My Neighbourhood | Just Vision

My Neighbourhood

Event Date

Time

11:00 am

My Neighbourhood

Join Just Vision's Creative Director, Julia Bacha, for clips from Budrus, followed by a post-screening discussion. This event is hosted by the Arizona Palestine Solidarity Alliance and is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be provided at 1:30 pm and the screening will begin at 2:00 pm.

Yonatan Yosef is the spokesperson for the Israeli settlers living in Sheikh Jarrah. He sees the settlement of Jews in the neighbourhoods of East Jerusalem as a religious duty and an integral part of the Jewish “Return to Zion.” According to Yonatan, the eviction of Palestinian families is a necessary side effect in this effort. “Our dream is that all East Jerusalem will be like West Jerusalem:” Yonatan says, “A Jewish capital of Israel.”

Mohammed El Kurd is a Palestinian boy born and raised in the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah. At age 11, Mohammed comes home from school to find half of his home taken over by Israeli settlers and his grandmother hospitalized. Forced to live under the same roof as the settlers, Mohammed quickly develops deep feelings of animosity towards Israelis. Yet when Israeli activists begin arriving in the neighbourhood to join Palestinian residents in protests against the evictions, Mohammed is surprised. “These are Jews?

Rifka El Kurd is Mohammed’s grandmother, and has been living in the El Kurd family home in Sheikh Jarrah for over half a century. She first arrived in the neighbourhood as a refugee in the 1950s, after her family had been displaced from Haifa in the 1948 War. Rifka hopes the protests in the neighbourhood can help her regain her home, yet she is wary of Israeli participation in the struggle. “If you want to hear the truth, I don’t really trust them,” she says. “You’re telling me they will leave their people…their religion and join us? It’s not logical.”

Zvi Benninga is an Israeli medical student who grew up in West Jerusalem. When he hears about the evictions taking place in Sheikh Jarrah, he and his sister Sara begin attending protests regularly. He believes the evictions and settlements are destroying the moral fabric of Israeli society and making a pluralistic future in Jerusalem impossible. Before long, Zvi and Sara convince their parents, who are initially uncomfortable with the idea of challenging the Israeli authorities, to join the protests.