Closed Zone

Title: Closed Zone
Year: 2009
Director: Yoni Goodman
Genre: 90 second animated silent film

Israel has the power, backed with long expertise, to promote its ideologies and propaganda that paint a picture of the tolerant Israel which goes all the way to defend the rights of the 'other' in a way that may actually lead the Arabs themselves, who are the victims, to be deceived.

Today, the Zionist entity is trying to change the face of Jerusalem into a Jewish city, in a step toward declaring it the eternal capital of Israel. At the same time, it works on a makeover addressed to the international public opinion even if it appears as the assailant. It also shows some peace devotees who oppose Israeli policies and puts up a front of defending the Arabs' rights.

Chasing a Bird…

The most recent attempt came in a 90 second animated film that calls for the complete opening of the Gaza crossings and allowing the true victims of this closure to live with dignity, and work toward realizing their dreams and ambitions.

The film, Closed Zone, is directed by Israeli animation creator Yoni Goodman, who was among the cast of Waltz with Bashir  which was nominated the best foreign film award at the Oscars. The producer was Gisha, Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, an Israeli organization working for the defense of human rights.

The message in the film, given in simple animated images, is clear: Bring life back to Gaza's inhabitants and open the way for them to live their lives like normal humans. But the film displays a map that cuts down the land referred to as Palestinian Territories into Gaza only, revealing the deception glided down through the film as the Gaza borders with Israel and Egypt are shown without the least attempt of reference to the rest of Palestine.

The animation film depicts a boy chasing a bird that symbolizes freedom and dreams under the skies of the Strip. The boy is always faced with a human hand preventing him from crossing the borders, preventing his boat from going into the sea and throwing him back facing the Rafah borders where the hand wears the Egyptian flag leaving him no chance to escape the blockaded Strip.

The film convicts Egypt as much as it convicts Israel; in case a Palestinian tries to sneak in through the crossing, Israel puts pressure on Egypt to prevent lending a blind eye to fleeing Gazans even under the Israeli bombardment.

The end shows a bird in a cage, with a picture in a nearby paper of a mother embracing her son in fear.

The film is released on a website carrying its name and, despite being short, is meant to move away from the stereotypical image of a Palestinian according to the film director. On the website he says that "the issue was always important in my opinion, meaning the issue of the closure. The war made this project a mission for me" adding that he tried to create a hero with both the features of a kid and an adult; "a bit Arab and a bit Jewish."!

A member of the producing organization Gisha describes how it has become difficult to convince the world that Gaza residents are human beings who want to raise their children, make a living and realize their dreams both small and large.

An Old Dance 

Click here and read a review on Waltz With Bashir.

That may seem in line with the director’s vision which was somehow highlighted in his previous film. Yoni had been the animator of Waltz with Bashir which relates Israeli soldiers’ experience of the Sabra and Shatila massacre. Despite being an award-winning film and being promoted as an opposition to the Israeli practices, many critics pointed out the underlying meanings in the way it tackles history.

Waltz with Bashir showed Israeli soldiers as blameless for the massacre except for their silence about the atrocities committed by the Lebanese militias against Palestinian refugees in Sabra and Shatila camps; a silence that left Israeli soldiers with a guilt complex.

A number of Israeli directors and academics - members of the Peace Now movement – had presented works that on the surface seem to defend Palestinians as humans who have rights but not as the owners of land.

Many Arab intellects fell into the trap among them the late Youssef Shahin who developed a friendship with the Israeli director Amos Gitai. Later, a film called Bab el Shams,(Door to the Sun) made by Yousry Nasrallah, one of Shahin’s students, was shown in Tel Aviv following efforts made by the Peace Now members and the Israeli left.