  {"id":205373,"date":"2016-09-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-03-12T18:58:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?p=205373"},"modified":"2026-04-24T13:08:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T17:08:09","slug":"auto-insert-205373","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/auto-insert-205373\/","title":{"rendered":"UN International Media Seminar on Peace in Middle East (Pretoria,South Africa, 31 Aug. &#8211; 2 Sept. 2016) &#8211; Panel I &#8211; Press release"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<hr \/>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-top: 5px;text-align: left;padding-bottom: 5px\">\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px\"><img class=\"lazyload\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27768%27%20height%3D%27103%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20768%20103%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27768%27%20height%3D%27103%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-content\/uploads\/images\/18c7f70fc04800a5852580220049d982_image0.GIF\" width=\"768px\" height=\"103px\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-top: 4px;font-size: 8pt;font-family: Arial, san-serif;color: #0071bc;padding-bottom: 4px;text-align: left\">\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px\"><strong>1 September 2016<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;text-align: left;font-size: 8pt;font-family: Arial, san-serif\">\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px\"><strong>PAL\/2203-PI\/2181<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;text-align: left;font-size: 8pt;font-family: Arial, san-serif\">\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px\"><strong>International Media Seminar on Peace in the Middle East<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;text-align: left;font-size: 8pt;font-family: Arial, san-serif\">\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px\"><strong>AM &amp; PM Meetings<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-top: 12px;font-size: 12pt;font-family: Arial, san-serif;color: #000000;padding-bottom: 6px;text-align: left\">\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px\"><strong>Comedians, Political Satirists Debate Using Humour to Challenge Stereotypes,<br \/>\nImprove Israeli-Palestinian Relations as Media Seminar Continues<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;text-align: left;padding-bottom: 4px;font-size: 8pt;font-family: Arial, san-serif\">\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px\">PRETORIA, 1 September \u2014 Amid news in the mainstream media of suicide attacks, continued violence, hate speech and besieged areas, political satire could be used to challenge commonly held beliefs about conflict, speakers at the International Media Seminar on Peace in the Middle East said today, stressing its inherent value in promoting peace between Palestinians and Israelis.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;text-align: left;padding-bottom: 4px;font-size: 8pt;font-family: Arial, san-serif\">\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px\">On the seminar\u2019s second day, attendees took part in a panel discussion on \u201cTV shows and mashup videos:\u00a0 when political satire becomes a peacemaker\u201d, during which two comedians, a comedy writer and a journalist engaged them in spirited debate on how to use humour to challenge stereotypes \u2014 and ideally \u2014 change behaviour for the better.\u00a0 Political satire could help deliver an idea in a different way, they said, and in the service of social justice, persuade people to view what was happening around them through the eyes of someone else.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;text-align: left;padding-bottom: 4px;font-size: 8pt;font-family: Arial, san-serif\">\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px\">Panellist Negin Farsad, a comedian who had helped organize the\u00a0<i>The Muslims Are Coming!<\/i>\u00a0stand-up comedy tours, said she had created a two-person musical called\u00a0<i>The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict:\u00a0 A Romantic Comedy<\/i>depicting the conflict as two lovers who had met at the 1948\u00a0Geneva Convention and left broken-hearted. \u00a0While popular in London and Edinburgh, it was met with less enthusiasm in New York City. \u00a0Perceptions about the conflict had to be taken to their logical extreme in order to change them. \u00a0\u201cOtherwise, we\u2019re gridlocked in overly sensitive and overly diplomatic language,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;text-align: left;padding-bottom: 4px;font-size: 8pt;font-family: Arial, san-serif\">\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px\">On that point, panellist Ilan Shefler, co-writer at\u00a0<i>Eretz Nehederet<\/i>, a weekly satirical programme on Israeli television, said: \u00a0\u201cWe are living in the golden age of political satire.\u201d\u00a0 But, it had an inner conflict.\u00a0 The goal was to create laughter. \u00a0Laughing about the occupation, however, could be dangerous in that \u201cyou feel like everything is okay\u201d.\u00a0 Satire could lose its effectiveness if it replaced more effective political acts, such as peaceful protests or voting. \u00a0<i>Eretz Nehederet<\/i>\u00a0differed from other programmes in that \u201cwe are not preaching to the converted\u201d.\u00a0 Viewers were average Israelis with both liberal and conservative views.