Each war in the Middle East is very similar to the previous one because we have been in a loop for about 75 years, but the effects are getting worse. Break what has already been broken, wound the wound that has not healed, kill those who still mourned their dead.
The documentary “Born in Gaza” on Filmin was made by the filmmaker, author and war reporter Hernan Zin, produced by Jon Sistiaga and singer Bebe, shortly after the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip in 2014. It is powerful because it brings together the testimonies of a dozen Gazan children between the ages of 11 and 14 who recount the horrors , which they experienced with a shocking steadfastness. With a rough style, without narrative or apostilles, just a few data about the situation in this hell of overcrowding, violence and blockade for two million Palestinians.
One of these children collects plastic from the landfill for one euro a day and is the sole breadwinner for his family. Another searches for some of his possessions in the rubble of the former family home. One innocently explains how she was injured: “My insides came out,” but assumes she was lucky because others can’t tell. An ambulance driver’s son cannot understand that his father was killed trying to help other victims if he was a hero. Someone saw the death of his older brother and can’t get him out of his head because he often dreams about him. Another boy lost three of his cousins who were shot while playing soccer on the beach. He tried to jump off the roof, but his sister held him. We heard: “I wish I could go to school without bombs. Like the other children in the world.”
Some manage to play on the swings again and have fun with their friends, even if just for a while. others are incapable because they have suddenly become old. Almost all of these children aspire to higher careers than anyone their age would say: doctor, teacher, agricultural engineer, fisherman, ambulance driver like Dad. Only one person says without hesitation: “I want to join the resistance to do justice to my cousins.” The fear remains that the latter will be the only one to put his plans into action.
Filmed in 2014, these children are now adults; You will be almost twenty. They wonder what happened to them. In a place where half the population is under 18, the next fifth will also be resentful. Some will be ready for anything. That doesn’t justify anything. It helps to understand it. It’s called context. There were, are and will be more victims than executioners.
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