For some, there is only the pragmatic 'truth' of series of happenings; the German 'Geschichte', the Germans' word for 'history' which translates into 'events', as opposed to the ancient Greeks' etymology for 'History', which is 'deep knowledge'. The 'Geschichte' says that Palestinians are suffering the insufferable, and logic dictates us to assume that this whole affair won't have a favorable conclusion on their behalf. Professor Chomsky describes that one moment during the warm Palestinian hospitality, in which the hosts are proudly revealing to the guests their 'keys of return' with hope in their eyes and hearts. His advice (a noble one) to the westerners in support of the Palestinians' just cause is to not add fuel to the fire by triumphantly repeating slogans of requests that are never (in his estimation) going to be fulfilled. But life is not 'Geschichte', is not merely series of facts and the Palestinian issue is far from solved yet. Suleiman Zghreiby says to Max Blumenthal: "Only when the entirety of Gaza turns into rubble and the last of the Palestinians is dead, only and only then can the israelis have this land!" The questions raised: 1) How can this determination lead to a rational, predictable outcome, given the monstrous nature of the occupier and its powerful allies? 2) Can the whole world stand by as raped, numb, mental relics and accept the annihilation, the genocide of the Palestinians without responding?..
Personally, I find the Palestinian cause as a shade of light in humanity's current desensitized, depraved, dehumanized state.
What I take away from Blumenthal's documentary, as heart-sinking as it gets at times, is Zghreiby's words of truth, the poetic image of a warm gathering of the displaced ones around the fire, the colorful paintings and sketches of the (then) 15-year-old artist Malak Mattar, reminding everyone that individuality and expression of one's self is what keeps us human and distinguishes our kind from animals, the open-air film projection; in short: The hope that a serious journalist felt obliged to deliver towards the end, in search of a deeper truth, overshadowing all technical issues and making it an essential work to be seen by everyone interested in one of the greatest injustices of all time.