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;text-align: left;padding-bottom: 4px;font-size: 8pt;font-family: Arial, san-serif\">\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px\">Joey Rasdien, a comedian from South Africa, said comedians in his country had the ability to do social commentary and change perceptions. \u00a0Each person had a unique point of reference.\u00a0 Respecting that difference of perspective created empathy and could lead to breakthroughs in understanding.\u00a0 Often, \u201cwe are so self-righteous, we think our own point of reference is better than that of another person,\u201d he said.\u00a0 It was empathy that had allowed the former President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, who had spent 27\u00a0years in prison, to create social change.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;text-align: left;padding-bottom: 4px;font-size: 8pt;font-family: Arial, san-serif\">\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px\">Ahmed Shihab Eldin, senior correspondent at AJ+, described how the media landscape had changed in the last decade in terms of what made a story or reporter credible. \u00a0In covering the 2014\u00a0war in Gaza for\u00a0<i>The<\/i>\u00a0<i>Huffington Post<\/i>, for example, he had interviewed journalists there to bring an on-the-ground, authentic experience to his stories. \u00a0He was criticized heavily on the web for being a \u201cPalestinian propagandist\u201d and \u201chumanizing Palestinians\u201d. \u00a0In the United States, \u201cif you cover the Israeli Government in a critical way, you\u2019re immediately deemed anti-Semitic\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;text-align: left;padding-bottom: 4px;font-size: 8pt;font-family: Arial, san-serif\">\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px\">During the dialogue, participants described a \u201cclash of definitions\u201d, which led people to discuss different narratives in the same space, with one speaker challenging the importance of understanding the views of others. \u00a0It was equally important, he said, to remind people of their inhumanity.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;text-align: left;padding-bottom: 4px;font-size: 8pt;font-family: Arial, san-serif\">\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px\">In the afternoon, participants attended a screening of the animated documentary,\u00a0<i>The Wanted 18<\/i>, by Amer Shomali and Paul Cowan, about the residents of Beit Sahour, a Palestinian town near Bethlehem that peacefully boycotted Israeli taxation and commodities during the first intifada in\u00a01987.\u00a0 Rather than buy milk from Israeli companies, the residents of Beit Sahour bought 18\u00a0cows from an Israeli farmer and learned to make their own milk. \u00a0The film featured participant Majd Nassar, who had helped to write the script.`<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;text-align: left;padding-bottom: 4px;font-size: 8pt;font-family: Arial, san-serif\">\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px\">The International Media Seminar on Peace in the Middle East will reconvene at 9:30\u00a0a.m. on Friday, 2\u00a0September.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;text-align: left;padding-bottom: 4px;font-size: 8pt;font-family: Arial, san-serif\">\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px\"><u>Panel I<\/u><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;text-align: left;padding-bottom: 4px;font-size: 8pt;font-family: Arial, san-serif\">\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px\">The seminar began the day with a panel discussion on \u201cTV shows and mashup videos:\u00a0 When political satire becomes a peacemaker\u201d.\u00a0 Moderated by Margaret Novicki, Acting Director of the Strategic Communications Division of the United Nations Department of Public Information, it featured presentations by comedians Negin Farsad and Joey Rasdien; Ilan Shefler, co-writer at\u00a0<i>Eretz Nehederet<\/i>; and Ahmed Shihab Eldin, senior correspondent at AJ+.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;text-align: left;padding-bottom: 4px;font-size: 8pt;font-family: Arial, san-serif\">\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px\">Ms.\u00a0NOVICKI said political satire could be traced through history. \u00a0\u201cSatire is traditionally a weapon of the powerless against the powerful,\u201d she said, citing United States newspaper columnist Molly Ivins as an example. \u00a0Panellists would explore the nature and purpose of satire and whether it could be put in service of peace and challenge taboos.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;text-align: left;padding-bottom: 4px;font-size: 8pt;font-family: Arial, san-serif\">\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px\">Ms. FARSAD said she was an Iranian-American Muslim woman, who had brought other non-violent Muslim Americans to Alabama, Tennessee and other states in the United States for a comedy tour called\u00a0<i>The Muslims Are Coming!<\/i>\u00a0\u00a0She said some people had thought it was a warning about a Muslim \u201capocalypse\u201d. \u00a0During the tour, the comedians did stand-up shows and set up an \u201cAsk a Muslim\u201d booth, where visitors asked questions, such as: \u00a0\u201cIf you are a Muslim, why are you dressed like that?\u201d, and \u201cWhy don\u2019t Muslims in the United States denounce terrorism?\u201d \u00a0She said in response, she had told them: \u00a0\u201cWe do denounce terrorism.\u00a0 The media just doesn\u2019t cover it because it is a boring story about the actions of reasonable people.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;text-align: left;padding-bottom: 4px;font-size: 8pt;font-family: Arial, san-serif\">\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px\">Providing a snapshot of other activities, she said she had launched a website,\u00a0<i>The Daily Denouncer<\/i>, joking that it \u201cdenounced every day, but took weekends off\u201d.