Jenin Jenin

Rating:
Summary: 85% propoganda
Review: This film is a documentary of the Israeli action in the Jenin Refugee camp in 2002. Israeli troops went charging into this camp in response to numerous terrorist bombings. The army had intelligence that the camp was literally chalk full of terrorists and weapons. During the fighting that ensued rumors leaked out that a 'massacre' had taken place. The western media quickly arrived and interviewed left wing Israeli activists and Palestinian 'survivors'. The Palestinians told a tale of mass graves and 'genocide' and a little known Israeli Arab(Arab living in Israel) took up a crusade to 'document' the 'massacre'. This film is his documentary. It details a series of interviews of Palestinians who supposedly witnessed the Israel incursion and the subsequent battle. These Palestinians all claim to have witnessed the mass murder of their compatriots at the hands of non-other then the butcher of Sabra and Shatilla, Arik Sharon.

Of course this is one half of the story. The second half is that this documentary is mostly propaganda and hyperbole and does not bother to reveal the subsequent investigation by the U.N, Israel and other bodies that concluded only 30 people had been killed, almost all of whom were young men who were probably combatants. The Investigation proved beyond doubt that a 'massacre' had not taken place. The investigations also proved that the Israeli army had gone to great lengths to not harm civilians, but due to the crowded nature of the camp some civilians had been killed, by mistake. 'Jenin Jenin' is a battle cry that was created to infuse westerners with hate towards Israel. The documentary tries to show that Israel is a veritable 'fascist' state that routinely rounds up Palestinians and massacres them. This film is almost all lies and the interviewees either were telling lies or they simply had thought they witnessed something that was incorrect. Frequently during the fog of war it may seem that hundreds of people are being killed when in reality only a few actually die and most end up wounded from shrapnel. This is frequently the case in a small arms fire fight, it may seem like a terrible battle but subsequent casualty lists will show it to be mostly bloodless. The Palestinians saw hundreds of tanks and Israeli soldiers and the volume of fire certainly made them feel that a massacre was taking place. But the documentary doesn't include any of the actual footage of the conclusions of the investigators, and its images are mostly propaganda meant to convey that terrible destruction took place when in reality a small portion of the camp was damaged. Recommended reading to accompany this film is 'Image and Reality' by Finkelstein, 'Case for Israel' by Dershowitz and 'The new anti-Semitism' by Foxman. This will help balance this very biased documentary.

---Seth Frantzman November 17th 2003

Rating:
Summary: Don't watch this movie because Israel banned it
Review: This movie was initially banned when released in Israel, due to allegations that it was a vehicle of propaganda and included lies. Within the last year the Israeli court decision to ban the movie was over turned. In the documentary, director Mohamed Bakri interviews people from Jenin whose houses were demolished, who witnessed the many deaths and destruction of property that resulted from the violent Israeli incursion into the West Bank town of Jenin in 2002.

Israeli and International Human Rights groups, as well as many foreign countries denounced the incursion, since collective punishment (such as Israel's routine demolishing houses of suspected criminals; which leaves many families rather than only an alleged criminal homeless) is illegal. There were also stories of an incredible amount or casualites.

Israel refused to allow the UN-appointed commission of inquiry or any medical teams to investigate the area during and immediately following the attack (denial of medical teams to treat the injured also violates international law). People who were present described the scene as the equivalnet of genocide and the term massacre was used frequently by reporters who finally found a way to enter Jenin. Photoraphers who were seen attempting to take photos of the destrcution were shot at by Israeli Defense Forces. I remember seeing the horrifying images in papers because I was in Europe at the time, where coverage of the Middle Eat is more objective, and they gave nightmares. By comparison, the US media paid little attention.

The Israelis who opposed this film, and not all do, claim that one the people interviewed did not really sustain his injuries from the Israeli actions (the old man in the hospital). They also claimed that an insufficient number of people died in order for the act to be considered "genocidal" or "a massacre."

The movie lets the victims tell their version of the story, which the US media never covers. I doubt it, but I suppose there is a possibility that the onld man may be a person who embellished his tale for the documentary, just as there has been books written by Jews (and well received by book critics) about the horrors of the Holocaust, but who in fact actually lied when they said that they personally experienced them.

What is devastating to watch is the all the children who are casualties of the war, and to hear the hatred that is being caused by the violence. Here is a new generation displaced, and full of more anger than any before. How can practices that excite such hatred and hoplessness help improve prospects for peace?

The facts that remain undisputed: that many civilians died and much personal property was destroyed; the level of destruction; and that many children were made homeless, are scarred for life (and it is easy to see how they could feel hopeless about peace and become the new recruits for suicide bombing). When Israeli forces destroy Palestian homes, the Israeli state prevents most from rebuilding their houses, by denying them permits and demolishing any houses that are built without the permits. The documentary is not able to demonstrate fully the extent of the damage.

As an American, it is sickening to watch the docmumentary and realize that the US is paying for this destruction; it gives Israel more aid than any other country and most of the aid is received in the form of arms used to ruin the lives of Palestinians. It also made me wonder what the US troops are doing to the Iraqi civlians, since they recieved training from Israeli forces, and the US media is nortorious for only preenting the story that the US administration wants its people to hear in times of war.

Remember too, while watching this that Jenin is in the West Bank. Palestinians either live in the West Bank or the Gaza Strip, and there is a great difference in living standards between the two. More documentaries (Gaza Strip, A Death in Gaza) have been made that demonstrate the institutionalized horrors of living under Israeli occupation in the Gaza Strip, which the inhabitants and the IDF stationed there often refer to as "hell." In comparison, the West Bank has more arable land, much of the water that the Israeli population uses, and is much more desiraeble to Israeli settlers. Any destruction of Palestinian property in the West Bank seems like a covert tactic to encourage the people to flee as refugees, so that new illegal settlements can be built by the Israeli state and more Palestinian land can be be grabbed.