Rooted | Bethlehem, Palestine 2019

Public installations – Bethlehem, Beit Jala, area C, Palestine 2019. Collaboration & site specific performances with the Palestinian contemporary dancer Natalie Salsa’. Today the city of Bethlehem is almost completely surrounded by Israeli *settlements and will be soon cut off from the southern West Bank. (Settlements are civilian communities inhabited by Israeli citizens, built illegally on the Palestinian territories). The installations have been placed in 3 different strategic areas, in the city of Bethlehem, along the separation wall in Bethlehem and in the city of Beit Jala – Area C (full Israeli civil and security control).

“This installation is my answer to the settlements’s politic in Palestine. The main objective of this politic is to erase slowly all traces of Palestinian presence from space and time in order to create a unique Israeli State”.

Since the occupation of the Palestinian land in 1967, the Israeli government illegally demolished 50.000 Palestinian houses and structures, confiscated more than 100.000 hectares of land and transferred more than 600.000 Israeli settlers to live in more than 150 settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Settlements are illegal under international law and amounts to a war crime under the statute of the International Criminal Court. After visiting Bethlehem for the 1st time in January 2019, meeting locals and getting to know the land, Sibomana was astonished by what the Israeli government is trying to accomplish.

“Back home in Italy, I was left with so many emotions and questions and one word kept ringing in my head “Palestine”, I wanted to stress on the fact that is it and it will always be Palestine. This installation was made during my second time in Palestine, it’ is a simple gesture and a gift to a grand cause. A cause that has touched my heart for its resilience and truthfulness”.

This project would not have been possible without the help of so many people. Big thanks to Natalie Salsa’, Elias D’Eis, Said Zarzar and Sliman Mukarker. Special thanks to all the people who helped us make this project happen. For safety and security reasons some of them preferred to keep their identities anonymous due the climate of fear and repercussions in the West Bank. Thanks to them!

Rooted | Making of and site specific performances
Production: Sibomana. Choreography & Performance: Natalie Salsa’. Camera Operators: Power Group. Facilitation: Elias D’Eis, Said Zarzar. Music: Emad Salsa’. Video Editing: Jude Al-Safadi.