Old Wine in New Bottles Tekumah, an Israeli Resurrection of Social Change? Dorit Naaman

Old Wine in New Bottles Tekumah, an Israeli resurrection of social change? Dorit Naaman

The relationship between historical events, historical narratives and documentary cinema are complex, and at times problematic. Historical narratives give verbal accounts to events, while films represent those events visually, in a medium that is generally considered more authentic, or veridical than language. In the case of documentary films about the past, the documentarist must choose how to construct the visual data in the film, that is, from what material to draw, as she has not been there to document the events as they took place. The choices of found-footage, photographs, maps, etc., and their organization within the context of interviews and other materials create the evidential tone of the film. While historical biases are currently an issue of hot debate in historical narratives, the issues become even more 37

October19.p65 37 09/08/24, 10:31 Õ complex when the agenda of the filmmakers In 1998, the Israeli government-sponsored is masked under the cinematic conventions of TV station (Channel 1) produced the documentary film practices, amongst them documentary series, Tekumah, to assumptions about the veridical indexical commemorate, summarize and critically value of images. examine the 50 years of existence of the state of Israel. The series (comprised of 22 one- In Israel, these issues came to the fore when hour episodes) had a chief editor and was public debate exploded over Tekumah, a directed by 19 directors, each responsible for television documentary series an episode or two. Aesthetically and formally, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the episodes are somewhat different from one Israel. The production of Tekumah capped ten another, giving the impression that Israel years of debate over Israel's historical exists in a state of multi-cultural bliss. But the narrative, a narrative vigorously challenged series was directed only by Israeli Jews (even by the new historians and their scholarship. those episodes on Palestinians and Israeli In 1988, following the publication of two Arabs), and the content was heavy-handedly books - Benny Morris' The Birth of the controlled by Gideon Drori, chief editor and Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947-19491 initiator of the series. While definitely not a and Ilan Pappe's Britain and the Arab-Israeli linear narrative, the series as a whole Conflict, 1947-1951,2 - an academic debate crystallizes some of the historical and erupted. The debate was historical at heart, political discussions in contemporary Israeli and pertained mostly to information released society, including the debate over the new in the 1980s by Israel's foreign ministry, historians and post-Zionism. The producers which shed light on the events of the 1948 anticipated a three to four percent viewing war.3 The debate took an interesting turn, ratio, but within a few weeks it was clear that however, when in 1994, Israeli fiction author the two weekly broadcasts of each episode Aharon Megged published an attack on these were attracting the attention of about 30 "new historians" (entitled "The Israeli Suicide percent of the nation. Drive") in the weekly magazine of the daily In the press too, the series was widely newspaper Ha'aretz.4 The move to the daily reviewed, criticized, and discussed. While press by an academic author took the debate initially hailed as a very important project, as well out of its original historical bounds. the series progressed, its content managed to What started as a debate about facts and aggravate the right wing to the point that two interpretation was now a political controversy ministers were asking that the series be about the identity of the nation. The result removed from the airwaves.6 For instance, was the emergence of post-Zionism, a after the screening of the episode "The movement towards divorcing modern Israel Opsimist" on Palestinians with Israeli from the very national movement that gave citizenship, and in anticipation of the episode birth to it.5 Unfortunately, post-Zionism and featuring the Palestine Liberation what became known as the "new historians’ Organization's Lebanon years, "Biladi debate" are now often collapsed in public Biladi," some critics called the series discourse into one and the same thing - a Palestinian propaganda,7 and connected it rejection of Israel's right to exist. Megged's directly to the new historian and post-Zionist article is one example of such conflation, and debates. since his article, disputes have continued to flare up in the general press. I argue that Tekumah (literally meaning "resurrection") manages to incorporate a

