Amnesty Prijs naar Israelische Filmmaker

Gisteravond was ik in Rotterdam bij de uitreiking van de Amnesty International-Doen Award 2006. De documentaire 'Avenge But One Of My Two Eyes' van Avi Mograbi, een Israelische filmmaker en vredesactivist, was de winnaar van deze prestigieuze prijs. Zijn documentaire is een schitterend maar keihard verslag van de dagelijkse terreur van het Israelisch militair optreden in Palestijns gebied. Door middel van de Israelische verheerlijking van de mythe van Massada, waarbij joodse extremisten collectieve zelfmoord verkozen boven onderwerping aan de Romeinen en de verheerlijking van het verhaal van Samson die zelfmoord pleegde om zijn vijanden mee de dood in te nemen laat Mograbi zien wat de motieven zijn van Palestijnen die een zelfmoordaanslag plegen. Toen deze documentaire in Cannes werd vertoond was dit de begeleidende tekst: 'From the myths of Samson and Massada, the younger Israeli generations learn that death is preferable to domination.Today, as the second Intifada is raging, the Palestinians are constantly humiliated by the Israeli army and peasants are kept from ploughing their fields, children on their way back from school are stranded at checkpoints for hours, an old woman can't even go back home. Exhausted, these people voice their anger and despair just as the Jews did with the Romans or Samson with the Philistines. Israeli filmmaker Avi Mograbi still believes in the power of dialogue, with besieged Palestinians, and with omnipresent Israeli army officials. Samson called to the Lord and said: "Lord, God, remember me and strengthen me, only this once. So that I may avenge but one of my two eyes, avenge upon the Philistines. What does he ask for? Who does he turn to, and what does he ask for?-Samson turns to God and asks him to give him strength, even though he's not a Nazirite anymore, he asks him to make him strong one more time, so he can take revenge on the Philistines. Presented out of competition, the documentary Avenge But One of My Two Eyes by Avi Mograbi, who has come to Cannes for the first time, plunges us into the thick of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. With the second intifada raging and the Palestinians in greater frustration and despair than ever, Mograbi places his faith in the power of dialogue, with the Palestinians besieged and the Israeli army everywhere. To sustain his argument, the director raises the legends of Samson & Delilah and Massada, which taught early Zionists that death is preferable to surrender. This film was born of Avi Mograbi's intention to reconsider the story of Masada, the fortress emblematic of the Jewish Zealots' uprising against Roman occupation in the 1st century AD, in a new light, by transposing the action to today's breaking news stories. Mograbi explains: "You have to be aware that we Israelis have always been brought up so as to regard Zealots as heroes and freedom fighters that we should identify with... But historian Josephus Flavius in the book 'The War of the Jews' told an altogether different story: the Zealots of Masada are described as murderers, robbers, bandits and extreme nationalists - and definitely not as people to look up to. So I thought it was important to retell the story of Masada. Besides, the fact that the Zealots committed suicide also reflected on today's Palestinian suicide bombers."' Toen ik zijn documentaire gezien had realiseerde ik me opnieuw hoe onrechtvaardig het is dat de Europese Unie nu dreigt het hele Palestijnse volk te straffen omdat men in hun wanhoop massaal op Hamas heeft gestemd. En dat terwijl de Israelische tereur door het Westen niet gestraft wordt, maar beloond wordt met speciale economische voordelen.