Between Conflicts and Table, Israel and Palestine

The United States moved its embassy to Jerusalem. The Yom Ha’atzmaut (“Day of Independence” in Hebrew) in Israel is equivalent to its neighbor’s Dhikra an-Nakba (“Memory of the Catastrophe” in Arabic.) In my memory, the conflicts between Palestinian civilians and Israeli soldiers always started with loud noises of ammunition, however, in the end, were filled with rich sweets, tea and coffee in warm houses. Many people’s stories were caught between tears and laughter, hard be told. Who were the people? The college students from West Bank who gambled their lives to enter Jerusalem by climbing the separation wall? The kids who saved money for paying the traffickers in order to work in Israel? The falsely accused political prisoner who pretended drawing super heroes in political prison, waiting for a day to be released and complete the cartoons with bars and handcuffs? The Israeli activists who lost friends and were ridiculed as traitors due to opening opposing Israeli settlements, whose houses were attacked after participating in solidarity movements with Palestinians? The foreign journalist who was caught under multiple guns by IDF and expelled in a midnight for her illegal extension of stay? The Palestinian photojournalist with an eye shot by a bullet causing 30% visual loss who nevertheless insisted being present at the scene of every conflict in his homeland?

They were all my friends.

“Between Conflicts and Tables, Israel and Palestine” combined the experience of different identities living in Israel and Palestine, along with immersive elements such as footages, photography, poetry, food and fire, the performer traveled between three walls projected with materials, with her oral narration, she interacted with audiences in the reappearance of a land that she cannot returned to for the time being.

When the conflicts intensified, the performance came to a kitchen table workshop, where people cooked together, worked together, and discussed topics such as history, religion, tradition, ethnicity, culture and homeland together. Food had become an important medium for the transmission of identity and values. It had also become a possibility for integration in a divided political system.

美國遷大使館至耶路撒冷，以色列鑼鼓喧天的建國紀念日，等同其鄰居於巴勒斯坦的國殤日。巴勒斯坦平民槓上以色列軍人的衝突現場，縱有槍砲彈藥的巨響，結束後，迎接彼此的往往是滋味濃厚的甜食與茶飲。許多人的故事與心聲被夾在談笑之間，未能述說。他們是誰？是那些無法進入耶路撒冷，每周賭上性命買通商人、翻牆進入以色列的西岸大學生？是入獄時從獄卒身上偷走便條紙，假裝畫著英雄故事，出獄後為畫作加上幾筆手鐐腳銬後出版的漫畫家？是為了反對以色列佔領巴勒斯坦領土，導致朋友愈來愈少、被譏為賣國賊的以色列運動人士？是強硬延長居留，最後在宿舍裡被以色列軍人用槍抵著出境的外國記者？是遭子彈射傷、視力受損30%，仍堅持站在衝突現場的巴勒斯坦攝影記者？

他們都是我的朋友。

「界・現？穿梭在以巴衝突與餐桌間」揉合不同身份蹲點以色列、巴勒斯坦的經驗，在沉浸式素材如錄像、平面攝影、詩作、食物與火等元素裡，透過演出者在三面投影中的穿梭、口述、以及與觀者的互動，再現一塊暫時無法歸返的土地。當衝突愈演愈烈，表演來到一場餐桌工作坊，人們共同烹飪，共同工作，共同討論歷史、宗教、傳統、民族、文化與土地認同等話題。食物成了傳遞身份認同與價值觀的重要媒介，也成為分裂政治體下得以交融的一種可能。