Going home [Widescreen]

A Palestinian/UK co-production produced and directed by Palestinian born Omar Al-Qattan about the memories of a former British soldier, Major Derek Cooper, during the final days of the British abandonment of the Palestinian Arabs in their struggle against the occupying Jewish militia in Jaffa in Palestine in 1948. In the director’s words “Going Home is an attempt to pose the question of memory - whether Arab, Jewish or British - as a central issue in any dialogue which is to lead to a lasting and just peace in the region.” Through Major Cooper’s reminiscings and personal stories, the viewer is given an insight into the historical background of the Jewish Arab conflict from the years of British rule and involvement through to the Jewish immigration after WWII, the UN Partition Plan of 1947/48, the setting up of the State of Israel, the expulsion and dispossession of over three quarter million Palestinian Arabs, the battle of Jaffa and the subsequent establishment of refugee camps along the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Also provides the Jewish and Palestinian perspectives through interviews with academics and historians, with Jews who fought with the Jewish underground militias in the battle for Jaffa and with Palestinian refugees living in the camps. Contains stills, archival and newsreel footage. In Arabic and English with English subtitles.