October19.p65 38 09/08/24, 10:31 Õ pluralistic appearance, but in essence still The essence of the old history is that reiterates the same old Israeli myths about the Zionism's birth was an inevitable result foundation of the state, and its moral of Gentile pressures and persecution, justification. Since the new historian debate and that it offered at least a partial pertains particularly to the 1948 War, I solution to the 'Jewish Problem' in examine the first three episodes of the Europe; that the Zionists intended no documentary, those discussing the War of ill to the Arabs of Palestine, and that Independence, in greater detail than others. I Zionist settlement alongside the Arabs will show how the films allow for the did not, from the Jews' point of view, expression of voices previously unheard, but necessitate a clash or displacement, also how the diversity of opinions is but that Israel was born into an eventually subordinated to a non-threatening uncharitable, predatory environment; hegemonic perspective. Aesthetically then, that Zionist efforts at compromise and the series incorporates a pluralistic (multi- conciliation were rejected by the cultural) look, a postmodern view of history, Arabs; and that the Palestinians and and an awareness of identity politics. But the neighbouring Arab states, selfish these aesthetics only mask a positivist, non- and ignoble, refused to accede to the problematic view of Zionist ideology. While burgeoning Zionist presence and in the new historians debate has actually made a 1947-48 attacked the Yishuv with the difference in the Israeli political map,8 the aim of nipping the Jewish state in the show enables the average Israeli to ignore bud. serious challenges to their traditional A crucial aspect of the old history is that the ideological and political assumptions. Despite Palestinian refugee problem was born from the charges that it is a post-Zionist, pro- Arab calls for Palestinians to abandon their Palestinian show, Tekumah actually only homes, clear the path for the Arab armies and repackages old Israeli wine in new bottles. therefore that Jewish militias (and later the army) cannot be blamed for the expulsion. In other words, the old historian account paints a The New Historian Debate picture in which Israel and its institutions Israel was established in 1948 after the were not morally wrong, and were not in United Nations voted on November 29, 1947 ethical conflict with regards to the Palestinian in favour of partitioning British Mandate inhabitants of the country. At every crucial Palestine into Israeli and Palestinian states. point, says the old Israeli narrative, the Arabs Merely three years after the end of WWII, were the ones to make a choice for which and the realization of the horrors of the they would pay dearly, while the Israelis were Holocaust, many Jews and Gentiles found a eager to live amicably together. Jewish state necessary as a safe haven. While Zionism as a national movement had existed The new historians set out to challenge at since the late 19th century (it emerged in least some of these assertions. Morris, in tandem with other European national particular, is a key researcher in exposing the movements), and while the Zionist movement semi-systematic expulsion policy, which has been actively settling the "Land of Israel" Jewish forces did not officially embrace or since 1881 (then a part of the Ottoman impose, but more than occasionally Empire, and after 1917 under British rule), exercised.9 In addition, Morris charges that Israel's establishment effectively resulted Israel at the end of the 1948 War, and leader from the Holocaust. Benny Morris writes: Ben Gurion in particular, rejected peace

October19.p65 39 09/08/24, 10:31 Õ efforts from other Arab countries.10 Morris does not include enough Arabic sources, and not only paints the war in a new light, but most importantly, that the new historians are also casts a shadow on Israel's moral set on a trendy Israeli-bashing trip, one standards, and its self-image as peace seeking influenced by the anti-Orientalist work of or always defending itself rather than Edward Said. While throughout the book initiating aggression. Karsh argues with the positions, documents and interpretation of Morris, Pappe, Shlaim But the new historians not only provided a and other new historians, his criticism boils new account of history, but also criticized the down not to historiography (good or bad), but old historians' methodology. While excusing to ideology and politics. Karsh writes: the old historians for not having access to the archival material released in the 1980s, they In other words, more than anything still had other problems with the group. else the "new historiography" is a state Morris writes of the old historians, that, "In of mind, or rather, a fashion. What reality they were chroniclers, and often unites its practitioners, by and large, is apologetic, interested chroniclers at that. subscription to the all too common They did not work from and upon a solid perception of Zionism as an offshoot of body of contemporary documentation and did European imperialism, or at the very not normally try to paint a picture that offered least as an aggressive and expansionist a variety of sides of a given historical national movement. That is the part of experience."11 the ocean in which the "new historians" have chosen to fish and the The attack on the old historians was not left tackle they have chosen to use; the rest unanswered. Many debates have ensued flows from there.15 about historical facts, documents, interpretations and such. But most interesting And while it is true that Pappe is a was the debate on methodology; the new postmodernist who embraces relativism, and historians, much like the old ones, are believes that it is the duty of historians to positivist in their research tactics - that is, bring their political beliefs into their work, they rely on documents, facts, and attempt Morris adheres to traditional historical accurate understanding of the past. Moreover, practices of truth seeking and objectivity. "I some of the new historians admit that their am not sure that writing history serves any history (i.e. the facts they discuss) is