Titles Available as of July 2022
This is a selective list of streaming video holdings in the American University Library. Streaming guides are created by doing multiple keyword searches in the library catalog to capture as many titles on a topic as possible. For complete up-to-date streaming holdings, please refer to our streaming catalog.
The film examines the creation of the State of Israel and looks at the history of Zionism (1896-1948) under the very specific angle of the responsibility of the western world.
The Battle for Peace -- Shimon Peres follows up on the earlier film Peres -- The Road to Peace. Ever since the assassination of the late Prime Minister Rabin, Peres has been the leading spokesman for a negotiated peace. Despite his recent defeat, he continues to be an important presence on the Israeli political scene. The film traces Israel s secret road to peace with the PLO and highlights the late Prime Minister Rabin s own critical role.
The Battle of Durban II: Israel, Palestine, and the United Nations World Conference Against Racism
The 2009 Durban Review Conference, or Durban II, was a follow-up to the UN Human Rights Council's disastrous 2001 World Conference against Racism in Durban, South Africa, where Palestinian sympathizers denounced Israel as racist, and supporters of Israel charged the UN with "demonization" of Israel. But Durban II proved to be even more divisive than its predecessor, marked by a controversial speech by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and boycotted by Israel and the U.S., among several other countries. This important program examines how the longstanding conflict between Israel and Palestine dramatically disrupted two successive UN conferences - overshadowing discussions about human rights issues elsewhere - and the attempts to come to an official consensus amid protests and counter-protests. Featuring interviews with UN officials and representatives from Human Rights Watch, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, and others, it presents a balanced look at the difficulties the UN faces in progressing towards peace worldwide.
They not only save the village, but the Barrier is pushed back behind the Green Line into No Man's Land. In the process, Ayed and Iltezam unleash an inspiring, yet little-known, movement in the Occupied Palestinian Territories that is still gaining ground today. In an action-filled documentary featuring archival footage of this movement from its infancy, Budrus will inspire and challenge audiences worldwide.
The Conscience of a Warrior Nation
A small core of reservist in the Israeli army have refused to serve in Gaza and the West Bank, on moral grounds. They have subjected themselves to jail terms and harsh recriminations. The "refusers" are not pacifists, or cowards; they are willing to serve their country anywhere else but in the occupied territories. One of the organizers, Lieutenant Zonsheine, commended for bravery on the Lebanese front, speaks of his experiences in Ramallah, Hebron and Yenin which polarized him. He saw how searching for Palestinian terrorists in densely populated areas was creating havoc for young and old. With other reservists he published "The Fighters Letter" announcing that they would no longer serve in territories taken by Israel in the 67 war. The group is now five hundred strong, including one hundred fifty officers. Most of the "refusers" are well-educated and over thirty. Although their stand does not compromise the fighting force of the army, their refusal to participate brings to public view the moral aspects of the occupation. Eight refusers have submitted a petition to Israel s Supreme High Court to investigate the legality of the occupation. The documentary presents a sympathetic portrait of a voice not usually heard from Israel.
It's June, 1982 and Israel has just invaded Lebanon. Unfortunately, this action is taking place in the middle of soccer's World Cup tournament. Cohen, an Israeli soldier, has tickets for the games in Barcelona, but he is stuck in the desert, seeking out the enemy. Things go from bad to worse for him when he is captured by a band of retreating PLO soldiers en route to Beirut. Cohen's only solace is that the PLO leader, Ziad, shares his passion for the Italian national soccer team. Laced with humor, wit, and violence, Cup Final is a subtle tale of shared humanity.
In the city of Jaffa, strife between Jewish and Palestinian Israelis has become commonplace. The children especially are affected, segregated along religious lines that only throw fuel on the fires of animosity. But one man thinks there is a solution in an unlikely place: dance. Dancing in Jaffa follows internationally renowned ballroom dancer Pierre Dulaine as he leads an educational program to bring Jewish and Palestinian children together through the power of dance. Over a ten week period, Dulaine teaches the ten-year-olds the respect and acceptance required by the art of ballroom dancing, struggling every step of the way to overcome cultural barriers and allow the children to find a common ground. The documentary explores the complex stories of three different children who are forced to confront issues of identity, segregation, and racial prejudice as they dance with their supposed 'enemy.' The classroom becomes a microcosm of the Middle East's struggle to work together harmoniously in spite of the politics of the region. Under Dulaine's guidance, the children learn to dance together and trust one another.
