Paradise Behind Bars

Paradise Behind Bars tells the story of Palestinians and Israelis who want peace. It explores the impact of a military occupation on the individual and collective psyche as the Barrier Wall snakes its way through a land and its people. Through the filmmaker’s personal family stories, it shatters the myths of Palestinians and depicts their daily struggle.

I’m a Palestinian American. As most Americans, I was very apathetic and disinterested in Middle Eastern affairs. Then my father passed away and my mother wanted to visit her roots one last time. On that trip, I came face to face with my Palestinian roots. The problems, so remote on television news, finally became real to me. It was on that trip that I was moved to portray a different representation of the Palestinians. Who are they? What do they want? Why does the American media disparagingly present them as shepherds, angry stone throwers, and religious extremists? All this negative imagery presented to the average American was so out of synch with what I saw. I couldn’t stop asking Why isn’t anyone doing anything? The truth is that people are. There are untold heroes whose stories never make the headlines, Israelis and Palestinians whose wishes for peace in their homeland are never heard above the din of extremists on both sides. Then I had to look in the mirror and turn the question on myself. The answer was simple; I’ll do my part. This film is my answer.

Paradise Behind Bars is a film that looks at life with my mother’s Christian family in Bethlehem and Jerusalem over a 3-year period. A family of entrepreneurs, they owned hotels and a travel agency. On the first trip with my mother, life was good for the extended family – my three uncles, two aunts and cousins almost too numerous to count. There were tourists in the hotels, they could move with relative freedom through the checkpoints; they were making a living. When I returned, life was significantly different. They were no longer able to leave Bethlehem, the travel agency had no business, the hotels were empty and the Israeli army had occupied one. And still, much to my amazement, my family was passionate and articulate about peace for both sides.

Paradise Behind Bars also explores the parallel lives of Israelis who too live under siege. The film reveals the deep-seated insecurities and profound concerns of some Israelis: whether in settlement outposts, towns in the Occupied Territories, or in cities within Israel proper who feel their nationalist dreams under challenge through daily, grinding tensions caused by the occupation.

In English, we hear my family’s stories and the stories of real people on both sides, experts, sages, freedom fighters and peace workers. We learn how life has changed and how they are personally affected. What we discover is the reality of life in a no win situation and the ways in which people are working to make peace possible.

This production has unprecedented access to both Palestinians and Israelis through my professional connections with journalists, politicians and organizations in both the Israeli and Palestinian communities that promote peace -- organizations that are fighting for human rights and statehood for the Palestinians. As a four-time Emmy award-winning director and producer, I have used my connections to open doors that would not easily have been opened.