God Waits at the Station
Drama by Maya Arad Yasur
Translated by Matthias Naumann
A suicide attack in Israel. Shorty prior, soldier Yael had let nurse Amal into the country without the proper paperwork. Maya Arad Asur’s collage of re- and previews tells of a world that is trapped in a loop of violence and revenge.
A checkpoint between Isreal and the West Bank. There is Yael, an israeli soldier who wants to protect her country at the border. Facing her is Amal, a palestinian nurse. In the past, Yael has already denied entry into Israel for Amal and her severy ill father because of lacking documents.
This time, Amal is also missing the necessary documents. Yeal, however, lets the pregnant woman pass out of pity – an act of human kindness? Shortly thereafter, a bomb explodes in an israeli restaurant. A suicide attack that kills 30 people - an act of desperation, carried out by Amal. After spending her life in a refugee camp in her own homeland Palestine, after her her brother's death at the hande of the israeli military, and after her father died at the border, Amal had no strebght left to resist the manipulation through radical forces.
The israeli author Maya Arad Yasur looks at the fate of individuals between self-determination and heteronomy within the Mideast conflict. She is not so much concerned about placing or rejecting guilt, but with an attempt to approach humans whose lives are locked in a vicious circle of violence that is as asyymetrical as it is fatal.
Note: This is a rewrite of the orginal text. The original version as well as commentary about the changes that have been made will be available shortly.
Age recommendation
14 and older
God Waits at the Station in simple language
The play is about a woman from Israel, and a woman from Palestine. The countries are fighting. The woman from israel is a soldier. She wants to protect her country. The woman from Palestine is not allowed to go to Isreal. But the soldier lets her in.
The soldier from Israel is called Yael. The woman from Palestine is a nurse. Her name is Amal. Amal is pregnant. She does not have a paper that says: Amal is allowed to go to Isreal. But Yael lets her come in. Then Amal detonates a bomb in Israel.
The sory is difficult.
Isreal wants more land. Isreal says: It is our land.
Palestine says: We want to keep our land, it is our land.
Israel has a lof money and power. Isreal has many soldiers and weapons.
Palestine is poor, the people have no homes and not enough food. The country is destroyed, because Israel fires many rockets.
Many people die in Palestine and Israel.
People in both countries are afraid.
Maya Arad Yasur has written the play. She is from Israel. In her play, she does not ask: Who is guilty? She wants to know: Who are the people that live in the two countries? How do you live in countries that have fought each other for so long?