Israeli, Palestinian sing peace duet
A love song performed by an Israeli and a Palestinian has been broadcast simultaneously on Israeli Army Radio and Voice of Palestine, in a sign of thawing relations after years of bloodshed.
The duet In My Heart was sung in Hebrew and Arabic on Sunday by Israeli David Broza and Palestinian Wisam Murad.
Broza, who co-wrote the lyrics with Murad’s brother Said during sessions in Jerusalem that started two years ago, is famous in Israel for his folk and rock songs. One of his compositions has become an anthem of the left.
The Murads, Palestinians from Jerusalem, are known internationally as part of Sabreen, a group whose songs have addressed the lives of Palestinians under Israeli occupation.
“When I was 16, my grandfather said you simply had to dream it and work on it and it would come,” Broza, referring to peaceful co-existence with the Palestinians, said after the broadcast.
Brief sparring
Broza’s media adviser Nir Gontarz said new peace hopes had
encouraged both singers to risk controversy for the cause of
reconciliation.
Fighting has dropped off dramatically since an Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire summit last month.
An Army Radio announcer and the head of the Palestinian
Broadcasting Corporation (PBC) spoke on both stations, voicing hopes for a new era of peace – but not before sparring briefly in English over the airwaves.
“Have you stopped, sir, incitement messages in your broadcasts?” Army Radio’s Razi Barkai asked PBC director Adwan Abu Ayash. “We did not start it,” came the reply.