Running through the myriad english headlines on not just mainstream sites, but community blogs and online communities dominated by predominantly north american users, the rhetoric rarely stretches beyond the “both sides are culpable” fare. (A post like Marissa’s being a rare exception). Any other conflict in the world and the balance shifts; the rhetoric allows blame to be lop-sided. Not this though. Never this.
As a palestinian, I’m not so sure I want to know why.

Despite all the suggestions that Israel is responding to terrorism, to a dismantling of the security its citizens are entitled to, or about Hamas “recognizing” the state of Israel; the truth is the Israeli leadership is and has been cognizant about its tasks going forward regarding Gaza ever since it “unilaterally disengaged” from the occupied territory in August 2005. Ever since Hamas solidified its domination over the pliant Fatah supporters in the Gaza strip in May 2007, an Israeli ground invasion has been an inevitability – preparations for which have culminated in today’s incursion. An incursion which, like the US operations in Fallujah and Samara in 2004 and 2006, respectively, will by design NOT be covered by journalists. To paint this as a forced action on the part of an otherwise peace-loving Israel to protect humanity in the face of barbarism would be a desecration of the 400+ people killed in Gaza in the past week.

As Jonathan Cook lucidly points out, Israeli policy since the early 90’s Oslo process has never been about regime change or about brokering a lasting peace with Palestinians. And, as this ground invasion begins, the dismantling of Hamas, a task long understood by senior Israeli officials to be impossible, is clearly not the goal. The intent is to align Hamas, as it once did with Arafat and the PLO, with the goals of the occupation at large, to pummel its underground infrastructure – the tunnels which serve as arteries supplying the Hamas leadership with the blood it needs to maintain its popularity in Gaza streets – to capitulate its resolve, to once and for all, force Hamas to abandon the goals which have made the Islamic front the democratically elected choice of leadership among a majority of Palestinians.

As deluded as the corporate media may be in pointing at the even handedness shared by Hamas and the Israeli Occupation Forces in this conflict, they are right to point out that Hamas controls their own destiny. Abandon the struggle now and the plan Israel enacted on November 5, 2008 will succeed.

Israel, of course, has taken notice. Their recently announced ‘image re-branding’ campaign, blitzing Canada in the month of September, is far from coincidental. Academia too, as far as Canadian Universities are concerned, has had a history of rigid support structures for pro-Israel support groups. The ‘Netanyahu Riot’ in Concordia being the most covered instance of that; coverage of which was owed fully to Izzy Asper’s sponsorship of the event.

I address these issues by being reminded of the sentiment I share with Susan Nathan, that the problem facing major developed international hubs is immigration’s exigency; how to manage the cultural collusion resulting from the massive in-flux of ethnically diverse citizens. Zionism, and the Israeli model in general, does not offer itself as a viable solution to that problem, and as a consequence of that is destined to fail.

Nevertheless, my attention swings to the uplifting these days, and my spirits piggy-back on the 1st annual Toronto Palestine Film Festival. A description of it is implicit in its title, but here’s an official description I’ve snagged from the media release:

The Toronto Palestine Film Festival (TPFF) evolved from a series of successful
screenings held over the past year in Toronto. This year also marks the 60th
anniversary of the Nakba, which refers to the 1948 expulsion of the indigenous
population of Palestine. The anniversary has been marked through a series of events
over the year, and Palestine House felt the best way to share Palestinians’ stories from
the time of the Nakba until present day was through film.
This film festival will introduce Torontonians to Palestinian cultural, historical and
personal narratives told through the rich variety of Palestinian films.

