The Garden of Eden

The hot spring in Israel's Gan HaShlosha National Park, or Sahne in Arabic, gets its fair share of visitors throughout the year. On busy days, long lines form at the entrance while the spring and the surrounding fields fill up with tourists. Big bare bellies stand around smoky barbecues, children play in the water and teenage boys talk about teenage girls. Sometimes the place belongs to people looking for a bit of peace, quiet and reflection - because they've left their wives, perhaps, or because their wives have left them. Others reminisce about their deceased husbands or their younger days. Everybody's got his own story, a story inextricably bound up with his or her background, identity, and ideas. People reflect on the Creation, talk about the basalt stones once used in the construction of Palestinian houses, or tell the story of their trip from their birth country to the Promised Land. The whole story of Israel is being told here: the history, the ideology, the Zionism, the conflict and the criticism of it. This is an account of average Israeli people that is by no means average, in which the spoken word is as important as the carefully chosen images.