not so purpose or should serve any purpose that new. Avi Shlaim points out that, "Many of the strays beyond the covers of each book and arguments that are central to the new beyond the desire of practitioners and readers historiography were advanced long ago by to penetrate the murk of the past," he writes.16 Israeli writers, not to mention Palestinian, Can the historian be objective? Should he or Arab, and Western writers."12 she even attempt to? Postmodernism, identity Efraim Karsh, a self-proclaimed old historian, politics, and in the case of the Middle East, recently published, Fabricating Israeli postcolonial studies too, have all cast heavy History,13 an attack on the new historians. In a doubts and criticisms on old social science chapter entitled "New Bottles - Sour Wine" practices. These theoretical movements have Karsh claims that the practice should be also criticized and questioned the filmic called "new Israeli distoriography." 14 The documentary practices of "objective" truth book sets out to show how facts and telling conventions. documents are being misread by new historians, how this research is partial and

October19.p65 40 09/08/24, 10:31 Õ Polyphonic Documentary (male) voiceover, a didactic narration that The first documentary films were produced educated and instructed the audience, but also (and later commissioned) by the Lumierre guided them towards the desired brothers. They were called actualites or real interpretation. In Housing Problems, the life moments, actual (as in non-fiction) film, subjects of the film address the camera and eventually took on the familiar format of directly, and while the effect is strong, the the newsreels.17 The Lumierres sent dozens of interviews are still framed through the cinematographers worldwide, and the footage responsible camera/voiceover narration. they shot was processed and screened all over Moreover, the commentary narration is Europe. But the first documentarist to go sometimes accompanied by reconstruction, a beyond the short news format to a full creative freedom Grierson took in order to feature-length film was Canadian Robert emphasize a point. Truth, to Grierson, was Flaherty. Flaherty made films about the less important than a message, and his Eskimos, the Polynesians, and other ethnic documentary tradition struggled between the subjects, and thus started the ethnographic need to provide truth claims, and the desire to film tradition: a white man gazing (through make social propaganda. the camera), studying, and objectifying, Later genres, like Direct Cinema, would another culture.18 When British publicist John abolish as many cinematic markers as Grierson saw Flaherty's Moana in 1926, his possible (narration, unique or pretty camera own fascination with the medium was angles, etc.) in order to achieve a greater ignited, and he soon became known as the "truth."23 This greater truth is supposedly father of the British social documentary located in the image, as pictures can only tradition. Grierson was particularly impressed show what there is in the picture, and what is with Flaherty's aesthetics, which went well assumed to have been at one time in front of beyond "the documentary value."19 It was that the camera. Direct cinema directors tried fascination that led to his famous definition therefore to minimize their presence and of documentary as "the creative treatment of intervention as much as possible, attempting actuality."20 to be like "a fly on the wall" - observing As a filmmaker, Grierson started his career as without being noticed. But Bill Nichols an employee of the EMB (Empire Marketing points out that, "Photographic images [. . .] Board), and was thus recruited to represent re-present the visual field before a lens but British imperialistic ideology. From there he they have no ability whatsoever to moved on to make government-sponsored distinguish, or to allow us to distinguish, the films on the British working class. The films historical status of that field."24 were accompanied by an explanatory In other words, once we assume the narration, and while they were empathetic to photographic image to be authentic (the idea the poor conditions of the workers, they could that the picture cannot negate, or lie, as it can not explicitly criticize government policies.21 only assert what is in the picture), we need to Even when his group subversively criticized accept that it can also not verify or governmental policies, (as in Anstey and authenticate its own status. What Elton's Housing Problems, 1935) Grierson authenticates (or not) the image as an accepted his role as a propagandist and told indexical sign for a referenced reality is the group of filmmakers he mentored that "art extrinsic to the image, and lies in the is a hammer, not a mirror."22 As such, labelling, the packaging, and the commentary Grierson's films were accompanied by a of the film. Dirk Eitzen writes, ". . . when

