James11.1
Question – do you manually type the shows or is the text made avaialable ?Morrissey11.1.1
I transcribe them, laboriously on my keyboard, one soundbite at a time. I type quite fast, but still it takes me about an hour to transcribe five minutes. I’d love it if there was a transcript available for each show, like there is for Democracy Now! but there isn’t, so there’s no alternative but to slog through the sound archive file.In the past, I would furiously scribble out rush transcripts in my bush shorthand; they contained some inaccuracies, which some of my friendly rivals here pounced on occasionally.But I think this particular transcript is pretty much perfect, apart from my inability to understand a couple of Arabic words used by Fadwa Hodali.
Red11.2
Stop your bleating, not every interview has to be political and meet your warped view of the worldSiobhan11.2.1
It does seem strange Crump didn’t ask Fadwa for her favorite humus recipe.
Next time maybe.- By the way, Siobhan, have a look at the reception this post received over on Mr Farrar’s blog…..http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2016/11/general_debate_3_november_2016.html/comment-page-1#comment-1810551
- Stop your bleating,“Bleating”? I take the time to coherently argue a case, and all you can say is that it is “bleating”. Thanks for that: it’s as good as a “Disregard Without Reading” notice for any of your posts in the future.not every interview has to be politicalCorrect. But they have to be at least intelligent, and reflect an honest curiosity with the subject at hand. Either Bryan Crump is intellectually indolent, or someone in management had warned him not to mention anything “controversial”.and meet your warped view of the worldCould you explain what you mean by that? How is my view of the world “warped”?
reason11.3
Thanks for the transcript Morrissey ………. I appreciate your efforts which provide me with information and snapshots of what our media is dishing up ….. that I would otherwise miss out on.Your posts are informative and educational ……… which is probably why our troll dick pics have been bunting away at you….Take it as a compliment that they see you as a threat and resent you …..Personally I try and use trolls and their trolling to provide more information for other readers …..They troll …… we inform- Thanks for your kind words, reason. Very much appreciated.
halfcrown11.3.1.1
I also appreciate your efforts.- Cheers, halfcrown.
Saturday 24 November 2018
Bryan Crump's callow and fatuous conversation with Fadwa Hodali (Nov. 3, 2016)
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Bryan Crump's callow and fatuous conversation with Fadwa Hodali
Nights with Bryan Crump, RNZ National, Monday 31 October 2016
FADWA HODALI: Definitely not, no, you’re right, you’re right Bryan, definitely not. Bethlehem is a modern city. You can see high-rise buildings, nightlife, restaurants, like any other city that you try to enjoy what it offers. Unfortunately the only thing that we’re REALLY missing here, not only in Bethlehem but the whole West Bank, is the political stability, the political stability that everybody feels on a daily basis. Bethlehem is only a few miles away from Jerusalem, and this is something that we cannot enjoy, going to Jerusalem, because of the checkpoints, because of the wall that was built years ago. So this restricts the movement of Palestinians and they’re limited in a certain square mile that they have to live, enjoy life and it’s very difficult, you know. Five minutes, ten minutes away to be in Jerusalem, and not enjoying the beautiful scenery there. Half an hour from the beach—some kids are not even able to go to the beach, they don’t know what the beach is, because they need permission from the Israelis to go there. So it’s not easy, it’s not easy living here. Palestinians try to make the most of it, but it’s still very difficult.
BRYAN CRUMP: How far is, how FAR is Jerusalem from you?
FADWA HODALI: It’s, what?, five minutes away.
BRYAN CRUMP: REALLY?
FADWA HODALI: Five minutes. Yes, yes.
BRYAN CRUMP: By car? So you’re almost, you’re just next DOOR to Jerusalem. But how long does it take to get there if you want to travel there?
