We shall return

Synopsis

Filmed over three years, We Shall Return documents Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in the West Bank through the stories of over 11 Palestinian communities facing forcible transfer, using a visceral blend of 360° cinematography and raw phone and handycam footage filmed by Palestinian residents and activists. The narrative follows three protagonists at different stages of dispossession: Jaber, who remains on his land despite continued attacks and home demolitions, ‘Alya, who has endured multiple displacements; and the Hreizat family, who were forced to dismantle their home and move. By juxtaposing daily life with the violence of settler militias and Israeli forces, the film reveals a landscape and people under constant threat and a policy aimed at eliminating Palestinian existence. It is a haunting, unfiltered record of a world being erased, subtly framed by the very intimidation the film crew faced to capture this reality.

Statement

During the making of Raj’in (We Shall Return), Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in the West Bank unfolded before our eyes. We documented over 30 Palestinian shepherding communities, most of which were forcibly displaced throughout filming. We witnessed landscapes being erased and entire villages emptied of their inhabitants under constant threat and attacks by settler militias and Israeli forces. Over those three years, Israel forcibly displaced more than 60 communities. We met people and families who opened their homes and hearts to us in moments of deep uncertainty and fear. They allowed us into their lives and into the devastating reality of being forced to dismantle their own homes and leave. For them, the Nakba, during which Israel displaced more than 700,000 Palestinians and destroyed hundreds of towns and villages, is not a distant history, but a lived reality. Still, all held the same hope: to return one day to their home they had been forced to leave behind. The film emerged from an attempt to document lives and places before, during, and after their destruction; to place viewers inside the reality of ethnic cleansing as it happens; and to bear witness to what Israel is deliberately trying to erase, transform, and make forgotten.

Credits

Director

Faiz Abu Rmeleh, Keren Manor

Production

NowHere Media (Gayatri Parameswaran, Felix Gaedtke), B’Tselem (Ehab Tarabieh)

Running Time

24'

Language

Arabic, English

Country

Germany, Palestine

Main Cast

Jaber ‘Ali Dawabseh, ‘Alya Mleihat, Family of Hreizat

Screenplay

Keren Manor, ‘Alya Mleihat, Gayatri Parameswaran

Editor

Jan Burghardt, Keren Manor, Christian Möller

Music

Billy Mello

Sound

Billy Mello

Art directors

Faiz Abu Rmeleh, Keren Manor

Lead designer

Margarita Gehl

Voice over cast

Yassir Abdel-Hafez, Maryam Abu Khaled, Abed Abu Rmeleh, Faiz Abu Rmeleh, Raya Abu Rmeleh, Asia Alkharouf, Dibs Amr, Shukri ‘Ashu, Jamal Dajani, Nour Manor Lauken, Shaul Mograbi Berger, Nahla Mujahed