One Word...

 

I watched the movie One Word: Occupation by Nejemye Tenenbaum shortly before the latest war started. It is a 30-Minute long, featuring exclusively one voice, of Gershon Baskin, a journalist and social activitist supporting the dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians.

I was not sure that I would mention this movie on my blogging rantings because very often in the last days I felt that words do not make any sense. No matter what you say or you want to say, there is an outburst of hate that will reduce you to a polite silence. But words do create sense in the middle of the deepest despair, in the same way they can deepen the despair. 

Indeed there is a war, and there will be probably more and people will die and Jews will be hunted again in Europe or elsewhere. There is mentioned in the movie a quote by Moshe Dayan according to which ´Israel must be seen as a mad dog, too dangerous to bother´, but times had changed and the 1967 war tripled the size of Israel in just six days. Things only went further and futher on and things went worse: economically and socially for the Palestinians blocked in Gaza, but also for the Israeli population who is facing the danger of the bombs sent by Hamas, or are part of the system which implements the rule of low in the territories. 

Baskin said that in fact, there are initiatives that may create peace, like the 2003 Geneva Initiative, but there is a need of a proper leadership keen to implement it. The right of fighting terrorists is justified, but there should be find a way towards peace. And here again, I dare to say, it is a matter of leadership. 

Not every current Israeli politician should equal the political intelligence of a Moshe Dayan, and the corruption and lack of common vision of the political leadership is a problem all over the world. But the cartoonish selfish politicians with a taste for luxury are not exactly the kind of leadership that may understand how important is to give up - power included - for the peace of your people.

 

Watching Fauda on Netflix

Fauda - which means chaos in Arabic -, labelled as the Israeli version of Homeland which is available in 2 series on Netflix is aggressive, unbearable cruel and might raise a lot of red flags on the part of the left-wing but it's genuinely realistic. 

Based on the experience the authors of the screenplay - Lior Raz and Avi Issacharoff - had themselves during the Army service in the Mista'aravim unit - dealing with special counter-terrorism operations - it shows both sides - Israeli and Palestinians in a different light that supporters of both would love to see them. Israeli are psychologically manipulative while Palestinians don't miss a change to kill each other in a fight for power which overcomes sometimes their 'resistance'. Betrayal is such a human sin and desire to survive might be bigger than any potential reward in the world to come. 

You have dangerous terrorists addicted to chocolate, and poor Cpt. Ayoub who in the middle of a complicated interrogation shall give clear directions to his kids about what to eat for dinner - and terrible strong women who are hard to break, although destiny broke their lives more than once. The political and social context in the area - on the Palestinian side especially - is relativelly well portrayed, with the complex fight for power and authorities between different political and military factions as well as the impact of newly 'imported' radical movements, mostly from Syria, such as Daesh (ISIS).

Not all episodes are equally interesting and not all the actors are outstanding good, but watching them on binge - two series in a short week - might give an short idea of life and death in this part of the world. There is no romanticism and no black-and-white drama either, just raw confrontations and fight for survival - personal and/or political. No one could be brave in this fight.

This fight for survival, which involves also having to deal with some people that might think are your worse enemies is unfortunatelly unknown to many outsiders. The fact that besides the black-and-white, occupier vs. victim perspective, on the ground there are much more complex interactions and people from both sides of the wall can work - sometimes very well - together. There are Arabic speaking Jews and Hebrew speaking Arabs, there are people who are friends regardless their religion and language their speak. Jews from Arab lands and Iran, mostly the first generation, but sometimes the second too, do feel at home among their Arabic neighbours (ask any old Jew from Iran and Iraq about their memories about their home lands and you will be surprise how much love they kept in their hearts for their place of birth). They don't love each other that much and maybe they are not friends either, but they know each other much better than people whose only political activism is to post on social media ready made materials often produced by the propaganda departments of Hamas or other proxies (in Fauda the members of Hamas, compared to other radical military wings, look like a bunch of playboys). The propaganda reality that various political entities (none sides are innocent) want to project is that some are always good and some are always bad and until one side disappears, there will be no peace.

