The Boston Palestine Film Festival (BPFF) is now accepting entries for its second annual festival to be held in October 2008. BPFF seeks to present the extraordinary narrative of a dispossessed people living in exile or under Israeli occupation. Palestinian cinema represents a powerful means for visually interpreting the collective identity, historic struggle and emotional expression of Palestinians today. Read more about Entries sought for 2008 Boston Palestine Film Festival
GAZACITY, December 24 (IPS) - “Santa Claus is empty handed this year … insolvent,” says Father Manuel Musallam, head of the Holy Family School in Gaza City. “All forms of celebration are absent,” he says, raising his empty palms skywards. “We Christians and Muslims all live in fear and instability. The Israeli tanks, bulldozers and warplanes have laid siege on us all.” His school, which has both Muslim and Christian students, likes to celebrate including all; this year few celebrations were planned, for fewer children. Read more about In Gaza, Santa is insolvent
In February 2003, the FBI raided the home of University of South Florida professor Sami Al-Arian. Arrested in front of his wife and children, Al-Arian was charged with 17 counts related to terrorism. Through an artfully edited array of talking heads, archival and news footage, court transcripts and family interviews director Line Halvorsen, in the documentary film USA vs Al-Arian, tells not just the story of Sami Al-Arian, but of plight of the Palestinians and of the erosion of civil liberties in the post-9/11 United States. Read more about Film review: "USA vs Al-Arian"
In his new historical autobiography Once Upon A Country, Dr. Sari Nusseibeh, who many accuse of selling out due to his comments regarding the right of return, highlights the shades of grey in a conflict that most people prefer to see in black and white. Miko Peled reviews Nusseibeh’s new book and finds that it shows that neither Rabin, or Barak or any other Israeli prime minister had ever intended to make peace with the Palestinians. Their intention was, and still is, to turn the Palestinian people into “hewers of wood and drawers of water” for the Jewish state that was established on the ashes of a country that, as the book title suggests, once upon a time existed. Read more about Shades of grey: Nusseibeh's "Once Upon A Country"
GAZACITY, November 27 (IPS) - As Sunday dawns in Gaza City the traditional Islamic call to prayer mingles melodically with church bells. Side by side, mosque and church doors swing open, welcoming the faithful. Greetings are eagerly exchanged. The October kidnapping and murder of Rami Ayyad, the manager of Gaza’s only Christian bookstore, sent shudders through the Christian community. Was this a hate crime or simply a tragic occurrence? Monsignor Manuel Musallam, head of Gaza’s Roman Catholic community, doubts the attack was religiously motivated. Read more about Coexistence in Gaza
Jerusalem … The east side story squeezes nearly one hundred years of history into an hour or so of cinema. It mainly exposes the past forty years of Israeli military occupation policies in Jerusalem and their devastating impact on the city and its peoples. The producer of the film, Terry Boullata, says that the intention of the documentary is to bring the Palestinian struggle for freedom and independence to a Western audience which has shown by way of its acquiescence to the ongoing Israeli military occupation that it still needs to be educated. Sam Bahour reviews for EI. Read more about Film review: "Jerusalem ... The east side story"
Sunlight at Midnight explores one man’s existential crisis as circumstances around him force him to confront his identity, his heritage, and his people’s history. Using oral histories from Sabra and Shatila refugee camp, television footage, and live music, Sunlight at Midnight successfully transports the audience into the refugee camps and back into one man’s uncomfortable psyche. Natasha Tsangarides reviews for EI. Read more about Theatre review: "Sunlight at Midnight"
Emily Jacir, who participated in the 52nd La Biennale di Venezia international art exhibition, was awarded last week with the prestigious Golden Lion award. Jacir, whose ongoing installation work “Material for a film” was featured in the 2007 Biennale themed Think with the senses - Feel with the mind, was given the Golden Lion award for an artis under the age of 40. “The award for an artist under 40 is given for a practice that takes as its subject exile in general and the Palestinian issue in particular,” stated the Bieannale’s International Jury. Read more about Artist Emily Jacir awarded prestigious Golden Lion
In her new book The Shock Doctrine, Naomi Klein argues that in the wake of natural and unnatural disasters, neo-liberal economic reform is foisted on stricken societies while their citizens are in a condition of collective disorientation. She writes, in a context where “instability is the new stability,” “Israel is often held up as a kind of Exhibit A.” Contributor Raymond Deane reviews Klein’s blockbuster for EI. Read more about Disaster capitalism: Israel as warning
Ghada Karmi’s latest book Married to Another Man: Israel’s Dilemma in Palestine opens with the problem European Zionists faced over a century ago when they first mooted the idea of a Jewish state in Palestine. They found then that there was already a well-established Palestinian society existing in the land they wished to claim as their own. Hence the message sent back to Vienna by the two rabbis who made the discovery: “The bride is beautiful, but she is married to another man.” EI contributor Sonja Karkar reviews. Read more about Book review: "Married to Another Man"
