Sunday, October 22, 2023 at 3:00 pm. EDT, 1900 UTC
This film will be shown in the same program as Coming Home
Online only
Co-writers/directors: Idit Avrahami and Noam Sheizaf
Run Time: 1:34
Language: Hebrew, Arabic, English
Style: documentary
Year: 2022
Projection medium: Blu-ray disc
Tickets: free with registration
About The Film
An opening card explains that “H2” is the area where 800 Jewish settlers live at the center of the largest city in the West Bank, population 250,000 Palestinians. Israeli human rights lawyer Michael Sfard (whom we featured in 2021 with Occupation & De Facto Annexation) explains the “occupation lab” part of the title: Hebron is a test location; successful occupation tactics will appear later elsewhere.
Hebron is revered for its holy Cave of the Patriarchs, where Jews, Christians, and Muslims believe their common faith-ancestor, Abraham, is buried. This is where the massacre of 1929, known as “year zero” of the conflict, took place; where the Jewish settlement movement was born, and where the policy of ethnic separation was first implemented by the military.
The filmmakers highlight selected years including:
- 1967 when the occupation started just after the six-day war. Jews gain access to the Cave of the Patriarchs
- 1986: First intifada
- 1993: Oslo Accords; increased tension among the Jewish population in Hebron that resists becoming part of the proposed Palestinian state
Near the end of the film, a former Israeli soldier, now with Breaking the Silence, summarizes: “I think of Hebron as a gift from God. It’s 2 km2 that you can walk in half a day and understand how Israel controls the West Bank. If you zoom out from Hebron, everything you see in Hebron you’ll see in the West Bank: separation, separation roads, blockades …” Hebron is a model for the occupation.
“If you zoom out from Hebron, everything you see in Hebron you’ll see in the West Bank: separation, separation roads, blockades …”
– A former Israeli soldier
Trailer
Panelist: none due to unforeseen circumstances
Co-director Noam Sheizaf
By video conference
Noam Sheizaf is a documentary filmmaker and journalist. Noam was the founding editor and publisher of the online Magazine +972; he wrote analysis and commentary on Israel/Palestine to Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, Vox, Haaretz, The Nation and other publications. Noam was the director of “Meshulam” (2015), head of research and content for Dror Moreh’s ‘The Corridors of Power’ (2022), ‘The Human Factor’ (2020).