| The First Film of Palestine | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Murray Rosenberg |
| Written by | Murray Rosenberg |
Release date |
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Running time | 29 minutes |
| Country | Ottoman Palestine |
| Languages | Silent English intertitles |
The First Film of Palestine is a 1911 documentary film made in Ottoman Palestine. The documentary is a short travelogue created by Murray Rosenberg, who served as Honorable Secretary of the English Zionist Federation. It is the earliest full film created in Palestine and the earliest Zionist film. [1]
The film is the earliest to have been shot entirely in Palestine, however, the French filmmaker Alexandre Promio, an employee of Auguste and Louis Lumière, had previously filmed a few short scenes in Jerusalem and Jaffa in April 1897. The Lumière brothers continued to send employees to film during the 1890s and 1900s. As in other Arab countries, early cinema in Mandatory Palestine was initiated by foreign visitors. [2]
The documentary consists of short scenes filmed in Palestine. Rosenberg dedicated the film to Theodor Herzl. The film has been preserved by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Spielberg Jewish Film Archive. [3] Murray Rosenberg's film collection was donated to the Spielberg Jewish Film Archive in April 2005 by his nephew Cyril Levene and his wife Suzie Levene of Jerusalem. [1]
Zionism is an ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in Europe in the late 19th century and aimed for the establishment of a Jewish state through the colonization of a land outside Europe. With the rejection of alternative proposals for a Jewish state, it focused on the establishment of a homeland for the Jewish people in Palestine, a region corresponding to the Land of Israel in Judaism, and of central importance in Jewish history. Zionists wanted to create a Jewish state in Palestine with as much land, as many Jews, and as few Palestinian Arabs as possible. Following the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, Zionism became Israel's national or state ideology.
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The World Zionist Organization, or WZO, is a non-governmental organization that promotes Zionism. It was founded as the Zionist Organization at the initiative of Theodor Herzl at the First Zionist Congress, which took place in August 1897 in Basel, Switzerland. The goals of the Zionist movement were set out in the Basel Program.
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The Nakba is the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian Arabs through their violent displacement and dispossession of land, property, and belongings, along with the destruction of their society and the suppression of their culture, identity, political rights, and national aspirations. The term is used to describe the events of the 1948 Palestine war in Mandatory Palestine as well as the ongoing persecution and displacement of Palestinians by Israel. As a whole, it covers the fracturing of Palestinian society and the long-running rejection of the right of return for Palestinian refugees and their descendants.