Challenge No. 71
January, 2002

"Not In My Garden" in their Garden

Nir Nader

After screenings in all of Israel's cinematheques and in festivals abroad, "Not in My Garden", a documentary by Video '48, has been shown in the city of Carmiel. The event had a special piquancy, because Carmiel's treatment of the unrecognized village of Ramya is the theme of the film.
The initiative came from one of Carmiel's young people, who had heard about this documentary that criticized his city and its mayor, Adi Eldar. Fifty youngsters, as well as three people from Ramya, gathered in a club belonging to a youth movement. The film evoked strong feelings and much applause.
Carmiel, which numbers some 40,000, arose in 1964 on lands that Israel confiscated from Arab villages as part of a project to "judaize" Galilee. (The term "judaization" was coined by Israeli officials, who seek to swing the demographic balance in central Galilee toward the Jewish side.) In 1976 the first Rabin government undertook a further wave of confiscations, provoking a day of Arab protest - observed ever since by Arabs as "Land Day". Ramya's lands were included in the confiscation, although the villagers did not find out until 1991. In that year of massive immigration from the Soviet Union, they received an order to vacate the area, which was slated to be (in the words of the government) "an immigrant neighborhood" of Carmiel. Thus one group of Israeli citizens, who had title to the land and had lived there for over a century, was to be ousted in favor of another, consisting of newcomers - the difference being that the former group was Arab, the latter Jewish.

HaNitzotz Publishing House (to which Challenge belongs) began a public campaign for Ramya, which has continued to this day. In 1995, the Israel Lands Authority (ILA) made a deal with the Ramyans, promising them an Arab neighborhood within Carmiel on the edge of their lands. This agreement has never been implemented. A month ago, however, the ILA made separate agreements with a few of Ramya's residents. These make no mention of the promised neighborhood, but deal only with monetary compensation. The private agreements signify a breach of promise on the part of the ILA, which had earlier treated the Ramyas as a group deserving a collective solution.

During the first public campaign for Ramya in the early nineties, no residents from Carmiel took part. For this reason, at a time when the authorities are going all out to break the villagers' resistance, the screening of "Not In My Garden" has added significance.
When the film was over that night in Carmiel, a discussion began, lasting more than two hours. One of the young women asked, "What can we do?" From that moment the talk turned to practical measures. It's not surprising that the initiative comes from high-school pupils born in Carmiel. Ever since October 2000, when the new Intifada spread to Israel, these pupils have been asking themselves hard questions about the country they live in. They don't automatically accept the "judaization of Galilee" as a policy goal. The event in Carmiel reflects a broader picture, where growing numbers of Israeli youth have ceased to identify with Zionism, seeking independent answers to questions of equality and justice.

"Not In My Garden" is to be screened again at the Hague Festival on February 16 at 17:00 at the Film House, Den Haag.