Dima Hamdan – On "The Lemon Tree"
By Guest Post • Dec 21st, 2008 at 22:08 • Category: Culture and Heritage, Israel, Music, Poetry, Events, Newswire, Palestine, Resistance, Somoud: Arab Voices of Resistance, Zionism
While so much attention has been given to the Israeli animated film “Waltz with Bashir”, which was hailed as a brave account of Israel’s complicity in the Sabra and Shatila massacres in 1982, another Israeli film, “The Lemon Tree”, deals with the Israeli-Palestinian issue on a different, and perhaps, more profound level.
Based on true events, the film tells the story of Salma, a Palestinian woman who wakes up one day to find that her new neighbour is no other than the newly-appointed Defence Minister of Israel. The Israeli Intelligence fear that her lemon groves might be used as hideouts for Palestinian militants, and so an order is issued to cut down her trees.
Salma decides to fight this decision, and takes her battle all the way to the Israeli Supreme Court with the help of Ziad, a young ambitious lawyer. On the other side of the fence, the minister’s wife, Mira, is fighting with her own conscience as she feels the need to speak out against her husband’s decision and attempts, in her own words, to “become a better neighbour” to Salma.
Unlike most films that deal with the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, “The Lemon Tree” doesn’t deal – not directly, anyway – with the daily grind of military occupation, curfews, checkpoints or suicide bombings. The world of this story is a quiet, almost abstract, space. But in this relatively “civilised” place, the struggle rages on a deeper level; it’s not about exchanging bullets, it’s about the indigenous population being humiliated daily and robbed of their land (in this case, the trees) to provide security for their occupiers.
On the film’s official website, the director, Eran Riklis, says he isn’t trying to blame anyone for the conflict…and indeed many of the Israeli characters are portrayed as innocent or even detached observers; the Yediot Ahronot journalist covering the story, the bodyguard who simply follows order to protect the minister’s wife, even the young soldier manning the watchtower who begs Salma not to enter the lemon groves for her own safety (in real life, this soldier probably would’ve shot her at point blank, but I suppose it was a good idea to keep her alive until the end of the film).
Nonetheless, in his subtle approach, he condemns the Israelis’ sense of victimhood and “colonial” behaviour towards the “other”. When the caterers at the minister’s house-warming party discover that they forgot to bring lemons, the soldiers nonchalantly step into Salma’s groves and pick some from her trees – a simple act of stealing that symbolises the essence of this conflict.
When the party’s in full swing, classical Egyptian music is played by a band of Palestinian musicians, while Palestinian caterers are serving Arabic food (“Kosher” in order not to offend the Orthodox parties, as the minister requested). Everything is borrowed from the indigenous population. But then for a moment, the minister’s wife, Mira, looks out towards the lemon trees; their dark and silent silhouette overshadows the euphoric party atmosphere. Although this is immediately followed by an action to justify why Mira was looking worriedly towards the trees, so much can be read in those few seconds when the trees are standing there, as silent witnesses not just to the party, but history.
Riklis’ depiction of the Palestinians is also interesting. He deliberately kept politics and armed conflict out of this, and chose to focus on Salma (remarkably performed by Hiam Abbas who, no doubt, is one of the best actresses in Palestine).. armed with nothing but her strong will, her defiance is moving and symbolic of the daily Palestinian resistance.
Ironically, though, Riklis says it bodes well for the Israeli judiciary that Palestinians, like Salma, can fight their cases even in the Supreme Court. But even he couldn’t save Salma or her groves. As her lawyer says: “Happy endings only take place in American movies”.
Everybody is a loser in the end, but one is left with a feeling that the greatest loss is that of the Defence Minister (symbolically called “Israel”). Israel finds himself isolated, barricaded behind a “Separation Barrier”… but no more secure then he was in the beginning of the film.
Dima Hamdan is a London-based journalist and independent filmmaker.
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A Letter From A Palestinian Muslim to Santa
Dear Mr. Santa,
This might be unusual request coming from someone who is a Muslim, but the fact I have few things on my mind.
Could you please swing by Palestine, and in particular to a place called Gaza this year. It is not too far from Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, who is ‘the reason for the season’. There are 1.5 million people who are starving there in Gaza and have been under siege from air, sea, and ground for almost three years. You may ask what is the reason for that? Those people wanted to be free and independent just like us here in America.
Over 51% of the population is under the age of 15. Among those people are solid 3,000 Christians also. Statistically speaking, there should be about 1,500 of their Christian children who will not be having a merry Christmas this year for lack of basic necessities to survive such as food, water, fuel, and medicine. Animals are in a worse shape than humans in Gaza. There is no grass or animal feeds left in Gaza. Parents and children alike are dying daily because they are unable to get medical attention inside or outside Gaza due to the blockade. The U.N. is no longer able to deliver food anymore because of border closings, and has also warned of impending human disaster..
The children of Gaza do not need toys or video games as they do in other parts of the ‘Cristian’ world, so I suggest the following:
Baby formula
Bottled water
Candles
Vitamin supplement. I heard many suffer from severe malnutrition
Clothing and toiletry
Batteries (all sizes)
Hearing aids for children
Animal feeds. I heard that a local pet store here is having a great bargain, buy one get one free!
Meal Ready to Eat [MRE]. The same kind used by the military.
No need for desert, there is one inside the MRE package. However, if there is some ginger bread man on special, I recommend taking several boxes. I am sure the children will enjoy it and will talk about it for years to come.
Thank you in advance. Have a safe trip. May Allah [God in Arabic] be with you, and as you would say; Ho, ho, ho.
Sincerely,
Mahmoud El-Yousseph
elyousseph6@yahoo.com
I finally saw this movie. I have to say that while I like very much the lead actress (she was also in The Visitor, very nice performance there), I was wholly disappointed by this film. I agree with Dima that the sensitive watch-tower guardian and bodyguards were totally unrealistic, but so was everything else here made as a way to show a very black/white sort of approach to the situation and give contours to the Israeli side that don't exist in the Palestinian side. We have the women who one expects to have some kind of confrontation/communication, and indeed, they do "meet face to face" in the courtroom only to look at one another, and have us hope that the Israeli woman could say "what's in her heart" and we are supposed to really believe she is tormented by the situation? Of course she is there to represent the "good and noble" person, surrounded by good and noble people who are forced to act the way they do because they live in that area. The only real Palestinian female character is the lead role, while the Israeli women have space to discuss their views and even can be in contrast and conflict with their own people (forced to sign statements of course, that deny their thoughts, but as we say here, "the stone has been cast into the water" so what needed to be achieved by her speaking her mind was, and no retraction would change things). We can see a "flexibile and humane" Israel that has to simply win against some machine…
The "good" journalist who cares about her friend and also about "justice" for the Palestinian… there were many of these little spaces for one to admire the diversity of Israeli society and think that if only a few things could change, oh, how civilised this place would be…. but there are just a few leaders who have plans to make that not happen… It just seemed to me to be a lightweight version of propaganda, besides the very effective final frames that can only show the madness of what the Israeli plans are all about.
I don't forget that it is an Israeli film, and therefore, it carries the knowledge of Israelis and has far less knowledge of Palestinians, and therefore the very schematic approach to the presentation of the characters, but the expectations were far higher than what was delivered.