Backs Against the Wall

Iron Wall highlights the need for international law

by Mary Wilson

It's difficult to create unbiased commentary on the Israel-Palestine conflict � and even harder to have it recognized as such. The Iron Wall, a 2006 documentary by Jordanian-born Palestinian filmmaker Mohammed Alatar, is clear in its assertions: The director traces the development of Jewish settlements on the West Bank and outlines the policies that led to their establishment. All the while, the film alleges that their formation was designed to render the creation of a unified Palestinian state geographically impossible � a strategic step toward permanent Israeli occupation.

Alatar begins with a quote by Vladimir Jabotinsky, father of the right wing of the Zionist movement. "Zionist colonization," he states, "can proceed and develop only under the protection of a power that is independent of the native population � behind an iron wall, which the native population cannot breach." This concept became a physical reality in 2002, when the Israeli government argued that building a wall was a necessary defense against attacks. A series of concrete barriers, barbed wire, electric fences and moats, the barrier essentially annexes large amounts of Palestinian land and separates the population from much-needed resources. The Israelis refer to it as a "security fence." The Palestinians call it an "Apartheid wall."

Alatar cuts between shots of the settlements (most of which are affluent) and scenes from the impoverished Palestinian villages that surround them, where residents are subjected to curfews, checkpoints and military law. He quotes Article 49 of the Geneva Convention, which states that an "occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies." (The Israeli government has violated this guideline.) But, as it departs from that sound legal argument, the film loses much of its rhetorical strength. It frequently depicts armed Jewish settlers and soldiers attacking Palestinian civilians, but makes no mention of Palestinian aggression.

Although Alatar features interviews with Jews who sympathize with the Palestinian plight, even the most marginally pro-Israeli views are completely absent. Objectivity here may be near-impossible to achieve, but some attempt at it would lend the film more clout with skeptics. Still, The Iron Wall provides a concise timeline of the issue, and the story it tells � of the economic and strategic aggression of the Jewish state � is often overlooked. If anything, the film highlights the need for the application of the only (somewhat) impartial force we have: international law.

(m_wilson@citypaper.net)

The Iron Wall

Directed by Mohammed Alatar

Mon., June 1, 7 p.m., free,

The A-Space, 4722 Baltimore Ave., 215-727-0882, www.the-aspace.org