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Watch
the film
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As
the violence in Israel and Palestine continues, there are many alternative
voices we are not hearing. Despite everything going on, Israelis and Palestinians
bypass the politics and hatred and engage in direct peace making on a
daily basis. Some of these actions include:
- Bringing
food and medical convoys to besieged Palestinian villages.
- Replanting
olive trees uprooted by the Israeli Army or Settlers.
- Removal
of roadblocks and trenches surrounding Palestinian villages.
- Joint
olive harvests in areas where Palestinians are in danger of Settler
or Military harassment.
- Non
violent, joint solidarity marches protesting continued Israeli settlement
expansion and land confiscation.
This
film is about one such activity; The joint rebuilding of a Palestinian
home demolished by Israeli Authorities in Shoaafat,
a Palestinian refugee camp in East Jerusalem.
The film features interviews with activists and Palestinian residents
and sheds some light on the realities of Peace making in Israel and Palestine.
Israeli government representatives have consistently maintained that the
demolition of illegally constructed homes is based on planning considerations
and is carried out according to the law.
Palestinians and Israeli Civil Rights groups claim that it is virtually
impossible to obtain building permits in East Jerusalem because of Israeli
zoning restrictions intended to limit the growth of their neighborhoods
and restrict Arab population growth in the city.
According
to Amnesty International, "Israeli policy is based on discrimination:
Palestinians are targeted simply because they are Palestinians."
Amnesty reports that tens of thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank
and East Jerusalem "have been made homeless and tens of thousands
of Palestinians currently live under constant fear of their homes being
demolished by Israeli authorities."
Organizations
featured in this film:
The
Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD)
ICAHD is a non-violent, direct-action group originally established to
oppose and resist Israel's demolition of Palestinian houses on the West
Bank and in East Jerusalem. Since 1967 some 7000 Palestinian homes have
been destroyed on the West Bank, in Gaza and in Arab East Jerusalem,
more than 2000 since 1987, leaving 30,000 people homeless, destitute
and living in fear and trauma.
ICAHD is comprised of members of many Israeli peace and human rights
organizations, and works closely with Palestinian organizations, the
Palestinian Land Defense Committee in particular.
Rabbis
For Human Rights (RHR)
RHR was founded in 1988, in response to serious abuses of human rights
by the Israeli military authorities in the suppression of the Intifada.
The indifference of much of the country's religious leadership and religiously
identified citizenry to the suffering of innocent people seen as the
enemy was a cause of concern to RHR's organizers.
Today our membership includes some ninety ordained rabbis, plus a number
of rabbinic students
RHR concerns itself with foreign workers, the Israeli health care system,
the status of women, Ethiopian Jews, an Israeli bill of rights, to name
only a few issues.
Further
reading:
About
the Filmmaker:
Amir
Terkel is an Israeli/American who has been documenting grassroots
peace initiatives in Israel and Palestine. Amir has been following Israeli
and Palestinian activists and groups attempting to resist Israeli occupation
through non violence and solidarity work.
Just
Peace Technologies (JPT)
This film
was made with assistance from Just
Peace Technologies. JPT provides strategic communications services
to peacemakers, using technology to empower people who work for justice
and a world free of violence. JPT works with peace-building organizations
in the US and the Middle East to amplify moderate voices.
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