Having capitalized on their limited time offer of 10 tickets for 50$, skipping Hallowe’en night is clearly an afterthought. Here are the screenings I’m looking forward to the most (I hijacked the descriptions from the TPFF site):

Annemarie Jacir
2008
105:00
Fiction
Palestine/France
Canadian Premiere

Synopsis:
Soraya, born in Brooklyn in a working class community of Palestinian refugees, discovers that her grandfather’s savings were frozen in a bank account in Jaffa when he was exiled in 1948. Stubborn, passionate and determined to reclaim what is hers, she fulfills her life-long dream of “returning” to Palestine. Slowly she is taken apart by the reality around her and is forced to confront her own anger. She meets Emad, a young Palestinian whose ambition, contrary to hers, is to leave forever. Tired of the constraints that dictate their lives, they know in order to be free, they must take things into their own hands, even if it’s illegal. In Palestine’s first feature by a female director, we follow two refugees in search of their own freedom through the traces of a lost Palestine.
Official Selection, Un Certain Regard, Cannes Film Festival 2008

Perla Issa, Aseel Mansour, Adam Shapiro
2008
89:00
Documentary
USA/Lebanon
Canadian Premiere
Co-presented by International Diaspora Film Festival

Synopsis:
Episode II: The Daily Nakbas documents the repeated expulsions of Palestinians from refugee camps and countries around the world since 1967. It explores the impact of displacement on a community under constant threat of becoming refugees a second, third or fourth time. (Chronicles of a Refugee is a 6-part documentary series examining the global Palestinian refugee experience over the last 60 years.)

Hanna Musleh
2008
42:00
Documentary
Palestine
Canadian Premiere
Co-Presented by the Arab Canadian Lawyers Association

Synopsis:
This documentary reveals the true story behind Israel’s “Canada Park” – a story of dispossession, destruction and continuing displacement. Forty-one years ago, the three Palestinian villages of Imwas, Yalo and Beit Nouba in the Latroun enclave of the West Bank were razed to the ground after Israel occupied the territory in 1967. Today, the residents of those villages remain displaced and barred from returning, while Israeli citizens enjoy picnics in the Jewish National Fund’s “Canada Park”, much of it funded by Canadians, oblivious to the crimes perpetrated in their names.
Discussion with guest speaker from Al-Haq, a Palestinian Human Rights Organization, will follow the screening.

Synopsis:
The Mountain is a poignant story of the bond between generations, and explores Palestinian community life apart from the shadow of Israeli occupation. When an attractive young woman from Galilee catches the eye of a young farmer from Gaza on market day, love may be an inevitable consequence. But in this film, the course of true love is complicated by tradition. For many centuries elopement in the Middle East has been the only alternative for women who object to pre-arranged marriage.

Winner of 13 international awards including: Grand Prix, Du Monde, Arab Film Festival, Paris, France; Best Short Film GrandPrix, Henri Longlois Film Festival, Tours, France; President Prize, UINESCO International Film Festival, Hiroshima, Japan; Cine Eagle Film Award, Washington DC, USA

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USA vs Al-Arian
Line Halvorsen
2007
99:00
Feature
Documentary
Norway
Co-presented by Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival

Synopsis
USA vs Al-Arian is a portrait of an Arab-American family facing terrorism charges leveled by the U.S. Government. The film shows the personal story of a family living in a society where fear of terrorism has resulted in increasing stigmatization and discrimination against Muslims. For years, Nahla Al-Arain and her children have been fighting to prove the innocence of their husband and father Sami, a Palestinian refugee, university professor and civil rights activist, who has lived in the USA for more than thirty years.
Best Documentary, Norwegian Documentary Film Festival, Oslo 2007; Best Film, New Orleans Human Rights Film Festival, USA 2007; Grand Prix, International Festival of Muslim Cinema, Kazan, Russia 2007

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Slingshot Hip Hop

Jackie Reem Salloum
2008
80:00
Feature
Documentary
Palestine
Canadian Premiere – Director in Attendance

Synopsis
Slingshot Hip Hop braids together the stories of young Palestinians living in Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank as they discover Hip Hop and employ it as a tool to surmount divisions imposed by occupation and poverty. From internal checkpoints and “Separation Walls”, to gender norms and generational differences, this is the story of young people crossing the borders that separate them.

Nominee, Grand Jury Prize, Sundance Film Festival 2008.

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