Film screening in the garden of the FES in Sheikh Jarrah

The Facts on the Ground are constantly changing. With this introduction to her documentary, filmmaker Ina Fuchs sets the tone for a 30 minute testimonial of the effects of the Israeli occupation on the lives of Palestinians in the West Bank. In interviews, Palestinians and Israelis explain the impact of checkpoints, settlements and the separation barrier on mobility, agricultural production, water access, and the possibility of a future sovereign state comprised of the Occupied Territories, including East Jerusalem. Most revealing, however, are Ina Fuchs’ images of Jerusalem and the West Bank cities of Ramallah, Jericho, and Nablus.

Ina Fuchs’ film is based on the work of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) whose function is to collect data on the fragmentation of the Palestinian Territories and reproduce them in charts and maps. By tracing OCHA’s facts on the ground, the film makes statistics visible and comprehensible.

The effect of the film on the roughly 80 guests that came to the premiere in the garden of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in Jerusalem could not be missed. Alternating between the claim that the film was one-sided and pro-Palestinian or that it wasn’t explicit enough in its condemnation of the Israeli occupation, the discussion was vibrant and much to the satisfaction of Ina Fuchs and Michael Bröning, the resident director of the FES in Jerusalem. Both see the film as a contribution to the debate on the occupation rather than a depiction of the ultimate truth, because The Facts on the Ground are constantly changing.

Ina Fuchs’ film was sponsored by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung. After the successful premiere in Jerusalem it is to be shown on German television in the near future.