5 octobre 2010
2
05
/10
/octobre
/2010
00:30
04/10/10
| Palestine Human Rights Film Festival |  |  |
| 01.10.10 - 11:15 | |
| By: Alessandra Bajec - This Sunday 26th September the Human Rights Film Festival kicked off at An-Najah National University in Nablus. This five day event, the first annual human rights film festival in Palestine, has run a rich variety of films addressing core issues namely: the Gaza Strip; resistance; women’s rights; economic, social and cultural rights; Nakba and refugees. At the launch introductory speeches were given by Professor Rami Hamdallah (President of An-Najah National University), Raed Abubadawia (Director of the UNESCO Chair of Human Rights and Democracy) and other well-known academics. As part of the opening ceremony Palestinian artists, both students and teachers from the Faculty of Arts, played traditional music along with patriotic songs, and a slide show displayed images of violations of human rights and injustices suffered by the Palestinian people. I spoke to Lydia (research/advocacy officer at the UNESCO Chair of Human Rights and Democracy) and Beesan (student and volunteer at the UNESCO Chair) both involved in the planning of the film festival. They were experiencing difficulties in obtaining films which, they believed, might be due to disruption related to the local postal service or some copies may have been confiscated since Israel is not in favour of allowing free documentation, especially anything related to human rights that will expose the ugly face of the Occupation. As a result, for the very first screening scheduled Children of Gaza the copy made available was entirely in Arabic language and only partly translated into English. The 48-minute film is an intimate touching reflection on the 2008-9 war on Gaza given from the point view of its children. Following the stories of three children (9-year old Amal, 12-year old Mahmoud and the 11-year old Ibrahim) the film describes the impact of war on their lives and shows the courage of these children, despite the horrors they witnessed, in standing in the face of the blockade and the adversities that the Israeli occupation brought upon them. As the personal stories unfold it becomes clear that children of Gaza reflect the environment they’re living in eg. they act out attacks suffered by the hand of the Israeli forces but also they play with simple materials throwing rocket missiles into Israel, or they draw descriptions of bombs raining from the sky.  Nevertheless, the messages carried by these young minds reveal two diametrically opposite ways to react to the ongoing collective punishment in the Gaza strip: to defend their land with arms and take revenge against Israelis for their brothers and sisters lost; to progress through education to access university and put their lives back together. After the screening, people were connected with Gaza through video conferencing where three experts (Rawya Hamam, Enas Jouda and Ensherra Zakout) from the Gaza Community Mental Health Program talked about psychological care and trauma treatment provided for children in the Strip and answered questions addressed by the audience. One major aspect encountered by the three health care workers amongst Gazans was the sense of isolation, the feel of being alone and forgotten by the world, and the constant state of depression. In addition, it was highlighted how living in a violent environment can make violence a way of expressing oneself and seek solutions to their problems even more easily where fathers are incapable of providing food and safety to their children. An interesting part was the recent statistics collected in the Gaza strip after the war. It appeared that 66% of Gazan children feel unsafe, depressed, and changed behaviour developing news symptoms of sleeplessness and fear; 32% children describe Gaza unsafe; 50% of them expect another war; 79% feel Gaza is an open prison where basic needs cannot be met. After the video conferencing I approached the organizers who were enthusiastic about the turnout for this first annual festival and found that it was even better than what they had expected. They added that it is usually difficult to hold an event of that kind, especially the videoconferencing with Gaza due to the overall lack of awareness within An-Najah University: people tend to be disconnected from Palestinians in Gaza, and the student environment is very hesitant either in making connections or showing too much solidarity given the widespread informing culture. The second screening of the day To shoot an elephant is a naked eye witness account of the 21 days elapsing from the start of Operation Cast Lead given by the only foreigners who decided to stay inside Gaza with Palestinian civilians. The film shows for each aspect of the war scenario and the implications generated amongst the population urgent, dirty, terrifying scenes of un-interrupted inhumane punishment against defenceless ordinary people day after day. The outrage voiced by the people of Gaza appealing to the outside world and the missed intervention of the international community are clearly reflected in the tragic, lonely struggle to end the offensive and come out alive of this mass carnage. A post-screening followed though video conferencing with the filmmaker Alberto Alce and marked the closing of day one of the festival. Over the past four days, two films have been screened everyday and followed by discussions of the film’s content and significance with subsequent panelists. Films like Budrus, Far from Loneliness, The Mall, Memory of the Cactus among others featured stories about the Palestinian people and ways in which their human rights are significantly affected by many factors of their life. ‘This festival is hence dedicated to the longest epic ever…that of the Palestinian people’s struggle narrating the story of human pride and dignity ‘ (Raed Abubadawia, Head of UNESCO Chair of Human Rights and Democracy). |
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8844&Itemid=1
Les articles et autres textes publiés ne reflètent pas obligatoirement les opinions du Comité Justice et Paix en Palestine et au Proche-Orient (CJPP5), qui dénie toute responsabilité dans leurs contenus, lesquels n'engagent que leurs auteurs ou leurs traducteurs. Nous sommes attentifs à toute proposition d'ajouts ou de corrections.
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