Disengagement: Israel’s Unilateral Withdrawal
Israel's national unity was severely tested with the 2005 evacuation of settlers from the Gaza Strip and West Bank. This program tells the story of that watershed event through multiple perspectives and opinions. Opening with a historical overview of Israel's settlement policy, the program features compelling scenes from anti-disengagement demonstrations, the Gush Katif evacuation, Hamas rallies, Knesset sessions, and Palestinian Authority meetings. Interviews with key political players-including Israeli President Shimon Peres, former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and a number of Palestinian leaders-highlight the impact of Israel's unilateral move on the power structures that have dominated the conflict.
DISTURBING THE PEACE follows former enemy combatants--Israeli soldiers from elite units and Palestinian fighters, many of whom served years in prison--who have joined together to challenge the status quo and say 'enough.' The film reveals their transformational journeys from soldiers committed to armed battle to nonviolent peace activists, leading to the creation of Combatants for Peace.
Ramallah, The West Bank, 1996. Two young soldiers, an Israeli and an Arab, encounter one another on a street. Both fire their automatic weapons. Both are wounded. From this starting point, the filmmakers explore the lives of the young men and the age-old conflict in which they are caught. The documentary gives a close-up, human view of the gulf separating the two opposing factions. The two men grew up only thirty miles from each other, yet in two utterly different worlds. The one is an Israeli officer who was raised in a Tel Aviv suburb. He is of the generation that grew up expecting to lead "the good life". His generation is tired of war. The Palestinian officer raised in a West Bank village is commited to pursuing the Palestinian dream of an independent state. The film traces how these two "brothers", descendants of Abraham, ended up enemies. We see how the schools and the elders perpetuate hostility. Both men believed in peace, until their encounter in Ramallah.
One of the most densely populated places on earth, the Gaza Strip, is home to a million Palestinians -- and is a virtual prison. Just forty-three kilometers long and ten kilometers wide, most of its residents are refugees who have lived in camps since 1948. Since the Palestinian uprising -- the second Intifada -- began in September 2000, none of Gaza's forty thousand day laborers have been able to cross the border to Israel. The checkpoint is also closed to all goods and medical supplies coming in from Israel and the West Bank. Local Gazans bear the brunt of Israel's determination to quash the uprising.
Grassroots in Dry Lands tells the story of three unconventional social workers united by a common vision that transcends the antagonisms between their countries. Nuha, from Nablus (Occupied Palestinian Territories), Talal, from East Amman (Jordan), and Amit, from Sderot (Israel) are empowering some of the region's most disenfranchised, war-scarred communities in an effort to build a just and civil society.
Holy Dust: Shattered Hopes in Bethlehem
Since the dawn of Christianity, Bethlehem has been one of the holiest places of pilgrimage. But after years of intifada, the pilgrims no longer come. Life for Bethlehem's residents has become a mass of contradictions. They live in one of the best funded Palestinian cities but lack basic facilities. This documentary looks at the history of Bethlehem through the lives of four residents. Today, the problems of daily life seem insurmountable for these people. With conditions steadily getting worse, some residents have left the city. Photographed over the last seven years, this high-quality film reveals how hopes at the dawn of the millennium have soured.
With a raw, observational style, this film follows successive attempts by Palestinians to cross the 20-foot-high wall that separates the Occupied Territories from Israel.
This jarring program chiefly uses the ideological battle between ultra-orthodox Jews and Zionists to examine the division between religion and politics in Israel. Leaders of religious parties attack the thinking of Tommy Lapid, minister of justice and leader of Shinui, the main party advocating secularism. In addition, candid firsthand accounts illustrate the identity crises faced by many Israeli Arabs. Also featured are perspectives of neutral Jews from Poland to Morocco, Ethiopia to Russia, who have emigrated to the progressive city of Ashdod to escape the otherwise dominant religious and secular debate.
Israel is the Jewish State in the Middle East and magnet for Arabic tension with volatile borders with West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and Egypt.
