This Is My Land

Documentary-maker Tamara Erde served in the Israeli army and witnessed the second Intifada in 2002. This sowed the seeds of her film about how history is taught in Israel, in particular the representation of the conflict between Israel and Palestine. The Ministry of Education prohibited her from filming at state schools, so she filmed at independent schools instead – some of which have their own history books.
Erde spent a year filming in an observational style at eight schools, both in Israel and in the occupied territories. She visited a Talmudic school and a school in the Palestinian refugee camp at Nablus. Everywhere, teachers and their young pupils saw the recent history of the Middle East through ideologically tinted spectacles. The vast majority of the Israeli history books devote hardly any or no attention at all to the Palestinians, and Palestinian education is often characterised by the urge for freedom and human rights.

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