Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Audio: Life behind the Green Line

In the first in a series of audio programmes by Comment is Free writers, Seth Freedman hears how Palestinians in the West Bank have been affected by Israel's security wall, and what efforts have been made to find unity in the region

Seth Freedman, guardian.co.uk, Monday 15 December 2008

"After nearly two years of travelling round the West Bank and seeing the truth behind the propaganda I was spoon-fed during my army service, the impact of the harsh reality in which Palestinians are forced to exist does not get any less shocking as time goes by. Throughout the making of this documentary, I was exposed once more to a litany of injustices and inequality, all perpetrated by Israeli officialdom in the so-called quest for peace – and, according to those with whom I spoke, life is as unbearable now as it has been at any point during Israel's decades-old occupation of the West Bank.

During the recording of this programme, I travelled to several Palestinian communities in the West Bank, interviewing local residents as well as the activists and aid workers who assist them in their quest for survival. I also spent time in Ramallah, the de facto Palestinian capital, as well as travelling to Jericho for an exclusive interview with Dr Saeb Erekat, the Palestinians' chief negotiator. According to those with whom I spoke, if there is to be any chance of salvaging what little hope remains for a true, just resolution to the conflict, the yoke of oppression must be lifted from around the necks of those for whom life behind the Green Line is nothing more than an interminably bleak and cruel existence at present."

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