Jerusalem: The East Side Story
Free film Screening
Tuesday, August 16 at 7:30 pm
Saugerties Library Community Room
91 Washington Avenue, Saugerties, NY 12477
This documentary brings the Palestinian struggle for freedom and independence to a Western audience. The film captures nearly 100 years of history of East Jerusalem, mainly concentrating on the period from 1967 on, showing how the city and its people have been affected by the Israeli occupation. Best Documentary at the Boston Palestinian Film Festival. 57 minutes.
Presented by Middle East Crisis Response (www.mideastcrisis.org). Free educational films about Palestine will be shown on the third Tuesday of the month from July through September. About 30 attended this film, a moving and informative look at Israel's ethnic cleansing in Jerusalem.
Audience questions were interesting as always. One German woman described a book she was writing on human rights abuses in Palestine. Several in the audience signed up to receive her book as a PDF file. Several audience members stressed the progress local communities can make in fighting Israeli apartheid.
This from Jane, who organized the film series:
"The name of the German woman is Inge Etzbach and the title of her book is Ishmael and Isaac in the Promised Land. She spoke with the group, sharing the experience she had as a child in Germany after the war when she saw the inmates of a concentration camp. She has carried that terrible suffering within her to this day. That experience forms the background to her wanting to understand the suffering in Israel /Palestine. She has worked on a kibbutz and traveled in the West Bank.
What I find so meaningful in showing these films and in the discussions following the film-showings is the varied voices that emerge. Each person sees and interprets the film in a unique way. When I introduced the film last night, I couldn't say 'Enjoy it' because of the heaviness of the material. Instead, I said 'I hope you will find this meaningful.' The film forum provides a way to air and to listen to the different meanings each of us gets from the viewing. I believe this exchange enables growth and change."
This from Jane, who organized the film series:
"The name of the German woman is Inge Etzbach and the title of her book is Ishmael and Isaac in the Promised Land. She spoke with the group, sharing the experience she had as a child in Germany after the war when she saw the inmates of a concentration camp. She has carried that terrible suffering within her to this day. That experience forms the background to her wanting to understand the suffering in Israel /Palestine. She has worked on a kibbutz and traveled in the West Bank.
What I find so meaningful in showing these films and in the discussions following the film-showings is the varied voices that emerge. Each person sees and interprets the film in a unique way. When I introduced the film last night, I couldn't say 'Enjoy it' because of the heaviness of the material. Instead, I said 'I hope you will find this meaningful.' The film forum provides a way to air and to listen to the different meanings each of us gets from the viewing. I believe this exchange enables growth and change."