Lemon Tree: An X-Ray Analysis of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.

Lemon Tree is more than a movie, is an experience. This 2008 Israeli drama movie shows the secret ambit of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: the everyday life. We are used to see news reports about bombings, terrorists attacks, and government retaliations; but we are not used to see how Palestinians try to survive everyday under the Israeli regime. The conflict, which started in 1948, forced Palestinians to migrate inside and outside the newly created territory called "Israel." Palestinians, who were the majority of the population, became a minority, and many of the Israeli leaders tried to deny the existence of Palestinians. 

The conflict has been developed in multiple stages, but after almost 70 years of fighting, these two groups have become mortal enemies. This hatred is not always shown through violent means, but discrimination is a general rule. Palestinians believe that they have the right to own the land, because they were in the territory before Israel was created. Israelis believe they have the divine right to own this biblical land. There is no way to determine who is right and who is wrong. The most logical solution is find the way in which these two ethinc, religious and cultural groups live peacefully with each other. However, after many years of conflict, this is nearly impossible. 

Israelis became the strongest force in the territory. They have control over all the Palestinians. Israel determines each detail of the Palestinians' lives. And this paradigm is shown in the movie. Salma is a Palestinian widow that is forced to renounce to her lemon trees when an Israeli minister moves next to her. According to the Israeli Secret Service, her trees represented a threat for the minister's security. Salma trys to fight this injustice, however, she is forced to cut her threes down to 30 centimeters. 

It did not matter that the lemon trees represented her way to achieve some sort of economic welfare, the Israeli Supreme Court determined, in a wider general sense, that the minister's interests were more important than hers. This cannot be more true. Today in Israel, and after the invation and control of the West Bank and Gaza, Palestinians are forced to do whatever the Israelis tell them to do. Their lives are the result of a detrimental and unfair way to gain power at any cost. The lemons in this movie are the representation of all that has been lost by the Palestines because of the harsh Israeli policies.

I truly recommend to watch this movie, It is the summary of the social tragedy in this zone of the world.

Image taken from: "Lemon Tree: Extra Large Review."

Lemon Tree. Dir. Eran Riklins. Perf. Haim Abbass, Ali Suliman, Rona Lipaz-Michael, Doron Tavory. IFC Films, 2008. Film.