After its occupation by military force, the day after the fifth of June 1967, the Israeli occupation forces and authorities left no means but to pursue them, not only to tighten control over the city of Jerusalem, but also to make fundamental changes that affect the character and identity of the city, to erase the Arab and Islamic character, and to establish an Israeli Jewish identity compatible with the Zionist settlement project evacuation substitution.
In her medium-length documentary The Price of Waiting (2009), director Amani al-Khayat tries to expose the policy of Israeli measures and its danger towards the city of Jerusalem, by working to empty it of its Arab inhabitants, and seeking to Judaize it with various pretexts, pretexts and practices, declared and secret, clear and hidden, open and ambiguous.
Absentee property. Storming Jerusalem homes against their people
From the beginning, we see a Palestinian Jerusalemite woman expressing her fears about the settlers' practices: "By God, my sister, I did not open anyone, they broke the door, they opened the main door of the house, they entered through the door, and from the roofs." It reveals the incursions into Palestinian homes, which are sometimes by force, sometimes by deception, and others by exploiting the absence of homeowners for any of their daily affairs, and considering them "absentee property."
It has become common in Jerusalem for Zionist settlers to break into and enter Arab homes, then occupy rooms of them, or position themselves on their roofs or courtyards, and put items of furniture, which ultimately means seizing the house.
The Israeli government, with its various agencies, including the army, police, municipality and other declared and hidden parties, colludes in facilitating these house biting operations, under the pretext of the possibility of resorting to the Israeli judiciary to decide on the matter, while others want to turn the matter into barters and inducements, in exchange for warnings and harassment.
"If a millionaire comes and buys a house, where is the problem?"
Dr. Mordechai Kedar, a professor at the Begin Center for Strategic Studies, says, "If a millionaire comes and buys a house, where is the problem? Is it because this millionaire is Jewish?" in a blatant simplification that is supposed to befit his academic status he claims.
Jihad Abu Zneid, a member of the Legislative Council from Jerusalem, reveals that there are gangs, settlers and institutions paying millions to seize a small house in Jerusalem, which means that the house is more than just a property that can be bought and sold.
Muammar Maqdisi clings to the wall of his house and addresses the occupier that he will not leave
A home in Jerusalem is not just a property, it is an identity, life and existence, and the Palestinian woman in Jerusalem says that the settlers come to her in dreams in the form of nightmares, and she can only pray to God to protect her and keep her in her home, and to spend the rest of her life in her home.
"Establishing the Israeli presence in the Arab Quarter." Identity Battle
While one resident of Jabal Mukaber asserts that they live in isolated tin houses, exiled, sleeping on mattresses on the floor like the teeth of a comb, another describes the difficult financial conditions, having to go into debt in order to build a house in which to live, and knows that the municipality will soon demolish it, and shows the third privilege granted to settlements, in exchange for the neglect faced by the Arab quarter of Jerusalem.
The demolition of Jerusalem house by house is a key pillar of the policy of "quiet replacement" carried out by devious and illegal policies, according to one Palestinian lawyer, and the goal is to "stabilize the Israeli presence in the Arab neighborhood of East Jerusalem," while MP Jihad Abu Zneid uncovers an Israeli plan to seize and demolish 4,<> homes, confiscate more land, and prevent the construction of any house, under the pretext that it is "green land."
A protest against the decision to evacuate the Salhia family home in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem
In addition to seizing homes and seizing them by force or fraud, the Israeli government completes its procedures by withdrawing IDs from Palestinian Jerusalemites, refraining from approving family unification requests, and persecuting West Bank ID holders, by deeming their presence illegal, even in one's own home. Yes, in the logic of the Israeli occupation, they have become illegal residents of their annexed homes.
The film concludes with the Palestinian woman in Jerusalem saying: By God, I am afraid for my home, like Mani is more afraid than my soul, this is my home life, why do you live all your life in it, all the sweet days in it, what is it for you?
Her question keeps echoing, and the ears are deaf.
"The price of waiting". A search for excellence in the field of Palestinian cinema
It is not an exaggeration to say that Palestinian films, at least, did not leave aside what is related to Jerusalem, but addressed it in some way, whether in documentaries, short fiction, and even feature films, which can constitute an added difficulty facing those who want to contribute to the subject, especially if they aim to avoid repetition, and avoid the fall of the hoof on the hoof, and if at the heart of its objectives is to present a new saying, or put forward another vision, or address a detail of what Jerusalem is full of; A city, a cause and a destiny.
