Of Land and Bread

The nonprofit B´Tselem organization documents the violation of human rights in Jordan’s West Bank. Thanks to the efforts of volunteers, it has collected thousands of hours of video records capturing the everyday hardships of Palestinians who are tormented by the Israeli army, the police, and even ordinary civilians. Amateurly filmed night raids and daily hardships provide a vivid narrative about injustice, helplessness and violence in the Israeli-occupied territories. The hand-held camera, which is the only weapon the volunteers use, creates a raw, aesthetically unadorned image of a world where people are deprived of their land, their privacy, a carefree childhood, and even a dignified death.

 

“It is a story of a vulnerable life, with no political rights or the right to protest, a life on the receiving end of the project of dispossession of land and resources which is the Israeli occupation.” E. Tarabien   

 

Ehab Tarabien (1982) was born in Syria, where he studied violin at the academy of music. He then moved to the Czech Republic for a while and devoted himself to filmmaking. In 2010, he started working at the B´Tselem Centre and coordinated the shooting of an amateur film about the violation of human rights and freedoms under the Israeli occupation. He has already used some of this material once for his short film Smile, and the World Will Smile Back (2014), which premiered at Berlinale.