Nir Baram, an Israeli novelist and journalist, is a peacenik. He is convinced that the protracted conflict between Israelis and Palestinians should be resolved through a two-state solution, which has so far proved to be a pipe dream.
Testing his firmly-held belief, he spent two years travelling around the Israeli-occupied West Bank, speaking to Jewish settlers and Palestinian Arabs. On the basis of his interviews, he wrote a critically-acclaimed book, A Land Without Borders, which was subsequently converted into a film.
His one-hour documentary, now available on the Izzy streaming platform, is nothing less than sober and thought-provoking.
Baram, whose father, Uzi, was a minister in Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s second government from 1992 onward, came of age during the heady days of the Oslo peace process. It generated a degree of optimism among Palestinians that Palestinian statehood in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip would be possible after a five-year transition period.
This was not to be.
The upbeat spirit of Oslo was dampened by Hamas terrorist attacks inside Israel and by the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza. Rabin’s assassination in 1995 at the hands of a right-wing radical opposed to territorial compromise and a Palestinian state, followed by Benjamin Netanyahu’s victory in the 1996 general election, spelled finis to the promise of Oslo.
Despite these setbacks, Baram held fast to his two-state vision, which ultimately is the only practical way of defusing Israel’s often violent standoff with the Palestinians.
Being open-minded, he decided to gauge opinion in the West Bank by talking to Jews and Arabs who live there. He sought to determine whether his dovish view was representative of their outlook on this pivotal issue.
In this well-crafted film, he diligently makes the rounds, visiting Jewish settlements and Palestinian locales.
Baram’s first interviewee, Ahmad Toukan, is a Fatah leader in the Balata refugee camp, which is mainly inhabited by the descendants of Palestinians who left or were forced to leave their homes in Jaffa, Lod and Ramle in 1948.
Baram, the first Jew they have encountered apart from Israeli soldiers, leaves the camp with the impression that Palestinians do not support a two-state solution.
Next, he speaks to Jalal Romana, a Hamas member who spent 18 years in an Israeli prison. This, by far, is Baram’s strongest and most revealing interview. Romana, whose family hails from the mixed Jewish-Arab city of Lod, minces no words. He refers to Baram as the “enemy” and to Israel as the “Zionist colonial project.”
Rejecting Israel’s very legitimacy, he declares that peace will only be possible when Palestine is “liberated” and Israel is destroyed. In closing, he urges Israeli Jews to go back to Poland, as if every Israeli was born there.
Romana’s polar opposite, Sara Haetzni, lives in the settlement of Kiryat Arba. As outspoken as Romana, she claims that the West Bank is “our land” and the “cradle of our forefathers.” Calling for its annexation, she defiantly says, “There will be no Palestinian state.”
She adds that the presence some 500,000 Jews in the West Bank, which is inhabited by three million Palestinians, is a demographic fact that cannot be reversed.
Visiting Shuafat, a Palestinian suburb of greater Jerusalem, Baram speaks to a Palestinian activist named Ismail Khatib. He complains that garbage goes uncollected and claims that police and ambulance services are unavailable. He endorses a one-state solution where Jews, Muslims and Christians can theoretically coexist.
Manal Tamimi, a Palestinian from the village of Nabi Saleh, calls on Israel to recognize the demand of Palestinian refugees to return to their former homes in what is now Israel. “This is my right,” she says, knowing full well that this is a red line that the vast majority of Israelis would immediately reject out of hand as a direct threat to their sovereignty and independence.
Recognizing her demand as a rebuke to a two-state solution, Baram accuses her of being unwilling to compromise. Baram’s steadfastness is an important component of the film inasmuch as it demonstrates that realism is not the sole prerogative of right-wing Israelis.
Baram’s interview with Doron Nir Zvi is also instructive. A resident of an Israeli settlement and a real estate lawyer who secretly buys Palestinian land by devious means, he admits he would “hang” a Jew who sold land to an Arab. With this interview, Baram establishes the prime importance of land ownership in Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians.
In the settlement of El Matan, Baram meets Eitan and Avital Luz, a sophisticated couple who supposedly support Palestinian statehood. They insist on one caveat. This state should be established in neighboring Jordan. The “Jordan-is-Palestine” formula appeared in Israel during the 1970s and 1980s, but has not been discussed of late. Baram’s conclusion is clear: they endorse the status quo, like most of their fellow settlers.
As the film wraps up, Baram speaks to his father, who dealt with the Palestinian problem during his political career. He once thought that the Palestinians would renounce the right of return. Yet many cling to it, hoping that it will somehow materialize.
Baram’s realization that a high proportion of Palestinians are playing a sum zero game is depressing. It leaves a viewer with the uneasy feeling that Israel’s dispute with the Palestinians is far from over.