The Israeli documentarist Ada Ushpiz gave us the thought-provoking Vita Activa – The Spirit of Hannah Arendt in 2016, portraying the female philosopher whose insight into the nature of evil, #totalitarianism, and other still topical ideologies. This year, Ushpiz premieres Children, an unsettling portrait of #Palestinian children living in the occupied areas of the #West Bank#.

Their images have flooded the media for years, children throwing rocks at the Israeli settlers and soldiers; children being hurt and killed. Recently there has been a noticeable increase of young girls involved in Palestinian resistance violence. Here, Ushpiz gives us a complex picture of their situation in this observational documentary.

Dima

Dima was only twelve when she was detained for assaulting an Israeli soldier with a knife. The media fury that awaited her when she was released is disturbing to digest. They hunted her down like vultures as she attempts to hide behind her mother. The journalists eagerly hope for an elaborated description of torture and mistreatment, but Dima only timidly answers that she just played and studied while in jail. Dima is then rushed off to some political leaders. Clearly uncomfortable and showing signs of stress, she has to pose next to them while they praise her for her heroic act.

Recently there has been a noticeable increase of young girls involved in Palestinian resistance violence.

We meet her again a year later, this time outraged and screaming. She is pleading with her mother to stop telling the media that she has become deranged. Dima is a disgrace as she refuses to participate in the Palestinian fight. However, the pressure from her peers and near surroundings doesn’t really give her a choice, and she becomes a lonely outsider. At the schoolyard, she sings patriotic militant songs with the rest of the girls who view her as a celebrity. At the summer camp, she elaborates on how she was mistreated by the Israeli, but in privacy she reveals to her best friend otherwise. This is their secret that they cannot share with others. They laugh and hold hands while dreaming of a future twenty years from now. While her friend talks passionately about politics, Dima is fed up with the patriotic dream. She just wants the right to roam freely and enjoy the countryside, rivers, seacoast, and mountains of the region she calls her home.

Ambivalence

Children is an ambivalent film and can feel bothersome as it lacks a clear direction. It is difficult to get a hold of the author’s point of view, as she is trying to convey an intricate situation. While Dima’s time in jail seems to have erased the stereotypes she might have had of her earlier enemy, another girl in the film suffered while under arrest. Dima’s high school is very militaristic, but we also see another teacher at a different school who tries to create a safe and nonviolent environment for her elementary pupils. Perhaps these contradictory situations illustrate how fractionalised the Palestinian movement has become over the years.

While her friend talks passionately about politics, Dima is fed up with the patriotic dream.

In order to better understand the film, I had to search for information on my own. The list is long in how both the Israeli Defense Forces and militant Palestinian groups are violating the rights of children. The #First Intifada# (1987 – 1993) was also called the «children’s revolt» since the Palestinian youth played an active and vibrant role in the protests against the Israeli occupation. Protests, civil disobedience, and widespread throwing of stones and Molotov cocktails at the Israeli Defense Force became a new normality. It was at this time that stone throwing became a felony and hundreds of Palestinian children were arrested. During the second and more violent #Intifada (2000 – 2005), originally organized by the #PLO, the Palestinian military fraction, #Hamas, actively engaged children in dangerous military actions. Hundreds of Palestinian youth attend yearly Hamas summer camps to this day, where they are trained in conducting different aspects of military ambush. At the same time, a survey shows that a majority of the Palestinian population are disappointed with the Palestinian National Authority for not protecting their children from being misused in military actions.

Hope

There is, however, hope. Many teachers are trying to improve the student’s attitudes towards peaceful coexistence with the Israelis. We see some indication of this in the film, but again, the significance is not explained. Of all the peace initiatives attempted in the Israeli-Palestine conflict, the most enduring results have come out of projects integrating #Arab and Israeli children in the same educational institutions. When children greet and sit next to each other, play and study together, they become close on a personal level and barriers and prejudices are overcome. This might be the best chance for peace.