\u00a0 She and others had created a \u201cFighting Bigotry with Delightful Posters\u201d campaign, which featured posters on New York City subways to counter the ideas of a hate group.\u00a0 Just before it was to launch, the transit authority banned the posters, citing political content reasons.\u00a0 Her group sued the subway system and won the suit. \u00a0Eventually, the posters were displayed \u2014 and nothing happened.\u00a0 She tested the policy ideas of United States presidential candidate Donald Trump, who had advocated banning Muslims, and placing those living in the United States into a registry, by taking the ideas to their logical extreme, which in turn, had shown them to be \u201cridiculous\u201d, unconstitutional and difficult to enforce.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;text-align: left;padding-bottom: 4px;font-size: 8pt;font-family: Arial, san-serif\">\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px\">In addition, she discussed a two-person musical called\u00a0<i>The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: \u00a0A Romantic Comedy<\/i>, which depicted the conflict as two lovers who had met at the 1948\u00a0Geneva Convention and left broken-hearted. \u00a0While popular in London and Edinburgh, it had been met with less enthusiasm in New York City. \u00a0\u201cThis is the kind of issue where you just have to go there,\u201d she said. \u00a0\u201cOtherwise, we\u2019re gridlocked in overly sensitive and overly diplomatic language.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;text-align: left;padding-bottom: 4px;font-size: 8pt;font-family: Arial, san-serif\">\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px\">Mr. RASDIEN said South African comedians had the ability to do social commentary, and therefore, to change people\u2019s perceptions. \u00a0Each person had a unique point of reference. \u00a0If there was a snake in the room, for example, a person\u2019s point of reference would determine how they reacted to it. \u00a0It was determined by everything from education to what the person had eaten for breakfast. \u00a0Some would run away from the snake while others might not see it, just the people who were running away, and do the same.\u00a0 Still, others might want to catch the snake and make it a pet, eat it or make it dance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;text-align: left;padding-bottom: 4px;font-size: 8pt;font-family: Arial, san-serif\">\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px\">Often, he said, \u201cwe are so self-righteous, we think our own point of reference is better than another person\u2019s point of view\u201d. \u00a0The former President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, who had spent 27\u00a0years in prison, had understood the point of reference of those who had imprisoned him.\u00a0 He said Mr.\u00a0Mandela\u2019s empathy had made it possible for him to stand before the seminar today.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;text-align: left;padding-bottom: 4px;font-size: 8pt;font-family: Arial, san-serif\">\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px\">Mr. SHEFLER said\u00a0<i>Eretz Nehederet<\/i>\u00a0was a popular weekly television show in Israel, with 1\u00a0million viewers each week. \u00a0One episode had portrayed characters from the Angry Birds mobile game as negotiators in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. \u00a0Once the mediator had started playing music, tensions had eased. \u00a0The parties had relaxed and danced. \u00a0Tensions had emerged again when one bird had brought up the issue of history.\u00a0 \u201cWe are living in the golden age of political satire,\u201d he said. \u00a0\u201cThere is political satire everywhere. \u00a0If you don\u2019t feel the effect of this amount of political satire, I think it is because there is too much of it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;text-align: left;padding-bottom: 4px;font-size: 8pt;font-family: Arial, san-serif\">\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px\">Continuing, he said political satire could be a dangerous if it replaced more effective political acts, such as protests or voting, and that it had an inherent inner conflict.\u00a0 The goal was to create laughter, but laughing about the occupation could be dangerous, as it was a relief.\u00a0 \u201cYou feel like everything is okay,\u201d he said. \u00a0\u201cNow, someone else can do the job.\u201d \u00a0Satire was less effective because of that fact. \u00a0His show often pointed out ways \u201cthe right wing is wrong\u201d, and yet, today, there was one of the most right-wing Governments in Israel.\u00a0 His show differed from others in that \u201cwe are not preaching to the converted\u201d.\u00a0 The audience was split between right and left wingers.\u00a0 Right wingers did not attend shows on the occupation. \u00a0Because the show was on a main television channel, average Israelis watched it. \u00a0Overall, he said in closing, foreign media coverage of the Israel-Palestine conflict was unbalanced.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;text-align: left;padding-bottom: 4px;font-size: 8pt;font-family: Arial, san-serif\">\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px\">Mr.\u00a0SHIHAB ELDIN described how the media landscape had changed in the decade he had been a journalist in terms of what made a story or reporter credible. \u00a0When he began working at\u00a0<i>The New York Times<\/i>, he had been met with suspicion because of his Palestinian origin, an experience that had been his introduction to mainstream journalism. \u00a0It was what had formed his career path. \u00a0He had spent six months covering international news for the\u00a0<i>Times\u2019<\/i>\u00a0website, which he said he had found difficult, due to the editorial policy.