''The Sons of Eilaboun'' ( ar, أبناء عيلبون) is a 2007 documentary film by
Palestinian
Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...
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 workin ...
(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 aft ...
, which was committed by the Israeli army during
Operation Hiram
Operation Hiram was a military operation conducted by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It was led by General Moshe Carmel, and aimed at capturing the Upper Galilee region from the Arab Liberation Army (ALA) for ...
in October 1948.
Eilaboun 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 Gali ...
between
Nazareth 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 f ...
. 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 Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...
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
Nazareth ( ; ar, النَّاصِرَة, ''an-Nāṣira''; he, נָצְרַת, ...
, the mayor of
Nazareth and by
Hana Sweid, an Israeli Arab politician and member of the Knesset from
Eilaboun, 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 Ilan may refer to:
Organization
* ILAN, Israeli umbrella organization for the treatment of disabled children
Given name
* Ilan (name), a Hebrew/Israeli name
*Ilan Bakhar, a retired Israeli footballer
* Ilan Araújo Dall'Igna, a Brazilian football ...
talks about
Plan Dalet
A plan is typically any diagram or list of steps with details of timing and resources, used to achieve an objective to do something. It is commonly understood as a temporal set of intended actions through which one expects to achieve a goal.
...
, 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 na ...
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 Is ...
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 security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...
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 state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...
, United States
*
Boston Palestine Film Festival 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 bi ...
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 clas ...
,
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, 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
See also
*
List of Palestinian films
References
External links
*
*
The Sons of Eilaboun in VimeoHisham Zreiq's film Sons of Eilaboun: introduction by Gilad AtzmonThe sons of Eilaboun in AmazonWhen 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