Books
The best bookshop in London is Foyles at 107 Charing Cross Road, WC2H 0DT open from 9am until 9pm every day except Sunday when its hours are 11:30 to 6pm.
A bigger bookshop is Waterstones at 203-6 Piccadilly, W1J 9HD, open at similar times.
The best books are by Israeli Ilan Pappe who is now a professor at Exeter university. His book, the Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, written in 2006, is seen as the best.
A great book from 2017 written by a British journalist is Balfour’s Shadow by David Cronin, which tracks British support for Zionism and Israel.
The best Palestinian writer is Ramzy Baroud. He wrote The Last Earth in 2018. A more recent book of his is Our Vision for Liberation, a compilation where Palestinian leaders and intellectuals speak out- published in 2022.
Another excellent book written by a British Jew is by Tom Suarez called Palestine Hijacked.
Also by British journalist Alan Hart is the enlightening Zionism- the Real Enemy of the Jews.
A great book about Hamas is by Azzam Tamimi “Unwritten Chapters “
Also Hamas Political Thought and Practice by Khaled Hroub (Institute of Palestine Studies, Washington, DC) written in 2000
Also Daud Abdallah from Jan 2021 Engaging the World: The Making of Hamas’s Foreign Policy
There are more books on the one-state solution above at Israel & Palestine Explained – One Democratic Palestine (onepalestine.land)
Also see the 18 books listed at Free Palestine Reading List – OR Books
Video Talks
The phrase bogus antisemitism has been coined to describe how Zionist forces seek to dominate our minds, our politics, our tools of state. Watch the talks and video listed below; if you have suggestions for more, please email info@onepalestine.land
Three speeches from Labour Conference 2019- Fringe Meeting for the Hebron Freedom Fund BDS, Antisemitism and a Free Palestine Miko Peled 38 mins; Israeli Interference in British Democracy Tom Suarez18 mins; A Free Palestine Dr Azzam Tamimi 13 mins
The Labour Files- Al Jazeera In Sept 2022, in the 3 days running up to Labour’s Annual Conference, Al-Jazeera broadcast each night an episode of The Labour Files: The Purge – a new investigation based on the largest leak of documents in British political history. The Labour Files examines thousands of internal documents, emails and social media messages to reveal how senior officials in one of the two parties of government in the UK ran a coup by stealth against the elected leader of the party. Bogus antisemitism was the tool employed by Israel to take control of the UK’s Labour Party, an influence still present today, as the Israeli Embassy pretty much runs Labour HQ, through its British Zionist supporters.
The Loss of Freedom of Speech on Israel, thanks to bogus anti-Semitism claims Mar 2019 117 min with Pete Gregson at Keep Talking event, London
ODP Chairperson Pete Gregson talks at the 2022 Al-Awda Rising to Return conference in New York . View his illustrated presentation “Poking the Snake” at www.tiny.one/paltalk (30 mins)
Pete has many more videos on Bogus Antisemitism: see most of them on his You-tube video channel at www.youtube.com/c/PeterGregsonX and the rest on his website at www.kidsnotsuits.com/ihravideos
Films from Palestine and Israel
The untold story of Israel’s foundation
Tantura – 1 hr 34 min, 2022 Hundreds of Palestinian villages were depopulated in 1948. To Israelis, it was the War of Independence, to Palestinians it was ‘Al Nakba’ – the Catastrophe. Director Alon Schwarz revisits former Israeli soldiers as well as Palestinian residents in an effort to re-examine what happened in Tantura, the location of an alleged, Israeli-perpetrated massacre, and find out why ‘Al Nakba’ is still a taboo in Israeli society. Rent for £3.50 or buy for £6 at Tantura – Journeyman Pictures
Waltz With Bashir – 1 h 27 min, 2008 Animated Israeli film: One night at a bar, an old friend tells director Ari Folman about a recurring nightmare in which he is chased by 26 vicious dogs. The two men conclude that there’s a connection to their Israeli Army mission in the first Lebanon War of the early eighties… Bashir was the Christian Lebanese leader that the Israelis sought to install to run Lebanon. When he was murdered, his Phalangist supporters took their revenge by massacring up to 4,500 Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatila Refugee camps, with Israeli support. The Washington Post believe that Israel’s brutal 1982 invasion of Lebanon in pursuit of the PLO led to 17,825 people killed and another 30,203 wounded. (this doesn’t include Israeli casualties, which were low). Rent for £4 or buy for £7 on Amazon Watch Waltz With Bashir | Prime Video (amazon.co.uk)
UK apology sought for British war crimes in Palestine – Newsnight – Oct 2022. 9 mins. The people of al-Bassa got their lesson in imperial brutality when the British soldiers came after dawn. Machine guns mounted on Rolls Royce armoured cars opened fire on the Palestinian village before the Royal Ulster Rifles arrived with flaming torches and burned homes to the ground. Villagers were rounded up while troops later herded men onto a bus and forced them to drive over a landmine which blew up, killing everyone on board. A British policeman photographed the scene as women tended to the remains of their dead, before maimed body parts were buried in a pit. It was the autumn of 1938 and UK forces were facing a rebellion in Palestine, under British control…
The Promise is a British television series with four episodes written and directed by Peter Kosminsky. It tells the story of a young woman who goes to present-day occupied Palestine determined to find out about her soldier grandfather’s involvement in the final years of Palestine under the British mandate. It premiered on Channel 4 on 6 February 2011.
