From Jenin to Baghdad - Showing of Film, "Jenin, Jenin" with Reception and Poetr

FROM JENIN TO BAGHDAD - A SHOWING OF THE FILM, "JENIN, JENIN" with a RECEPTION and POETRY Sunday, April 27th 6:00 - 9:00 pm Reception at 6:00, Poetry at 6:30, Film at 7:00 pm New College Theater, 777 Valencia St, San Francisco (between 18th & 19th St.) "The American military has been asking the Israeli army for advice on fighting inside cities, and studying fighting in the West Bank city of Jenin last April, unnamed United States and Israeli sources have confirmed. If the US army believes the road to Baghdad lies through Jenin, there is reason for Iraqi civilians to be concerned. During fighting in the Jenin refugee camp last April, more than half the Palestinian dead were civilians. Using bulldozers, the Israeli army demolished an entire neighbourhood -- home to 800 Palestinian families -- reducing it to dust and rubble. Martin van Creveld, a professor of military history and strategy at Jerusalem's internationally respected Hebrew University, has told reporters that, following his advice to US Marines, the American military bought nine of the converted bulldozers used in the Jenin demolitions from Israel." -- Justin Huggler, The Independent (29 March 2003). "Jenin, Jenin," produced by Palestinian actor and director Mohammed Bakri, includes testimony from Jenin residents after the Israeli army's Defensive Wall operation, during which the city and camp were the scenes of fierce fighting. The operation ended with Jenin flattened and scores of Palestinians dead. Palestinians as well as numerous human rights groups accused Israel of committing war crimes in the April 2002 attack on the refugee camp. "Jenin Jenin" shows the extent to which the prolonged oppression and terror has affected the state of mind of the Palestinian inhabitants of Jenin. Bakri's movie provides residents permission to speak. It is sad to hear these testimonies and see their faces. Wounded human souls, people who have experienced devastation, talk about the hopes they once had, about the calamity they've suffered, about their home that was demolished. Bitterness and grief are the prevailing feelings among the majority of the population. Bakri has said that he's out to tell the world: "Look where the terror springs from. Look at the fertile ground, at the infrastructure that you've created, upon which terror has blossomed. And then, perhaps, they'll do some soul searching." Banned in Israel, "Jenin Jenin" is dedicated to Iyad Samudi, the producer of the film, who returned home to Yamun after the shooting of the film was completed. On June 23, as Israeli forces besieged Yamun, Samudi was shot and killed as he was leaving a military-closed area with three friends. This event is sponsored by the Northern California Support Group of the International Solidarity Movement. Suggested donation is $10 – 15, more if you can, less if you can’t. No one turned away. For more information, please visit http://www.norcalism.org or email info@norcalism.org.