October19.p65 41 09/08/24, 10:31 Õ viewers perceive movies to lie [. . . ] that When women and national/ethnic others perception is with few exceptions a product started producing self-representations, of the metatextual label or interpretive however, they did not just want to change the framework that they apply to the text, not a perspective on the interpretation of facts. product of the form of the text per se."25 Even Their agenda often included foregrounding without narration then, direct cinema the agency behind the camera, declaring a directors are still dependent upon the subjective positioning, exposing the power marketing of their images as documentaries relations inherent to the cinematic gaze and in order for their truth value to be assumed. its apparatus. This direction politicised the structural aspects of documentary film, and The issue of truth and representation became created a counterpart to the political content much more complicated when women and of the films. "A subject who points to him/ ethnic minorities started producing her/itself as subject in process, a work that documentaries of their own in the 1970s. The displays its own formal properties or its own subject matter, perspective and aesthetics of constitution as work," writes Trinh T. Min-ha, the films were different than most of what "is bound to upset one's sense of identity - the had been seen before. The issue of familiar distinction between Self and Other, interpretation was now foregrounded, as the because the latter is no longer kept in a same events were viewed from "other" sides. recognizable relation of dependence, "Not only is the historical authenticity of the derivation, or appropriation."28 image subject to uncertainty," says Nichols, "the meaning it bears as evidence, even if it is For Trinh, challenging the Cartesian division authentic, is subject to interpretation. Facts between subject/object, outside/inside, mind/ make sense only within systems of matter is at the core of an investigation of the meaning."26 "objective" or "social" aesthetics of documentary tradition. But this political Song of Ceylon (Basil Wright, 1935), for aesthetic (both feminist and postcolonial) can instance, is a Griersonian film. But because it often be seen as relativist and postmodernist. was funded by the Empire Tea Marketing It is important to mention that for Trinh Company, it avoided altogether the question Minh-ha, however, the aesthetic is only truly of exploitation in the colonial market political if it is not merely reflexive (a formal economy. Postcolonial documentaries on the exercise), but actually accompanies textual other hand may emphasize exactly those social attitudes. power relations that are often transparent to Western eyes. The question of interpretation Keeping in mind Trinh's last assertion, I will is magnified when the issue of agency is now show that Tekumah bears some aesthetic introduced. Up to the 1970s, most markers of radical political documentaries, documentaries were made by white men, and but that these are actually subordinated to a narrated by white men. Particularly in the hegemonic textual and ideological Zionist case of the ethnographic film tradition, the agenda. camera has been seen as a scientific tool to better learn and understand the object of study. The agency behind the camera was Old Wine in New Bottles assumed to be neutral, objective and One of the highlights of the Israeli 50th scientific. The relationship between mediator anniversary celebrations was the production and medium, or the mediating activity, was of Tekumah. The word "Tekumah" means assumed to be transparent, and value free.27 resurrection, rising up, building and

October19.p65 42 09/08/24, 10:31 Õ development. The name, a pompous reminder allegations that the series was pro- of the early pioneering jargon, indicates that Palestinian, Gideon Drori, the initiator and the series was designed to commemorate the chief editor of the series, explained his 50 years of the Zionist project, as it has been position: manifested since self-rule. But some of the We are Zionists, but proponents of critics of Tekumah did not see the dynamic Zionism. [. . .] In order to documentary that way. Limor Livnat, then understand ourselves we need to minister of communications, said that, "the understand the Palestinians. [. . .] We official TV station should not present the are making a pluralist, multi-vocal propagandist position of the Palestinians, series, one that will present (as much while ridding us of all of our myths."29 Ariel as possible) all the forces active in this Sharon, minister of infrastructure at the time, field. commented that, "The series distorts the history of (Israel's) resurrection and Vered Kelner (interviewer): Maybe relinquishes the moral basis for the there was so much effort to document establishment of Israel and the continuation the "Other's" voice that the center of its existence."30 disappeared? Sharon even asked David Levi, then minister Drori: Such a danger existed. We are a of education, to prevent the screenings of the divided society, there is no mainstream show as to "not expose the Israeli children to anymore. [. . .] Everyone is in the criticism of Zionism."31 More dramatic still, series; there is not one spectator in this writer Aharon Papo writes, that the "gift that country that wouldn't find himself (the producers) are bringing to the Jewish inside Tekumah. th people on the 50 anniversary of its country, Drori claimed that rather than being pro- or is death to Zionism and Judaism, and anti- Zionist, the series was simply multi- definitely not resurrection. Maybe they meant cultural, presenting a polyphony of voices 32 the resurrection of Arafat's Palestine." and perspectives, as is appropriate (and These comments were heard after the airing fashionable) in the 1990s. But is the series of "The Opsimist," an episode describing the truly polyphonic? I will now look at the conditions of the so-called "Israeli Arabs." It aesthetic elements that assert such a view, and is interesting to note that the episode, while