Monday, February 22, 2010

Jenin Jenin

From Wikipedia:

"During Operation Defensive Shield in April 2002, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) invaded a Palestinian refugee camp in Jenin. The Israeli military refused to allow journalists and human rights organizations into the camp for "safety reasons" during the fighting, leading to a rapid cycle of rumors that a massacre had occurred. Jenin remained sealed for days after the invasion. Stories of civilians being buried alive in their homes as they were demolished, and of smoldering buildings covering crushed bodies, spread throughout the Arab world. Various casualty figures circulated, according to official Israeli figures, later some human rights organizations accused Israel of war crimes, but cleared on alleged 'massacre', 9% of the camp was leveled and over 50 people were killed, a senior Palestinian official accused Israel of massacring more than 500 people in the camp. UN fact-finding mission was not allowed by Israeli to enter Jenin.

Bakri participated in a nonviolent demonstration at a checkpoint during Israel’s 2002 invasion of Jenin and was shocked when Israeli soldiers shot at the crowd, wounding a fellow actor standing next to him. He tells audiences that this experience inspired him to sneak into Jenin with a camera and ask residents, “What happened?” The result was the documentary Jenin Jenin, featuring a range of testimonies which suggested that a massacre had indeed occurred. Bakri gave voice to the perspective of Palestinians which would not reach the media due to the sealing of the city; as a result he chose not to interview Israeli officials for the film.



The documentary can be seen in it's entirety here.

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