FADWA HODALI: Well, it depends on the situation at the checkpoint. Sometimes you can pass by, five minutes at the checkpoint, and sometimes it takes you half an hour, an hour to cross. And of course in the early morning is when the Palestinian workers cross through the checkpoint to work in the Israeli area. And of course there you would see thousands and thousands and thousands of people in lines waiting to be searched and cross. So you would see a worker coming into the checkpoint when he needs to start working at seven a.m., he has to be at the checkpoint around three o’clock in the morning, to be able to be at work at seven o’clock. So you can imagine the pressure in there, you can imagine the kind of lives they are leading. So it’s not easy, it’s not easy at all.
BRYAN CRUMP: So to some extent is Bethlehem a bit of a dormitory suburb for people who work in Jerusalem? Are there lots of people who actually depend on jobs in Jerusalem for their livelihoods?
FADWA HODALI: Well actually a lot of people from all over the West Bank depend on jobs on the Israeli side, whether it’s from the construction—mostly construction sites. But yes, for example in the Bethlehem area, we have a lot of people go there. They work for Christian institutions, they work as teachers in the Jerusalem area, so yes there is quite a number from Bethlehem that cross on a daily basis to go to their jobs in Jerusalem, definitely.
BRYAN CRUMP: What’s the main economic activity in Bethlehem? I’m guessing TOURISM is quite important in Bethlehem because of the, uh, Christian story.
FADWA HODALI: Well yeah definitely it is. Definitely, absolutely. Tourism is the number one in the Bethlehem area. It dropped the last two years also, because of the unrest that started last year. But definitely at some point we see the hotels fully booked, constantly you see the tourist buses in the street, the tourists going into the Old City. So you can feel the Bethlehem atmosphere. But unfortunately those tourists, a lot of them don’t sleep in the Bethlehem area. So they just bring them for the day, they spend the day and leave, and that is a big loss for the tourism industry here. For the reason of instability, whatever, they tell the tourists that no we can’t stay here, it’s unstable, and then they take them and they get to sleep somewhere else, on the Israeli side. So this is a major problem that the tourism industry is facing also.
BRYAN CRUMP: One problem we have at RNZ, Radio New Zealand, in finding a Palestinian correspondent, has been finding somebody who has a good phone line. Is telecommunications infrastructure a bit DIRE on the West Bank, or have we just been unlucky until we found YOU and your FABULOUS phone line I might add?
FADWA HODALI: No, not really, not really, actually you’re correct, you’re right in everything that you said. Actually you’re calling me on an Israeli line that I have.
BRYAN CRUMP: REALLY? How do you manage to have an Israeli line in BETHLEHEM?
FADWA HODALI: Yeah, well, remember that ALL our infrastructure is provided, specially designed, by the Israelis. We don’t have 3G access here by the way. The Israelis are still putting obstacles on the equipment that meets you coming into the Palestinian territories. They give the Palestinians …[garbled]… but we still are not functioning on a 3G internet. So you can IMAGINE how slow the internet is, especially on the phones. When you are at home it’s fine, but when you leave, everything is digital, you know, you have to check your emails, and use everything constantly, whether you are on the road or at work, so you need to have access to a 24-hour internet, and unfortunately we lack that in the Palestinian Territories. The few telecommunication companies that we have provide the internet but they’re not 3G. So we pay a tremendous amount of money for phone services while if you get a line, an Israeli line, which pretty much all Palestinians have a second line which they use mostly for internet, it’s cheap, fifty shekels or twenty dollars, less than twenty dollars, you can have unlimited calls, unlimited internet and all the time that you want. So the reason we have a very weak service here is that certain areas, part of the West Bank, the signal is very weak. Not enough towers being put out there. I would imagine that we can’t have a really decent phone conversation. I have for example a Palestinian song that I use locally and also internationally, and international calls they give you a really good deal on it. But I’m at home and the phone is roaming, because the signal is very weak from the local companies, so I have to roam into the Israeli company lines. So imagine the phone bills! [chuckles ruefully] So that’s why you are likely to be able to get hold of me, because you are talking to me on an Israeli phone line.
