when i asked my mother when was the last time she took the train and where did she go and she tells me yes of course i took the train because a this trade in jerusalem connects us with the rest of palestine when you look at the old photos and you imagine how their lifestyle was a bad time and when you visit the train station today it's like a disney bark it's it's full of restaurants full of people who are completely indifferent to the history of the of this space who are completely ignorant of words to say they don't belong you know my son often tells me you know mama these people they don't seem to belong at all to this city it doesn't go with the spirit

of the people today. we were the owners of these houses seventy seven percent of west jerusalem before forty eight was palestinian owned and when i talk about palestinians i talk about muslims christians and the minority of jewish people. the new first train station as they call it a look at the kitchens inside the rest. most of those people will be

palestinians probably from the west bank or from marginalized areas and to most of them with very low salaries. they are treated like garbage and this alexis that the man. just usually get out of in no way they say if they have the guts to put up. with i love unless the civil like the taliban look this is the way stand on. a avenue yes absolutely i mean the outlook nice man. who can come can come from the city and it just it is a once we all feel would be i give us a nod mama give me. a then we'll listen to the. solution. there's

a place with. a. similar vision. for syria a smash set in baghdad a little. study of a school where he will tell you evolution if you've never heard of it if it has. been. just a little bit of a mission to show the. best. out of the whole thing i'm assuming it's not a mechanic so feel this i like it that it's not a salad and i want to see a command that i'm going to have on a bought some having bought it. from . my father's house is. actually opposite this street which becomes said. in arabic

or that or the so let's go to my father's house and i hope they won't call the police so we'll do it very quickly. this is my father's house the house of the amount my father lived in this house for eight years from the forty's until forty eight with his mother he was chased out of the house like most of the palestinians because they wanted to confirm the statement of golda meir that this is a country a land without people but all these people who are living in these homes in the one nine hundred ninety eight netanyahu came into governance and as. a money money maker and many money lover he wants to privatize palestinian houses in the same time as israeli telecom and and electricity water all these

elements which which can be privatized so that he can gain more money my father's house was sold for four million dollars by plan who is a real estate agent who came from america and. neither my mother nor my son agreed to the fact that i am very passionately and emotionally involved in the past you can see that he didn't even come with me because he's he wants to avoid all these emotional issues when i came here last time. from outside i was taking a photo the people inside the house saw the flash they parked the car in the middle of the street they called the police they arrested me they put the handcuffs in my feet and in my hands i told them but what crime have i done what's my case i just took a photo. not

a banana republic we have a court system we have a court system who is definitely not in the pocket of the right wing or the religious of this country no one can get away with just driving someone in house of anywhere in this country i mean we know the british were here we know exactly who was kicked out in what e's and nine hundred forty eight the jews are also kicked out of the area taken as prisoners of war that's real being kicked out and evicted by the arab world no arab is being pushed out or kicked out of anywhere actually been driven ash no such thing.

there have been wars here we've seen this country since seventeen conquerors we're familiar with wars that have tried to driven us out when brought here is imperialists we have returned home as the indigenous people to our own homeland and there's basically nothing that the world or the arab world can do about it whatever attempts they've tried one succeed the make or timid jew living in some ghetto or statue under the nazis or under the czar or under whoever it may be the pirates we are today a strong people who have come back to our lands we're back here now and no amount of arab terrorism violence or hatred is going to keep me up and they will be eaten up referenced you know it's a sign from a stranger that maybe taken the wrong why but it doesn't mean that me personally and look because we have already seen. any arab that wants to drive me out someone that wants to see some of the ones that drive me as. someone

that wants to stab my god forbid my children like we've seen before you know that person will be eaten up for breakfast now that won't be true that would be something i would do personally the jewish people the state the police whatever has to be done that will be handled. not only are we looking over the temple mount seir the place where the golden dome is no that's the place the holy of holies this is what the arab world wants and this is what they'll never get. abraham's children don't get along some brothers don't get along in this particular case in fact it's even worse because there's parts of a very very violent streak in a south and l. which is the combination and part of the muslim world today. there's addict in that says a south hates jacob was he obsessed that abraham or isaac only gave certain listens

