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Israel-Palestine Conflict Two films, Zero and 5 Broken Cameras, explain the ideologies, policies, and practices in the OPT and Israel. These films show how these ideologies are perpetuating the Israel-Palestine Conflict and suggest ways to end the occupation and problem. Zero looks in depth at the Israel education system and society and 5 Broken Cameras looks at the nonviolent resistance movement in the OPT. Both films suggest that this conflict will be never-ending If something does not change soon.
This Is because the films show what children learn from the conflict, and how It will continue on both ides because of what is seen and taught by and to children in Israel and the OPT. Zero teaches that ideologies in Israel need to change because children are taught that the violence is Justifiable. 5 Broken Cameras teaches that nonviolent protests and filming are productive ways to help end the occupation. These films together show that It Is extremely necessary for conditions to change because If they do not then the conflict will be carried on and Intensified by future generations. Zero, Slaves of Memory looks into the Israeli society.
For a month out of the school ear children in Israeli schools are taught to remember their history. Children of all ages are taught about Passover, the Shoo, and Independence Day. They are taught that horrible things have happened to their people. Through this education all children learn the importance of the Israeli state, army, and a nationalist identity to prevent atrocities from happening to them again. The filmmaker suggests that educators In Israel focus too much on the Holocaust. At one point the Interviewer asks a teacher if Israelis are “slaves to memory’ (Zero, Part 7, 9:20) because of the education system.
The teacher vehemently opposes that statement but the footage speaks for itself. The children who are interviewed seem programmed to answer in certain ways, even though one student argues “It’s not brainwashing. It’s more part of a tradition” (Part 9, 4:15). This film suggests that education in Israel Is perpetuating the conflict more than anything else. From kindergarten to the army, children of all ages are taught that it is their duty to be willing to die for their country. They are taught that Jews must have an army and independent and sovereign state to fight heir enemies (Part 6, 9:55).
The problem with the ideology and education system in Israel is that the most important value taught to children is “Be a good soldier” rather than “Be a good person” ((Part 7, 8:12). Dry. Liability suggests that it should not be the Jews who are working hard to remember the tragedies that have happened to them. It Is those who committed the acts. If people define themselves as victims It diverts the mind from all responsibility. He sarcastically says, “We can kill Arabs in refugee camps because of the terrible things that were done to us” (Part 5, 1:33).
Committing so much education to victimized allows Israelis to justify the violence toward the Palestinians, thus allowing the conflict to continue. Billing. The footage shows the men of Billing nonviolently protest Israel’s Wall. He is proof that not even Journalists are safe from Israeli soldiers. His camera was fired at and broken by soldiers multiple times. One reason his cameras are broken is because Israeli soldiers are very uncomfortable with Dam’s filming. Deep down the soldiers seem to know that what they are doing is morally wrong, and so they don’t want the world to see the violence.
There is a lack of knowledge about the conflict around the world, and Dam’s footage of tear gas, arrests, shootings, and even the murder of his friend Phil helps spread the truth of who the victims are. Edam parallels the protests with the birth and growth of his son, Gabriel. He shows how children in Billing are affected by the conflict and how they will carry it on when their fathers are gone. Gabriel says he wants to hurt the Israeli soldiers for killing Phil (Cameras, 13). Even after a violent act happens, the anger remains and the children will remember the injustices against their fathers (Cameras, 12).
Because of the violence of Israeli soldiers against Palestinians who did not do anything wrong, the conflict is perpetuated by creating more anger and hate between the two sides. Many aspects of these films built on my understanding of what Eve learned about the conflict in class. Zero made me think of the Refusing, or the men who refused to join the army. They were seen as traitors but really they were some of the few who could see that they should be angry at the system for brainwashing children instead of angry with the Palestinians.
The system “perverts the children” (Part 7, 6:57) cause it teaches that nationalism and violence in the name of protecting Israel is the most important value rather than being a decent human being. 5 Broken Cameras built on my understanding of life in the OPT. I have previously learned about and seen footage of the occupation and the horrors that come with it, but this film was the most effective. This is because Dam’s footage lets the experiences speak for themselves instead of an interviewee sharing their political viewpoints. In this way, 5 Broken Cameras is about human beings rather than the politics of the conflict.
