WEST BANK/FILE: 'The Salt of this Sea', a film about U.S. national seeking her Palestinian roots is shown in the Palestinian Territories for first time

Record ID: 559835

  • Title: WEST BANK/FILE: 'The Salt of this Sea', a film about U.S. national seeking her Palestinian roots is shown in the Palestinian Territories for first time
  • Date: 3rd September 2008
  • Summary: (MER-1) BETHLEHEM, WEST BANK (SEPTEMBER 2, 2008) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF AUDIENCE WATCHING FILM
  • Embargoed: 18th September 2008 13:00
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  • Reuters ID: LVA1FUN8T6G14FZD1FKX43ZMFFBJ
  • Story Text: 'The Salt of this Sea' ('Milh Hadha al-Bahr'), a Cannes Film Festival nomination about a U.S. woman of Palestinian descent who visits the Palestinian Territories, her ancestral homeland, for the first time, provokes thought at its first screening in the Palestinian Territories.
    Palestinian director Annemarie Jacir's film 'Salt of This Sea' ('Milh Hadha al-Bahr), which tells the story of a Brooklyn-born Palestinian who travels to Israel and the West Bank, screened for the first time in the Palestinian Territories on Monday (September 2).
    It was shown on the Israel-West Bank barrier at the Palestinian Aida refugee camp near the West Bank town of Bethlehem.
    The main character in the film, Soraya comes from a family which in 1948 was exiled from Jaffa, which is now part of Tel Aviv in modern-day Israel.
    Soraya, played by first-time actress Suheir Hamad, has always had a dream to go to the homeland she has never seen. Memories passed down from generation to generation of what was once Palestine are held firm in her mind and her heart. Her plan is to recover the money left in the account of her grandparent from the bank.
    On arrival in Israel she realises that life as a Palestinian there holds many obstacles and simple daily procedures and routines rapidly become tedious and frustrating.

    "It is a very simple idea that deals with right of return, how the Palestinians who fled in 1948, the second and third generation decide to come back. The story is about how a female from the third generation decided to return to Palestine and faced the obstacles, the occupation and the Wall.
    These killed her dream to come back and live in Palestine,"
    representative of the film Riad Idais said.
    Soraya meets Emad, played by Saleh Bakri, in the West Bank town of Ramallah and falls in love with him. He lives under military occupation, and the reality of a life filled with impossibilities and dead-ends leaves him unable to believe in a positive future for Palestinians in the West Bank. The sea is a dream for Emad, who lives near it but cannot reach it because of Israeli travel restrictions imposed on many Palestinians. Unlike Soraya, Emad dreams of leaving the region.
    The film deals with the tensions between Palestinians and Israelis.
    It also highlights the Palestinian need for recognition of past history. Soraya returns to what used to be her grandfather's home to meet an Israeli woman, Irit, who now lives in Soraya's old family home. Tensions between the two characters surface when Soraya tells Irit that she gives her permission to stay in the house that once belonged to her family on the condition that Irit admits it was never hers (Irit's) in the first place.
    In a year when Israel celebrates its 60th birthday, Palestinians mark the 60th anniversary for the Nakba -- "Catastrophe" -- a commemoration by Palestinians of their displacement and resulting refugee crisis experienced after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
    The Arab-Israeli War resulted in the exodus of an estimated 750,000 Palestinians. Up to 418 Palestinian villages were abandoned and destroyed.
    Abdel Fatah Abu Srour, the organiser of the film screening, said: "This movie tells refugees that we are alive. Even we have a wall. We are sitting like a wall on the chest of the occupation. It means that we do not give up our right of return."
    For Palestinian refugees 'Salt of This Sea' is a film that emphasizes the Palestinians' right to return to their homes.

    "To emphasize the role and the hope of the young generation who did not live through the Nakba, but they are living it everyday through their daily suffering," Hussam Jabarin said.
    Refugee Hussam Al Azza said: "As a Palestinian refugee, honestly, the film taught me that the Israeli occupation made the Palestinians kneel, but some Palestinians instead of kneeling are forcing the Israeli occupation to kneel, as I saw in the film. The girl tried to get her right using all the ways, even though they told her you do not have any right."
    Israel has said the Israel-West Bank barrier, a mix of electronic fences and walls that encroaches on West Bank territory, is meant to keep suicide bombers out of its cities.
    Palestinians call the Israeli-built barrier, the course of which encompasses Israeli settlements in the West Bank, a disguised move to annex or fragment territory Palestinians seek for a viable state.
    The World Court declared the planned 600-km (370-mile) barrier, more than half of which is completed, illegal but Israel has ignored the non-binding ruling.
    Jacir grew up in Saudi Arabia and had been living in Ramallah in the West Bank for some years. However, during the past year, Israeli authorities have denied Jacir entry to Ramallah and she is currently working with an Israeli lawyer to fight this ban.
    She premiered 'Salt of This Sea', her first feature-length film, at the 61st Cannes Film festival, where it was nominated for an award.
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