Waiting for Sallah El-Din
ناطرين صلاح الدين
Waiting for Sallah El-Din (Natreen Sallah El-Din, Fi Intizar Salah el-Din)
The Arabs in Jerusalem are in constant state of waiting. Everything is fine, blessed Allah, but the bitter memory of June the 5th 1967 sends its reminder every year.
Still, all is good-the Nargilla tabacco, the games of backgammon, the strong Hell-spiced coffee and also the Israeli oppression: seemingly, it has never been more oppressive.
The poverty is hard and prices are higher than ever. The voice of the singer Feruz reaches from the valleys, saying: 'we are coming back', but all we have to say is: 'we are coming back to nowhere but Allah'.
documentary, Tawfik Abu Wael, Palestine 2001, 53min, digital, colour, Arabic with Engl. ST
From film literature
Saladin was the Muslim commander who defeated the Crusaders in the battle of Hittin (Palestine) in 1187, and is often invoked by modern Arabs as the hoped-for hero who would unite them against the present-day Crusader-like state of Israel. It is Arab East Jerusalem in the year 2000. Palestinians wait for the Messiah, Godot, or Saladin? What's the difference? The film shows the lives of Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem under occupation, without most elementary rights, despite being considered citizens of Israel. (in: Abdel-Malek, Kamal: The Rhetoric of Violence Arab-Jewish Encounters in Contemporary Palestinian Literature and Film)