[THS] Gilad Atzmon: Watch Mohammad Bakri`s Jenin Jenin

[Peter Webster]

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24821.htm

Public Service: Watch Mohammad Bakri's Jenin Jenin

By Gilad Atzmon

February 21, 2010 "Information Clearing House" -- Jenin Jenin depicts the true story
of Israeli colossal barbarism. There is no doubt left, the Jewish State is the ultimate
enemy of humanity and humanism. It also presents the Palestinian ordeal facing the
Zionist evil. Clearly, surviving the Israeli occupation is nothing but heroism.

Soon after Jenin Jenin  was released, after only three showings, the film  was banned
by the Israeli Film Board  (2002), accusing the film of being libellous for calling itself a
documentary despite documenting only one 'side' of the story. One may ask the
Israeli Film Board whether they also ban holocaust documentaries for failing to
present the Nazi or even the SS  ‘side’ of the story.

Bakri petitioned the High Court of Justice against the censor for prohibiting the
screening of the film on the grounds that it distorted the truth. After a long fight, the
court rejected the censor's decision.

In 2004, the Israeli High Court finally upheld its earlier overturn of the ban, but
joined the Film Board in labelling the film a "propagandistic lie," based on Israeli
sources which acknowledged only 52 Palestinian deaths, 38 of whom Israeli sources
argued were armed fighters.

In 2007, five IDF soldiers who participated in the Jenin refugee camp  massacre sued
the Cinamatheques in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem for screening the film in the midst of
the ban, and sued Bakri for 2.5 million NIS for producing the film. In July 2008 Bakri
was acquitted of the charges.

Jenin-Jenin earned two awards: the "Best Film" award at the Carthage International
Film Festival, 2002, and the International Prize for Mediterranean Documentary
Filmmaking and Reporting.

Lyad Samoudi  the film's Executive Producer, was killed at Alyamoun at the end of
the filming by Israeli soldiers on 23 June 2002.