24 HOURS JERUSALEM – 26’ - PART 3: 11:30 am – 12 pm
03:00:03
… 11:30 in Jerusalem… Photographer Jim Hollander lives in Beit Zait, West of the city… he works for a European agency, his pictures are published all over the world… he’s been in the Near East since 1983… he took pictures of the First and the Second Intifada, the Arab revolts in Israel, the military operations, the assassinations, the rocket attacks and police operations… around noon he has a routine assignment in the Old City… but these are tense days in April… Israel’s Independence day has just passed, there is a call for a hunger strike for the Palestinian day of the Prisoner…
03:01:23
11:32, 16 degrees… it’s not getting any warmer today… a film featuring a Chinese star is shot in the Old City by a Chinese team … her name is Zhang Jingchu and it’s her first time in Jerusalem…
11:31:29
The old city of Jerusalem is in the East of town. According to the United Nations it is part of Palestinian territory…for Israel it is part of its capital. The centre is divided in four quarters: a Jewish quarter, a Muslim quarter, a Christian quarter and an Armenian quarter. The holy sites of three world religions crammed into a very tight space: The Wailing Wall, the al-Aqsa Mosque, the Holy Sepulchre. Every religion claims space for itself, yet there is only one Jerusalem.
03:02:23
… over 70 years ago, Ruth Bach escaped Germany and the Nazis and came to Israel… since then, she’s been living in a flat in Jerusalem…
03:04:06
… Ariel Weitzl and Hagar Ben Naim patrol the old city, walking through the narrow alleyways of the Muslim quarter… they carry heavy equipment – radio, baton, camera, a gun stuck to the front of the Kevlar… Ariel was born in the Ukraine, used to be a paratrooper and speaks Russian, Hebrew and Arabic… he understands every peddler in the old city…
03:06:43
… on the radio, the news reports an explosion in Texas and nuclear talks with Iran… Jim Hollander’s first assignment is supposed to be somewhere along Via Dolorosa, in the old city…
03:07:44
… 11:38… the Mount of Olives offers the best view over Jerusalem… for locals, tourists and pilgrims…
03:09:06
… Pilgrims are gathering in front of the last stations of the cross at the Holy Sepulchre… they have come from Spain and Brazil, from Korea and Italy, from Russia and the Ukraine… there are American and German tourists …
03:13:00
… coming from the North, the best route to the old city is via the Damascus Gate… it leads right into the heart of the Muslim quarter… a small square, lined with shops selling cloths, jewellery and watches, souvenirs for the tourists… Palestinian fast food: Falafel, tea and Coke… … farmers from the hinterland sell large bundles of peppermint or spinach… or dates, olives and cucumbers… the photographer is searching for a Chinese film crew…
03:14:27
… 11:45 in Jerusalem, quarter to 12… the closer one gets to the Holy Sepulchre, the more souvenirs are sold to tourists and pilgrims…
03:14:49
… they come to be close to the holy sites… to them, Jerusalem is a journey through time, to the origins of faith…
03:15:22
Constanze Klatt and her husband Jamal live in the Arab quarter of Issawija… she has an appointment with her mother in law…
03:16:28
… when Konstanze married Jamal, not only did she get herself a husband and a family but an entire clan… Jamal’s relations stem from Issawija… from here, over 1.500 people have around across world …
03:18:13
… Ariel Weitzl has learnt to be aware of the old city… when the sounds change… sudden silences… just before an outbreak of violence…
03:20:17
… Zhang Jingchu is the star of a Chinese movie… she’s waiting for her scene in the Holy Sepulchre
03:21:45
… 11:51… the next group of pilgrims is waiting to be herded through the Holy Sepulchre… Ruth Bach has lived in the same flat in Jerusalem for 70 years… she never got married…
03:22:11
… Ariel Weitzl and Hagar Ben Naim return to the station after patrol…
03:25:24
.. in the next episode of 24h Jerusalem: Jim Hollander continues his day as a paparazzo and tries to catch more time with the Chinese stars… the Muezzin calls for prayer at the Al Aqsa Mosque and a Bar Mitzvah is celebrated at the Wailing Wall… two religions lay claim to Temple Mount, compromises are rare because faith cannot be divided…