\u00a0 On the question of Palestine, the word \u201coccupied\u201d was seldom used, which was a problem for him. \u00a0He eventually went to work for Al Jazeera, launching a show called\u00a0<i>The Stream<\/i>\u00a0that tackled issues not covered by mainstream media. \u00a0Later, at\u00a0<i>The<\/i>\u00a0<i>Huffington Post<\/i>, he launched a 24-hour live show on the Internet, which had given him an opportunity to tell stories to an audience that did not watch Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;text-align: left;padding-bottom: 4px;font-size: 8pt;font-family: Arial, san-serif\">\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px\">When it came to covering Palestine, Israel and the war in Gaza, he said, there was reluctance to criticizing Israel and covering stories that humanized Palestinians. \u00a0In the United States, \u201cif you cover the Israeli Government in a critical way, you\u2019re immediately deemed anti-Semitic\u201d, he said.\u00a0 As the fighting had unfolded in Gaza, he interviewed journalists there to bring an on-the-ground and authentic experience to his stories. \u00a0His reporting generated heightened criticism on the web for being a \u201cPalestinian propagandist\u201d and \u201chumanizing Palestinians\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;text-align: left;padding-bottom: 4px;font-size: 8pt;font-family: Arial, san-serif\">\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px\">When the floor was opened for questions, participants asked a range of questions.\u00a0 Some described a \u201cclash of definitions\u201d, which had led people to discuss different narratives in the same space, with one speaker stressing that he did not need to understand the views of the opponents in order to engage with them.\u00a0 It was important to remind people of their inhumanity, another participant said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;text-align: left;padding-bottom: 4px;font-size: 8pt;font-family: Arial, san-serif\">\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px\">Ms.\u00a0FARSAD recalled that Comedy Central host John Stewart had said that, after 15\u00a0years of hosting the comedy series that he could not say anything had appreciably changed because of it.\u00a0 Yet, one study had shown that people who watched 30\u00a0minutes of\u00a0<i>The<\/i>\u00a0<i>Daily Show<\/i>, another comedy series, had learned more about the world than those who tuned into the 24-hour mainstream news cycle.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;text-align: left;padding-bottom: 4px;font-size: 8pt;font-family: Arial, san-serif\">\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px\">Mr. SHIHAB ELDIN said AJ+ recently had launched a news-comedy show.\u00a0 \u201cYou retain information when you\u2019re entertained,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;text-align: left;padding-bottom: 4px;font-size: 8pt;font-family: Arial, san-serif\">\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px\">Mr.\u00a0RASDIEN agreed that satire was about laughter. \u00a0\u201cBut, we haven\u2019t heard Israel\u2019s point of reference or what the settlers think,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cWe only hear the one side:\u00a0 \u2018Israel is bad and Palestinians are suffering\u2019.\u00a0 We don\u2019t know why.\u201d\u00a0 Apartheid had started because white South Africans believed they were better than black people, pointing to Bible verses that they had said supported that idea.\u00a0 To a question about how comedians handled situations when their message was not received in the manner in which it was intended, and even caused offense, he responded that \u201cwe see things as we are\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;text-align: left;padding-bottom: 4px;font-size: 8pt;font-family: Arial, san-serif\">\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px\">Mr. SHEFLER said satire required interpretation.\u00a0 It was not a direct medium, like writing an article.\u00a0 It needed a stereotype.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;text-align: left;padding-bottom: 4px;font-size: 8pt;font-family: Arial, san-serif\">\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px\">Ms. FARSAD said she did not believe that satire worked on an international level. \u00a0It should be targeted for a specific audience. \u00a0She recalled being often criticized by other Muslims, who had called her shameful. \u00a0But, some of her material was not for them.\u00a0 It was for white Americans. \u00a0She said she had dealt with death threats and cultural hostility by forging ahead and remembering that she was targeting an audience that was intransigent on the issue of bigotry.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;text-align: left;padding-bottom: 4px;font-size: 8pt;font-family: Arial, san-serif\">\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px\">One participant from\u00a0<u>South Sudan<\/u>\u00a0explained he had been in the \u201cliberation army\u201d and was criticized as being against Islam. \u00a0He often struggled to explain that that was not his story.\u00a0 He blamed the media. \u00a0There were many in South Sudan who did not understand that Israelis were not Christians, which informed their views. \u00a0\u201cIf you see someone being killed, no matter what colour, why do we tolerate it?\u201d, he asked.\u00a0 He believed the cause was ignorance.