H2: The Occupation Lab
Along a one-kilometer-long road in the heart of the Palestinian city of Hebron lies H2, a neighborhood with a Jewish settlement closely guarded and highly surveilled by the Israeli military. At the end of this stretch of road lies the Cave of the Patriarchs, where Jews and Muslims believe their common father Abraham is buried. This is where both the Hebron Massacre of 1929 took place and where the policy of ethnic separation was first implemented by the Israeli military. Rich with the history of both Jews and Muslims and the only city in the State of Palestine with a Jewish settlement, H2 has acted as both a microcosm for the entire conflict and as a laboratory for the methods of control implemented by the Israeli occupation of the West Bank for over fifty years.
H2: THE OCCUPATION LAB is a clear-eyed case study using archival footage and interviews to tell the city's history and how it has fueled the entire Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
- "H2: The Occupation Lab leaves us in shock and deep thought about human nature – a traditional narration, presenting historical events unfolding in scope of over 50 years, well researched and richly documented from various points of view, once again proves its effectiveness in moving minds and hearts."
- "As the title indicates, Hebron was and is a laboratory for the methods used throughout the West Bank, and H2 makes the cruelty of those methods painfully clear."
- "There’s no overt case-pleading in the dispassionate assembly of materials here. But a furious gist emerges still, of a methodical, hostile long-term takeover amidst escalating violence and chaos on both sides. Important viewing...."
- "Timing is everything. H2: The Occupation Lab‘s timing, couldn’t have come at a better time. How the hell did we get here?...The film attempts to document what it sees as the slow and pervasive way in which the land H2 was slowly taken over (or stolen) by the Israelis. What started as an honest attempt to share this section of the city over the years became what the Palestinians believe is a laboratory for Israel to seize land from underneath the Palestinians. In other words, the tactics Israel learned in Hebron, they then used in other territories along the West Bank."
Awards & Recognition
Best Israeli Film
DocAviv Film Festival
Asian Perspective Award
DMZ Int'l. Documentary Film Festival
Zurich Film Festival
Int'l. Film Festival & Forum on Human Rights Geneva
Other Israel Film Festival
Sedona International Film Festival
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