Origin: France/Canada/Israel/Germany | Documentary | Director: Shimon Dotan | 110 minutes

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The Settlers

by Shimon Dotan, documentary 110 min. 2016 France/Canada/Israel/Germany.
Language English, Hebrew/Arabic., English subtitles.

In the nearly 50 years since Israel's decisive victory in the 1967 Six-Day
War, hundreds of thousands of Israeli citizens have established expanding
communities in the occupied territories of the West Bank. Frequently coming
into direct conflict with the region's Palestinian inhabitants, and facing
the condemnation of the international community, the settlers have been
viewed by some as the righteous vanguard of modern Zionism and by others as
overzealous squatters who are the greatest impediment to the possibility of
peace in the region.
Director Shimon Dotan (Hot House, 2007 Sundance Film Festival Special Jury
Award winner) opens up a space in between these extremes, offering
unprecedented access to pioneers of the historical settlement movement and
a diverse range of modern-day settlers, religious and secular alike. The
result is a comprehensive, provocative exploration of the controversial
communities who continue to extend an inordinate influence on the
sociopolitical destinies of Israel and Palestine.

As Israel faces international condemnation over its plan to build 153 new
settlement homes in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the watchdog group
Peace Now reports Israel's defense minister has approved the construction
of the new Jewish-only homes last week. The plan sparked swift criticism
from U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who called the settlements "an
affront to the Palestinian people and to the international community." In
response, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Ban Ki-moon's
criticism gives "a tailwind to terrorism" and that the "U.N. lost its
neutrality and moral force a long time ago." This comes as President Barack
Obama spoke at the Israeli Embassy to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day,
saying, "We are all indeed Jews." We examine the history and consequences
of decades of Israeli settlement construction on Palestinian lands in an
interview with Shimon Dotan, the director of an extraordinary new film,
"The Settlers," which just had its world premiere at the Sundance Film
Festival. "It is such a heated and often discussed topic, but I find that
so little is known about it, and often the discussion is misinformed,"
Dotan says.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8d0Xkvglcc8
http://www.democracynow.org/2016/1/28/the_settlers_new_film_reveals_history

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View trailer