Until When...

After visiting the Palesinian issue 20 years ago, I was curious to see how the Palastinians living in the occupied territories had adapted. So I purchased this DVD. It follows four families. I was shocked to hear that gunfire and death is just a part of every day and most of the families just have to go about their day and accept it. It's just painful to see the injustice.

Few snapshots as realistic or compelling exist to show the daily grind of Palestinian life in the face of unrelenting Israeli oppression under occupation. Watch the film, visit Dheisheh, and learn to love the amazing Palestinian people, who thrive so mightily while living under the thumb of their morally bankrupt neighbors.

A very well-presented documentary on the Palestinian issue through various refuge camp inhabitants of varying ages. It is a shame that the only way someone would stumble across this movie is if they were specifically looking for something on this issue...and then, of course, wanted to know/understand a well-rounded view of the Palestinian situation.A phenomenal film that I wish could be seen in theaters.

This outstanding documentary will, I believe, anger virtually anyone who watches it. Most Americans cannot understand why the rest of the world's people despise the government of Israel and their apartheid policies. This documentary will give the viewer some insights into the daily life of Palestinians and what the occupation means. I think it is safe to say that the occupation dominates virtually every aspect of daily life for any Palestinian living in the West Bank and Gaza. We follow the daily travails of several Palestinian families in this documentary as they explain how the Israelis control even the most basic aspects of their lives (like water and electricity), how families and cities have been divided by the occupation, and how generations have coped with living in refugee camps with no real hope of ever leaving them. Everywhere we see fences, and the contrast between the living conditions of the Palestinians and Israelis is stark. This is both a tragic and inspiring commentary on the human condition. It is amazing how resilient the Palestinians are. As state in the excellent review by diplacedhuman, this documentary presents a multigenerational view of the occupation. Several elderly Palestinians are interviewed who can remember a time before the occupation. Several middle aged men and women are interviewed who hate the occupation but who do from time to time work for/with the Israelis to earn money for their families. The most interesting part of the documentary though is the interviews with the children and teens, the viewer can see for themselves how much the occupation has affected their worldviews. I believe that if most Americans saw what was really going on in the occupied territories, our government's policies would change overnight. One really has to wonder why Americans don't see this image of the Palestinians as real people but only as rabid fanatics? Future generations will look back at the US government's largely unquestioned support for the racist policies in Israel with the same view that we currently hold on the US government's support of slavery for the first 80-odd years of our existence. Well done - highly recommended.

During the Arab-Israeli War in 1948, 750,000 Palestinians were forced to leave their homes and now--almost 60 years later--there are about 5 million Palestinian refugees. The film "Until When" examines the Palestinian refugee problem by focusing on people who live in the Dheisheh Refugee Camp (one of the 59 Palestinian Refugee Camps)--located near Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank. The fact that over 11,000 refugees are squashed into the 1/2 square kilometer camp does not stop the refugees from living vibrant lives--even in poverty and hardship. Filmmaker Dahna Abourahme personalizes the plight of the 1000s of refugees by interviewing a handful of residents from the Dheisheh Camp.One of those interviewed is Sana--a young woman deeply committed to community work--especially women's rights, and she commutes a long way to work each day. She describes how she used to used route 60 to go to work, but now that is a road that only settlers can use, and she is forced to take make a circuitous, tedious journey instead. In spite of the fact that her life is difficult, she maintains a remarkable ability to rise above hardship and philosophically asserts, "We were born into politics."Another focus of the film is 13-year-old Fadi, who assumes responsibility for his four younger brothers when their mother travels to work as a housecleaner in the Jewish Gilo settlement. Although strikingly poor, the boys manage to maintain a buoyancy and optimism that is admirable.A fair portion of the film focuses on a young married couple--Emad and Hanan who have a small daughter. They attempt to raise her with a 'normal childhood' by trying to protect her from the violence and war that surrounds them. The camera catches the child playing 'tanks' with her toys, so it seems as though some images of war have seeped into her childhood despite her parents' best efforts. The child's father, who was jailed at age 12, describes the difficulties of living in the camp. For example, they receive water for only 3 days out of every 15, and on windy days, electricity is cut off in the refugee camp.The close-knit, multi-generational Hammash family includes elderly members who remember the property they once owned, and one elderly man bemoans the lack of trees in the Dheisheh Camp while recalling the trees on their former family home. And two young sisters charmingly engage the camera with their hopes and dreams of the future.All those interviewed express their opinion on the Right of Return, and in one scene, three maps illustrate the startling reality of the ever-shrinking Palestinian land. "Until When" is in Arabic with English subtitles and will be of interest to anyone concerned with Human Rights and the ever-constant question of the fate of the Palestinian people--displacedhuman