Presented by POV, this powerful work of front-line filmmaking tells a deeply personal first-hand account of life and nonviolent resistance to the actions of the Israeli army in Bil'in, a village in the West Bank. Structured around the violent destruction of each one of Burnat’s cameras, the film follows one family’s evolution over five years of village turmoil. 5 Broken Cameras gives viewers direct insight into life in Palestine under Israeli occupation. (PBS YouTube)
Last accessed on March 10, 2024

5 Episodes. The narrative moves through the 19th century and into the 20th century with the British Mandate in Palestine and comes right up to date in the 21st century and the ongoing 'nakba' on the ground. Arab, Israeli and Western intellectuals, historians and eye-witnesses provide the central narrative which is accompanied by archive material and documents, many only recently released for the first time. For Palestinians, 1948 marks the 'nakba' or the 'catastrophe', when hundreds of thousands were forced out of their homes. But for Israelis, the same year marks the creation of their own state. (AlJazeera YouTube). Last accessed on March 10, 2024

One of the most influential political films in history which vividly re-creates a key year in the tumultuous Algerian struggle for independence from the occupying French in the 1950s. As violence escalates on both sides, children shoot soldiers at point-blank range, women plant bombs in cafés, and French soldiers resort to torture to break the will of the insurgents. Shot on the streets of Algiers in documentary style, the film is a case study in modern warfare, with its terrorist attacks and the brutal techniques used to combat them.
During 2003, the press reported that United States Department of Defense offered a screening of the movie. The Directorate for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict regarded it as useful for commanders and troops facing similar issues in occupied Iraq. A flyer for the screening said: How to win a battle against terrorism and lose the war of ideas. Children shoot soldiers at point-blank range. Women plant bombs in cafes. Soon the entire Arab population builds to a mad fervor. Sound familiar? The French have a plan. It succeeds tactically, but fails strategically.(Wikipedia). Access available to the MIT community through April 18, 2027.

Ayed Morrar, an unlikely community organizer, unites Palestinians from all political factions and Israelis to save his village from destruction by Israel's Separation Barrier. Victory seems improbable until his 15 - year - old daughter, Iltezam, launches a women's contingent that quickly moves to the front lines. Struggling side by side, father and daughter unleash an inspiring, yet little - known, movement in the Occupied Palestinian Territories that is still gaining ground today. In an action - filled documentary chronicling this movement from its infancy, Budrus shines a light on people who choose nonviolence to confront a threat. Access available to the MIT community through December 7, 2024.

Charged with overseeing Israel's war on terror-both Palestinian and Jewish- the head of the Shin Bet, Israel's Secret Service is present at the crossroads of every decision made. For the first time ever six former heads of the agency agreed to share their insights and reflect publicly on their actions and decisions. The Gatekeepers offers an exclusive account of the sum of their successes and failures. It validates the reasons that each man individually and the six as a group came to reconsider their hardline positions and advocate a conciliatory approach toward their enemies based on a two-state solution. Access available to the MIT community through December 11, 2024.

On October 7, Hamas, a militant group based in the Gaza Strip, launched a deadly attack on Israel, killing over 1,400 Israelis and kidnapping over 200. In retaliation, Israeli airstrikes have killed, as of this video, over 6,400 Palestinians in Gaza, where Palestinians have lived for decades under an occupation and blockade. (Vox YouTube) Last accessed on March 10, 2024

One of the biggest myths about the Israel-Palestine conflict is that it's been going on for centuries, that this is all about ancient religious hatreds.
In fact, while religion is involved, the conflict is mostly about two groups of people who claim the same land. And it really only goes back about a century, to the early 1900s. (Vox YouTube). Last accessed on March 10, 2024

Last accessed on March 10, 2024

A powerful drama about a group of European Jewish refugees who arrive at Palestine in the critical year of 1948. Carried on the deck of the freighter KEDMA, they come ashore to find not the Promised Land of milk and honey, but a war-torn desert in the bloody throes of transformation into the state of Israel. Rescued from a British army ambush at beachside by Palmach Jewish guerillas, the Kedma's ragged refugees are remade into soldiers expected to offer their lives to defend a nation that does not yet exist in a land they've never known. Access available to the MIT community through January 31, 2025.

Kippur is a gut-wrenching journey through beautiful landscapes ravaged by gunfire, exploding mines, fear and desolation. It takes place in 1973 during the Yom Kippur War, in which Egypt and Syria launched attacks in Sinai and the Golan Heights. Although the story is told from the perspective of Israeli soldiers, the film is far from being an exercise in propaganda. We are led by Weinraub and his friend Ruso on a day that begins with quiet city streets, but ends with death, destruction and devastation of both body and mind. Access available to the MIT community through January 31, 2025

The documentary is divided into five chapters and reviews the legal history of Israel's occupation of Arab territories. Alexandrowicz interviews a number of the judges who were responsible for carrying out the orders of military commanders. Only judges who presided over occupation-related cases are interviewed; as Alexandrowicz noted, “This film is not about the people who broke the law. It’s about the people who wrote the law." (Wikipedia). Access available to the MIT community through March 3, 2025.

