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But Saïd, the young suicide bomber, doesn't seem to believe in salvation and the hereafter.

Abu-Assad: It's actually the consequence of a hopeless situation, where you don't believe in the Koran, that God will bring you justice and give you your dignity back. You need justification when you kill yourself because you can't stand life anymore. You point your suffering to the society that is oppressing you. In order to justify it, you do it in the name of God. But your motivation is not to go to God and not to go to salvation. You just want to end the suffering because you can't stand it. You want to believe that by ending your life and the lives of others, you do it in the name of Islam. You don't want to believe that you're just killing yourself.

You are quite familiar with the Scriptures.  Are you a practicing Muslim?

Abu-Assad: No. I do not practice Islam, but I have read the Old and New Testaments and the Koran. They have the same stories. In the Bible, for instance, when they took Samson's dignity, he couldn't live. The Palestinians say, "They have taken our dignity." This can be more important than life.

Kasi Nashef and Ali Suliman play childhood friends who grow up to volunteer to become suicide bombers

Samson took others down with himself. Are you saying that the bombers feel a spiritual connection to Samson's plight?

Abu-Assad: Yes. People came and laughed at him for being defeated. They took advantage of him; they took his eyes and made him a slave. In the Bible, suicide is forbidden, but at a certain point, like with Samson, the Bible is telling you, "It's understandable." It becomes too much, especially the loss of dignity. This is how the martyrs see themselves.

In your film, it seems that Jamal, who recruits and handles the boys, is a sort of oppressor. We see Jamal praying, but he doesn't volunteer to blow himself up.

Abu-Assad: But that doesn't necessarily make him an oppressor. He takes a risk. I knew people during the filming—the organizers—who were killed by helicopters and assassinations. These people would say that you need soldiers, but you also need generals, and Jamal believes he is a general. He's interesting because he's not sure about life and death. The boys ask him what will happen when they die and he says, "Two angels will pick you up." If you look at his face, you can see that he is not sure that he believes it, even though he wants to. 

Kared, the military leader, seems to think that he is right. He seems coldly assured.

Abu-Assad: He's controlling, but in his eyes you see a lot of fear. He's afraid. He's a human being. He's real, and I met these types of people when I was filming. They could have weapons, but in their eyes you can see that they are human beings. I know these people, and when they are in danger they have control, but in their eyes they have a different reaction, which makes them interesting human beings.

Were you afraid of these people when you were with them?

Abu-Assad: No.

In their culture are they shunned or are they accepted? Does everyone know who they are?

Abu-Assad: They are more underground, but they are respected. Of course in the eyes of the people, they are freedom fighters. They fight for liberation and most of the people don't know other options. They are sixty years under injustice.

You're speaking of the foundation of Israel in 1948?

Abu-Assad: Yes. The whole idea of saying this is the land promised to you by God is insane. Why did he let us live there? We are also his creation. This idea that he gave you his land, it's blasphemy when you do that because you become the representative of God on earth.

It's like God is saying, "Ah, but with you I have a different contract. To you, I promise this land." The Bible calls it the Promised Land, but that doesn't mean that it's promised only to you. I don't believe that we Palestinians are the creation of the devil. And there are Palestinian Christians who have been deported and can't come back.

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