BRYAN CRUMP: And you’ve got a GOOD Israeli line because you’re in the right pla-a-a-ace, not–because it sounds to me from what you’ve SAID, it’s not necessarily that more expensive but you have to be in the right place.
FADWA HODALI: You have also to be in the right place, yes, because sometimes you are relying on the Israeli line crossed into the West Bank, there are certain areas that your Israeli line cannot work in there. Not enough coverage. I live in Bethlehem and surrounding us on pretty much four sides are all settlements. So you can imagine [rueful chuckle] the amount of coverage and towers that have been put out there for them to enjoy.
BRYAN CRUMP: [jocular tone] So this is one advantage of being near a Jewish settlement!
BRYAN CRUMP: Heh heh!
FADWA HODALI: [bitterly] Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
BRYAN CRUMP: A SILVER LINING, that’s what we sa-a-a-a-a-ay! I dunno if you ever use that phra-a-a-ase.
BRYAN CRUMP: Um, actually I wanted to go back, I don’t REALLY want to go back to a darker, um, aspect, to the conversation, but I, it’s kinda part of an ongoing ISSUE for YOU, and that is the recent spate of, of KNIFE ATTACKS on Israelis which you mentioned before, and, uh, when I’ve spoken to OTHERS, uh, about this in the Palestinian Territories, one of the reasons put up is frustration with the lack of progress vis-a-vis some kind of settlement with Israel. But I’m wondering whether another thing a lot of YOUNG Palestinians are feeling is frustration with their OWN LEADERSHIP, as in Mahmoud Abbas is OLD and frail and out of TOUCH with young Palestinians?
FADWA HODALI: Well, a lot of frustration, yes, you can sense a lot of frustration. A lot of frustration of the political deadlock—there’s no horizon for any political solution. For over twenty years, negotiations and negotiations and negotiations and talks have not resulted in anything. Palestinians see the result on the ground: more settlement building, more incursions, more arrests. Life is not normal for a young Palestinian, it’s not. So definitely there would be a blame on the leadership, whether it’s Mahmoud Abbas or it’s somebody else, actually, in regards to that. So, yeah, we’ve seen a lot of—-
BRYAN CRUMP: He, he’s, Mahmoud Abbas is, is now in his eighties isn’t he.
FADWA HODALI: Yes he’s in his eighties, definitely, and the last health issue that he had, this raised a lot of questions on his successor, what’s next, if something happens to President Abbas, who’s gonna take over, what’s going to happen in the West Bank, what’s going to happen in Gaza, where everything is. So it’s more of a soap opera here in the last two, three weeks. And of course with this issue then you have his rivals, other parties that they are not happy with his performance, have NEVER been happy with his performance, whether it’s from the Hamas side, whether it’s from the [unclear Arabic word]side now, so everything has just been pressured on him from all sides—not only internally but also internationally. We have Arab countries putting pressure on President Abbas to fix his internal issue, make reconciliation with Hamas, a lot of pressure being exerted from the expelled Mohammad Dahlan from Fatah wanting to come back, and he’s putting a lot of pressure on President Abbas through the Arab Quartet to come and make peace with him. So this is where the whole soap opera is happening right now, a lot of pressure. The situation is not easy because no one knows what’s next. Fatah has to choose the successor, who’s coming to take over after Abu Mazen. Israel is on the side watching, to evaluate how things are happening. We’re in a time now when the Arab world, as you know, things around us are unstable, wars from every single part. The instability that’s taking place in the Egypt side also is putting a lot of pressure on the Palestinians to make reconciliation also. So you can imagine, [wry chuckle]what’s happening in here.
BRYAN CRUMP: Who’s most likely to succeed him, in YOUR opinion?
