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CNN Live Sunday
Israeli Artists Offer Interpretations of Arafat
Aired August 31, 2003 - 10:15 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: For many Israelis, he is the face of evil. For all Palestinians, he is the leader of who has brought them closest to their own homeland. As CNN's Chris Burns reports, that face is now the subject of much discussion in the most unlikely of places.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Yasser Arafat, the terrorist, the murderer, the statesman, the father of his country to be, the gangster rapper. The Palestinian leader's head imposed on the body of slain rapper Tupac Shakur, part of an exhibition by Israeli artists offering differing interpretations of Arafat's role.
ORY DESSAU, EXHIBIT CURATOR: It came out of the ambivalence Israelis feel towards Arafat.
BURNS: Ory Dessau is a 24-year-old curator.
(on camera): How do you explain that ambivalence?
DESSAU: The Israelis consider him, on the one hand, the only one who can deliver peace and security. But on the other hand, they see him as the only responsible figure to the terror attacks.
BURNS (voice-over): The exhibit focuses on the Palestinian uprising, as well as Arafat. Dessau says its title, "Guess Who Died" ...
DESSAU: Speaks about how we rationalize every death in Israel and in the Palestinian society, depending on who died, how he died, whether it was a car accident on the battlefield or in a suicide bombing.
BURNS: In this painting, the victim of a shooting. But is he Israeli or Palestinian? Here, Arafat is portrayed as a vampire, next to a list of attacks by Palestinian militants. In this picture, Arafat's portrait is left intact after an Israeli strike.
DESSAU: He's like a biblical figure that still lives.
BURNS: The writing in this montage even makes an oblique reference to Arafat as an Israeli woman.
DESSAU: I think it signifies the fact that we are something like inseparable. BURNS: Like it or not, says visitor Hadar Siegel (ph), it's difficult to keep Arafat out of the picture.
HADAR SIEGEL: I think Arafat is really important to all these decisions.
BURNS (on camera): For better or worse or not?
SIEGEL: Both.
BURNS: Both?
SIEGEL: Both, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He can do something, some exhibition of Arafat, which is not ambivalent.
BURNS: At least not provocative. Chris Burns, CNN, Tel Aviv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired August 31, 2003 - 10:15 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: For many Israelis, he is the face of evil. For all Palestinians, he is the leader of who has brought them closest to their own homeland. As CNN's Chris Burns reports, that face is now the subject of much discussion in the most unlikely of places.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Yasser Arafat, the terrorist, the murderer, the statesman, the father of his country to be, the gangster rapper. The Palestinian leader's head imposed on the body of slain rapper Tupac Shakur, part of an exhibition by Israeli artists offering differing interpretations of Arafat's role.
ORY DESSAU, EXHIBIT CURATOR: It came out of the ambivalence Israelis feel towards Arafat.
BURNS: Ory Dessau is a 24-year-old curator.
(on camera): How do you explain that ambivalence?
DESSAU: The Israelis consider him, on the one hand, the only one who can deliver peace and security. But on the other hand, they see him as the only responsible figure to the terror attacks.
BURNS (voice-over): The exhibit focuses on the Palestinian uprising, as well as Arafat. Dessau says its title, "Guess Who Died" ...
DESSAU: Speaks about how we rationalize every death in Israel and in the Palestinian society, depending on who died, how he died, whether it was a car accident on the battlefield or in a suicide bombing.
BURNS: In this painting, the victim of a shooting. But is he Israeli or Palestinian? Here, Arafat is portrayed as a vampire, next to a list of attacks by Palestinian militants. In this picture, Arafat's portrait is left intact after an Israeli strike.
DESSAU: He's like a biblical figure that still lives.
BURNS: The writing in this montage even makes an oblique reference to Arafat as an Israeli woman.
DESSAU: I think it signifies the fact that we are something like inseparable. BURNS: Like it or not, says visitor Hadar Siegel (ph), it's difficult to keep Arafat out of the picture.
HADAR SIEGEL: I think Arafat is really important to all these decisions.
BURNS (on camera): For better or worse or not?
SIEGEL: Both.
BURNS: Both?
SIEGEL: Both, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He can do something, some exhibition of Arafat, which is not ambivalent.
BURNS: At least not provocative. Chris Burns, CNN, Tel Aviv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