To the extent that Jerusalem represents a central issue and an essential element in the issues of the Arab-Zionist conflict, and to the extent that Jerusalem can be a pillar in any future movement in the region in general, and among the Palestinians in particular, Jerusalem has had to take its presence in all means of expression, from poetry to story and novel, and from plastic art to theater and cinema.
In 2009, with the intention of producing this film "The Price of Waiting", we can look at the Palestinian film scene regarding Jerusalem, and we find it full of multiple approaches, parallel and intersecting, in which the trends, mechanisms, means and ways adopted by these films to say about Jerusalem vary.
It is true that some of them are films that have reached high cinematic dramatic heights, and others that were satisfied with the form of television report and journalistic investigation, as they celebrated the content at the expense of form, considering that the subject (Jerusalem) is very complex between what is religious and worldly, and what is political, national and national, to the extent that it can be said that Jerusalem is the crown and pillar of the Palestinian cause, but it is true that the image of Jerusalem is distributed among these films in wide intersections, and well-established similarities.
The film "The Price of Waiting" enters this field, realizing the difficulty of finding land that has not been ploughed before, whether it is to talk about the historical narrative of Jerusalem from ancient times to today, or the tragedy of its fall under the spikes of the Israeli occupation soldiers on the day after the fifth of June 1967, to talk about Israeli practices towards the city of Jerusalem, the city of place, human beings, identity, existence, future and destiny.
There is no doubt that the film draws attention from the beginning to the fact that it has a distinctive photography, which was able to show Jerusalem as an authentic city firmly established in existence and presence, and perhaps its reliance on the sound structure basically allowed the image to move freely and fluently, without much restriction, until it seemed that part of the film - accompanied by testimonies and audio opinions - came in the form of visual shows that present Jerusalem, with its houses, neighborhoods, alleys and shops, with its walls, floors and colors.
The sound of the movie. Claims of the oppressed landowner and the fraudulent occupier
From the first moments, the film reveals that its main pillar is to say, to the extent that it presents in its first scenes a preliminary prelude based on audio montage of Palestinian and Israeli sayings, and contradictory points of view that almost summarize the whole film, and this can be surprising, considering that it is not recognized in the documentary, but it cannot be rejected, especially as it succeeds in attracting the viewer's attention and pushing him to follow, perhaps with curiosity.
The film is based on two basic voices distributed over the structure of the film, the first voice is for the Palestinian who is devastated by the occupation and monitored by expulsion and displacement, and perhaps this is what made his voice in the film revolve around the details of the reality of the current situation, and the problems that the occupation and its state and authorities excel in inventing, and the second voice is for the Israeli occupier seeking to jump over the occupation incident, by claiming his historical right to Jerusalem three thousand years ago, as it is the "Promised Land".
A house in Silwan, Jerusalem, taken over by Jewish settlers and placed on it with the Israeli flag
The film's image is concerned with highlighting the Palestinian identity of the place, confronting the strange and alienating Israeli presence of the place, whether it appears through raised flags and wires, or deployed soldiers, or settlers who are observed, but there is a voice presented by the film as an Israeli (Dr. Dov Hanin), which seems to try to balance between the claim that Palestinians have the right to live in their homes on the one hand, and Israel's right to take into account the security considerations that concern it on the other hand.
"There is no reason to give up Jerusalem"
The film does not stop at detailing what satisfies it with reading, monitoring or analysis, but it goes through all the details it can, starting with the control of homes by force or fraud, and talks about confiscation, prevention, expulsion, deportation, forms of siege and pressure, from imposing heavy taxes on shops and shops, to expropriation and seizure, and not ending with the demographic problem that blows into its occupied hatred.
"We'll be back." The slogan of all Palestinians in the world
The biggest problem remains that the position of the Palestinian voice vis-à-vis the Israeli voice, as shown in the film, was not properly successful, as the Palestinian complains of bad conditions, misery of reality and unfair practices, while the Israeli occupier invokes history, invokes laws and hides behind the judiciary.
Dr. Mordechai Kedar says, "There is no reason to give up Jerusalem." We must say that the Palestinian popular efforts of all the people of Jerusalem are not enough alone, and therefore it is necessary to support Jerusalemites and enable them to stay in Jerusalem, otherwise let us start writing a statement of obituary for Jerusalem.