Palestine Voice: Issue 1 Winter 2018/19

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CONGRATULATIONS - University of Leeds Divestment Success! University of Leeds has confirmed its divestment from three companies complicit in the oppression of Palestinians through their manufacturing of military equipment sold to Israel. University of Leeds Palestine Solidarity Group (PSG) called for an immediate withdrawal of all funds in an open letter from companies which supply aeronautical equipment, jet engines and other military components to the State of Israel and the Israeli Defence Force, citing the University’s own Ethical Investment Policy. Whilst the open letter called for an immediate withdrawal of funds and had gathered 469 signatures by 1st November, a University spokesperson has since claimed it had withdrawn funding on the 15th October for reasons other than BDS. It is claimed the companies in question, Airbus, Keyence Corporation and United Technologies, all fall outside of the University’s new climate active strategy, and so were no longer viable sources for investment. Leeds PSG have responded to this claim stating their campaign has been active for over a year, that none of the three companies are targets in the Fossil Free Campaign and that the most recent University portfolio still contains investments of over £3.5m in Shell and BP. Leeds People and Planet Society have said, ‘The fact that the University is using our campaign to erase the efforts of Leeds PSG, whilst still investing millions in fossil fuel companies, is hypocritical and offensive’. HSBC holds over £800m in companies proven to contribute to Israel’s military assault on Palestinians The University of Leeds is yet to divest from HSBC in which it holds £1.3m of shares, but PSG have stated via their Facebook page they ‘will still campaign until the University divests from HSBC and adopts a screening policy to assure us that they will never invest in a complicit company again’. HSBC holds over £800m in companies proven to contribute to Israel’s military assault on Palestinians. This includes £3.6m worth of shares in Elbit Systems which produces drones like the ones used to bomb Gaza in 2014 when 2252 Palestinians were killed, including 551 children. Whilst Leeds’ BDS pressure has seen a commendable outcome, it also draws attention to the relationship between environmental and human rights activism and opens up potential avenues for further collaboration. It is not a coincidence that companies which consistently enable the violation of Palestinians’ basic human rights by Israeli military occupation and assault often also contribute disproportionately towards accelerating climate breakdown. Leeds’ success shows cooperation between human rights and environmental campaigning is a powerful alliance in the larger fight against corporate power and they need not be mutually exclusive endeavours. Where transnational corporations show disregard for their involvement in human rights abuses and their contribution to climate breakdown whilst pocketing lucrative profits, our resistance is strongest in solidarity. Where multinationals act with impunity, Leeds PSG have shown we can encourage our institutions to invest more responsibly with the power of collective action and drawing public attention. Whilst the official statement of Leeds University’s divestment announcement does not directly cite BDS for inspiring its actions, Leeds’ PSG have clearly been successful in scrutinising their University’s investment portfolio, drawing attention to it and demanding divestment. Congratulations to University of Leeds Palestine Solidarity Group, and good luck to other organisations challenging their own institution’s investment portfolios in the fight against enabling Israel’s oppression of Palestinians and for a just and sustainable future. OMAR AZIZ (Facebook 2018) Cooperation between human rights and environmental campaigning is a powerful alliance in the larger fight against corporate power 16 PALESTINE VOICE Issue 1 Winter 2018/19
Palestinian prisoners re-enact trauma in FIlm Ghost Hunting After a two year break, the London Palestine Film Festival returned in November with a packed ten day programme across the city. The festival opened on Friday 16 November at The Barbican with a screening of Ghost Hunting followed by a Q&A with the film’s critically acclaimed director Raed Andoni. The film picked up the main documentary prize at The Berlin International Film Festival and was Palestine’s entry for Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 2018 Academy Awards. The real life stories carried more weight and emotion than fiction every could Ghost Hunting may well raise a few eyebrows for its ethically ambiguous premise. A group of former Palestinian prisoners reconstruct an Israeli interrogation and detention centre in a warehouse in Ramallah, primarily based upon Jerusalem’s notorious al-Moskobiya. The participants, who all willingly volunteered for the process, play out their experiences from prison, in turn playing interrogator and prisoner during scenes depicting verbal, physical and sexual abuse, all based on their actual experiences from time in Israeli jails. In fact, having originally scripted the film, Andoni scrapped this on the first day of filming, realising the real life stories carried more weight and emotion than fiction ever could. Andoni explained how during filming he would outline a scenario and then ask for volunteers to play it. When stepping into the role of interrogator, the men unleashed the pain and trauma that had once been inflicted on them back onto the prisoners, often using verbatim lines they recalled being said to them. The result is incredibly raw and powerful, with the men at once both captor and captive. Two psychologists were employed as part of the crew to ensure no further harm was caused to participants’ mental health and the men knew they could leave the process at any time. But even within the realms of this relatively safe and controlled environment, this is a highly disturbing and unsettling watch. As director, Andoni was as much a part of this process as the others, having too shared the experience of incarceration as a teenager. With one in four Palestinians having passed through Israeli detention centres, Andoni remarked how this is simply part of the collective Palestinian experience. He recalled sitting in the cell and weeping uncontrollably when making this film. He believes it is because he shares in this collective experience that the film works as well as it does and the men were able to reach the depths of emotion they do. The men trusted him, he said, and even allowed him to be violent with them. Andoni is not suggesting that in re-enacting their trauma, the former prisoners will somehow exorcise and be freed from their demons. “The only solution to trauma is to accept that your ghosts will follow you and become part of your life,” he said, sardonically referring to his own sat beside him on the stage. Your ghosts will follow you and become part of your life But the film suggests some catharsis is achieved by at least acknowledging the demons are there. It suggests some strength may be drawn in collectively expressing the things they have been through. Andoni shared how after the film’s screening in Ramallah, a large audience made up mostly of former prisoners stayed behind for over two hours sharing their prison stories with one another. There is often a glorification of prisoners in Palestine and Andoni spoke of clichéd language we have become used to using around the subject. One audience member expressed hope the film would serve as a springboard for talking about Palestinian prisoners’ mental health, and the mental health of Palestinians in general. Despite the fact that an estimated 10,000 Palestinian women have been arrested and/or detained over the last 50 years (Addameer), Ghost Hunting deals almost exclusively with the experience of the Palestinian male prisoner. Though the film fell short of much acknowledgement of the female prisoner’s experience, it was not a total erasure as towards the end a young woman visited the set and shared with the attentively listening group her own recollections from six months in an Israeli detention centre, in a cell she described as even smaller than any in this recreation. They’re damaged characters, but they’re not broken. Ghost Hunting does not serve as an informative documentary about Palestinian prisoners. It is a raw experiment: confrontational, upsetting and at times tittering on the edge of acceptability. The group went through different motions during the experiment, which Andoni described as revealing layers. By the end, they were sat together joyfully talking about their loved ones. “All the love came in the end. It became beautiful. I didn’t want the film to finish. I would have loved to stay another two months because it became an amazing place where we were sharing stories about fiancées, wives, their love stories, their kids,” described Andoni. Azza el-Hassan, who chaired the conversation, expressed perfectly, “You get the feeling that they’re damaged characters, but they’re not broken.” NATASHA REGAN Natasha works in Media and Communications for Palestine Community Foundation. She holds a Social Anthropology degree from The University of Manchester and joins us after living in Ramallah working as a reporter for Palestine Monitor. PALESTINE VOICE Issue 1 Winter 2018/19 17
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Palestine Voice: Issue 1 Winter 2018/19

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