then at those negating polyphony.33 clearly criticizing the harsh living conditions of military rule that persisted until 1966, is not pro-Palestinian independence and anti- Postcolonial and Post-modern Fashions Israeli self-determination. The Palestinians (or All Warriors are Good at Heart) interviewed say again and again that they A 22-hour documentary series can definitely want to remain Israeli citizens. But the focus afford to present many different perspectives. of the episode is the Arab experience within The interviews in the series are diverse and Israel, and to a degree the events portrayed comprise a good percentage of the shows (the are portrayed from a Palestinian perspective. time devoted to interviews vs. narration The critical comments were also made in varies in the different episodes). The anticipation of the yet unseen, but already interviews are based on personal memories, controversial, episode "Biladi Biladi," which and even when the interviewee was in an primarily deals with Palestinian terrorism official position of power, the questions and throughout the 1970s. In response to the answers pertain mostly to their personal

October19.p65 43 09/08/24, 10:31 Õ experience of the events. Former Prime events enables the different testimonies to be Minister Shimon Peres, for instance, talks "un-evaluated", or lent equal epistemic status. about his own impression of Ben Gurion's It is interesting to note that in episodes strength in the face of the heavy burden of the covering the political events from the time of decision to establish the state of Israel. the Lebanon War (1982) to the present, there Sharon similarly talks about his own is much less agreement between recollections of rescuing the Bar Lev line interviewees, and the interviewers seem to from Egyptian control (in 1973), without press the interviewees with these addressing larger issues of responsibility. disagreements. It is true, however, that these This tactic makes the series seem as if it is episodes cover a period in Israeli society based on a collage of intimate and individual when political disagreement was overt and stories, where soldiers and commanders are even violently exercised (as in the murder of both placed on the same plane of protester Emil Grunzweig, or the responsibility and authenticity. In line with assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak identity politics' move towards greater Rabin, both carried out by right-wing subjectivity for all, this style emphasizes the extremists), so the series here merely echoes human beings behind the historical processes. what is already conscious in the Israeli And indeed, it is very interesting to know psyche. what early Israeli leaders Golda Meir or While much historical documentation exists, David Ben Gurion wrote in their private the series chose to rely mostly on memories journals. and stories. As such, Tekumah reiterates the At the same time, this aesthetic choice charges of Morris concerning the old refrains from addressing power issues and historians: it chronicles the events, but does issues of responsibility. At best, it exposes the not provide a coherent, serious historical multiplicity of perspectives and at worst it account. masks political issues at stake. The constant The interviews, too, bear the mark of the collage of faces and voices also disguises 1990s. While Israel of 1948 saw itself as a who is being interviewed, or what positions boiling melting pot, forging a new socialist receive more screen time. For instance, the and brave Jew, the interviews emphasize the first episode, that which describes the events heterogeneity of the Israeli society. Tensions leading up to the UN decision of November with regards to the Holocaust of European 1947 includes only one Arab interviewee, a Jewry, or between the underground member of the important Jerusalem-area militarised Hagana and IZL (the Irgun), are Nashashibi family. While there is no quota foregrounded so as to emphasize the for meeting the requirements of ethnic and multiplicity of perspectives already in national "otherness", a singular interview existence at that time. Soldiers, in particular, may essentialise and reduce the complexity are presented reflecting on tough moments; of Palestinian perspectives. actor Yosi Yadin recalls broadcasting the It is also important that no historians are underground radio news, and realizing that interviewed. The series systematically avoids the names of the victims of a bombing that he incorporating expert views, or at least not was reading off had been under his guidance overtly. The series had six historical advisors as scouts a few years earlier. "I was crushed," (one of which is a new historian), but their he says. Others, choking on the words, activity remains behind the scenes. The describe the horrors of war. Soldiers of both choice not to include expert evaluation of the sides (Arab and Israeli) appear to be humane

