Mohammed Azhar Ali Khan Movies often misrepresent people and their lives. But some documentaries present glimpses of real people living in the real world. They are made by people driven by their conscience to serve humanity by telling the truth. “Roadmap to Apartheid” shows life under apartheid in South Africa and now in the Occupied Territories. The documentary has won awards at the Garden State Film Festival, Milan International Film Festival, Honolulu Film Awards and Indie Fest. Filmmaker and author Naomi Klein called it “a harrowing expose of Israel's unique system of official discrimination.” Israeli-Canadian journalist Lia Tarachansky introduced the movie in Ottawa saying that while in Israel the discussion is about whether Israeli apartheid is justified, in Canada even saying that Israel practices apartheid raises eyebrows. The movie was shown under the auspices of Independent Jewish Voices, an organization that is working for a just peace in the Middle East. Ana Nogueira, a white South African, and Eron Davidson, an Israeli Jew, displayed apartheid in South Africa and in Israeli-occupied lands. Alice Walker, author of “The Color Purple”, provided the narrative. The documentary shows, side by side, how apartheid degraded black South Africans and how it victimizes Palestinians. There are important differences - Palestinians can vote and even elect representatives to the Knesset. They can eat in the same restaurants as Israelis. But the differences are minor compared to the similarities in the two apartheid systems. According to South African commentator Na'eem Jeenah, Palestinian suffering is much worse. Whites in South Africa did not build a wall to hem in blacks. They did not bomb civilian areas by helicopters and jets supplied by the United States. Whites did not arbitrarily seize the property of black Africans and bar them from their homes. The wall denies Palestinians normal access to water, jobs, hospitals and crops. Israelis use six times more water per capita than is allowed for Palestinians. Palestinians cannot use roads built for Jews. They can use only side roads and those too are closed by soldiers at their whims. Israel also controls the borders, taxes, water and exit and entry points. Israeli soldiers protect the 600 settlers who have seized Palestinian homes in Hebron. Palestinians live under military law while the illegal settlers live under civil law. Israel has erected 600 checkpoints and only 37 of these separate the Occupied Territories from Israel. The rest are in the West Bank and are designed to make life miserable for Palestinians and to force them to leave. The documentary also showed unprovoked beatings of Palestinians by soldiers and the deliberate breaking of the bones of innocent people. In Gaza the unemployment rate is 40 percent because of Israel's stifling siege. Israel also controls Gaza through a wall and a naval blockade. Over 700,000 Palestinians have been jailed without charge. Some have been detained for more than 30 years, according to the narrators and Lia Tarachansky. Another documentary Canadians saw recently was “The Gatekeepers”, which featured former commanders of the Israeli secret service the Shin Beit. They contended that Israel is relying solely on force to control Palestinians and has no interest in a peaceful settlement. That movie also showed brutalities against Palestinians. Another movie shown in Canada, “Five Broken Cameras”, features Palestinian farmer Emad Burnat who bought a camera in 2005 to record the life of his son, Gibril. But as his West Bank village, Bil'in, was tormented by Israeli settlers and Israeli soldiers, Burnat recorded life around him until 2009, documenting the uprooting of olive trees, bulldozing of houses and farms, the seizure of Palestinian land and property, construction of a chain link and razor wire fence to bar Palestinians from their lands, the Palestinians' non-violent protests and Israeli soldiers' violence. Burnat's camera was destroyed by a soldier. His Jewish friend Ysrael gave him another. That too was destroyed as were others. He and his supporters faced harassment, threats and arrests. But some Israelis, and sympathetic demonstrators from other countries, joined the protests and were gassed and manhandled by the soldiers. Burnat gave his film to his Israeli friend Guy Davidi who co-directed the film. It gives a glimpse of the real life of Palestinians. Now Israeli filmmaker and journalist Lia Tarachansky is making a documentary, “Seven Deadly Myths”. It tells the story of four veterans of the 1948 war that destroyed hundreds of Palestinian villages and ousted more than 700,000 Palestinians from their homes. It connects their plight with the ongoing occupation, land seizures and human rights violations. The film is ready but needs a Hebrew-speaking editor, editing, color-correction and sound mixing for which Tarachansky is raising funds. She hopes her documentary will be ready by the end of the summer and will show the world what really happened and is going on in Israel. — Mohammed Azhar Ali Khan is a retired Canadian journalist, civil servant and refugee judge
