Palestinian film producer: Period of “armed struggle” was very important period in Palestinian history

Official PA TV program Palestine This Morning, on the Palestinian film industry, hosting producer Khadija Abu Ali

Palestinian producer Khadija Abu Ali: "The truth is the experience I am interested in shedding light on is the experience of the Palestinian film pioneers, and they were the first graduates of the film institutes abroad – in London and Cairo – in the mid-1960s when it might have been possible to count the number of producers in the Arab world on your fingers. They joined the self-sacrificing movement – that is what it was called at the time – and decided to be a part of it in order to portray [the situation of] the Palestinian people to the world and to portray its cause and revolution to the world, after the Zionist movement hid this and claimed that this land is a land without a people.

This was their message and they were pioneers in this area, and unfortunately many of their efforts and works have faded away and most of them became Martyrs on the battle field.

I felt that they should be brought back into the picture so they would be- first, because the period that they documented and made films about was one of the most important periods in the history of the Palestinian people, which was the period of armed struggle, the period of revolution.

It is very important that this period remain in the people's history because what creates the people's identity is its artistic and cultural heritage, and also its political history – all aspects of it."