Unknown Palestinian from Bethlehem changed The North Face Logo 'WALLS ARE MEANT FOR CLIMBING' to 'BOMBING', reflecting his feelings about the apartheid wall and the logo's meaning. Before repainting the original again for Reel Rock's tour in 2022!
(captured by Momin, September 2021)
Many people have been wondering why 'Resistance Climbing’ wasn’t attractive in the eyes of Palestinian climbers. And why we didn't promote it before and after the war on Gaza. Here you will find the answer coming from our perspective!
After Reel Rock's journey in the occupied West Bank in 2022, they tried to shed light on both the climbing community in the occupied West Bank and the political situation in Palestine. The question is: Did they do it correctly?
This film sparked numerous disputes, particularly among the Palestinian community. When contrasted to the Ukrainian climbing film, it stood out for portraying Ukrainians as brave, resilient people with complete justification to fight for their land. Essentially, they represent and reflect American politics through their films. As is well known, Palestine and Ukraine are in similar situations, but we were portrayed as people with different rights and personalities. They were looking for specific characteristics that fit their narrative, which they had drawn before coming here.
We can say it was a good film from an American standpoint, but we criticize it because we want to represent our pointview that has been hidden intentionally by the film crew.
This article is a good message for many people, including film makers, journalists, and even Palestinian Americans, to avoid repeating the same mistakes in the future.
Here are some points why we don’t like the film:
Changing the history without mentioning the Nakba
Our biggest criticism concerns the film's introduction. Starting with disinformation about Israel's creation. It was presented as a legitimate Jewish immigration from Europe to Palestine following the holocaust. Which caused another ‘immigration’ for the Palestinians, who fled only to the West bank. As it was a normal event, with usage of the Holocaust as a justification, simply!
In fact, Palestine has been under continuous colonization since 1920. Palestinians were massacred during the catastrophe known as the Nakba in 1948 (the creation of Israel). Palestinian civilians were ethnically cleansed of their homes and land. More than 5 million Palestinian refugees live in refugee camps in the harshest conditions, both inside and outside of Palestine, with no right to return until today.
‘Welcome to Palestine’ starts at a checkpoint in the West Bank
Tim Bruns greeted Andrew Bisharat, saying "welcome to Palestine," at the Qalandia checkpoint in Ramallah. Why not in Jerusalem? Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine, not Ramallah! And Ramallah is not where Palestine begins. This was not a random mistake! Giving up one of our most important historical and religious sites is not acceptable to Palestinians. This even goes against international treaties, UN decisions, and our long-standing conflict.
Showed the film from a white savior view
Climbing began in Palestine as a business project not as it is shown in the film, but the film portrayed it as an aid project. Some of the producers showed how they fund the beduin with climbing gears, and they used the slogan 'From a bedouin to a climber' during and after the film.
At the end of the film, they cut out a Palestinian project manager and only showed the section where he said, 'without Tim, we wouldn't have all of this... referring to his project with children in the refugee camp.' That was not necessary to show the film that way! We all worked hard on the climbing project in Palestine, not one individual.
After the film, one of the film writers mentioned on a podcast how hard they worked to secure US visas for certain Palestinian climbers, and how a bedouin who had never seen a sink in his life and had no access to education (which is false) came to the US and they were amazed.
Bedouins were mistreated
The Bedouin culture was abused as another form of show. Bedouins are known to live a rural lifestyle and rely on livestock, therefore we weren't happy for the way they used them and their children as a scene. Portraying their private lives negatively was not sharp. They are part of our culture, just like any other Palestinian, and they are respected in our society. Nowadays, many Israeli settlers are attempting to steal this culture and convert to Bedouin life.
So we would like to correct the writer. The most marginalized people are those who reside in refugee camps, representing the third generation of refugees since the Nakba in 1948. Also, Bedouins residing near illegal Israeli settlements are often harassed and threatened with ethnic cleansing from their lands
These are the most Palestinians who continue to struggle today in the occupied West Bank, Gaza, and the diaspora!
Using Israeli media as source of their occupation
The use of Israeli zionist media in the film was incorrect and made no sense. It's like using the Russian media to discuss the Russian invasion! Please stop presenting Israel as a normal, democratic country. We are tired of the image that is attracting the Western eye, while it continues to damage our people. That effect reached a point where some Palestinian climbers decided it is OK to normalize with Israeli journalists or climbers. So we started to raise awareness as occupied to avoid normalizing the occupation! It is just not acceptable.
