The Heart of Jenin

Asia Pacific Premiere

The long standing Israeli-Palestinian conflict has made many of us complacent and unresponsive; it takes an extraordinary story to jolt us out of the status quo. The Heart of Jenin is one such story.

In November 2005, Ahmed Khatib, a twelve-year-old Palestinian boy, was playing with a plastic gun in the Jenin refugee camp on the West Bank when an Israeli soldier, mistaking the toy for a weapon, shot and killed him. In the midst of his grief, his father Ismael had a moment of clarity and consented to donate his son’s organs to six Israelis, who would otherwise have no chance of survival. Thanks to this act of humanity, four of those children, each from a different part of Israeli society, are alive today.

With great sensitivity, Academy Award winning director, Leon Geller, and co-director Marcus Vetter explore the complexities and the sorrow dividing Israel and the West Bank. Centre to the story is Ismael, who has lived his whole life under occupation. He joined the resistance during the first Intifada, spent time in an Israeli prison but eventually gave up fighting to focus on his family. He has lost two businesses to the conflict. You feel the frustration and pain as the family is prevented from travelling across the border for their memorial commemorations of Ahmed’s death. In spite of all these troubles and the death of his son, he maintains a willingness to seek peace through his own means. His journey is a triumph of the heart.

This is a heart-breaking documentary that leaves a legacy of hope.