“Homs, a story of dispossession”.. This is how the Zionist occupation suppresses Palestinian culture – Al-Hiwar Al-Jazaeryia

On Saturday evening, in Algiers, the feature documentary “Homs, a Story of Dispossession” by Palestinian director Abboud Al-Afi was shown, shedding light on the systematic existential and cultural persecution practiced by the Zionist occupation against the Palestinian people.

This work, produced in 2022 and presented within the framework of the 11th edition of the International Film Festival in Algiers (FICA), denounces the oppression practiced by this occupation against the residents of the Old City of occupied Jerusalem and its daily authoritarian policies against its residents, through the symbolism of the “hummus” dish with which Palestine and the rest are known. Bilad al-Sham, as the director states that “the Zionist enemy is not only working to steal the Palestinian heritage, but rather to erase their existence as a whole, as it robs the lives of the Palestinians just as it robs their heritage and culture.”

In this 51-minute documentary, Al-Afi relies on the method of narration to narrate what he lived during his trip that led him to occupied Jerusalem to film his film, and what he witnessed there of systematic terrorism practiced by this occupation against its people, using the testimonies of a number of its struggling residents, such as the prisoner “Samer.” Abu Aisha, who was imprisoned many times, and Sheikh “Abu Falah,” whose small shop in the old town was robbed by the occupation, and he died of grief and grief over it, as well as the women activists present with their presence and struggle everywhere.

Samer Abu Aisha stresses in one of his interviews with the director that “everything that connects Palestine to the Zionist occupier, including agreements and others, has no basis on the ground, as the reality is completely different. This is what the occupier said” denies any existence of the Palestinians,” but he stresses, on the other hand, that they “will continue The resistance and they will be present in the land of Palestine, today and tomorrow.”

In his work, the director relied on real tapes and pictures documenting the daily attacks against the Palestinians, men, women and children, accompanied by a sad soundtrack, with frequent use of traveling backwards in reference to the past burdened with persecution and oppression, but the work ends with a radiance of hope and that that land will soon return. Or later to its original inhabitants.

Despite the sadness that the work scenes add, the latter presents beautiful pictures of the ancient Jerusalem alleys and paths in which Palestinians live despite persecution, as well as alleys, doors, markets, and other panoramic views of the city of Jerusalem as a whole, with its ancient houses, its Islamic and Christian sanctities, its honorable Jerusalem and the Church of the Resurrection, and its ancient history that bears witness to the The originality of its Palestinian people.

The director of this work, which was produced by a Palestinian-Syrian-German-Qatari joint production, said that “Zionist colonialism is barbaric in its dealings with the Palestinians and in its daily persecution of them.” 1967″.

Abboud Al-Afi, a Palestinian director, born in 1966, lived in the United States of America, where he studied art and worked as a photojournalist before he started filming short films. “Homs, a Story of Dispossession” is his first feature-length documentary, and it has already been shown in many festivals around the world. .

Yesterday evening, the 11th International Film Festival in Algiers (FICA), dedicated to committed films, opened with the participation of 60 films from different countries, including 25 works in competition. This session focuses especially on issues of resistance, women and the environment.