Assignment: A slogan and a land, part two
The Documentary Podcast
BBC
4.3 • 2.7K Ratings
🗓️ 17 July 2024
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this second part of his journey from the River Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea, across the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Israel, reporter Tim Whewell continues his exploration of the physical and human reality behind the slogan “From the River to the Sea”, a phrase which creates intense controversy. Tim descends from the high ridge of the West Bank hills to the Israeli Mediterranean coast at Herzlia, known for its beaches and high-tech industry – and then continues along the sea, to end his journey at the ruined ancient city of Caesarea. He encounters a Palestinian dry stone waller, an Israeli hairdresser, and then, crossing into Israel, he talks to Jewish Israelis including teachers, activists and a journalist – and to Palestinian citizens of Israel. What future do all these people hope for?
This programme was edited on 19th July 2024.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, I'm Tim Huell. Welcome to the documentary from the BBC World Service and a two-part |
| 0:06.7 | journey to explore a slogan and a land. The hardest thing always to find the right stone and if you don't you just have |
| 0:20.3 | to find the closest stone and shape it and use the chisel and hammer. |
| 0:26.0 | So the dry stone wall will last for 500 years minimum. |
| 0:32.0 | That's what we hope. Yeah, it's always to listen to the stone. Sometimes the stones will talk and tell you where that stone should be. I believe that. |
| 0:47.0 | So that stone will sing for them. |
| 0:50.0 | My name is Salih Tothah and you're here at Masjajudur, |
| 0:55.8 | Roots Arboretum. |
| 0:57.8 | Judur means roots. |
| 0:59.8 | Why we named it roots? |
| 1:00.9 | Because the Palestinians need to go back to their roots to learn from their ancestors. |
| 1:06.5 | I just want, because it's radio, I just want to exactly describe, we're on a hillside, |
| 1:12.1 | just outside Ramaala and the whole of the West Bank I mean it's |
| 1:17.8 | quite how hilly it is all the agriculture effectively is on terraces and when you say a terrace you mean a |
| 1:26.0 | drystone wall. Drystone walls kind of shape everything. It's this kind of grey limestone. |
| 1:33.4 | Mostly it's limestone. |
| 1:35.4 | What a beautiful rustic start to this, the second half of a journey I'm making from the |
| 1:41.0 | River Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea. Between two bodies of water, |
| 1:45.9 | the first, frankly, pathetic, the second magnificent, that are referred to in a certain slogan that's been heard ever louder since the beginning of |
| 1:54.9 | the war in Gaza. Here about 550 meters above sea level, 37 kilometers from the |
| 2:01.2 | river, 41 kilometers to the sea, the birds are singing and... |
| 2:05.2 | Ah, what a lovely smell. |
... |
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