Palestine Is Still The Issue (2002 edition)
John Pilger
In 1977, the award-winning journalist and film-maker, John Pilger, made a documentary called Palestine Is Still The Issue. He told how almost a million Palestinians had been forced off their land in 1948, and again in 1967. In this in-depth documentary, he has returned to the West Bank of the Jordan and Gaza, and to Israel, to ask why the Palestinians, whose right of return was affirmed by the United Nations more than half a century ago, are still caught in a terrible limbo -- refugees in their own land, controlled by Israel in the longest military occupation in modern times.
"The fate and struggle of the Palestinians," says Pilger, "are not just critical to the overdue recognition of their basic human rights, but are also central to whether the region, and the wider world, are plunged into war. Israel is now one of the biggest military powers in the world. While nothing changes, the dangers become greater. This is a film about a nation of people, traumatized, humiliated and yet resilient. In trying to liberate less than a quarter of historic Palestine, they have had no army, no air force, and no powerful friends -- and have fought back with slingshots and now with the terrorism of the suicide bombers."
In a series of extraordinary interviews with both Palestinians and Israelis, John Pilger weaves together the issue of Palestine. He speaks to the families of suicide bombers and their victims; he sees the humiliation of Palestinians imposed on them at myriad checkpoints and with a permit system not dissimilar to apartheid South Africa's infamous pass laws. He goes into the refugee camps and meets children who, he says, "no longer dream like other children, or if they do, it is about death."
Continually asking for the solution, John Pilger says it is time to bring justice, as well as peace, to Palestine.
DVD Bonus Features
Besides
playing the program straight through, you can also play
it by chapters. The chapter stops have been chosen to
enable immediate access to key portions of the film. Includes bonus features such as background information on the history of the conflict from 1987 until 2002.
Reviews
"[Pilger] allows the viewer to hear candid and
powerful statements that it is vital for outsiders to
hear. I would advise professors: If you don't have time
to show the entire video in your class, at least show
your students the first fifteen minutes. The frank comments
by both Palestinians and Israelis...will provide the
basis for a spirited debate among the students for the
remainder of the class period."
Ann Lesch, Villanova University, Middle East Studies
Association Bulletin
"Highly recommended
for its bold analysis of the Palestine problem...crucial
viewing for those interested in challenging their assumptions."
Michael J. Coffta, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania,
Educational Media Reviews Online
Related Links
John
Pilger: Why my film is under fire