An account of Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with statements from Israeli soldiers about their service there.
Similar to “Mission: Hebron,” “The First 54 Years: An Abbreviated Manual for Military Occupation” examines Israel’s “manual for military occupation” through testimonies by the men who instilled and oversaw the practice. While smoking a cigarette in his home, director Avi Mograbi lays out the inner workings and logistics within a colonialist occupation, and the various strategies utilized in order to maintain it.
The testimonies are taken from the archive of “Breaking the Silence,” an organization of Israeli veteran soldiers who have taken it upon themselves to expose the inner workings of the occupation machine to the Israeli public. Breaking the Silence is an organization that has been collecting and publishing testimonies of Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers who served in the occupied territories since its establishment in 2004. Mograbi (who’s Israeli) states, “It’s a unique example since it’s one of the longest occupations in modern history.” His academic approach, with slides and a chronology of the events, is assertive.
The documentary begins with the 1967 Arab-Israeli War that saw Israel seize control of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Former government officials and the soldiers detail key events during the time periods and areas they policed. Most IDF don’t speak Arabic and explain military terms like “clearing,” a euphemism for the systematic destruction of an area employing an array of military force and controlled demolitions.
Using the Roman tactics of divide and conquer, the Israeli government subverted movements by turning informants and collective punishment, like withholding permits for entire villages. Initially, Palestinians used peaceful resistance striking at schools and at work. When that route didn’t work, Palestinians formed an armed resistance that has been crushed and rebuilt over the years. An increase of Israeli settlements built on the West Bank has led to more violence between the occupiers and the occupied.
The subjects criticize Israel’s totalitarian measures including limited rights for Palestinians, where only a judge can know what they’re charged with, not even their lawyers are privy to the information. The most drastic security implementation carried out by Israel was the dividing wall in 2002. The massive wall containing a series of intricate passages was constructed to monitor and deter Palestinian resistance and morale within the territories. In 2007, after electing the militant group Hamas to patrol the Gaza Strip, Egypt and Israel issued a blockade.
Tensions reached a boiling point in 2008 when Israel’s Operation Cast Lead (known in the Muslim world as the Gaza Massacre) launched a three-week attack on the Gaza Strip. Finally, when Hamas kidnapped and killed three Israeli teenagers, the IDF launched Operation Protective Edge 2014 also known as the Gaza War. The Gaza War was the deadliest conflict in decades leaving thousands of Palestinian civilians dead by Israeli firepower.
Mograbi also covers various subversive maneuvers like psychological operations used by governments in particular “manufacturing reality.” Manufacturing reality is creating a security crisis in an important zone that has resources to take over and justifying hegemonic rule. Resources and land in Israel are in very short supply. Incorporating an occasional off-screen narrator along with interviews and striking archival footage, Mograbi’s thesis is intellectual and compelling. While I’ve seen a lot of documentaries on this issue, “The First 54 Years” is the most sweeping and comprehensive.
“The First 54 Years” recently premiered at the 71st Berlin International Film Festival
3.4k
20k
1.5k
1.3k