\u00a0 Satire was supposed to educate and he believed there was too much emphasis on making people laugh. \u00a0The fear was that problems would not be solved. \u00a0He asked the panel how to translate comedy into something that people could share with one another.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;text-align: left;padding-bottom: 4px;font-size: 8pt;font-family: Arial, san-serif\">\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px\">Mr. RASDIEN said \u201cwe do better when we know better\u201d.\u00a0 Information was important.\u00a0 If comedians did not read every day and search for that information, they would not create material that resonated with others.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;text-align: left;padding-bottom: 4px;font-size: 8pt;font-family: Arial, san-serif\">\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px\">Mr. SHIHAB ELDIN said there was a limit to what could be accomplished through any one medium. \u00a0Comedians offered an entry point for people to seek out more information.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;text-align: left;padding-bottom: 4px;font-size: 8pt;font-family: Arial, san-serif\">\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px\">Ms. FARSAD said it was too easy to say all comedy was reductionist. \u00a0Comedians had to do a better job understanding that the average person could handle the material.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;text-align: left;padding-bottom: 4px;font-size: 8pt;font-family: Arial, san-serif\">\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px\"><u>Interactive Dialogue<\/u><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;text-align: left;padding-bottom: 4px;font-size: 8pt;font-family: Arial, san-serif\">\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px\">In the afternoon, seminar participants attended a screening of the animated documentary,\u00a0<i>The Wanted 18<\/i>, by Amer Shomali and Paul Cowan.\u00a0 The film was about the residents of Beit Sahour, a Palestinian town near Bethlehem, who had peacefully boycotted Israeli taxation and commodities during the first intifada in\u00a01987.\u00a0 Rather than buy milk from Israeli companies, the residents had bought 18\u00a0cows from an Israeli farmer and learned to make their own milk. \u00a0When Israel declared the herd a threat to its national security, the residents hid the cows.\u00a0 The film featured one of the participants, Dr.\u00a0Majd Nassar, who had helped to write the script.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;text-align: left;padding-bottom: 4px;font-size: 8pt;font-family: Arial, san-serif\">\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px\">In an interactive dialogue after the film, participants asked a range of questions, from the experience of telling the story of the cows through film to why the experience of Beit Sahour had not spread to other Palestinian towns.\u00a0 One participant suggested that another film be made to answer that question.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;text-align: left;padding-bottom: 4px;font-size: 8pt;font-family: Arial, san-serif\">\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px\">Mr.\u00a0NASSAR said that young people\u2019s knowledge of the 1987\u00a0intifada was not strong. \u00a0Thirty per cent of Beit Sahour\u2019s population viewed it as history. \u00a0It had taken him several years to learn how to write a script for the animated cows featured in the film. \u00a0The crew he had worked with then broadened the story and through their filming, gave it a more advanced context than he had done in his writing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;text-align: left;padding-bottom: 4px;font-size: 8pt;font-family: Arial, san-serif\">\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px\">\u201cI wanted to document an important period in the life of the Palestinians, and a certain period in my own life,\u201d he said.\u00a0 At the time, there had been a debate about whether to spread the experience. \u00a0People knew of another town in the north undergoing similar events, whose residents also had been punished by Israeli authorities. \u00a0Some had thought it was important for the people of Beit Sahour to demonstrate in Bethlehem because of its historic significance.\u00a0 But, the Palestinian Authority had made a political decision not to do that, which was why Beit Sahourians could not push for it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;text-align: left;padding-bottom: 4px;font-size: 8pt;font-family: Arial, san-serif\">\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px\">\u201cWhen you go for civil action, it\u2019s not something that goes on auto\u2011control,\u201d he said. \u00a0\u201cPeople have to be prepared to go to jail, to die.\u201d \u00a0It was a process and at the time, people had suggested that Bethlehem start engaging in it.\u00a0 He had boycotted Israeli goods since January\u00a01988. \u00a0In\u00a01987, Palestinians were a captive market and had nothing other than Israeli products to buy.\u00a0 Today, there were Pakistani, Indian, Chinese and other products available, making it easier to boycott Israeli goods.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;text-align: left;padding-bottom: 4px;font-size: 8pt;font-family: Arial, san-serif\">\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px\">He went on to say that Beit Sahour had come to international attention because people had connections to the media and the outer world.