24 HOURS JERUSALEM – 26’ - PART 1: 6-6:30 am

01:00:03

… it’s 6 am at Qalandia Checkpoint, north of Jerusalem… behind the border installations lies the Westbank, Ramallah and the Palestinian territories… here, in the village of Quatana, lives Imad Hoshiyah… like many other Palestinian workers he crosses the checkpoint twice a day… in the morning on his way to work and in the evening on the way back… Imad is heading for a hotel in the centre of town where he cleans rooms… Jerusalem is the city of pilgrims, a holy place for Jews, Christians and Muslims… a city of dreams – and a city of wars…

01:01:28

… two minutes past 6 in Jerusalem, 7 degrees… most of the residents are still asleep… but in the next half hour every day life will begin in a city that has no concept of every day life…

01:01:47

… Up until WWI, Palestine was part of the Ottoman Empire... afterwards, it became a British mandated territory... at the centre of the mandate: Jerusalem... after Israeli independence, the city was divided in 1948 – The East became part of Jordan, the West became the capital of Israel ... During the 6 day war in 1967, Israel conquered the Eastern side of the town as well, extended its borders, and declared the whole of Jerusalem to be the capital of the country ... this status is not internationally recognized.   According to the UN East-Jerusalem is an occupied territory and claimed by the Palestinians as their capital……

01:02:46

…shortly past six, the streets of East Jerusalem are still empty, but rush hour will soon begin and traffic will slow to a crawl… Imad Hoshiyas’s workplace is close to the Old City… without the safety installations and the wall he could be there within half an hour…

01:04:52

…for Ofer Yagan, the day begins like every other day… clocking in along with his colleagues …

01:06:04

… Meir Indor lives in a Jewish settlement in the South of Jerusalem...  As a devout Jew, he performs his morning prayer every day…  The Tallit (prayer shawl) and the Tefillin remind him to respect God’s Holy commandments….

01:08:00

… eight minutes past six ...

01:08:10

… Muslims study the Koran at the al Aqsa Mosque…

01:08:18

… the sun rose five minutes ago, a briefing is scheduled at the municipal waste collection centre…

01:09:06

… Mahane Yehuda in West Jerusalem still belongs to the delivery men… but the first customers will soon arrive at the market to buy the daily bread, the daily fruit, the veggies, fish, meat…

01:09:25

…at the St Saviour monastery, Father Pierucci prepares for morning mass… the monastery lies in the old city, not far from the Dome of the Rock and the Wailing Wall…

01:09:58

… Agil Khalil and his colleagues are en route from Hebron to Jerusalem, where they work in construction… they have yet to cross the border installations and checkpoints, which Imad Hosiyah left behind… it is mostly pilgrims who book into the Ambassador Hotel, but it is also a meeting point for journalists and diplomats…

01:12:02

… Constanze Klatt was born in Thuringia and married a Palestinian… she met her husband Jamal at University in Barcelona…  together with their daughter Lina, they live in Issawija, an Arab quarter in Eastern Jerusalem… The family sometimes speaks German, sometimes Arabic, but mostly Spanish…

01:14:37

… for 25 years, Father Armando Pierucci has performed holy mass by himself, every morning… Entrance, confessions, the reading, the creed and the Eucharis he is both priest and parish in one…

01:16:26

Ofer and Avi gather up what is thrown away in Jerusalem… old furniture, used nappies, left-over food… All of it ends up in the municipal skips

01:16:56

… 17 minutes past six in Jerusalem…

01:17:33

…devout Jews pray at the Wailing Wall…’Blessed are You, Lord, our God, King of the Universe

01:17:37

… Agil Khalil has reached Bethlehem on his journey from Hebron to Jerusalem… together with his colleagues, he walks through the border installations…

01:19:04

… on good days, Jamal fixes pancakes for breakfast for his daughter… she has to be at Kindergarten at 8am and traffic in Jerusalem is notorious…

01:20:35

… traders have gathered on the Palestinian side of the checkpoint to cater for the workers… coffee and tea and cigarettes… baked eggs and bread…

01:21:10

… those, who want to go through the checkpoint, need a pass, issued by the Israeli administration… applicants have to be at least 25 years of age, with no prior convictions…

01:21:31

… every worker has to be invited in by an Israeli employer… he should be married with children… the pass can be revoked at any time and without any particular reason…

01:22:18

… 22 min. past 6… Ofer and Avi have reached the first skip of the day… the skips mostly stand at the street corners… one skip per street…

01:23:15

… during riots, the skips are often set ablaze… then, they no longer serve as rubbish skips but as street barricades…

01:25:19

… the queue at the checkpoint is growing longer by the minute… waiting time is at least an hour, on some days it can stretch to three or four…

01:25:37

… in the next episode of 24h Jerusalem, the dustbin men will take a break and films will be made in heaven… there will be praise for a German machine and German history will be visited… Father Armando will retreat to be alone and compose music… spiritual music of course…