Haifa has always been considered a city where Muslims and Jews can live together. What is changing after the war?

Absolutely nothing. Absolutely nothing has changed after the war. Not only Muslims and Jews, but also Christians coexist in my city. One of the reasons for this atmosphere is actually that most of the Christians are members of the middle class and are a stable part of Haifa. The interrelations between the three groups have not changed neither during nor after the war in Lebanon, and you have to remember that many Israeli casualties of this war have been among the Arabs. Many Arabs have been killed in Haifa by Hezbollah missiles. Even during the Intifadah, when buses were blasted by bombs, Arabs were killed in those acts of terror. Wherever there was a blast Arabs came to help the Jews who had been wounded. Because Haifa’s Arabs feel Israel is their own country.

So Hezbollah’s popularity is not growing among the Israeli Arabs?

Not at all, it’s not growing. Newspapers and televisions gave a wrong picture of what was happening among the Arabs during the war, in relation to their fidelity to Hezbollah. They pretended that most of the Israeli Arabs were supporting Hezbollah actions against Israel, but research now show that only 19% of them welcomed Nasrallah, while 81% of the Israeli Arabs were against him. There is another point which media forgot to mention. What Hezbollah is doing is part of a wider conflict between Sunnis and Shias, a conflict with a long history of more than one thousand years. The most terrible war of this conflict was fought during the eighties, between Sunni Iraq and Shia Iran, with about one million casualties. Animosity and hatred is still alive between the two groups, and that’s why Sunni Jordan and Egypt condemned Shia Hezbollah during the war.

Why is Haifa such a special city?

It is a tradition, and no one knows why. But the fact is this: Haifa is a model of coexistence between Muslims, Jews and Christians. I wouldn’t say that it is a paradise for everyone, and we have to acknowledge that Arabs are a minority. Nevertheless here Muslims, Jews and Christians go to the same cinemas and sea shores, they eat in the same restaurants and the same cafes, they live in the same buildings (even our building is populated by Arab and Jewish students). That’s why Haifa can be a model of coexistence not only in Israel, but in the entire Middle East, where minorities suffer so much even in peace time.

You were against this war from the start, and you strongly criticized Hezbollah. Who is the winner of the war?

I think that there is no winner, there are only losers from both sides, and that’s why I was against this war from the start. We could do better by negotiating, by talking, by using intelligence services of other countries. So now there is no winner. But I have to admit that we surprised Hezbollah and Hezbollah surprised us. Nasrallah said that he didn’t expect a war when Hezbollah kidnapped the two Israeli soldiers, and so if we examine what they say we should conclude that they lost the war. At the same time Hezbollah showed so much strenght, it acted as a police force without using intelligence services. Both sides paid heavy losses, both sides lost.

The British filmmaker Ken Loach asked to boycott the Haifa Film Festival to protest against Israel. What’s your answer?

I am against any boycotting, that is a kind of war with different means.

What do you think about the multinational force that is led by France and Italy?

We especially need the Italian force, because we perceive Italy’s position as more balanced than French one. We feel that Italy now is a neutral country.