to him and certain other blessings to him the children of a ram have been blessed in many different ways but the jewish people i am isaac jacob king david king solomon all the way to little daniel luria today in jerusalem is this one chain that's been blessed in a different way the little land of israel we have the covenant with god. we have returned home designers dream is being realized all the time and as the indigenous people here the world and especially the arab world is going to have to understand that at some point in time. today i live in ships never are where i live spiritually if i may say saw in the

western part of the city i wasn't born yet in one nine hundred forty eight during that akbar but i feel that the dark but is grounded in. these times are times which i got from my father's house actually id processed. when the house was put on sale and there they were uprooting all the times and all what is in the house i chose to put them and document my history and my story. very well that. everything. anything. to preserve and protect your

traditions. whether it's. a very very very very depressed.

the mother would be very emotional and very. about service and i'm about her father's house the toy store and about. all this stuff so she's very attached to dear. to the past and to the emotional heritage the school that's. for me for example life i try to focus more on the present. what to do in the present like well what what can make my life better now. i'm an artist so this is important for my art because my art is not the readymade it's also about exploration and investigation.

i had my first exhibit in when i was sixteen. and it was photography and that time it was the first intifada all the streets were filled with stickers and posters and. i regret fiji's everywhere so it was like walking in there big piece of art the series is called reconstruction because it's about reconstructing. the reality of the city so this series off work is my latest work it's called wonders and signs one can see it as a metaphor of jerusalem because of. layers on top of each other and layers of history the layers of writings of messages or political messages. and then you have the soldiers coming in and covering them with white paint and

after it's covered with white paint and the palestinians come back and they put a new message on it. jerusalem is also a big ball a big bunch of things so it's not easy to find your place you feel like you're an intruder paradoxically the people that come from abroad they feel home because it's their promised land and for whatever reason you know. most people think that the space has been always a battleground between religions and that's not true it was before nine hundred forty eight whether you were jewish muslim or christian we all saw ourselves as palestinian muslims palestinian christians but astin jews.

you have to know the truth but you have to understand the context most of the population of the country was palestinian mainly muslim and jewish and christian but mainly muslim minority was christian at all ten percent and five percent were jews and there has always been synagogues churches and mosques. the shared values but really underlines the relationship between us if there's a book that religion i don't care if they play on friday or saturday or sunday i care about how the treaty we are one people but what is divisive is where do you stand on the policies are fewer government when it dehumanises. you read the bible through palestinian eyes and we read it in the context of living under occupation jesus lived under occupation became

a refugee under occupation his miracles were what done under occupation the thousands gathered around him under occupation so we see how the need jesus resisted occupation and we tried to walk in the same footsteps. samjhauta is one of the founders of sabean and she is an excellent writer and she has an excellent blog most of the israelis are secular journalists but of course they use this just. that this is the city and then you find all these crazy christians i call they call themselves christians than this their fear is is completely untrue because i mean when they say all the jews have to gather here. the tourists this is a happy about this part of the here but then so that the messiah can come and when

the messiah comes they have to become christians and those who don't become christians then they would have to be killed i mean what kind of a religion is this what kind of a god is this god when the messiah comes if they don't believe then they have to be because israel goes along with them they accept the fact the first part of it which is having them come over here well that makes many people say well if this is if this is god's will i mean who wants god's will. i'm a professor to conceive you see on my campus is basically the main campus is about three minutes walk off before the warning today i have to drive it depends on the added traffic if i'm lucky that to be like between half an hour to forty five minutes that's from a lucky i'm reluctant but i almost kicked the war. i feel

really terrible because at one point i had three kids at the university studying university collectively would waste eight hours every day going and coming back from the rest. it's a separation wall it's about it's an apartheid wall is simply a spot seen in from palestinian only. reasons. i thought that this building i mean i thought of this building for many years and i would have i've now i have to go visit me for about forty five minutes around the north side of the vans i've just arrived this makes sense i think the people who live into this and they would stay and you know what if you choose you know you

will not the only way one day you will just like to believe in war but you wanted to use your love. about eighteen years but this is twelve years me but there is plenty of food i was going. in britain because of the lack of sunshine for most of the dying people when they meet each other they greet each other and they speak about the weather they would make a difference to a beautiful day and he and i have not to speak at one point they speak spontaneously about the checkpoint. today the checkpoint is interesting. the new one is definitely different.