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The following are excerpts from the Syrian TV series "Returning to Haifa." These excerpts were taken from an episode aired on Qatar TV on February 9, 2005. The dialogue is conducted in Hebrew and there are Arabic subtitles:
Miriam: I am of sound mind. I was crazy when I agreed to come here with my husband.
Jewish Agency clerk: And now what?
Miriam: I want to return.
Jewish Agency clerk: There are no ships.
Miriam: There are many ships in the harbor. I've seen them.
Jewish Agency clerk: They're not for you.
Miriam: Then for who?
Jewish Agency clerk: None of your business!
Miriam: On the contrary, it is my business.
Jewish Agency clerk: I don't understand. Despite everything the Nazis did to you still want to go back?
Miriam: What did they do to me?
Jewish Agency clerk: I don't know exactly.
Miriam: They didn't do anything, you despicable… Everything you say is a blatant lie.
Jewish Agency clerk: They murdered your brother!
Miriam: Yes, they murdered him. But they are gone now.
Jewish Agency clerk: they burned your father as well!
Miriam: No! They only burned the dead.
Jewish Agency clerk: They threw live people into gas chambers!
Miriam: I never saw any gas chambers.
Jewish Agency clerk: We saw them.
Miriam: that is your business – you and your Jewish Agency. I didn't see them.
Jewish Agency clerk: Don't you dare say such things to anyone!
Miriam: OK, then let me return.
Jewish Agency director: Fine, you can return. As you can wish, Miriam Goshen, you can return.
Miriam: This is my passport, if you need it.
Jewish Agency director: Pretty… Pretty picture. But in reality you are even prettier.
Miriam: This is no time for pleasantries, Mr. Amir.
Jewish Agency director: Trust me, I'm not flattering you. We don't need this passport. We're not interested in it.
Miriam: As you wish. What matters is that I can leave.
Jewish Agency director: We will not forbid you. You are free.
Miriam: I don't understand.
Jewish Agency director: The port is open for everyone. You can leave.
Miriam: And what about my ticket?
Jewish Agency director: Buy it.
Miriam: I have no money.
Jewish Agency director: that isn't the Agency's concern.
Miriam: What do you mean?
Jewish Agency director: You heard me.
Miriam: The Agency brought us here without payment.
Jewish Agency director: This is true. This had to do with bringing new immigrants. But whoever wants to return, must pay.
Miriam: I told you – I have no money!
Jewish Agency director: that isn't my concern of the Agency's.
Miriam: The Agency is despicable!
Jewish Agency director: You Polish women are despicable! The passport. No, I will keep until you pay the fare for bringing you here. Don't look at me like that. It's the Agency's money. The Agency paid for you, and you must give back the money if you wish to leave.
Miriam: I will return it. I will return the money. I will return it.
Jewish Agency director: So you do have money.
Miriam: No, but I'll manage.
Jewish Agency director: How will you manage?
Miriam: How? I will go to Kings Street – that is what it's called, isn't it?
Jewish Agency director: Yes.
Miriam: I will stand there, in front of the British soldiers. I am beautiful, aren't I?
Jewish Agency director: Very pretty.
Miriam: And they will pay me a lot of money. Would your Agency like that?
Jewish Agency director: You don't have to go there.
Miriam: What do you mean?
Jewish Agency director: I will pay you more.
Miriam's husband: Has my wife been here? Miriam… Miriam Menashe.
Jewish Agency clerk: Yes.
Miriam's husband: Is she still here?
Jewish Agency clerk: Do you think we have nothing to do except deal with you and your wife?!
Miriam's husband: I asked if she is still here. You haven't answered me.
Jewish Agency clerk: Ask the director.
Jewish Agency clerk: I don't know exactly.
Miriam's husband: What do you mean?
Jewish Agency clerk: You may find her on Kings Street. Efrat Goshen, your wife… Your wife may be working as a prostitute.
Jewish Agency clerk: Next!
Miriam's husband: What are you doing here?! You are a crazy fool! You've completely lost your mind!
Miriam: yes, I'm crazy! You've disrupted my work. He would have paid me a lot of money.
Miriam's husband: Whore. You are a whore!
I'm sorry. I didn't desperate you've been recently. I said I'm sorry.
Miriam: You don't have to say that.
Miriam's husband: Miriam, we agreed to be patient, didn't we? You agreed. What changed? Homesickness?
Miriam: You know.
Miriam's husband: It is homesickness, and not apartment, as you said.
Miriam: And being far from home... Just being far from home…
Miriam's husband: What do you mean, Miriam? This is our land.
Miriam: Our land?
Miriam's husband: Yes, our land.
Miriam: I don't think so. I wasn't born in this land. I have no connection to it. I did not play in its alleys. I have no friends in it. My father and mother are not here either. I have no family here. So how can I feel that this is our land?
Miriam's husband: Our Ancestors were born here.
Miriam: What are you talking about? A hundred or a thousand generations ago? My grandfather wasn't born here, nor was his grandfather. Do you really believe all that?
Miriam's husband: I must believe it. There is no other way. It is a fact. It has become a question of existence.
Miriam: They've invented this reality. Tell me, Miriam Menashe was born in Warsaw, right? And her father or her grandfather was born in Warsaw, and now she is here. True, she has roots in Warsaw but now she is in Haifa. Assuming Miriam gives birth and her children have children of their own, and in a thousand or thousands of years – will her grandchildren ask for rights in Warsaw on the grounds that their grandmother was born there? The Agency's logic doesn’t make sense.
Miriam's husband: That's completely different. Our religion was born here. Here our ancestors accepted the teachings of the Jewish faith.
Miriam: So Christian Europe also has the right to come and ask for rights to this land. Mary was born here. Jesus was born here. Their cave is here. It is similar logic.
Miriam's husband: Logic is relative and ever-changing. The logic that rules the world today is the logic of power. So the Jewish Miriam had better accept the Agency's logic, which serves her interests, and guarantees her a land and a country.
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