When someone wants to really start understanding beyond the propaganda narrative, it should start by gathering data and information and facts, talk to people and understand both sides with an open, realistic and emotion-free mind. The fact that some always started their school days cursing Israel and the Jews make them the least experts in understanding the area unless they really want to. Reacting with tears in your eyes when you see a video about 'Nakba' or graffiti on the wall portraying the resistance, donning a keffiyeh is nothing. Really nothing. Did you RT and liked religiously all those messages about Nakba/Nekba today? With the right hashtag? Complained to a random colleague about what the occupation is doing to people? You paid your moral duties to the world today. Repeat. (Al Jazeera Network which produced many of those easy-to-share videos is supported by the gas-rich Qatar which generously subsidizes Hamas, besides the Palestinian Authority).

Sometimes I wish very much I will get to live the moment when Israel will be friend again with Iran and the Arab countries will recognize the state. All those people who really believed what the political propaganda wanted them to believe will need to find a new cause to 'fight' from the comfort of their chair in the front of their computer RT-ing or sharing what they were supposed to share, isn't it? During the Cold War, such people used to be called - excuse my French - 'useful idiots'. By the way, top leaders of the terrorist movements almost never offer themselves to die in terror attacks. Just an observation.

Knowledge brings always power. With all its imperfections and Hollywood-touch, Fauda can help a little bit to see a different side of the coin. Politics are complicated and not for everyone's understanding, especially in the Middle East (something that the US, Russia, France and the Britain among others hardly grasp, if ever). 

About the Failure of Taking Stances

When I watched Munich, I was sure that this is the 'best' you can get in terms of creating an artistic reality which is so edulcorated and 'politically correct' that it completely distorts the artistic value of the movie. When you approach a political topic, or a topic with a high political implication, from a literary and visual standpoint, it's obvious that taking stances is important. Based on research the film director or author must take a certain position. I know there are some very early Marxist or neo-Marxist writings that are still hidden in a private corner of my head, but I think it is impossible to create something valuable artistically when you just want to present in a very easy going way very complex historical facts. 

I've heard first about 7 Days in Entebbe one year ago, when it was presented to the 68. edition of the Berlinale. I wanted to watch it but I've read some reviews that were not favorable and needed some time to completely detach myself from them and evaluate the movie with my own mind. Finally tonight I took the chance for keeping myself busy for over 1h watching it on Netflix.

The movie covers the 7 days in the life of the passengers of the AirFrance Flight from Athens to Tel Aviv, hijacked at the end of June 1976 in a joint operation of representatives of the German terrorist organisation Baader Meinhof and terrorists of the Organisation for the Liberation of Palestine. The two organisations had a quite good collaboration at the time, with Baader Meinhof members permanently training in the OELP camps in the Middle East. They were trained to attack and perpetrate acts of terror very often for a Palestininan cause, not to plant flowers or collect money for sick children.

There are two Germans (Wilfried Böse, played by Daniel Brühl, and Brigitte Kuhlmann, played by Rosamund Pike) looking to add a sense to their life, naive, intellectuals aiming to put into practice their theoretical revolutionary talks. There are Palestinians looking for revenge and not trusting the Germans - because, the movie says because of them Jews come to 'Palestine' and started to 'oppress them, doing what the Germans did' (very deep). When the intellectual level is so high, the fact that over 200 peoplewere kidnapped and brought to Uganda - not the 'eretz Uganda' of the Zionist Congress, but the Uganda of Idi Amin. 

In Israel, Shimon Peres and Yitzak Rabin, later portrayed as active supporters of the dialogue with the Palestinians, as it was necessarily a direct connection to the Entebbe case, are rather keen to send dozen of Israeli military to rescue the hostages, regardless of the risks, than to give up to the requests of Palestinians. Yoni Netanyahu's death is somehow the cause of Bibi's entry into politics - most likely not. 

The film avoids violence, which is inherent to such a situation, avoids taking stances, avoids clarity for ambiguity because you better avoid being so direct with your thoughts, in the end, maybe you are not right. Carlos the Jackal was also portrayed - according to a very long and boring movie - a kind of Robin Hood, a revolutionary misunderstood by its times. 

The only moments who are really dramatic and worth watching are the dance insertions admirably played by the dancers of Batsheva Dance Company.

My life didn't change for good or for worse after watching 7 Days in Entebbe. I don't like art with a thesis, as I don't like obsessive neutrality. If you are smart enough - and also not a real sympathizer to a cause but trying to hide it - you can create an interesting moral case and push the public to further thinking. If not, you just avoid anything and assume that wars are done for candies. Peace and love for the revolution!