Israeli public pressure on Sharon’s militarised regime to withdraw from Gaza and the occupied territories is growing. This comes not only from civilians and organisations active in the peace movement, but — to the great alarm of an Israeli government with deep military links — also from the country’s military and security forces. Reservists and soldiers are not prepared to die for the settlers in Gaza. Adri Nieuwhof and Jeff Handmaker say Sharon would be foolish not to heed the similar experiences of other leaders who faced growing resentment from their army and police commanders as their militarised policies failed. Read more about Sharon shows no respect for democratic principles
Rolling hills unmarred by the hands of man, the water of the Jordan river trickling along its way, olive trees rustling in the breeze — this is the land of the Galilee that Melkite priest Elias Chacour so loves, and this is the imagery he says Jesus enjoyed when he was living in what is now referred to as the Holy Land. To understand Chacour’s background is to understand his connection, and his family’s ties, to the land of the Galilee, and so it is appropriate that filmmaker Claude Roshem-Smith opens with beautiful scenes of Galilean pastoral greenery in his biographical film Elias Chacour: Prophet in His Own Country. Read more about Review: Elias Chacour: Prophet in His Own Country
“We have to make the Israeli-Palestinian conflict a mainstream concern and the only way we can do that is by effectively communicating the realities at ground zero for Joe and Jane Palestinian to the American public. Nobody would sign off on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict if they knew what happened at ground zero, nobody. Only the most ardent and entrenched supporters of Israel.” This article is an edited version of a speech EI’s Nigel Parry gave at the “Palestine: Perception and Reality” panel at the 21st National Convention of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee in Washington DC, on Sunday 13 June 2004. Read more about Palestine: Perception and Reality
“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
