Budrus

Antidote Films

R4 DVD

Mention the Israeli – Palestinian conflict and we think of what we have seen on TV – stonethrowing gangs, rocket attacks, suicide bombers, tanks rolling through Palestinian villages, air attacks on the strongholds of the anti-Israel militant groups. There is another facet rarely seen - the plight of ordinary Palestinians caught in a war, not of their own making, who are trying to scratch out an existence as best they can.

This documentary does not go deeply into the complex politics. It is sufficient to say that years of Palestinian suicide bombers and rocket attacks have killed hundreds of Israelis and they feel the only way to stop the bombers is to build a great fence along their border with Palestine to control Palestinian access to Israel. Over the years “Palestinian” has become synonymous with “terrorist”, but as we see here that is not the case. The fence is feasible since the Israelis occupy much of the Palestinian territory. It was proposed to pass through the little Palestinian village of Budrus. This would separate the village from its only source of income, the olive orchards. Some trees have been in the same family for generations. It may even have damaged the cemetery. What could the villagers do about it?

They were not particularly politically-minded, just concerned about their future. It takes a long while for an olive tree to bear fruit and planting new orchards was out of the question. A community leader, Ayed Morrar, organised passive resistance to the construction crew. This involved sitting in front of the bulldozers, blocking access roads and olive trees and harassing the small contingent of Israeli troops sent to guard the construction crew. A lot of restraint was shown on both sides. Success seemed unlikely but his daughter organised a group of village women to join the men on the front line. For a while this seemed to quieten the situation and a negotiated settlement may have been possible but the villagers were soon joined by the usual rent-a-crowd that is attracted to such events. Sorry, that should be “international activists’. The group included some Israelis, which was hailed as solidarity between the two peoples. Well-meaning they may have been but their presence heightened the tensions. Their confrontational tactics led to the Israelis firing teargas at the crowds as they broke through the thin Israeli lines.

The strife escalated to the point that Israeli troops took over the village and declared a curfew. Groups of stonethrowing teenagers made their appearance, worsening the situation. Someone fired a shot and the little localised war began in earnest.

The documentary is well filmed and shows just how easily such a situation can develop and how hard it is to stop once begun.

The film is not impartial but at least tries in a cursory way to represent the Israeli point of view as well, as expressed by the troops at Budrus. Unfortunately once the flag wavers and religious nuts try to take over the situation it is doomed to fail. There is some evidence of this in the film but largely the villagers managed to control the situation themselves even to the point of berating the stone throwers. They were lucky in that the more militant Palestinian groups like Hamas apparently did not think Budrus was important so a full-scale shooting war was avoided. This gave both sides time to think, and for passive resistance to develop in other towns affected by the fence. Finally the Israeli government compromised and relocated the fence back onto Israeli land.

The film is rather patchy in places. Morrar’s daughter who organised the women is seen a lot in front of the camera but she doesn’t seem to take much part in the demonstrations. The Israeli woman soldier who is interviewed regularly is unsure why she is there, and so has little to add. No Israeli leaders are interviewed. The kids throwing stones are not interviewed at all. Are they just doing it for a bit of fun? Are they imitating kids seen on TV in other trouble spots? Do they realise what could happen if they happen to kill an Israeli soldier? The political influences on the village are hardly covered yet it was important enough for the Palestinian Prime Minister to visit the village. The documentary challenges the conventional media view of Palestinians. Patchy and a little one-sided perhaps, but there is enough room for the viewers to make up their own minds.

All the while I kept asking myself why the villagers didn’t just ask the Israelis to put a gate in the fence so access to the olive trees could be maintained and the Israelis could keep an eye on who was coming and going. Am I the only one to think that a small amount of common sense may have resolved the problem before it escalated?

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