MONDAY
10TH MARCH: EVENING MOVIE SCREENING - LEMON
TREE, EDEN GROVE SEMINAR ROOM, 18:30
About the Film: LEMON
TREE is a 2008 Israeli drama film directed by Eran Riklis and co-directed by
his cousin Ira Riklis. The film describes the legal efforts of a Palestinian
widow to stop the Israeli Defense Minister, her next door neighbor, from destroying
the lemon trees in her family farm. At the same time, she develops a human bond
with the minister's wife. It was
released in Israel on 27 March 2008, and it received a tepid response from
Israeli audiences. It was released internationally through IFC Films on 17
April 2009. From there, the film has achieved critical success and it has
received nominations for several awards such as 'Best Actress' and 'Best
Screenwriter' at the EUROPEAN FILM AWARDS
TUESDAY,
11TH MARCH: EVENING MOVIE SCREENING ROADMAP
TO APARTHEID
EDEN GROVE SEMINAR ROOM, 18:30
About the Film: Ana Nogueira is a white South African and
Eron Davidson a Jewish Israeli. Drawing on their first-hand knowledge of the
issues, the producers take a close look at the apartheid comparison often used
to describe the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Their film breaks down the
rhetorical analogy into a fact-based comparison, noting where the analogy is
useful and appropriate, and where it is not. There are many lessons to draw
from the South African experience relevant to conflicts all over the world.
This film is as much a historical document of the rise and fall of apartheid,
as it is a film about why many Palestinians feel they are living in an
apartheid system today, and why an increasing number of people around the world
agree with them.
THURSDAY, 13TH MARCH , ISRAELI AUTHOR MIKO PELED SPEAKS
HUMANITIES SEMINAR ROOM, 17: 00. REFRESHMENTS WILL BE SERVED.
About the Speaker: MIKO PELED was born in Jerusalem in 1961
into a well-known Zionist family with his grandfather having been one of the
co-signers of the Israeli Declaration of Independence. His father, General
Matti Peled, fought in the 1948 Nakba/Israeli War of ?Independence", and
was a General in 1967 during the Six Day War when Israel occupied Gaza, the
Golan Heights, the Sinai, and the West Bank. As a young Israeli patriot, Miko
Peled volunteered for a Special Forces Commando unit in the Israeli Defense
Forces, something he later came to regret...
In 1997, a tragedy struck the family of Miko Peled: His
young niece, Smadar (12), was killed in a "suicide" attack. His
sister, Nurit Peled-Elhanan, reacted --according to some—“unusually" to the tragic death of her daughter. As a
mother, she did not call for revenge or blame the Palestinians but the Israeli
occupation policy of the Israeli governments. This tragedy and his sister’s
response propelled Peled into a remarkable journey of discovery. It pushed
Peled to re-examine many of the beliefs he had grown up with and transformed
him into a courageous and visionary activist in the struggle for human rights
and a hopeful, lasting, just peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
In a Los Angeles Times article he subsequently wrote: Israel
is faced with two options: Continue to exist as a Jewish state while
controlling the Palestinians through military force and racist laws, or
undertake a deep transformation into a real democracy where Israelis and Palestinians
live as equals in a shared state, their shared homeland. For Israelis and
Palestinians alike, the latter path promises a bright future.
SATURDAY,
15TH MARCH : UNDERSTANDING ISRAEL APARTHEID: BOOK DISCUSSION WITH SURAYA DADOO
SOCIOLOGY
SEMINAR ROOM A, 15: 00
