Occupation 101

Occupation 101: Voice of the Silenced Majority is a 2006 documentary film on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict directed by Sufyan Omeish and Abdallah Omeish, and narrated by Alison Weir, founder of If Americans Knew. The film focuses on the effects of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and discusses events from the rise of Zionism to the Second Intifada and Israel's unilateral disengagement plan, presenting its perspective through dozens of interviews, questioning the nature of Israeli–American relations—in particular, the Israeli military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, and the ethics of US monetary involvement. Occupation 101 includes interviews with mostly American and Israeli scholars, religious leaders, humanitarian workers, and NGO representatives—more than half of whom are Jewish—who are critical of the injustices and human rights abuses stemming from Israeli policy in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza.
Cast
The entire list of featured interviews:
Dr. Albert Aghazarian, Director of Public Relations at Birzeit University, Palestinian Armenian
Ambassador James E. Akins, Former U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia
Rabbi Arik Ascherman, Rabbis for Human Rights (Israeli group)
Dr. William Baker (theologian), Christians and Muslims for Peace
Bishop Allen Bartlett, Jr., Diocese of Washington
Phyllis Bennis, Institute for Policy Studies, and co-chair of the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation
Peter Boukaert, Director of Emergencies at Human Rights Watch
Sharon Burke, Former Advocacy Director of Amnesty International
Professor Noam Chomsky, linguist, MIT Professor.
Father Drew Christiansen, United States Catholic Conference
Cindy and Craig Corrie, parents of the late solidarity activist Rachel Corrie
Douglas Dicks, Catholic Relief Services in Jerusalem, outreach program director
Richard Falk, 2001 United Nations Fact-finding Commission in the West Bank and Gaza
Paul Findley. U.S. Congressman, 1961–1983
Thomas Getman, World Vision International
Neta Golan, Israeli co-founder of International Solidarity Movement
Jeff Halper, Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions
Amira Hass, Israeli journalist, Haaretz
Doug Hostetter, Fellowship of Reconciliation
Kathy Kamphoefner, Christian Peacemaker Team
Adam Keller, Gush Shalom, Israeli Peace Group
Hava Keller, Woman's Organization for Political Prisoners (Israeli group)
Professor Rashid Khalidi, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University
Peretz Kidron, Israeli journalist, Yesh Gvul (Israeli peace group)
Rabbi Michael Lerner, Founder & editor-in-chief of Tikkun magazine
Rabbi Rebecca Lillian, Jewish Alliance for Justice and Peace
Roger Normand, Center for Economic and Social Rights
Allegra Pacheco, Israeli human rights lawyer
Professor Ilan Pappe, Israeli historian – University of Haifa (now University of Exeter)
Dr, Iyad Sarraj, Prominent Palestinian psychiatrist
Yael Stein, B'Tselem, Israeli human rights group
Gila Svirsky, Coalition of Women for a Just Peace, Israeli
Ambassador Edward Walker, Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel
Alison Weir, Founder of If Americans Knew
Awards
The film has won several awards from various film festivals.
Winner of the "Golden Palm" Award (highest honor given by jury) and for "Best Editing" at the 2007 International Beverly Hills Film Festival.
Winner of the 'Artivist Award' for Best Feature Film under the category of Human Rights at the 2006 Artivist Film Festival & Awards in Hollywood.
Winner of the Best Documentary Award (Special Recognition) at the 2007 New Orleans International Human Rights Film Festival.
Winner of the Best Feature Film Award at the 2006 River's Edge Film Festival.
Winner of the Best Documentary Feature Award at 2006 The Dead Center Film Festival.
Winner of the Audience Award for Best Documentary at 2006 East Lansing Film Festival.
Winner of the John Michaels Memorial Award at the 2006 Big Muddy Film Festival.
References
External links
Free Movie Broadcast in High-Definition
Film review: "Occupation 101". Maureen Clare Murphy, The Electronic Intifada, Jun 27, 2007.
Film Review: "Occupation 101". Nadia Naas Elkhatib, Institute for Middle East Understanding, Oct 19, 2006.
"Film explores Israeli-Palestine conflict". By Gloria Er-Chua. October 19, 2007. The Queen's Journal.
2006 films
Documentary films about politics
American independent films
Documentary films about the Israeli–Palestinian conflict
2000s English-language films
2000s American films