGUE

When will the trouble end?

There's potentially one man
able to hush the rifles...

Marwan Barghouti,

imprisoned in Israel in 2002
for terrorist activity,

yet from his prison cell,
he pulled off a heady feat.

He got all strands
of the Palestinian resistance effort

to agree to a Palestinian state

that would coexist with Israel.

Marwan Barghouti signed

the Palestinian prisoners'

reconciliation treaty
on behalf of Fatah

with leaders of Hamas

and the Popular
and Democratic fronts.

In others words, with Islamists,
non-religious, and the left.

They all agreed
to the documents' precepts,

and 91% of Palestinians
supported it.

His amazing initiative
died on the vine.

According to Barghouti's wife,

Israel doesn't want
a two-state solution

or a leader who can unify
the Palestinian people.

It's for that reason
Benjamin Netanyahu

will keep him behind bars
as long as possible.

I am a peaceful man.

I am trying to do everything

for the peace
between the two peoples.

He turned his 2002 trial
into a press conference.

Security will be achieved
by one way!

By one way!
By peace, and peace will be achieved

by the end of the occupation!

No peace, no security
with occupation.

Israel has never been able
to keep him quiet.

Barghouti remains
the most popular politician

among Palestinians.

For over 20 years,

his wife has continued
to carry his message.

Marwan Barghouti is a symbol,
not just Palestinian,

but Arab and global as well.

Many see him
as Palestine's Mandela.

There are movements
throughout Europe: France,

Ireland, even South Africa,

calling for his release.

I often say that the Palestinians

have their Mandela,

but the Israeli people

don't yet have a Declerck

to help end the suffering

of the two peoples.

The Israelis need a Declerck.

Mandela is waiting.

Declerck and Mandela, the team

that put an end to apartheid
in South Africa.

Back to Turmus Aya.

This year, the Israeli far right

tried to outlaw the olive harvest,

saying proceeds went to Hamas.

Coming out in support
of Palestinian growers

are activists from Jerusalem

and Tel Aviv, Israeli activists.

Even the everyday life

are threatened,
and to do that, even to pick olives,

it's a struggle.

You know,
in order to keep going and to...

struggle and resist,

you need to have hope,

but at the moment it's hard
to imagine it and in the face

of, you know, international silence,

it's even harder.

It's very hard
to predict the future, but...

we have to resist.

If there's any hope of it,
we have to resist

Israeli policies and tendencies

to destroy Palestinian society

here in Gaza.

The principal is
that Palestinians are human beings.

They need to be treated as such.

Once we accept this principle,

there's any number of ways,
it becomes very simple.

The problem goes away.

You want cheese?

- I'm a vegetarian.
- Vegetarian?

I'll have some salad.

He's not having anything.

But it's not Ramadan!

Here, beneath the olive trees,

solidarity is
a militant political act.

Time will tell
if it can one day be the norm.

ODED LIFSCHITZ,
NIR OZ KIBBUTZ, APRIL 2023

Subtitle translation: Timothy Stone