I have learned many statistics about the OPT but it was instrumental to my understanding to see how a family lives and keeps moral up in the OPT. 5 Broken Cameras teaches that nonviolent demonstrations can be very valuable. It takes a lot of bravery to protest against people with weapons when you do not have a weapon, and it shows who the true victims are. Nonviolent demonstrations show that Palestinians are peaceful and willing to cooperate. It Just does not make sense to fight for peace by using violence. Violent protests by Palestinians allow Israelis to call Palestinians “terrorists” and make Israelis seem like the victims.
If Israeli soldiers are harming peaceful Palestinians, it is more obvious to outsiders who the victim in the situation is. The “outsiders” aspect is why filming is an important model of nonviolent resistance. Filming is important because it gets the word out more and so more people are able to help and know the truth (Cameras, 15:20). Edam says that people come from all over the world to protest with them and they are treated the same way as Palestinian protestors. Filming does not only show the world the realities of life in the OPT; it also encourages more nonviolent resistance. When Edam shows the nonviolent ways too (Cameras, 34).
Methods of nonviolent resistance such as peaceful protests and filming have a higher potential to help end the occupation than violent resistance, but they might not be enough to completely resolve the conflict. The best solution I can see to solving this conflict is to end U. S. Funding to Israel. However, because of Israeli lobbyists that does not seem to be a realistic possibility. Because of this, there needs to be something that forces the United States to end funding to Israel. The UN has not done anything that’s worked for decades so Hereford it is the international community’s duty.
Public opinion in America and the rest of the world needs to be strongly anti-lesser funding. A way to do this is to spread the truth of the horrors committed by Israel. Articles written by Journalists visiting the OPT and films like 5 Broken Cameras that show what is happening in the OPT need to get more attention. However, because of American media it is difficult to spread the truth in these ways. Upon doing some research of 5 Broken Cameras, I was surprised to read that the Israeli co-director, David’, said that he thinks that abbey more Israeli activist blood needs to be spilled by Israeli soldiers in order to get the point across.
This shocked me because in general I think that nonviolent solutions are best, but it made me consider the validity of this idea. Israel values its own citizens and should not want to harm them. Maybe if more Israeli citizens opposed the wall then Israel would reconsider its practices. However, 5 Broken Cameras shows that the soldiers treat Israeli activists the same as they do the Palestinians. Because of this, I am taking Davit’s idea a step further. When even one American tourist or Journalist dies abroad at the hand of another country soldiers or police, people know about it because it is highly publicized.
If more activists from around the world and particularly from America went and protested with the Palestinians in the OPT then maybe the United States government would stop funding Israel because it is killing American citizens. If more Americans were dying at the hands of weapons funded by America, the public would be furious. I think the best way to help end this conflict is to end funding to Israel, and maybe the best way o force funding to stop is for tons of people to be really angry about it. It is not a pleasant solution, but highly publicized deaths of citizens of powerful countries could be a way to force the U.
S. To stop Israel’s violence. Another potential way to help end the conflict is Israeli-Palestinian cooperation. 5 Broken Cameras is co-directed by an Israeli, therefore making it a Palestinian-Israeli film. This film shows teamwork between Israelis and Palestinians. This makes the film successful because it shows that Israelis and Palestinians are not natural born enemies and that cooperation is Seibel and productive. If the two communities started working together and were willing to compromise then the conflict could be solved without outside influence.
This solution would work in a perfect world but it is unlikely to happen. Zero and 5 Broken Cameras are very different films about the Israel-Palestine conflict but the theme is the same: something needs to change and soon. Actions need to be taken by both sides to help end the conflict. Palestinians in the OPT must focus on nonviolent resistance and filming their experiences to help bring an end to the hat “There is no lesson to be learned from the Shoo” (Part 8, 2:1 1) and that if Israeli education continues the way it is then they are headed towards destruction.
Israeli soldiers are taught that they are doing the right thing in the name of nationalism, but violence by soldiers in the OPT promotes anger among Palestinians and a lessening chance of cooperation. Children on both sides will grow up and continue the fight of their parents. These films show that this conflict is a vicious cycle and if a solution is not found soon the situation will intensify and worsen.