The Great Book Robbery – A Film by Benny Brunner from Salaam Shalom on Vimeo.
The Great Book Robbery – A Film by Benny Brunner — NOT YET RATED
11 years ago More
For the weeks of August 27 and September 3, Salaam Shalom: Report on Palestine/Israel will air “The Great Book Robbery,” a fim by Benny Brunner (it comes to us courtesy of the Al Jazeera’s news magazine “Witness”). The film documents the theft of tens of thousands of Palestinian books and manuscripts by Jewish officials after ethnic cleansing operations by Israeli forces in 1948-49. 750,000 Palestinians became refugees during the war for Palestine and hundreds of their villages were destroyed. Their books and manuscripts—labeled “Abandoned Property”—were systematically looted by Jewish librarians and others who followed in the wake of conquering Jewish soldiers. Most were deposited in Israel’s National Library. If you are interested in a detailed expose of this act of cultural genocide, please read “Overdue Books: Returning Palestine’s ‘Abandoned Property’ of 1948” by Adalah-NY activist and school librarian Hannah Mermelstein. You can find it at: thegreatbookrobbery.org/overdue-books-returning-palestine%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%9Cabandoned-property%E2%80%9D-1948-hannah-mermelstein. This edition will also feature two testimonials by Jewish soldiers who served in the occupied territories, recorded by Breaking the Silence. Special thanks to Danny Weiss, our technical producer, Jamie Brooks, VTJP webmaster and Bill Coil, co-producer. You can watch the program on public access stations in Vermont on the days and times listed below, and you can stream it on VIMEO: vimeo.com/48141495.
