Benny Brunner, Netherlands 2012 [12], Hebrew/Arabic with EST, 57 mins

70,000 Palestinian books were systematically ‘collected’ by the newborn state of Israel during the 1948 war. The story of the books is at the heart of this film. Was the appropriation of Palestinian books and manuscripts in 1948 a case of cultural theft or preservation? On May 15 Palestinians mark the anniversary of the ‘Nakba‘, the systematic expulsion of the Palestinian people by Zionist militias that began in late 1947 and lasted through 1948 and beyond. As well as land and properties, a lesser known aspect of that expulsion is that Israel looted Palestinian homes of their cultural treasures, among them books, manuscripts, personal papers, photographs and works of art.

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