24h Jerusalem

In this episode, a lawyer who represents Jewish wives in divorce cases meets the Minister of Religious Affairs. She wants to win him over for reforms. This is because a wife married under Jewish law can only divorce her husband if he agrees. In certain cases, husbands can be imprisoned. A great deal of time can pass before a divorce is finalized. All marriages in Israel are performed according to religious law. Imams marry Muslim couples, Christian clergy marry Christians, and rabbis perform all Jewish marriages. Jerusalem became a divided city in 1948. The west belonged to Israel, the east to Jordan. After the 6-Day War, Israel occupied the eastern part and later declared all of Jerusalem its capital. After bombings and assassinations during the 2nd Intifada, the Israeli government had a security fence built starting in 2003. It sealed off the West Bank and the Gaza Strip from Israel. In Jerusalem, the fence takes the form of a high wall. In part it follows the city boundary, in part it goes deep into the West Bank. Some Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem lie behind the wall, as seen from the city. Anyone who wants to cross to the other side must pass through a checkpoint.