A-Infos (en) France, UCL AL #368 - Culture - See: Palestine 36 (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

By choosing to make a film about the Great Palestinian Revolt of 
1936-1939[1], Palestinian director Annemarie Jacir, known for her 2008 
film *Salt of the Sea*, offers us a sweeping portrait of a pivotal 
historical episode, crucial for understanding the Palestinian revolution 
and placing it within a century-long continuum. ---- The film follows 
the lives of several Palestinians involved in the revolt, notably the 
character of Yusuf, played by Karim Daoud Anaya, whose life revolves 
around the movement, moving between the city and his village. This 
allows the film to evoke both the strike movement of the early months of 
the revolt and its aftermath in the form of armed insurrection.

The film highlights several things that are important for today: how 
Palestinian nationalism was forged, the class contradictions that ran 
through it with the lukewarm support of the large Arab landowners, but 
also the convergences between urban workers and peasants, between 
Christians and Muslims, etc. The film evokes the two facets of the 
colonial process of that time in Palestine, from which the current 
apartheid is inherited: the gradual encroachment of land by Zionist 
settlements, notably the famous "tower and palisade" kibbutzim, which 
are depicted here in their true military dimension, whereas for a long 
time the kibbutz took the form in the West, and especially on the left, 
of the idealized image of the socialist collectivist community, like a 
Soviet propaganda film where everyone works the land, especially women, 
to highlight the "modernity" that Zionism would bring. The film 
demonstrates that, far from waiting for settlers from Europe, 
Palestinian women participated in the uprising in various ways. However, 
the film also gives considerable weight to British colonial control and 
brutality through the figure of the infamous Captain Orde Wingate, 
portrayed by Robert Aramayo, a British torturer and Christian Zionist 
(also known as a restorationist: wishing to restore the ancient Jewish 
kingdom). Wingate's military legacy inspired the IDF, which adopted his 
methods, as the film highlights (the destruction of homes, the use of 
Palestinians bound to military vehicles as human shields, a practice 
employed by Israel...).

The film offers two hours of a welcome historical reminder at a time 
when the political legacy of Zionism remains a subject of debate on the 
left.

Nico Pasadena (UCL Montreuil)

Annemarie Jacir, Palestine 36, 1h59, 2025.

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[1]Palestine Dossier: "1936-1939: A Great Sabotaged Revolt," Alternative 
libertaire no. 192, March 10, 2010.

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Voir-Palestine-36
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