PARADISE NOW - OR MAYBE NOT

Last Friday, a good friend took me to this showing of the Palestinian movie Paradise Now, the winner (back then the favorite contender) for Best Foreign Movie category at this year's Golden Globe Awards. I confess I had second thoughts about watching that movie - I made the mistake of reading all kinds of blogs and forums about it, and was afraid for a moment that it would all be too much for me.

In general, I am as liberal as they come. I am against the occupation, although at the same time I understand the rationale behind it. Obviously, I am strongly opposed to suicide bombings, just as I am opposed to IDF violence and the building of more and more settlements on occupied territories.

Anyhow: there I was, watching the movie in Santa Monica last Friday. Interesting, touching movie. As with Spielberg's Munich, the subject-matter is so powerful that it outweighs mostly anything else. Of course, one does notice acting, screenplay etc. But the story is alive, and it stands alone.

At the end of the screening, we were graced with the presence of the director, Hany Abu-Assad, and the two actors in the central roles, Kais Nashef and Ali Suliman. We had a Q&A session, and I must say that even though the three of them were for the most part very personable and likeable (especially Abu-Assad), that was the most difficult portion of the evening for me.

For many reasons - one, the stupidity of some of the questions... Amazing! "Did you know you would end up in Hollywood, at the Golden Globes, in a tux?" Please.

Another reason - the prevailing attitude in the room. Sooo Hollywood, you know. So... just so much attitude. Very unnerving, or maybe I am just not used to it. Some people were practically licking the cast & crew feet, while others were almost crucifying them.

But most unsettling was to see that even though there was a genuine attempt from the director and actors' part to portray the movie as a work of art and not as a political statement, a political statement it is nevertheless. It is on its own, and also through their words and the way they responded to some of the questions. And honestly, it could not be any different.

It came in waves, though. For instance, when asked where he was born, Abu-Assad answered Nazareth, Palestine. That in itself is a very revealing reply, since Nazareth has been an Israeli city ever since the UN Partition Plan (which happened before Abu-Assad was born, obviously) and thus never part of the occupied territories. Meaning: Abu-Assad was born in Israel proper; he is an Israeli Arab citizen.

At a later instance, he was asked by one of these very eager audience members about what in his opinion was behind the phenomenon of suicide bombers. His reply came with no hesitation - the Israeli occupation and the toll it has taken on the Palestinian people; according to him, the Palestinians have nothing to live with and nothing to live for.

I confess this brought tears to my eyes. Tears of sorrow and of rage - an educated man, who tried for about an hour prior to that to build the case that his movie is not a political statement but a work of art, coming up with such an answer to such a question.

On the other hand, it must be easier to see things this way. Blame it on the Israelis. Sure. Let's not even examine the fact that other nations with ongoing conflicts and secession movements and whatnot, even those with terrorist organizations in constant confrontation with the established government (such as the IRA and ETA), do not sport such a plethora of suicide bombing incidents. They bomb, that's for sure. But some even call ahead in order to prevent unnecessary loss of life.

And really, the Israeli occupation and its treatment of the Palestinian population, while arguable in many ways and definitely not peaceful (I know, a peaceful occupation would be a paradox), can hardly be branded as the most violent and inhumane of all, especially when compared to the character of the Turkish/Armenian and the Iraqi/Kurds conflicts. Suicide bombings in those, by the way, were not common.

This is something I have tremendous difficulty with, no matter if this is Israelis or Palestinians we are talking about. How can people completely disregard accuracy, fairness, history, consciousness - just like that? Then, on the other hand, this must be how wars start. How people kill each other. How genocides are carried out. When people can't see beyond themselves, beyond their world.

The Israeli occupation is unfortunate, but to say that it is directly responsible for the suicide bombings - that is simplistic to say the very least. Sure, I see how much cheaper suicide bombings are than just any bombing; how much less time-consuming, how less revealing they are since there is less work involved, less human interaction, and all with the added intensity of people who are willing to blow themselves up supposedly for their beliefs (there is some debate about this, with some people saying that sometimes the suicide bombers are actually not entirely aware of what their mission entails).

Also, I disagree with the common assumption that suicide bombers are motivated by despair, and probably hailed from a poor, neglected segment of society (as a sidenote, some of them - actually many of them - are not even Palestinian to begin with). Both El Presidente and the Dalai Lama have made this claim. However, there is much evidence to the contrary and anthropologist Scott Atran, among others, found that this is not a justifiable conclusion (see one of his articles here).

In fact, most bombers are educated, many with college or university experience, and come from middle class homes. Also, most do not show any signs of psychopathology. Indeed, leaders of the groups who perpetrate these attacks search for individuals who can be trusted to carry out their missions; those with mental illnesses are obviously not ideal candidates due their unreliability.

All in all, suicide bombings denote a complete lack of respect for human life. Which is puzzling, given the fact that the vast majority of Muslims believe their holy texts forbid suicide. Accordingly, there is only one verse in the Qur'an that contains a phrase related to suicide (verse 4:29). And in Islamic tradition, the hadith (I guess one could loosely compare it to the Jewish Talmud) expressly disallows it.

Paradise Now's Abu-Assad did say at some point that Friday night that he is against suicide bombings. However, he also said he doesn't blame the suicide bombers and that he does not hold them accountable (the echoes of propaganda come to mind right now). Well, I do. I blame them, and the people who recruit them, and the people who forgive them while holding the Israeli government solely responsible, or poor life prospects etc. And in the end, I'd say suicide bombings fail anyway because they only ignite more hatred while undermining the belief in the humanity of those who perpetrate them. Frankly, I never came upon anyone who felt sorry for a suicide bomber. If anything, it only makes most people feel sorry for the victims of such attacks.

Plus, Israel always retaliates. Which is an entirely different discussion.