The Zionist Story – 2011, 75 mins. The Zionist Story, an independent film by Ronen Berelovich, is the story of ethnic cleansing, colonialism and apartheid to produce a demographically Jewish State. Ronen successfully combines archival footage with commentary from himself and others such as Ilan Pappe, Terry Boullata, Alan Hart and Jeff Halper. “I have recently finished an independent documentary, The Zionist Story, in which I aim to present not just the history of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, but also the core reason for it: the Zionist ideology, its goals (past and present) and its firm grip not only on Israeli society, but also, increasingly, on the perception of Middle East issues in Western democracies. These concepts have already been demonstrated in the excellent ‘Occupation 101′ documentary made by Abdallah Omeish and Sufyan Omeish, but in my documentary I approach the subject from the perspective of an Israeli, ex-reserve soldier and someone who has spent his entire life in the shadow of Zionism. I hope you can find a moment to watch The Zionist Story and, if you like it, please feel free to share it with others. (As both the documentary and the archived footage used are for educational purposes only, the film can be freely distributed). I have made this documentary entirely by myself, with virtually no budget, although doing my best to achieve high professional standard, and I hope that this ‘home-spun’ production will be of interest to viewers.” – Ronen Berelovich.
Empire Files: Inside Palestine’s Refugee Camps (30 mins) In her first on-the-ground report from Palestine, Abby Martin gives a first-hand look into two of the most attacked refugee camps in the West Bank: Balata and Aida camps. With millions of displaced Palestinians around the world, hundreds of thousands are refugees in their own country—many have lived packed into these refugee camps after being ethnically cleansed from their villages just miles away. 70% of all Palestinians are refugees.
2000 years of Jewish History | from Destruction to Creation | Israel | Palestine by Amit Sengupta published 18th May 2021 – Amit Sengupta actually starts in 6,000 BC with the Mesopotamians and works up to 1948 AD. This 30-minute video is an excellent primer. However, Mr Sengupta seems unaware of the 13th tribe (the “lost” tribe) story; the Khazar conversions and the Haavara agreement – and rather focusses on 2,000 years of persecution which, he argues, gives Israel its justification. He claims that Jews have always existed as a nation, even throughout the diaspora, which gives them every right to form the state of Israel. His philosophy espouses the Indian enthusiasm for the survival of the fittest. But it ignores genetics and the non-arrival of the Messiah. The precursors of the Palestinians were the Philistines, who were established since the 12th Century BC. Then Philistines appear in Assyrian sources in the 9th century BCE. Palestine was mentioned in early Greek sources as a place – ‘Palaestina’ – and as a people, ‘Palaistinoi’. Palestine as a geographic name appears in the 5th century BCE histories of Herodotus. Third century BCE Hellenistic sources referred to ‘Palaistin’ to describe the entire area between Phoenicia and Egypt. See Philistine migration to Palestine – PALESTINIAN HISTORY TAPESTRY
From Balfour To Banksy, 71 mins, 2020. Written and directed by Martin Buckley, Producer Miranda Pinch. This film looks at other visions – including a wide range of views from occupied Palestine today, ranging from anger to attempts at envisioning a future. It also shows the vision of another Englishman: the contemporary artist Banksy, who has created in Palestine a hotel that is also a remarkable satirical art installation. How do today’s Palestinians live, behind the ‘security wall’? What change must come?
The Zionist Story. The Zionist Story, an independent film by Ronen Berelovich, is the story of ethnic cleansing, colonialism and apartheid to produce a demographically Jewish State. 2011 75 min
Naila and the Uprising by Julia Bacha of Just Vision. 2017; 76 mins. When a nation-wide uprising breaks out in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, a young woman in Gaza must make a choice between love, family, and freedom. Undaunted, she embraces all three, joining a clandestine network of women in a movement that forces the world to recognize the Palestinian right to self-determination for the first time. Naila and the Uprising chronicles the remarkable journey of Naila Ayesh and a fierce community of women at the frontlines, whose stories weave through the most vibrant, nonviolent mobilization in Palestinian history – the First Intifada in the late 1980s.
