Understanding the Gaza Conflict

On Thursday, January 15th, Cinema du Parc will be screening The Iron Wall, a documentary directed by Mohammed Alatar. For one night only at 7pm (French subtitles) and 9pm (English subtitles), the 52-minute doc from 2006 is more topical than ever considering the latest conflicts in Gaza. For all those looking for some background information on how it all began and why it continues, Alatar’s film should be a good start.

Synopsis

In 1923 Vladimir Jobotinsky, the father of right-wing Zionism, wrote: “Zionist colonization (…) cannot progress and grow without the protection of a power that does not depend on the local population, the shelter of an iron wall that the local population cannot pierce”.

Ever since, these words have dictated the official and unofficial policy of the Zionist movement and, later, of the state of Israel. The colonies have served to consolidate Zionist control over historic Palestine.

Throughout the history of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, from 1967 on, more than 200 colonies have been constructed in the occupied territories in violation of international law. The Iron Wall demonstrates this phenomenon and examines the growth of these colonies and their population over time. The film demonstrates that the construction of these colonies is in fact the cornerstone of Israeli policy, and that the wall serves to transform the colonies into permanent and irreversible “facts on the ground”.

This documentary sounds the alarm that these “facts on the ground” threaten the possibility of a continuous and viable Palestinian state and of a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

The Iron Wall presents interviews with peace activists, with Israeli and Palestinian political analysts, with colonists and Israeli army officers and with Palestinian farmers.

The above synopsis was retrieved from the film’s official website - click here.

The screening is organized by PAJU (Palestinian and Jewish Unity). Their official website can be found here.