Following the film, one of the writers and producers from the States insisted to write an article on the same Israeli media. They connected us with an unprofessional journalist that came and interviewed us without mentioning the media she works for. Despite our rejection after knowing the real story, the journalist insisted on publishing our names, photos, and Wadi Climbing in a different perspective. They do not have the right to disrespect Palestinians by using their current situation to seek more achievement.
We were stereotyped and portrayed poorly
Palestine has historically been the world's most diverse and coexisted society. Today, we are in the highest literacy rate in the world. Before the Israeli occupation, all religions coexisted peacefully on the same piece of land. We have a wealthy culture that has survived despite Israeli attempts to eradicate it. More than that, Israelis are infamous for attempting to steal our traditional food, language, clothing, and even dances. This side of Palestine was rarely featured in films.
Instead, they arrived and addressed some of our societal issues as their main focus. Which fits the American story and audience. Because of that perception, many platforms and magazines all over the world broadcast the same stereotype.
Meanwhile, we witnessed how strong they showed the Ukrainians. This demonstrates that they simply follow US politics rather than trying to represent reality. For us, this is the story or propaganda that Israel used in the 1930s and 1940s to persuade Western countries that they are more civilized than us and hence deserve the land.
Intervening within the climbing community
The story teller decided to choose few climbers as representatives for all Palestinian climbers. That was inappropriate! It created additional complications on the ground. For instance, the Palestine Climbing Association doesn’t represent all the climbers. We did not vote for a president, or nominated someone to speak in the name of all the climbers. All of that came through Reel Rock’s intervention.
Excluding Wadi Climbing team
Wadi Climbing which was shut down and reopened by Palestinians in 2019, that was excluded from Reel Rock, and we don't know the actual reason. They came and took shots at the Wadi climbing gym, cutting off the Palestinians who are running the project and they decided to show Tim Bruns, who left Palestine in 2017 as the current manager!
And then we offered them a favor by bringing them around 30 climbers, some of whom were foreigners, to promote our activities and visit Palestine, but they also cut them off and focused on the story they created.
Using Gaza scene was wrongly presented
Using Gaza footage from the 2014 war was inappropriate and could mislead people. To properly comprehend and understand the situation, the Israeli occupation partitioned and divided Palestinian territories differently, And the chose Gazans to live in the lowest level among Palestinians.
Relatively, The situation in Gaza differs dramatically from Ramallah, where the climbing project began. And we noticed that the film director's connection was wrong and taken out of context.
Not mentioning that Golda Meir stole Bisharat Family’s house
Golda Meir was one of the first Israeli prime ministers, her famous statement after immigrating to Palestine was that 'there is no such thing called Palestinians'. She is one of the thieves who settled in Bisharat's family during the 1960s, she is considered a hero in the eyes of the zionists. For the writer, it was not worth grabbing the chance to mention her name as a thief and criminal who stole his family house!
Burqa story and the settlers were misused
The area where the settlers came to us is in a village called Burqa, which we covered it with another article. What they showed in the film is not what happened. True, we were threatened by Israeli settlers when we first started bolting the crags, but they didn't want to show that we continued until the job was completed, and we kept going to climb there. Sometimes it is not good to appear scared and given up, that will not lead to anything within our community. We shall continue to roam our land.
Not mentioning the Palestine Climbing Guidebook or to visit Palestine
After seeing the film, we realized they simply wanted to demonstrate that climbing in Palestine is impossible or dangerous. We disagree; we have worked tirelessly to encourage tourists to
visit the occupied Palestine, despite the fact that we are under occupation. At the very least, we expected Reel Rock to use their large platform to assist us invite more climbers to visit the occupied Palestine.
If people continue to visit Jerusalem, Jaffa, and what they call Tel Aviv, we want to bring them to see the truth and see apartheid on the ground. This is considered as an important tool to support the Palestinian economy and society, Rather than being isolated. That is why the film was not helpful for us in this direction.
Conclusion
Finally, despite the fact that Reel Rock and its crew were aware of these concerns since they released the film. They never apologized or made any effort to resolve it. We must state clearly that there was a successful effort supporting Palestine behind the film. And we want people to continue talking about Palestine, but in a way that represents the whole Palestinian perspective.
This article has the good objective to avoid these blunders in the future!
