RAMALLAH: A rare film to be shot in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights proved a highlight of this year’s six-day Palestine Cinema Days festival that ends on Monday, with hundreds flocking to watch the movie that has Syria’s civil war as its backdrop.
“The Stranger” tells the story of Adnan, a resident of the Golan who feels like an outsider in his own community but finds a new sense of purpose in helping a man who arrives in the territory after being wounded in the Syrian conflict.
Director and screenwriter Ameer Fakher Eldin said Adnan’s experience is that of many Syrians separated from their home country in the Golan, territory that Israel captured in a 1967 war and later annexed in a move not recognized internationally.
“We live (in the Golan) on the border fence with our homeland. Imagine hearing the echoes of war but not seeing the war for 10 years,” he said of the civil war in President Bashar Assad’s Syria that erupted in 2011.
Fakher Eldin told Reuters that that experience had prompted him to ask “who do these wars belong to ... and is it a war inside of us or not.”
At the start of Palestine Cinema Days, now in its eighth year, actors and filmmakers posed on the red carpet outside Ramallah’s Cultural Palace in the occupied West Bank, in scenes typical of film festivals everywhere.
But unlike them, this festival is held across six cities often separated by borders and checkpoints. The films were seen in the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem, Nazareth and Haifa, and audiences included members of Israel’s Arab minority who regard themselves as Palestinian citizens of Israel.
“We want to reach our audience in the different cities and towns,” said festival spokesperson Khulood Badawi.
“We want to give them this opportunity to go back to the cinema and to revive cinema culture in these cities despite the obstacles that the Israeli occupation is imposing.”
Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 conflict and cites security concerns in maintaining checkpoints across the territory.
Among other films screened at the 2021 festival was “Bread and Butter,” which documents the precarious commute, via crowded checkpoints, of Palestinians to jobs in Israel and of those without work permits who are smuggled into the country.
“Cinema is a tool, to raise our voices, to tell our story, our narrative,” said Badawi.
Rare Golan Heights movie is highlight of Palestinian film festival
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Rare Golan Heights movie is highlight of Palestinian film festival
Spain highlights importance of Gaza reconstruction
- Spain officially recognized Palestine as a state in May 2024, in a coordinated move alongside Ireland and Norway
RAMALLAH: The Palestinian prime minister, Mohammed Mustafa, and the Spanish foreign minister, Jose Manuel Albares, on Friday discussed the latest developments in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
During their telephone conversation they emphasized the need to intensify international efforts to end the Israeli occupation and halt attacks and settler violence, and to secure the release of Palestinian funds held by Israeli authorities.
They affirmed the importance of ongoing efforts relating to plans for the reconstruction of Gaza, and Europe’s significant role in this process. Mustafa and Albares highlighted the need to unify Palestinian institutions in Gaza with those in the West Bank, with the aim of establishing a Palestinian state in line with international resolutions, including last year’s New York Declaration.
They also discussed coordination between their countries, and the strengthening of Spain’s political, diplomatic and financial support for Palestine, and Mustafa thanked Spain for its ongoing support.
Spain officially recognized Palestine as a state in May 2024, in a coordinated move alongside Ireland and Norway. Estephan Salameh, the Palestinian finance and planning minister, is set to visit Spain this month to discuss enhanced cooperation, particularly in the areas of development and reconstruction. Meanwhile, Israel continues operating in the occupied West Bank.
The Palestinian Prisoners media office said on Friday that Israel carried out numerous raids across the territory, including the major cities of Ramallah and Hebron, according to The Associated Press.
Nearly 50 people were detained, following the arrest of at least 50 other Palestinians on Thursday, most of those in the Ramallah area.
As 2026 begins, the shaky 12-week-old ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has largely ended large-scale Israeli bombardment of Gaza.
But Palestinians are still being killed by Israeli fire, especially along the so-called Yellow Line that delineates areas under Israeli control, and the humanitarian crisis is compounded by frequent winter rains and colder temperatures.
On Friday, American actor and film producer Angelina Jolie visited the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip.
The only crossing between the territory and a country other than Israel, it remains closed despite Palestinian requests to reopen it to people and aid.
Jolie met with members of the Red Crescent on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing and then visited a hospital in the nearby city of Arish to speak with Palestinian patients on Friday, according to Egyptian officials.
Aid groups say not enough shelter materials are getting into Gaza during the truce.
