The Killing Roads

Many prophets who authored the Tanakh of the Jews prophesied about the fate of the Jewish people and the State of Israel.

Exodus 1947 is a one hour PBS documentary narrated by Morley Safer with a score by Ilan Rechtman. The Exodus 1947 voyage acted as a catalyst in forming the new State of Israel. The documentary focuses on clandestine and "illegal" American efforts to finance and crew the most infamous of ten American ships that attempted to bring Jewish refugees to Palestine.

Interviews with the owners and diverse patrons of a Jerusalem gay bar called "Shushan."

Paper Dolls follows the lives of transgender migrant workers from the Philippines who work as health care providers for elderly Orthodox Jewish men and perform as drag queens during their spare time. It also delves into the lives of societal outcasts who search for freedom and acceptance.

When two young American Jews raised to unconditionally love Israel witness the mistreatment of Palestinians, they battle the old guard to create a new movement opposing Israel’s occupation, and recentering Judaism itself.

Prominent Columbia University English and Comparative Literature professor Edward Said was well known in the United States for his tireless efforts to convey the plight of the Palestinian people, and in this film shot less than a year before his death resulting from incurable leukemia, the author of such books as {-Orientalism}, {-Culture and Imperialism}, and {-Power, Politics, and Culture} discusses with filmmakers his illness, his life, his education, and the continuing turmoil in Palestine. Diagnosed with the disease in 1991, Said struggled with his leukemia throughout the 1990s before refraining from interviews due to his increasingly fragile physical state. This interview was the one sole exception to his staunch "no interview" policy, and provides fascinating insight into the mind of the man who became Western society's most prominent spokesman for the Palestinian cause.

In 1968, Robert Kennedy was assassinated just after winning the California primaries, which made him the front-runner in the presidential race. Had he reached the White House, he would have been able to reopen the investigation into his brother’s death five years earlier, and it is known from numerous testimonies that he intended to do so. Neither John’s nor Robert’s death are elucidated; both investigations, conducted under Lyndon Johnson’s watch, are widely regarded as cover-ups. In each case, the official conclusion is rife with contradictions. This film sums them up. But it does more: it shows that the key to solving both cases resides in the link between them. And it solves them beyond a reasonable doubt.

This fascinating program presents the story of Jerusalem and the Holy Land against the backdrop of history and prophecy. Jerusalem is the city where history began, and where many believe history will end.

An Israeli film director interviews fellow veterans of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon to reconstruct his own memories of his term of service in that conflict.

Made by a Palestinian-Israeli collective, this documentary shows the destruction of the West Bank’s Masafer Yatta by Israeli authorities and the unlikely friendship that blossoms between Palestinian activist Basel Adra and Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham.

The tape-recorded words “erase it” take on new weight in the context of history and war. When the state of Israel was established in 1948, war broke out and hundreds of Palestinian villages were depopulated in its aftermath. Israelis know this as the War of Independence. Palestinians call it “Nakba” (the Catastrophe). In the late 1990s, graduate student Teddy Katz conducted research into a large-scale massacre that had allegedly occurred in the village of Tantura in 1948. His work later came under attack and his reputation was ruined, but 140 hours of audio testimonies remain.

Israel's most celebrated war photographer, Micha Bar-Am, unfolds his extraordinary archive of over half a million negatives. A life devoted to recording a conflict for the prestigious Magnum agency.

A documentary about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that has lasted for more than 50 years. Contains some interviews with the children in this conflict.

Its main focus is on the plight of the Palestinians which can be seen as the most enduring residue of the modern encounter between the Arabs and the West. Edward Said traces the course of European involvement with the Near East via the Crusades to Napoleon's campaign in Egypt and the French and English entrepreneurs, adventurers and empire builders who came in his wake.

In May 1974, the Israeli Air Force carried out an extermination operation against the Palestinian refugee camp Nabatiyeh. With this as a starting point, it is reviewed how the last 50 years of Zionist colonization of Palestine have partly led to the establishment of the state of Israel, partly to the expulsion of a people, the Palestinians, from their land. The film shows scenes of daily life in Palestinian refugee camps. We hear various of the inhabitants talk about their desire to return to their country, and we follow how the resistance movement works to free women from their traditional backward role. At the same time, the emergence of the armed resistance struggle is analysed, and the significance of the latest military technological developments for guerilla wars in the 3rd world is explained.

'Veterans', focuses on WW2 veterans, once fighters in the Red Army and now uprooted immigrants, fighting for their place in society. These people, who experienced the twentieth century's bloodiest war as Soviet soldiers, immigrated to Israel after the collapse of the Soviet Union and found themselves in a society that is totally indifferent to their glorious past. The film offers a close and compassionate look at the veterans' lives, fueled by complexity, pain, and an almost silent insult, alongside joy and self-deprecating humor. The feeling of living on borrowed time drives the veterans to embark on what may be their last adventure.

The film provides a historical overview of the history of the Palestinians between 1948-1974 and shows the living conditions of Palestinians in territories occupied by Israel since 1967.

The Israeli filmmaker Shai Corneli Polak records the building of the 'security wall' through Palestinian territory at the village of Bil'in. The villagers protest mostly peacefully, while the Israeli army doesn't react peacefully. By now the Israeli High Court has ruled that the building of the wall was illegal.

After the latest Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, once the bombings cease, the reality of the conflict disappears from the media. The documentary is a trip to Gaza, where through various characters we know the violation of human rights they suffer daily and the post-war blockade and situation that the Palestinian population is trying to survive in the Gaza Strip. A journey through their cities, their people and also, somehow, their history under the occupation of Israel.

Gaza Ghetto: Portrait of a Family, 1948 – 1984 is a documentary film about the life of a Palestinian family living in the Jabalia refugee camp. The film, created by Joan Mandell, Pea Holmquist, and Pierre Bjorklund in 1984 is believed to be the first documentary ever made in Gaza. The film features Ariel Sharon, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and soldiers on patrol "candidly discuss[ing] their responsibilities." The film follows a refugee family from the Gaza Strip who visit the site of their former village, now a Jewish town in Israel. As the grandfather and great-grandfather point out an orchard and sycamore fig that belonged to Muhammed Ayyub and Uncle Khalil, an Israeli resident appears and tells them to leave, claiming they need a permit to be there. The mother tells him that, "We work in Jaffa and Tel Aviv and that's not forbidden," to which he replies, "Here it's forbidden."