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The soldiers told him to get rid of the cows and when Jalal asked why, he was told that
the cows were a threat to national security and that it was a military order which he must abide without further questions.
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Unable to understand the logic behind the military order, Jalal decided to hide his 18 cows instead of getting rid of them.
The soldiers searched everywhere in Beit Sahour for Jalal’s cows and became increasingly frustrated in their struggle to find the “fugitives”.
The soldiers even put up “wanted” posters and imposed a curfew on the residents until the cows could be found.
Instead of being terrified, Jalal and the other residents in Beit Sahour were amused and joked about the ridiculous situation.
Jalal and his “fugitive” cows were part of a documentary screened at the sixth annual Kuala Lumpur-Palestine Film Festival (KLPFF) yesterday as protests across the world intensified over the recent decision by the United States President Donald Trump to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
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“Wanted 18”, directed by Amer Shomali and Paul Cowan, was one of the four documentaries presented in the annual event, which told the story of the hunt for the 18 wanted cows that took place because the Palestinian residents of Beit Sahour decided to form a collective and stop the purchase of milk from Israeli companies, as part of a boycott on Israeli taxation and commodities in the 1980s.
The annual event was held at Black Box at MapKL, Publika, in Kuala Lumpur. The other documentaries were “Coffee For All Nations”, “Open Bethlehem”, and “This is Palestine”.
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The documentaries give viewers a closer look at the impact of the ongoing Israeli-Palestine conflict since 1948 through the lens of independent Palestinian filmmakers.
The showed the struggles of the Palestinian community under Israel’s military occupation.
“Film is a great powerful tool to get the message across to the public, and is done with conscientious research to present the facts to the public so they can make an informed choice of what is right and wrong,” said Musa Nordin, who is the chairman of Viva Palestina Malaysia (VPM), the organiser of the film festival.
Musa said the films selected for the film festival were aimed at giving viewers a different perspective from what was presented in the mainstream media.
“What is in the mainstream media today is very nuanced towards the Zionist public, so I think there are independent producers who would like to present the truth in the documentaries and films made by the Palestinians themselves.”
“These films present the Palestinian cause as a humanitarian tragedy and not one that is ‘Muslims against the Jews’, or a religious conflict, but a humanitarian conflict that needs to be solved by the entire of humanity,” he said.
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In the previous film festivals, Musa said VPM was able to invite directors such as Ernad Burnat of “Five Broken Cameras from West Bank” and Yasmine Perni of “Stones Cry Out”, but the organisers were unable to invite any of the film directors this year.
VPM secretary Azra Banu said she was happy that the objectives of the event had been met, thanks to the magic of cinema.
She said the film festival was aimed at raising awareness about the situation on the ground in Palestine, to highlight the Palestinians’ day-to-day struggles and life under occupation, to show the Palestinians as ordinary people wanting to live ordinary lives, and to raise funds for specific projects.
Azra said a total of RM80,000 was raised from the event and it would be used to provide scholarships for Palestinian students.
“We had an encouraging turnout. Many complimented the selection of films and left understanding the issue a little better,” she said.
Azra also said this year’s KLPFF saw a bigger crowd than previous editions and she hoped the annual festival would keep drawing people in.
Meanwhile, one of those who attended KLPFF and watched “Wanted 18” and “Open Bethlehem” found the documentaries interesting.
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“I thought the documentaries were interesting, especially ‘Open Bethlehem’ because the theme of the movie was not about religious conflict but it was shown from the perspective of the Christian community in Palestine trying to reopen Bethlehem and attract more tourists to come,” said Adam Pathi, 24, an intern at a law firm.
He added that the film was great as it demonstrated that the Palestinian cause was not just one that belonged to Muslims but people of all religions.
“Open Bethlehem” is a documentary about the filmmaker, Leila Sansour, in her campaign to stop occupying Israeli forces surrounding her hometown, Bethlehem, with 25ft high concrete walls.
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