“TO LIVE IN FREEDOM”
ISRAELIS AND PALESTINIANS IN ISRAEL-PALESTINE

UK 1974. 54 minutes, Colour, English Narration and Sub-titles, 16mm
A film by Simon Louvish, Kostas Chronopoulos, Jorge Tsoucerossa, Antonia Caccia and Anna Rozen, Uri Davis, Rakhetla Tsehlana

Four bitter wars have been (ought in the last twenty-five years between Jews and Arabs in Israel-Palestine and there is no guarantee that there will not be a fifth, sixth or seventh war.

The conflict has produced myths and counter-myths. Very few people involved in the Israel-Palestine issue and brought up in one or other of these mythologies can truly claim to be objective.

The film shows the lives of the Palestinian peasants in the Israeli-occupied areas who talk quite openly of how their lives have been affected by the events over the past twenty-five years. At the other end of the scale, the 'oriental' Jews who are also part of the dispossessed, speak of the problems facing them.

“ To Live in Freedom" is subjective. Three of the film-makers are Israelis. However, they see the situation in a way which is very different from the official Israeli position. The film deals mainly with the relationship between Israelis and Palestinians in Israel today and also outlines some of the social problems faced by Israeli Jews which are quite apart from any JewishArab issues. The film does not attempt to show all sides of the issue. It tries to be a mouthpiece for the many people whose views are not often heard.
To explain how all this came about, the film includes a short historical newsreel section which sets the background to the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 and the Israel-Arab conflict. 'To Live in Freedom' approaches Israel as a society like any other whose social structures and policies are open to criticism, and in this way attempts to prove that there are basic social issues which are far more important than the Nationalist ideologies which at present dominate both Israelis and Arabs.