October19.p65 44 09/08/24, 10:31 Õ and sensitive, at least in retrospect. someone that represents the Israeli sabra [native born], someone who grew But is the presentation of these diverse and up himself during this time period.36 personal interviews sufficient in providing a different perspective, one to seriously Interestingly then, Drori, who claims that challenge the Israeli narrative of the war? The there is no mainstream in Israeli society and answer, I believe, is no. that the show is multi-vocal, still attempted to frame the series through a "middle of the road" icon. The prologues were not well Polyphony Subordinated received, audiences resented them, and Before looking into the content of the series, I eventually the producers decided to terminate would like to address the choices of directors the contract. Gaon claims that, independently made by Drori and his team. All the episodes of the producers' decision but at exactly the were directed by Jewish filmmakers. The one same time, he decided to resign, mostly about Palestinian citizens of Israel, for because he could not agree with the tone of instance, was directed by Menahem Hadar, "Biladi Biladi." The prologues have been even though Channel 1 employs numerous subsequently removed, but their intent to Palestinian documentarists, some of which inspire consensus remains. have previously dealt with similar subject The series also uses the voiceover narration 34 matter. This became a significant issue in of Yigal Naor. Naor, who was a Palmach the case of "Second Israel", which deals with commander, and is even interviewed briefly the experience of Oriental Jews. The director in the first episode, is nonetheless a is a Russian immigrant of many years, and disembodied voice throughout the rest of the the Oriental lobby (Hakeshet Hamizrachit) series. The tone of the narration, as well as protested the fact that an Oriental director - Naor's "pure" Israeli accent, bespeak a more than one of which were on the crew of Griersonian propagandist documentary Tekumah - was not chosen. Self- aesthetics. In such social documentaries, the representation is a serious issue for identity voiceover was always male, always elderly, politics movements, one that could have been always with the right accent (in Britain, upper 35 easily addressed, but was not in Tekumah. class; in the US, northeastern). The race, The series originally had prologues written gender and class of the narrator were never and narrated by actor/singer Yehoram Gaon, addressed, but were coded as neutral, and the who previewed each episode and then wrote a narration itself was presented as objective short introduction that involved a personal text, not an ideological product. Voiceover story from that period. Gaon is a Sephardi narration was one of the first conventions to from Jerusalem, part of a community that has be challenged by women and ethnic inhabited the city for generations, and has a minorities, as early as the beginning 1970s. A status somewhat as mediator between the 1998 series that tries to be polyphonic has European and the Oriental Jewish reason not to impose one narrator, since this communities, which are still quite divided in asserts and connotes the strong presence of a Israel. Gideon Drori, the chief editor, explains controlling and filtering agency behind the the choice of Gaon: films. The multiplicity of directors of different political backgrounds and different [We thought that] Gaon, as a symbol of aesthetics is overwhelmed by the decision to the [Israeli] consensus, will unite have one narrator. Even if the choice of one everyone, and will help market the narrator was made in order to create a sense series. Gaon is a man of the center,

October19.p65 45 09/08/24, 10:31 Õ of formal unity to the series, it could have voice of unidentified English announcer been a woman, an oriental Jew, or anyone but (UN?) proclaims that the British forces would the sabra male, so that we might be reminded leave Palestine on 14 May, 1948, and the of the subjectivity of the agency behind the withdrawal is set against increasing violence. filmmaking process.37 Naor's narration starts describing the Hagana's drafting and arming programs. In most episodes, the narration clearly subordinates the disjointed voices. The This section is significant for a few reasons. section describing events in Haifa, in April As far as the content goes, there are at least 1948, from Tor Ben Mayor's episode, "A two issues at hand: Meir's attitude to the Country on Its Way," is a good example. The Palestinian inhabitants, and the events that section starts with an interview with Yaakuba took place in Haifa. Haifa is an easy choice Cohen, an Oriental Jew who masqueraded as for compassionate portrayal; Morris claims an Arab on behalf of the Palmach intelligence that Haifa is the one exception to the pattern unit. Cohen stands in a deserted, decaying of expulsions, as the Jewish local authorities Haifa street, describing the hustle and bustle sincerely tried to convince the Arabs to of the market during the 1940s. A black and remain, but the Arab leadership decided to white photo illustrates his description. He go.38 More important though is Meir's known then comments on how he later ran into his hostility to the Palestinian problem. It was Palestinian friends from Haifa in the refugee she who met secretly with Jordan's King camps of Lebanon, and how sad it was to see Abdullah to try to divide Palestine between them starve, and to recognize the tragedy of Israel and Transjordan. In another episode, their people. Black and white photos of the Meir is shown giving a speech saying, "Who Arab residents of Haifa leaving are are these Palestinians? I am a Palestinian too. accompanied by the generic voiceover It's a fact, here, I still have my [British] narration of the show which says: "While the Palestinian passport." The segment from the Arab residents of Haifa were fleeing, Abba diary shows a different Golda: sensitive, Hushi and Shabtay Levi [mayor of Haifa] contemplative, and more importantly, aware