\u00a0 While they had no mobile phones or computers, \u201cwe were the directors, the producers, the script-writers and the media came to us,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u00a0 Journalists covering the story were courageous to defy the Israeli military order to stay out of the area. \u00a0They would have been deported, he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;text-align: left;padding-bottom: 4px;font-size: 8pt;font-family: Arial, san-serif\">\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px\">EMMA ALPERT, Public Engagement Manager of Just Vision, which was promoting the film, said the activities of the first intifada \u2014 the use of boycott, civil disobedience and outdoor areas to teach children when schools were forced to close\u00a0\u2014 had been happening throughout the West Bank.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;text-align: left;padding-bottom: 4px;font-size: 8pt;font-family: Arial, san-serif\">\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px\">Mr.\u00a0NASSAR responded to a question about whether he identified more with Palestinians who had supported Oslo Accords or those who had felt it had been imposed from the outside and scuttled efforts for independence.\u00a0 He said the Oslo Accords had been signed after long negotiations. \u00a0As part of a negotiating committee that had travelled to Washington, D.C., he had faced counterparts from Israel, United States and Palestine.\u00a0 He had been surprised by the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements and the handshake at the White House. \u00a0Almost every country had celebrated the Declaration\u2019s signature \u2014 officials and publics alike. \u00a0Very few people inside or outside Palestine were critical of it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;text-align: left;padding-bottom: 4px;font-size: 8pt;font-family: Arial, san-serif\">\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px\">He said he belonged to the few people inside Palestine who had given lectures in Europe against the Oslo Accords, convinced Israel would never implement it. \u00a0\u201cNo one believed me,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cI was talking to walls.\u201d \u00a0The only questions he had fielded from people were about whether he was part of Hamas. \u00a0\u201cNo one wanted to debate the details of the Accords,\u201d he added, and in Gaza, the vast majority of people were happy about the Declaration.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;text-align: left;padding-bottom: 4px;font-size: 8pt;font-family: Arial, san-serif\">\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px\">Responding to another query, he said the film was first screened in Ramallah, with 200\u00a0people from Beit Sahour bussed in to attend. \u00a0It later had been screened in Beit Sahour and there had been no negative reactions. \u00a0Some of the young people who had seen the film had been surprised at the events that had taken place.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #000000;text-align: left;padding-bottom: 4px;font-size: 8pt;font-family: Arial, san-serif\">\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px\">Ms.\u00a0ALPERT, when asked about other films that had mixed documentary and animation, said the film was unique in its format.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #808080;text-align: left;padding-bottom: 8px;font-size: 8pt;font-family: Arial, san-serif\">\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px\">For information media. Not an official record.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>1 September 2016 PAL\/2203-PI\/2181 International Media Seminar on Peace in the Middle East AM &amp; PM Meetings &nbsp; Comedians, Political Satirists Debate Using Humour to Challenge Stereotypes, Improve Israeli-Palestinian Relations as Media Seminar Continues PRETORIA, 1 September \u2014 Amid news in the mainstream media of suicide attacks, continued violence, hate speech and besieged areas, political <a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/auto-insert-205373\/\"> [&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[1128],"document-category":[1329,2637,2773],"document-source":[1897],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[2517,5358,1937,2005,1741,1801,2349,1805,2145,2741],"entity":[1985,1729],"document-language":[6542],"class_list":["post-205373","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","country-south-africa","document-category-press-release","document-category-remarks","document-category-speech","document-source-united-nations-department-of-public-information-dpi","document-subject-access-and-movement","document-subject-ClosuresCurfewsBlockades","document-subject-economic-issues","document-subject-gaza-strip","document-subject-human-rights-and-international-humanitarian-law","document-subject-inalienable-rights-of-the-palestinian-people","document-subject-living-conditions","document-subject-occupation","document-subject-public-information","document-subject-statehood-related","entity-state","entity-united-nations-system","document-language-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/205373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/document"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/205373\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":317386,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/205373\/revisions\/317386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=205373"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=205373"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=205373"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=205373"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=205373"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=205373"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=205373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}