Showing Palestine under the British Protectorate and the arrival of Holocaust survivors in 1946, this program properly begins with David Ben-Gurion's proclamation of the state of Israel, and proceeds through the tumultuous first 40 years of the oldest surviving nation and the newest democracy in the Middle East. Included in the program are the '67 and '73 wars, the invasion of Lebanon and the destruction of the Iraqi nuclear plant, the trial of Adolf Eichmann, Yad Vashem, life on a kibbutz, the liberation of the Wailing Wall, the Camp David agreement, the move of Israeli settlers into West Bank territories, the arrival of Falashas from Ethiopia and Anatoly Shcharansky from the Soviet Union, and much more.
Israel's Fighter Pilots: Killing Dilemma
Israel Defense Forces pilot Yigal Shochat had been tasked with targeted liquidations and providing support for troops on the ground, which often meant firing on unarmed Palestinians. He was also the first Cobra pilot to formally question the ethics of the IDF. "I support the state of Israel and its defense," he says. "But if orders are immoral, we simply should not shoot." Balancing testimonies of IDF pilots who refuse to drop bombs on civilian areas with a profile of their elite Cobra attack-helicopter units, this documentary goes to the heart of a personal and political dilemma - is it treason to disobey Israeli military orders, or should pilots stand by their own moral convictions?
Israel-Palestine: Two Peoples, Two States for One Peace
The "Geneva Initiative" was launched by Prof. Alexis Keller from Geneva. In 2002, he succeeded in bringing Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table in order to continue discussions on a peaceful solution of the conflict where they had been left by Bill Clinton in the late 1990s. For the following two years, the two delegations met in Geneva, Israel, Palestine and London to discuss the conditions for a possible peace agreement. The Israeli delegation was led by Yossi Beilin, former Israeli Justice Minister in the Rabin government. The Palestinian delegation was led by Yasser Abed Rabbo, former Information Minister of the Palestinian Authority and member of the PLO executive committee. Neither group had a mandate from their governments, they were speaking for themselves. Nevertheless, in the course of the meetings, a first draft outlining peace conditions emerged and was signed by both delegations. Since then, the "Geneva Agreements" have become a point of reference for the many discussions aimed at finding a lasting solution for a sixty-year-old conflict. This film is the record of these negotiations, put into perspective by two of its participants who had already been at Camp David and Taba -- the Israeli Daniel Levy and the Palestinian Ghaith Al-Omari, as well as Robert Malley, Clinton's Middle East advisor and Alexis Keller.
In the heart of the Israeli city of Jaffa, Reuven's garage is a family-run business. The garage workers consist of Reuven's beautiful daughter Mali, his aggressive and distant son Meir, as well as the young Palestinian man, Toufik. No one suspects that Mali and Toufik have been in love for years, and that Mali is pregnant with Toufik's child. As the two lovers secretly make their wedding arrangements, tension steadily builds between Toufik and Meir, who openly voices his disdain and prejudices about Arabs. As these relationships continue to intensify, emotions begin to boil, resulting in an astonishing conclusion.
One war, ten days, three stories: the Old City of Jerusalem, at the dawn of a new Middle East. For the Brits, it's the shameful end of 30 years Mandate; for the Jews, it's the birthday of their State; and for the Palestinians, it's a catastrophe. Only now, 60 years later, images can be shown from three opposing points of view, telling a whole new story. Jerusalem Cuts wanders between fiction and reality, looking for some sparks of truth about what really happens when this triptych of narratives interweave. Does the best story win?
Louis Theroux: The Ultra Zionists
Louis Theroux heads for the Middle East to join an extreme subculture of Jewish settlers who have set up home on the Israeli-occupied West Bank, examining how they live amid constant tension and conflict. They believe the land was promised to them by God thousands of years ago and as Louis spends time with them he finds them by turns friendly, shocking, warm and deeply troubling.
Documentary on the town of Bethlehem, focusing on the organization Open Bethlehem, a Middle Eastern peace organization designed to open up the town to commerce and ecumenical tourism, and launched by filmmaker Leila Sansour and her husband Nicholas Blincoe. Covers recent history of the town, including issues surrounding political and religious conflict/stability; and, the wall built by the Israeli government as an anti-terrorist barrier.
