Yet another clear-eyed, intelligent and affecting documentary on the heartbreaking, seemingly endless conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians.
In this case the subject is the title town, where the Israelis – for seemingly no good reason – have decided to erect their 'wall of separation' not along the natural green line border outside the enclave, but cutting right through the heart of this small rural town, dividing the cemetery, and forcing the digging up of farmland and ancient olive trees that provide many in the town with their only income. Whether ignorance, political strategy or simple cruelty on the part of the Israeli government is never really explained (a slight weak spot in the film).
But the film is detailed and insightful in tracing how the townspeople - led by soft-spoken community organizer Ayed Morrar - stand up to the mighty Israeli border army in a non- violent way, eventually earning supporters from around the world including younger liberal Israelis, who come and join in the protests, so the conflict evolves from Arab against Jew into human beings against the army and cold, indifferent bureaucracy. Perhaps in that re- alignment lies the seeds of a human solution for the larger conflict that the people of both sides can not only accept, but even embrace.
In this case the subject is the title town, where the Israelis – for seemingly no good reason – have decided to erect their 'wall of separation' not along the natural green line border outside the enclave, but cutting right through the heart of this small rural town, dividing the cemetery, and forcing the digging up of farmland and ancient olive trees that provide many in the town with their only income. Whether ignorance, political strategy or simple cruelty on the part of the Israeli government is never really explained (a slight weak spot in the film).
But the film is detailed and insightful in tracing how the townspeople - led by soft-spoken community organizer Ayed Morrar - stand up to the mighty Israeli border army in a non- violent way, eventually earning supporters from around the world including younger liberal Israelis, who come and join in the protests, so the conflict evolves from Arab against Jew into human beings against the army and cold, indifferent bureaucracy. Perhaps in that re- alignment lies the seeds of a human solution for the larger conflict that the people of both sides can not only accept, but even embrace.