FADWA HODALI: Well, ahhh, very different cases, of scenarios. But if you ask me personally, then I think that one person who everybody agrees on in the Palestinian side, whether it’s from President Abbas’s side or Hamas’s side or [Arabic name] side, or everyone that wants to get rid of President Abbas and wants someone to come over and take over, everybody agrees on one person, one person that is Marwan Barghouti. And we know Marwan Barghouti is someone that has been in the Israeli jails for years and years, over fifteen years now. And he is able, as some kind of a deal I would assume, takes place. And Fatah actually continues, there is a criteria that Fatah has to assign someone, and if Fatah agrees to assign someone which is Marwan Barghouti, then the full support will go for him, and everybody agrees on that because he is able to bring all the internal issues together. He is someone that they see in their eyes that gave most of his life for Palestine. Despite what the Israelis call him, say about him, and all that, the Palestinians see that he is the only one that is capable of making sure things don’t collapse in the West Bank. Now, if Fatah is going to do that, this is something that is being left for their convention that would be taking place at the end of November. At the end of November we are going to witness a new conference for Fatah, where they will choose a new leadership. From there they will call for a Palestinian National Council. The Palestinian National Council will hold elections and the Palestinian National Council is able to call in then for presidential and legislative elections for the whole West Bank and Gaza. But I believe that this is a very sensitive timing that the Palestinians are witnessing between now till November. We’ve seen a lot of unrest in the West Bank from the Dahlan party, he has his supporters, unrest from some refugees in the West Bank, nothing to worry about so much yet, but there is some indication that things are not going to the right way if they continue.
BRYAN CRUMP: Now as I was riding into work today, I noticed a lot of children were out in their costumes, their Halloween costumes, their tricking and treating costumes, they’re dressing up as ghouls, and knocking on doors in the hope of getting treats or performing tricks. And I was thinking, I wonder if that’s something that PALESTINIANS do on the West Bank? Is there any kind of Halloween celebration, where YOU live?
BRYAN CRUMP: Is there any marking of, of the Day of the Dead in Palestine?
FADWA HODALI: No actually they celebrate the Day of the Dead and if I’m not mistaken, it’s tomorrow or the day after. So yes, Christians celebrate that. Absolutely, definitely.
BRYAN CRUMP: How many Christians live in, given that it’s the birthplace of Jesus, how many Christians live in Bethlehem?
FADWA HODALI: In the West Bank, unfortunately they don’t reach the seventy thousand people. This includes Bethlehem and the whole surrounding area, parts of Ramallah area, this is where mostly Christians, you see them living. A little bit up north, but not much. For example, I don’t think there’s any Christian families in the Hebron governorate. They’re mostly in the Bethlehem governorate and the Ramallah governorate. Unfortunately we’ve seen a lot of emigration from the Christian side.
BRYAN CRUMP: People LEAVING the area?
FADWA HODALI: Leaving the area, yes, and seeking better opportunity. Especially the young generation. The young generation, we’re witnessing that a lot, and this is a real loss, because you know, you get to a point in life where you see more of the elderly than the younger generation, and you need the renewal of blood in order to continue and sustain the daily life. So unfortunately a lot of people from the Christian society leave.
BRYAN CRUMP: So there won’t be any kids knocking on YOUR door tonight? Asking for treats.
FADWA HODALI: No, definitely not. [laughs wryly]
BRYAN CRUMP: Nor on the local Israeli army barracks doors or any settlement gates for that matter.
FADWA HODALI: No, definitely not. Absolutely not, because I don’t think you don’t know what’s going to happen next. [laughter] It’s unfortunate. Unfortunate that we live in a situation where, a few miles away, you have a military post, and you have a checkpoint, and you can’t lead a normal life. And I hope this all ends soon, for the sake of everybody, on both sides, because I think, my opinion is, enough of bloodshed for both sides, and life needs to continue, and, you know, but it’s politics. [resigned sigh] Ha ha ha.
BRYAN CRUMP: Fadwa, thanks so much for joining us.
FADWA HODALI: No problem. Thanks Bryan.
BRYAN CRUMP: Fadwa Hodali, our new Palestinian correspondent on a rather GOOD PHONE LINE from Betlehem. More from Fadwa early next year. LIAT COLLINS, our correspondent in ISRAEL, is on the line from JERUSALEM on Wednesday.