''The Sons of Eilaboun'' ( ar, أبناء عيلبون) is a 2007 documentary film by Palestinian artist and film maker

Hisham Zreiq Hisham Zreiq ( ar, هشام زريق, he, הישאם זרייק; born 9 February 1968 in Nazareth), also spelled Zrake, is an award-winning Palestinian Christian- Israeli Independent filmmaker, poet, animator and visual artist. He began working ...

(Zrake), that tells the story of the

Eilabun massacre The Eilabun massacre was committed by soldiers of Israel Defense Forces during Operation Hiram on 30 October 1948. A total of 14 men from the Arab Christian village of Eilabun (Eilaboun) were killed, 12 of them executed by the Israeli forces af ...

, which was committed by the Israeli army during Operation Hiram in October 1948.

Eilaboun Eilabun ( ar, عيلبون ''Ailabun'', he, עַילַבּוּן, ) is an Arab Christian village located in the Beit Netofa Valley around south-west of Safed in northern Galilee between Nazareth and the Sea of Galilee. It ihad a population of in ...

is a village in the Northern

Galilee Galilee (; he, הַגָּלִיל, hagGālīl; ar, الجليل, al-jalīl) is a region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon. Galilee traditionally refers to the mountainous part, divided into Upper Galilee (, ; , ) and Lower Galil ...

between

Nazareth Nazareth ( ; ar, النَّاصِرَة, ''an-Nāṣira''; he, נָצְרַת, ''Nāṣəraṯ''; arc, ܢܨܪܬ, ''Naṣrath'') is the largest city in the Northern District of Israel. Nazareth is known as "the Arab capital of Israel". In ...

and the

Sea of Galilee The Sea of Galilee ( he, יָם כִּנֶּרֶת, Judeo-Aramaic: יַמּא דטבריא, גִּנֵּיסַר, ar, بحيرة طبريا), also called Lake Tiberias, Kinneret or Kinnereth, is a freshwater lake in Israel. It is the lowest ...

. In the incident, fourteen men were killed and twelve of them were executed. The villagers were expelled to

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

and became refugees for few months, before being allowed to return in 1949 as part of an agreement between the state of Israel and Archbishop Maximos V Hakim. The film is the story of the film maker's family, and specially his father's story. Hisham Zreiq explained why he made the film when he said "He choked and his eyes were full of tears, and with a trembling voice he said 'I remember it as if it has just happened' -- this is the way he ended the story, the story of a nine-year-old boy from a small village called Eilaboun, in Palestine 1948, the story of my father, when he was a refugee". Hisham Zreiq was acknowledged by

Ramiz Jaraisy Ramiz Jaraisy ( ar, رامز جرايسي, he, ראמז ג'ראיסי; born October 24, 1951) is an Arab-Israeli politician and the former mayor of Nazareth. Jaraisy was born in Israel. He holds a BSc in mechanical engineering (1973) and an MS ...

, the mayor of

and by

Hana Sweid Hana Sweid ( ar, حنا سويد, he, חנא סוייד; also spelt Hanna Swaid, born 27 March 1955) is an Israeli Arab politician who served as a member of the Knesset for Hadash from 2006 to 2015. Early life Born to a Christian Arab family i ...

, an Israeli Arab politician and member of the Knesset from

, where Jaraisy described the film as an important work that tells the Palestinian story in a contrast with the dominant Israeli version.

Gilad Atzmon Gilad Atzmon ( he, גלעד עצמון, ; born 9 June 1963) is a British jazz saxophonist, novelist, political activist, and writer. As a musician, he is best known as a saxophonist and bandleader. His instruments include the saxophone, acco ...

, an Israeli-born British, political activist and writer, wrote in an article: "Zreiq manages to deliver a very deep and authentic reading of Palestinian history. He also manages to portray the intense emotional impact of the Nakba on those who survived the horror."

Synopsis

The film starts with Melia Zreiq, an old woman from Eilaboun, saying: "I hope God will bring peace to this land, and let the peoples live together - a good life. I hope there will be peace". Historian Ilan Pappe talks about Plan Dalet, a plan that

David Ben-Gurion David Ben-Gurion ( ; he, דָּוִד בֶּן-גּוּרִיּוֹן ; born David Grün; 16 October 1886 – 1 December 1973) was the primary national founder of the State of Israel and the first prime minister of Israel. Adopting the name ...

and the

Haganah Haganah ( he, הַהֲגָנָה, lit. ''The Defence'') was the main Zionist paramilitary organization of the Jewish population ("Yishuv") in Mandatory Palestine between 1920 and its disestablishment in 1948, when it became the core of the ...

leaders in Palestine worked out during autumn 1947 to spring 1948. Pappe discusses the details of the plan, and how was it carried out. On October 30, 1948, the Israeli army entered Eilaboun at approximately 5 AM. They then forced the villagers together in the main square of the village. They chose seventeen young men. Five of them were taken as human shield, and the rest of the twelve were killed, each in a different location. This all happened after the expulsion of the rest of the village to Lebanon, where they became refugees after a five days forced march to Lebanon. After a

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

peace keeper observed and reported Israel was forced to allow the people back.

Awards and festivals

The film won the Al-Awda award in Palestine 2008, and was screened in several festivals and events, such as: * Sixth Annual International Al-Awda Convention 2008,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, United States *

Boston Palestine Film Festival The Boston Palestine Film Festival (BPFF) is an annual film festival held in Boston, MA that was established in 2007. The festival brings Palestine-related cinema, narratives, and culture to New England audiences with the mission to "showcase the ex ...

2008, United States * International İzmir Short Film Festival 2008, Izmir,

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

* Amal The International Euro-Arab film Festival 2008, Spain *

Carthage Film Festival The Carthage Film Festival (CFF) is an annual film festival that takes place in Tunis and founded in 1966. It is also called by its abbreviation JCC, from its French name, , or by its Arabic title, (''Cinema Days of Carthage''). Initially bienn ...

2008 (Palestine: To remember section),

Carthage Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classi ...

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

* Regards Palestiniens, Montreal, Canada *

Chicago Palestine Film Festival The Chicago Palestine Film Festival is an annual film festival begun in 2001 in Chicago and is one of the most important venues in the US for the screening of Palestinian cinema. It accepts works in a variety of genres — documentaries, dramas, ...

, Chicago, USA *

13th Annual Arab Film Festival In music or music theory, a thirteenth is the Musical note, note thirteen scale degrees from the root (chord), root of a chord (music), chord and also the interval (music), interval between the root and the thirteenth. The interval can be ...

, Los Angeles, USA * Sixth Twin Cities Arab Film Festival, Minnesota, USA * Palestine Film Festival in Madrid, 2010, Spain * Al Ard Doc Film Festival, 2011, Cagliari, Italy * Toronto Palestine Film Festival, 2012, Toronto, Canada

References

External links

* *
The Sons of Eilaboun in Vimeo

Hisham Zreiq's film Sons of Eilaboun: introduction by Gilad Atzmon

The sons of Eilaboun in Amazon

When it all began (The long version of The sons of Eilaboun)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sons of Eilaboun Films about the 1948 Palestinian exodus 2007 films 2000s Arabic-language films 2000s English-language films Palestinian documentary films Documentary films about the Israeli–Palestinian conflict German short documentary films 2007 short documentary films 1948 Arab–Israeli War Films set in 1948 Films about forced migration 2007 multilingual films German multilingual films 2000s German films

Synopsis

Awards and festivals

See also

References

External links