Occupation 101 Informative film in the Palestine- Israel Conflict. Voices of the silenced majority Part 1 2011 90 min
Palestine: The Reality by Karl Sabbagh 2017 30 mins (Palestine: The Reality is a very personal documentary on the document which left devastating consequences in the Middle East. Sabbagh describes the film as an attempt to reveal the truth, as set out in official documents, memoirs and writings by the people involved. The documentary concludes with a revised ‘Balfour Declaration’ pledging the same rights to Palestinians as were given to Jews 100 years ago.)
The Survivor’s Guide to Gaza SBS 2016 – 24 min including 3 mins on Gaza Sky Geeks, an incredible project building IT skills to help an imprisoned people deal electronically with the outside world.
Israel and Palestine Explained 2014 10 min Mini-doc that takes you through the history of the conflict-from the establishment of Jerusalem as a holy city, all the way through Israel’s 2014 invasion of Gaza.
5 Broken Cameras – 2011 -94-minute documentary film co-directed by Palestinian Emad Burnat and Israeli Guy Davidi. 5 Broken Cameras is a first-hand account of protests in Bil’in, a West Bank village affected by the Israeli West Bank barrier. It was shot almost entirely by Palestinian farmer Emad Burnat, who bought his first camera in 2005 to record the birth of his youngest son. In 2009 Israeli co-director Guy Davidi joined the project. Structured around the destruction of Burnat’s cameras, the filmmakers’ collaboration follows one family’s evolution over five years of turmoil. The film won a 2012 Sundance Film Festival award, it won the Golden Apricot at the 2012 Yerevan International Film Festival, Armenia, for Best Documentary Film, won the 2013 International Emmy Award, and was nominated for a 2013 Academy Award.
The Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel The Quakers work with all major churches in the UK to send witnesses to Palestine, to witness settler abuse. The witnesses cannot intervene to stop brutality, but their mere presence is a disincentive to perpetrators. See their excellent 13-minute film on their work here
Where Should The Birds Fly 2016 61 mins The film documents the separate stories and shared experience of two women in Gaza. It opens by briefly introducing us two the two major characters — Mona Al Samouni and Fida Qishta. Mona Al Samouni is an 11 year old girl whose family died when her home was hit by Israeli rockets during Operation Cast Lead. Fida Qishta, the filmmaker, is a Gazan videographer, teacher, and human rights worker. Born and raised in Rafah, Gaza, she began her filmmaking career as a wedding videographer and soon moved on to working with international human rights observers in Gaza, documenting day to day life under siege. In the opening sequences of the film we see all these aspects of Fida’s life — a wedding, the efforts of farmers and fishermen to carry out their work under siege, and the destruction of her family home in Rafah by Israeli bulldozers. The film follows farmers attempting to work their fields and harvest crops near the Gaza-Israel border coming under gunfire from Israeli border patrols. It documents the efforts of fishermen to maintain their livelihood while under attack from Israeli gunboats. Fida’s graphic coverage of the late 2008 to early 2009 military attack on Gaza concludes her story and leads us directly into Mona’s story.
Mona explains, just several days after the actual events, how she witnessed the deaths of five family members when rockets were fired into the house where they sought refuge. The film then follows her over a period of two years as she copes with her grief and loss and tries to make sense of her experience. Although she speaks from a child’s perspective, she seems much older than her years. She expresses her feelings reluctantly and with difficulty — ‘I lost my mother, my father, my freedom and the life I had…. I know that people don’t appreciate the blessings they have until they lose them…’. But we see into her heart through the drawings that she makes. She shows us her family as it was, and as it is after the attack. She shows us her life as it was, and as it is now. Her sister and brother describe Mona’s trauma and theirs as well, so we see Mona’s story told from the adult perspective. The film ends with Mona’s hopes for the future, her hopes to be free, her hopes to tell the world about life in Gaza. While the film visually tells the story of the efforts of Gazans to live and work under conditions of siege, and documents the horrific Israeli military attack, it is also about the struggle of these two women to maintain humanity, humour and hope, and to find some sense of normality in a world that is anything but normal. Through the lens of the camera we see the different sides of Gaza — the border, the lives of farmers and fishermen, the impact of military attack, and the effort to pick up shattered lives and maintain humanity.