"In this in-depth documentary, director John Pilger asks why the Palestinians, whose right of return was affirmed by the United Nations more than half a century ago, are still caught in a terrible limbo -- refugees in their own land, controlled by Israel in the longest military occupation in modern times." (from the description of the documentary). Permanently available to the MIT community.

The story of what may be the last 48 hours in the lives of two Palestinian men who have been recruited as suicide bombers. When they are intercepted at the Israeli border, a young woman who discovers their plan causes them to reconsider their actions. Access available to the MIT community through January 31, 2025

A beautiful and deeply moving portrait of seven Palestinian and Israeli children. Emmy award - winning and Academy award - nominated film follows the journey of a filmmaker who meets these children in and around Jerusalem, from a Palestinian refugee camp to an Israeli settlement in the West Bank. Although they live only 20 minutes apart, these children exist in completely separate worlds, divided by physical, historical and emotional boundaries. The film explores the nature of these boundaries and tells the story of a few children who dared to cross the lines to meet their neighbors. Access available to the MIT community through December 16, 2024.

The documentary analyzes 1000 films that have Arab and Muslim characters, produced between 1896 and 2000, out of which great majority, 936 titles, were negative in their portrayal, arguing that the slander of Arabs in American filmmaking has existed since the early days of the silent cinema and is present in the biggest Hollywood blockbusters. (Wikipedia)

Hip hop has always had a school that attempts to voice frustrations about the African-American condition in the United States. That spirit of resistance animates the rappers profiled in this film: Palestinian hip hop groups DAM (from Lydd or Lod), PR (Gaza), along with young women Abeer (Lydd), and duo Arapeyat (Akka or Acre), who are also harassed for being independent females performing on stage. DAM formed as clueless teenagers, spent time spouting rap clichés, but in the wake of the second Intifada their lyrics became politicized--inspiring a hip hop movement across the Palestinian territories. These artists rap about friends killed in attacks, strafed buildings, rubble, fields stripped of every tree, and rage at separation walls and checkpoints. As Palestinian citizens living in a walled ghetto with minimal infrastructure and few opportunities for economic prosperity, these rappers have a lot to overcome on their way to success.

Palestinian auteur Elia Suleiman's fantastical, Jacques Tati-like pseudo-biography of the Suleiman family from the fateful year of 1948-when the Suleimans stayed behind in what would soon become the state of Israel-to the present. Access available to the MIT community through February 28, 2025

A documentary feature film written, directed, and produced by Adam Hootnick, which depicts the experiences of six young Israeli adults taking part in the Gaza disengagement of August, 2005.The documentary won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary Feature at the 2007 Slamdance Film Festival. (Wikipedia). Access available to the MIT community through October 8, 2025.

An animated motion picture based on events in the director's own life, involving his attempts to both remember and verify his wartime experiences. After not being able to recall the time he spent on an Israeli Army mission during the 1982 Lebanon War, Folman attempts to unravel the mystery by traveling around the world to interview old friends and comrades. As the pieces of the puzzle begin to come together, his memory begins to return in illustrations that are surreal. At the end of the animated film is a very short part of the film that shows real people dead and alive. Access available to the MIT community through December 6, 2024.

The War Around Us tells the absorbing true story of the only two international journalists on the ground in Gaza during Israel's bombardment and invasion of the troubled Palestinian territory over a three-week period in 2008-9. Award-winning filmmaker Abdallah Omeish (Occupation 101) chronicles the experiences of Al Jazeera's Cairo-born, Arab-American Ayman Mohyeldin and Arab-British Sherine Tadros as they report from Gaza City throughout the devastating assault. With never-before-seen footage and gripping personal testimonies, the film bears witness to Israel's ongoing siege of Gaza in the wake of its withdrawal in 2005, and pays tribute to the power of journalism ́and friendship ́under conditions of enormous conflict and stress. The result is a deeply human glimpse into wartime reporting and life in one of the most besieged places on earth. Essential viewing for courses in journalism, media, and communication. Access available to the MIT community through January 8, 2025.

3 Parts: 'The War in October' is a landmark, three-part documentary series, marking the 50th anniversary of the 1973 Arab-Israeli War.
The story of the war has never been thoroughly explored. What exactly happened in those three weeks in October 1973? Both Arabs and Israelis still claim to be the victors today.
The films feature men and women who planned and fought in the three-week war that took place on both the Egyptian and Syrian fronts. Egyptians, Israelis, Syrians and other participants in the Iraqi, Jordanian, Algerian, Moroccan and Palestinian militaries are all included. The series also hears from diplomats and defense officials from the U.S., the former Soviet Union and Europe. Last accessed on March 10, 2024

Both Israelis and Palestinians consider Jerusalem as their rightful capital. Jerusalem is home to important holy sites for all the Abrahamic religions, and so it has become a critical bargaining chip in the ongoing discussion between Israelis and Palestinians. (Vox YouTube). Last accessed on March 10, 2024