CHARACTERS.
Dalit Bloch
The drama teacher & theatre director comes from a Jewish family. She is born in the Gevulot kibbutz on the edge of the Negev desert. Her mother comes from Argentina, her father from Basel in Switzerland. When she is seven years old the family leaves Israel and settles in Switzerland. 40 years later Dalit returns to Israel as a drama teacher.
Shredy Jabarin
An Arab Israeli, a well-known actor, among others for his leading role in Dror Zahavi’s film „For my Father“. He also plays in Eytan Fox’s „The Bubble“, Ridley Scott’s „Body of Lies“, Julian Schnabel’s „Miral“ and many others. Shredy takes on the role of assistant director and is the author of the theatrical monologues.
Natan Haber
An olive farmer and allround craftsman in Rinatya, Israel. His parents come from Poland and are Auschwitz survivors. Natan talks about the land of the Israelis and the Palestinians from his own, carefully matured perspective. Nourished by friendship with many Palestinians, instead of making territorial demands, he has an overriding vision of peaceful coexistence.
François Abu Salem †
Actor, author and theatre director. As the son of a French mother and a Hungarian father he grows up in east Jerusalem and later studies in Beirut. After a stint as a comedian at the „Théâtre du Soleil“ in Paris he returns to east Jerusalem in the seventies and establishes the legendary „Company al-Hakawati“ and later the „Palestinian National Theatre“ in Ramallah.
Evi Guggenheim Shbeta
Born into a Jewish family in Zürich/Switzerland. Together with her husband - the Palestinian Eyas Shbeta – she establishes the Arab-Jewish village of peace „Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam“ near Jerusalem in 1972. 27 families of Jews, Arabs and Christians live here today, in peace and with equal rights.
Yoav Weiss
A Jewish-American artist from New York, now living and working in Tel Aviv and Jaffa as a painter and cultural activist. Among others he initiated the satirical on-line project buythewall.com and the „Peace Wall“, with the Arab artist Salma Shehade and children from both sides, at the Peres Centre of Peace in Jaffa.
Mahmoud Dassouki
During the project the Arab leader of „Al Saraya“, the Arab part of the host Arab-Hebrew theatre in Jaffa. He comes from the original dynasty of the Arab producers of „Jaffa“ oranges. Dassouki tells of the once proud capital of Palestine, of how it feels to live in Israel and of the injustice of the laws from the Arab point of view.
Suzan Lavie
Dalit Bloch’s acquaintance from their time in the Jewish youth association „Emuna“ in Basel/Switzerland. Today she is an ambulance driver in Kfar Saba/Israel and lives with her husband and children as settlers in the settlement of „Ma’ale Shomron“ in occupied West Jordan.