“What is Nakba?” This is a good film on Facebook: 6min
Israeli settlements, explained | Settlements Part I 8 min
Why Israeli settlements don’t feel like a conflict zone | Settlements Part II 11 min
The Israel-Palestine conflict: a brief, simple history 10 min
IsraHell on Earth 1 hr 26mins This powerful documentary exposes the hell that the Palestinians have been going through. 2012 [skip the bit from 24mins in to 31 mins which makes claims about Rothschild Zionism and the Talmud and magic which we didn’t care for much with David Icke, but the rest is excellent]
Running on empty: inside the Gaza strip – 2014 C4 7 min
Al Jazeera Investigations: The Lobby – How Israel Influences British Politics. In the first of a four-part series, Al Jazeera goes undercover inside the Israel Lobby in Britain. To undermine BDS and control Westminster politics in its favour 2017 25 min
Palestine belongs to the Arabs 3 mins. Famous people criticise Israel with short pithy statements.
Zionism and anti-Semitism: Joseph Massad on the sordid historical alliance (Moderate Rebels Ep. 9) : an audio discussion.
“Three Minute Warning” from Iqbal Mohammed of Dynamiq Films in Huddersfield about “roof-knocking” – what Israeli bombs mean to a Gaza family- 11 mins 2018
Democracy Now! clip It’s Time to Tell the Truth: Israeli Journalist Gideon Levy Supports Ilhan Omar’s Critique of Israel-
News item- 6.5 mins; March 2019 The House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a resolution condemning anti-Semitism, anti-Muslim discrimination, white supremacy and other forms of hate, following a week of debate among congressional Democrats. The controversy began after some lawmakers accused Democratic Congressmember Ilhan Omar of invoking anti-Semitic tropes while questioning U.S. foreign policy on Israel.
“Gaza” an Irish production, which takes us to a unique place beyond the reach of news reports to reveal a world rich with eloquent and resilient characters, offering us an enriching portrait of a people attempting to lead meaningful lives against the rubble of perennial conflict. See it at https://youtu.be/W9Vta35lyUc; it lasts 1 hr and 31 mins and was made in 2020.
“Gaza Fights for Freedom”- at https://youtu.be/HnZSaKYmP2s – lasts 1 hr and 24 mins. It is made by an American journalist, Abby Martin- and chronicles the history of Gaza over the past 100 years up to the Great March of Return. Made May 2021. Film-maker Abby Martin, denied entry to Gaza, connected with a team of journalists in Gaza to produce the film through the blockade. This collaboration shows you Gaza’s protest movement like you’ve never seen before. Filmed during the height of the Great March Of Return protests, it features exclusive footage of demonstrations where 200 unarmed civilians have been killed by Israeli snipers since March 30, 2018. The documentary tells the story of Gaza past and present, showing rare archival footage that explains the history never acknowledged by mass media. Victims are heard from the ongoing massacre, including journalists, medics and the family of internationally-acclaimed paramedic, Razan al-Najjar. At its core, ‘Gaza Fights For Freedom’ is a thorough indictment of the Israeli military for war crimes, with legal documentation and photographic evidence. See the Trailer here
iqsquared debate: Is anti-Zionism anti-semitism? July 2019 80 mins
‘Stone Cold Justice’ Australian film on Israel’s torture of Palestinian children 45min 2014
“Dispatches – inside Britain’s Israel Lobby” The 2011 Channel 4 TV programme showed that Al Jazeera are not the first to expose Israel’s influence of UK politics. 48 min
ONE STATE: The Palexpo in summer 2019 in London had a highlight with this speech from veteran Israeli journalist Gideon Levy when he espoused the One State Solution for Palestine: he says “Those who today talk about a two-state solution are the biggest supporters of occupation”. 17 min
Palestine is still the issue. John Pilger 53 mins 2010
Know your Stuff: Israel’s “Jewish Nation-State Law” Explained – Released on 18/10/18: the uber-mensch and the unter-mensch explained. An illuminating 23 minute video by Dr. Shir Hever
Tantura A 94-minute documentary, available to rent for £3.50 and made in 2022 on the untold story of Israel’s foundation. Hundreds of Palestinian villages were depopulated in 1948. To Israelis, it was the War of Independence, to Palestinians it was ‘Al Nakba’ – the Catastrophe. Director Alon Schwarz revisits former Israeli soldiers as well as Palestinian residents in an effort to re-examine what happened in Tantura, the location of an alleged, Israeli-perpetrated massacre, and find out why ‘Al Nakba’ is still a taboo in Israeli society.