urged them to stay. But the policy of the of Palestinian losses. Hagana was different." The narration never Tracing the connection between the explains in what way the policy was different Palestinian Nakba ("disaster" in Arabic), and or why. the Jewish Holocaust is a trendy issue of the While the refugees are waiting at the Haifa 1990s. Only recently has Israeli discourse port to be taken to Lebanon, Golda Meir, a started to publicly discuss the connection member of the people's council, comes to between the two events. But Golda's remark visit. An excerpt from her diary is read, in was written in 1948, therefore affirming both which she describes her tour of Arab Karsh and Morris' assertions that the downtown Haifa: "It is terrible to see the perspective was there all along and is not so dead city. I found by the port; kids, women "new".39 Aesthetically this segment is and men waiting for an exit route. I walked important because it exposes the way the into the houses. There were houses with fresh series refrains from addressing challenges to coffee and pita bread still left on the table. the dominant Israeli narrative. If the series And I couldn't without realizing that this was was intending to engage seriously the new probably the sight in many [Jewish] towns in historians' allegations, a statement like Meir's Europe a few years ago. Many questions should have been followed by some arose." The scene changes and a crackly commentary about the refugee problem. But

October19.p65 46 09/08/24, 10:31 Õ instead, the show moves on to talk about the Indeed, if the one who designs the historical rising Israeli death toll, a common Israeli journey begins it believing the moral excuse to avoid any serious discussion of justification was there, one is bound at the uncomfortable subject matter. Similarly, end of the journey to find what she believed issues surrounding Meir's complex character in all along. Berkovitz and Tekumah never and the contradiction this account presents to tried to question the "great" Zionist project, her traditional image are avoided. they just chose to describe it in 1990s fashionable lingo. The reason for this avoidance is all too clear. The series never attempts a serious examination of Israeli history (old or new), Dorit Naaman is a filmmaker and a film theorist from but is much more interested in providing the Jerusalem who teaches at Queen's University in 1990s version of the Zionist narrative. That Canada. She edited a special Fall 2000 issue of version does not foreground consensus Framework on Middle Eastern Media Arts and has figures like Gaon, and instead pretends to be published a number of essays on film and subjectivity. politically correct and multi-cultural. But at the end of the day, even though many voices Endnotes are foregrounded, they are not seriously 1 Morris, Benny, The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee asserted. Naor's voiceover narration Problem, 1947-1949 (Cambridge: Cambridge Univer- dominates all other voices with what seems to sity Press, 1988). be a neutral, but is actually an old and 2 Pappe, Ilan, Britain and the Arab Israeli Conflict, familiar Zionist narrative. That is, the 1947-1951 (London: St. Anthony's/MacMillan, 1988). conventional use of the objective tone from a 3 Morris, Benny. 1948 And After: Israel and the Palmachnik as the narrator, plus the content Palestinians (NY, NY: Oxford University Press, 1990) of his narration and the way the episodes are 7. edited, all subordinate the "new" perspectives 4 Megged, Aharon. "The Israeli Suicide Drive," to an old - and culturally grounded as Ha'aretz weekly magazine (10 June, 1994) 27, 92. authentic and reliable - voice. While the 5 Post-Zionism existed before the new historian debate series opens the stage to Palestinians arose, alongside anti-Zionism. Thinkers like Noam Chomsky and Albert Memmi have challenged Zionism (citizens, refugees and even fedayeen), on different grounds. A good example of these positions foreign workers, Oriental Jews, etc., their can be found in Weizfeld, Eibi (ed.) The End of Zionism voices are always bracketed or controlled by and the Liberation of the Jewish People (Atlanta, GA: a higher narrative level, that of the ideology Clarity Press, Inc., 1989). of the series. This (politically) outdated 6 Both Ariel Sharon (infrastructure minister at the time) aesthetic choice anchors the series in and Limor Livnat (minister of communications, and in charge of the national television) demanded the removal positivist agendas, while providing a veneer of the series, and eventually settled for studio discus- of post-modernism, which is then mistaken as sion of "problematic" episodes after the screening of post-Zionism. those same episodes. Ha'aretz, 16 March, 1998. Ronit Weiss Berkovitz, the director of the 7 Maariv. 15 March, 1998. All translation from the Hebrew press is mine. controversial episode on the PLO, "Biladi 8 Biladi," said, "I am convinced that openness For instance, Hadash, the joint Jewish-Arab commu- nist party has won five seats in the parliament in the to the 'other's' truth will not refute our truth. I 1996 and 1999 elections, increasing its three seats from am not afraid to examine our moral the previous term. These new votes came primarily justification. Our national strength will not be from Israeli-Jewish voters. weakened, the great Zionist project we have 9 See Morris, Benny. The Birth of the Palestinian built will not collapse."40 Refugee Problem, 1947-1949, op. cit.

