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| Why They Kill By Virginia Baron Paradise
Now “WHY DO THEY do it?” “Why are they willing to kill innocent victims?” We’ve all heard people ask these questions about suicide bombers. Maybe we’ve asked them ourselves. Paradise Now, a film about two friends living in the West Bank city of Nablus who have been recruited to be suicide bombers, doesn’t talk about “waiting virgins in afterlife” or the “Islamic imperative to kill.” Rather, Abu-Assad, the Amsterdam-based Palestinian director whose last film was Rana’s Wedding, has made a film about real life in occupied Palestine. It was so real that shooting of Paradise Now was begun in Nablus during an Israeli army incursion. After dodging bullets and sustaining a kidnapping episode, the crew moved to Nazareth to finish the film. Paradise Now is the story of Khaled and Said, young Palestinians leading dull lives, working dull jobs, and with no future in sight beyond the daily humiliations and limitations of life under occupation. Best friends who had signed up to be human bombs, they receive word that their turn has come. We go through the preparations: the martyr videos, the photos, the training, and the strapping on of bombs. But the operation goes wrong and must be put off. Suha, a woman who is fond of Said, learns of his plans and tries to talk him out of going through with it. Each man has his reasons for deciding what he will do. There is nothing sentimental here; even the politics meld into existential realities of life under occupation. Camus would have appreciated this film. Is the goal—killing one’s enemies in whatever way one can—worth dying for? Do these random acts of violence achieve their aim? Is it realistic to place this tactic in a less ethical category than dropping bombs or targeted executions that also claim the lives of innocent victims? Is it possible to understand why people are willing to become suicide bombers? Perhaps more to the point: What will it take to end the violence between Israelis and Palestinians? When asked about this, writerdirector Abu-Assad told a New York Times reporter, “Without the principle that the Palestinians are equal to the Israelis, sharing the land, water, money, everything, you will never end this fight … As long as you see you are inferior and the Israelis are the boss, you will fight again.” This excellent film, which has won several international awards, is scheduled to be shown in 45 countries including the United States and Israel. Virginia Baron is a member of the NVA Publications Committee. She is a frequent traveler to the Middle East and writes about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict for several publications. |
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