Palestine is the Muslim and Arab half of the Holy Land. After visiting Jerusalem, we harvest olives near Ramallah, follow pilgrims to the place of Jesus' birth in Bethlehem, approach Abraham's tomb — as both Jews and Muslims do — in Hebron, drop in on friends for dinner, and bob in the Dead Sea. We'll also learn about walls, Israeli settlements, and the challenges facing this region.
Palestine is Still the Issue: A Special Report
John Pilger travels to Israel and the West Bank of Jordan and Gaza to ask why the Palestinians are still refugees in their own land. In a series of interviews with both Palestinians and Israelis, he explores the issue of Palestine and presents the Palestinians as a nation of people, traumatized, humiliated and yet resilient. He asks for a solution that will bring justice and peace to Palestine.
In the midst of the simmering animosity between the governing Israelis and the Arab population, there are voices for peace rarely heard by the outside world. Some Jews, Arabs and Christians are making efforts to create tolerance and understanding. While extremists on both sides still prefer the hard line and the spilling of blood, these voices of peace are having an influence on Israel's future.
Follows the journey of a filmmaker who travels in and around Jerusalem, from a Palestinian refugee camp to an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, where he meets seven Palestinian and Israeli children who exist in completely separate worlds, divided by physical, historical and emotional boundaries. Explores the natural boundaries and tells the story of a few children who dared to cross the lines to meet their neighbors. Seen through the eyes of the children - who although only living 20-minutes apart - live day-to-day obstacles differently that separate them deeply.
Rabbis in Palestine: Clerics Work to Improve Israeli-Palestinians Relations
Arik Ascherman and Jeremy Milgrom are not typical Israeli rabbis. As this documentary shows, every day they leave their homes in Jerusalem to help Palestinians in the West Bank. They believe Jews, as God's chosen people, have an obligation to challenge the injustices of occupation. But few other Israelis agree. In addition to confronting angry settlers, the rabbis must overcome the prejudices of most Palestinians. Can clerics, of all people, really help to resolve a conflict that is seen for the most part as rooted in religion? Through their actions and beliefs, the rabbis are challenging widespread prejudices. As Ascherman states: "We give Palestinians hope that there are other kinds of Israelis they can talk to, come to agree with, and have peace with.
The shooting lasted only six tense days in June 1967, but the Six Day War has never really ended. This two-part documentary, shot in Israel, Egypt, Jordan and Syria, offers impressive choice of archives and an extraordinary amount of new testimonies from varied sources, from ordinary soldiers to generals, from politicians to secret service agents. Part One leads us onto the march to war, whereas Part Two concentrates on the war itself. In an in-depth analysis of history, the film offers a greater understanding of the key issues at stake today in the Middle East.
An interview with Suad Amiry, a Palestinian architect and author. Amiry speaks about the human side of the occupation, the daily life of Palestinians that live under the scrutiny and control of the state of Israel.
Russian born Irena immigrated to Israel with her son and husband who died shortly after. She faces the challenge of teaching third grade in one of the most difficult neighborhoods in Jerusalem where poverty, violence, and unemployment are widespread. Using her unique approach, combining uncompromising discipline with love she generates a real change in the lives of her students.
The U.N. Should Admit Palestine As a Full Member State: A Debate
In 2011, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas appeared before the U.N. General Assembly to request full membership for the State of Palestine. Should the United Nations admit Palestine as a full member state? The proposition team argues that status quo negotiations have failed, and U.N. recognition will give Palestine needed leverage. The opposition team argues that unilateral action allows Palestine the illusion of gains without concessions, and with an unreformed Hamas still in power and refusing to recognize Israel.
WPA Film Library : The UN Partition of Palestine, 1947
Renewed tension in Palestine - reaction to the UN plan to partition Israel and Palestine.
Zero Degrees of Separation breaks with the sensationalistic media coverage of the violence in the Middle East by documenting the everyday lives of two mixed gay Palestinian-Israeli couples. Faced with modern injustices of work visas, checkpoints, harassment and prejudices, these courageous and outspoken individuals resist attempts at oppression and take small steps each day to build a sense of peace, mutual respect and hope.