October19.p65 47 09/08/24, 10:31 Õ 10 Morris, Benny. 1948 And After: Israel and the Israel's Palestinian citizens concerning Israel's Indepen- Palestinians, op. cit. 22-27. dence Day. 11 Ibid., 6. 35 I do not want to promote here the idea that one can 12 Shlaim, Avi. "The Debate About 1948," International only write/make films about one's self. On the contrary, Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 27, 3 (August 1995) I think that the meeting of different groups on the 289. different sides of artistic projects is welcome. However, issues of hegemony and power should be addressed, 13 Karsh, Efraim. Fabricating Israeli History: The 'New and given the situation in Israel (not just with regards to Historians,' (London: Frank Cass & Co. Ltd.) Palestinian sovereignty), the issue of self-representation 14 Ibid., 7. is doubly important. 15 Ibid., 35. 36 Kol Ha'ir, 20 March, 1998. 16 Morris, Benny. op. cit., 27. 37 The American documentarist Ken Burns, for instance, has chosen recognizable African-Americans to narrate 17 Until the wide use of television in the post WW II era, his latest series about jazz. Previously, in his famous 20-minute newsreels accompanied feature film Civil War and The West documentary series, the projections all over the world, and supplied the viewer narration was done by upper-class, northeastern male with visual, moving images of the weekly news. accented voices, with no consideration for the content 18 Flaherty was very close to his subjects, spending of the shows. years with them prior to, and during, the making of his 38 Morris. 1948 and After, op. cit. 18-21. films. His films exemplify the affection he developed for his subjects, and the trust they felt towards him. Yet 39 This testimony about the slightly more complex Flaherty's films romanticize and essentialise "primitive" attitude of Meir to the Palestinian Nakba is probably cultures in ways that are most problematic in ethnogra- missing from the official historical narrative, precisely phy today. because (to paraphrase Karsh) of the ocean waters that old historians choose to swim in. 19 Winston, Brian. Claiming the Real: The Documentary Film Revisited (London: BFI, 1995) 8. 40 Maariv Women, 29 March, 1998, 5. 20 Ibid., 6. 21 Barnow, Eric. Documentary: A History of Non- Fiction Film, 2nd Ed. (Oxford University Press, 1993) 91. 22 Ibid., 90. 23 Winston. op. cit., 205. 24 Nichols, Bill. Representing Reality (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1991) 150. 25 Eitzen, Dirk. "When is a Documentary?" Cinema Journal 35:1 (1995) 91. 26 Nichols. op. cit., 152. 27 Trinh T. Minh-ha. "The Totalizing Quest of Mean- ing," in Michael Renov (ed.) Theorizing Documentary (New York: Routledge, 1993) 90-107. 28 Minh-ha, op. cit. 29 Maariv. 15 March, 1998. 30 Ha'aretz. 16 March 1998. 31 Ha'aretz. 16 March 1998. 32 Maariv. 19 March, 1998. 33 Kol Ha'ir, 20 March, 1998. 34 The most obvious example is Nizar Hassan, who directed Istiklal, a documentary about the attitudes of

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