Extended Footage: A Separation Wall in Words

In this Story of the Jews outtake, Simon Schama discusses the role language plays in resolving the Israeli conflict with Israeli author David Grossman.

“I remember when I was thirteen, I was asked to choose at school the second foreign language after English and I chose Arabic. Now, it was just half a year after the Six Day War, and my parents were quite shocked that I did not chose French — that was the other alternative. And I remember my father and mother said, “French is culture, it’s literature, it’s theatre.”

And I remember me, little me, bringing the huge Atlas, book of map, and showing them where Paris is and where we are and I had that intuition. And by the way, I am very grateful for the fact that I studied Arabic. Also because I understood Hebrew better since I studied Arabic, you know, because they are sisters, the languages, and so many words, they reflect each other, they illuminate each other and you get to understand the structure of your own language by studying such a similar language.”