“Mafateeh,” or “keys,” is a word that holds symbolic meaning for Palestinians, and refugees in Rafah, Amman, and Jenin alike can show you the keys to their houses that they temporarily fled or were expelled from during the time leading up to and during the 1948 war. And like Ali Nimer Harami does in the film Keys, these refugees can show you well-preserved pieces of paper that prove their legal claim over land that is currently inhabited by Jewish Israelis in what is now Israel. Maureen Clare Murphy reviews the beautifully shot film for EI. Read more about Documentary film review: "Keys"
At the 21st National Convention of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) in Washington DC, from June 10th-13th, EI’s Nigel Parry shot video footage of Palestinian-American poet and political activist Suheir Hammad reading her poem Beyond Words. Recipient of the Audre Lourde Writing Award from Hunter College, the Morris Center for Healing Poetry Award, and a New York Mills Artist Residency in Minnesota, Suheir has recently been touring with the Tony Award-winning Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry Jam. Video in MPEG-4 format. Read more about Video: Suheir Hammad reading 'Beyond Words' at ADC 2004
At the 21st National Convention of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) in Washington DC, from June 10th-13th, EI’s Nigel Parry shot video footage of two performances by Palestinian comedians — Maysoon Zayid and Dean Obeidallah, who are definitely rising stars in the American comedy circuit and host their own New York-based FM radio show, Fen Majnoon (“Crazy Art”) with Dean and Maysoon. Video is available in MPEG-4 format, which can be viewed using QuickTime. Read more about Video: Palestinian comedians Maysoon Zayid and Dean Obeidallah at ADC 2004
Both of the films A Stone’s Throw Away and The Children of Ibdaa investigate the thoughts and lives of a handful of children from the Deheisheh refugee camp, an impoverished refugee town on the outskirts of Bethlehem. Together, they illustrate that what drives Palestinians to commit violence, and how children need something to make their lives meaningful given the humiliation and lack of opportunity that come with living under Israeli military occupation. Read more about Review: "A Stone's Throw Away" and "The Children of Ibda'a"
Capturing the fragments of a land shattered by politics, history, and colonialism, Route 181: Fragments of a Journey in Israel-Palestine, clocks in at about four and a half hours. The film’s length is epic-worthy, but it allows the filmmakers to present oral history from a wide variety of people who live along the 1947 partition line, while at the same time allow for minutes-long footage of the monotonous grey concrete wall that quietly runs along one of the region’s main roads. By portraying both the divide of the physical landscape and that of the humans that inhabit it, viewers receive a fuller understanding of this conflicted part of the world. Read more about Review: "Route 181: Fragments of a Journey in Palestine-Israel"
Seven years ago, a Palestinian parliamentary panel conducted an investigation of the PA corruption. The panel exposed many official misgivings and abuses. It recommended that Civil Affairs Minister Jamil al-Tarifi, Planning and International Cooperation Minister Nabil Shaath and Transport Minister Ali Kawasmeh be brought to trial. They were never dismissed. Shaath and Tarifi are still cabinet members. Now, Tarifi is once more subject to parliamentary investigation for corruption. PA Minister of Economy Maher Masri was accused of negligence and fraude. Tarifi is accused of selling Egyptian cement, meant for rebuilding Palestinian homes, to Israeli companies. Read more about Cement and Corruption
“It’s a personal jihad for me, to have made it, to have gone through the process of making it,” says Muhammed Rum of his directorial debut Jihad!, the name of which comes from the Islamic spiritual concept of struggle of the will — the film’s central theme. Cinematographer Nara Garber, who took on many of the production roles because of the film’s limited budget, also considers the film to have been a personal journey, because it helped her more fully realize the hurdles Arab-Americans and Palestinians face in their respective situations. Read more about Interview: Jihad! filmmakers Muhammed Rum and Nara Garber
How can we explain the conjurer’s trick by which Sharon has turned into the darling of the Israeli peace camp? In the last Israeli elections, many voters who were fed up with Sharon voted for Labor candidate Amram Mitznah. But now their elected representatives are keeping Sharon afloat. On Monday, June 7, there were two non-confidence votes in the Israeli Parliament, one submitted jointly by the Beilin’s Yahad party and the Arab parties. The Labor party abstained, thus giving Sharon the majority he needed to survive. Tanya Reinhart comments. Read more about The address for protest is Labor's headquarters
On June 8, Arab Media Watch correspondent Victor Kattan interviewed British Member of Parliament George Galloway, who is running for a seat in the European Parliamentary elections for Respect-The Unity Coalition on Thursday June 10. Galloway: “…contrary to all the assurances given to Parliament by Mr. Blair, and contrary to assurances given to him by Ariel Sharon, British weapons were being used in the occupied territories… The so-called ethical foreign policy of Mr. Blair doesn’t seem to draw any lines around General Sharon.” Read more about Interview with George Galloway, British Member of Parliament
Does UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan think that Palestinians have a right to defend themselves against the kinds of violent attacks and destruction Israel is carrying out in Rafah refugee camp? EI’s Ali Abunimah spoke to Annan’s representative, but found its not so easy to get a straighforward answer to a straightforward question. Abunimah says that Annan could use his position to have a profound effect on the Palestine-Israel conflict, but instead chooses to play word games, dressing the persistent failure of the US-led “Quartet” as a restless search for peace. Read more about Questions with no answers
