Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, March 1998, Pages 94-96

California Chronicle

Israeli-Arab Filmmaker's "Milky Way" Gets Rave Reviews in Los Angeles Israeli Film Festival

By Pat and Samir Twair

Normally, we probably wouldn't have attended the Israeli Film Festival which is in its 14th year in Los Angeles. But when Los Angeles Times film critic Kevin Thomas wrote that an entry by a Palestinian (or Israeli Arab to be politically correct) entitled "The Milky Way," was "stunning" and "superbly directed," we had to see it.

Meir Fenigstein, the director of the Israeli Film Festival, couldn't have been more helpful. Most of the Israelis at the viewing seemed to be protective and proud of Ali Nassar, who wrote and directed "Milky Way." Wearing jeans and a plaid sports shirt, the bearded Nassar shyly shook hands with us before the screening of his brand new feature film.

The film deals with Palestinian villagers during 1964, the final year of Israeli military occupation in the Galilee.

"I had to show this terrible period," Nassar said. "I was a child at the time, I remember the terror I felt while working in the fields and seeing a military patrol approaching. Some people didn't like it when they learned I was writing about the military occupation and that I had received a government grant to make the film."

After Oslo and before the election of Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli government made a few grants to Palestinian projects. Nassar was the first Israeli-Arab filmmaker to receive assistance from the Fund for the Promotion of Israeli Quality Films sponsored by the Ministries of Education and Culture and Industry and Trade.

Nassar started filming "The Milky Way" in January 1996 and completed it that November. The final edited copy was released in May 1997. Two months later he received first prize for script writing at a Jerusalem festival. The film has been officially accepted as an entry in the Berlin Film Festival which opens in February.

"The Milky Way" has been a long time in the making. After receiving his master of fine arts degree in filmmaking from Moscow University in 1981, Nassar returned to his home village of Araba in the Galilee. While working as a photojournalist for a newspaper in Haifa, he established a theater group in Araba. His first film, "The Story of the City by the Beach," was a 1983 documentary about Jaffa. His first feature film, "The Nursemaid," was produced 10 years later in Romania.

"The Milky Way" is named for the constellation which villagers look up to as a path leading from oppression. The plot is rich with lovable and not-so-lovable characters trying to cope with hostile Israeli military police and a corrupt Arab mukhtar (Makram Khoury).

The village simpleton, Mabruq (Suheil Haddad), was traumatized in 1948 when he witnessed the massacre of his parents by Zionist terrorists. Now he lives in a tin shed and runs errands for a living. His hero is the village blacksmith, Mahmoud (Muhammad Bakri), who looks out for him and tries to protect him from the cruelty of the mukhtar's self-serving son.

Mabruq is in love with Jamilah (Mihaela Mitraki), who also was deranged by the massacre of her family. The two look at each longingly from afar but it is clear society would never allow them to marry.

The plot thickens as the mukhtar's son tries to claim schoolteacher Suad (Amal Murkus) in marriage. But she and Mahmoud already are in love.

The test of any film is how much the viewer becomes involved with the characters on screen. "The Milky Way" clearly generates emotional involvement from the audience. Viewers become tense when the Israeli military governor pressures the mukhtar to produce the person who is forging work permits for the villagers.

Throughout the film, the audience sympathizes with Mabruq, who is tortured by memories of his parents' murders, which we see in flashbacks. This simpleton lacks the duplicity to feign respect for his oppressors and his bawdy descriptions of the Israelis cheer the villagers as the film moves toward an inevitable tragedy.

Commented noted Syrian-American filmmaker Moustapha Akkad: "Ali Nassar represents a new generation of Palestinian filmmakers capable of telling the national tragedy of their people. 'The Milky Way' excels in expressing the motivations of the characters during the final days of the Israeli military occupation of the Galilee."

Inasmuch as he was portraying a Galileean village of 1964, Nassar said he had to film most of the village scenes on the West Bank, where many villages still do not have electricity or water. The star of the film, Muhammad Bakri, whom Nassar refers to as a Palestinian Clint Eastwood, makes a convincing star-crossed lover who stares down Israeli interrogators with his penetrating blue eyes. The tall actor with the craggy face contrasts with the pudgy Suheil Haddad, who won out over 10 character actors for the part of Mabruq.

Director Nassar still lives in his home village with his wife and three children aged 12, 11 and 6. His son had a bit part in "Milky Way" as the young Mabruq during flashbacks of the massacre.

"I just hope I can make films as wonderful as my children," Nassar exclaims. He also gives credit for much of his success to his cameraman, Amnon Saloman, whom he refers to as "an Israeli Jew with a big soul."

His next film project?

The working title is "Nine Months" and "it deals with the birth of peace for Palestinian people who have been suffering for the past 100 years," Nassar explains.

Would he like to make films outside Israel?

"I want to stay on my land in my village. It is better to make small films that portray the true Palestinian—not the religious fanatic or terrorist—but the Palestinian who is seeking dignity and peace."

A brief question-and-answer session with Nassar was offered through translators after the screening. An irate woman shouted it was wrong for him to have portrayed Israeli soldiers as oppressors. She was shouted down by Israelis who said their country is a democracy and filmmakers are not censored. Later, a Palestinian woman walked up to the angry woman, took her hand and assured her even worse things are happening to the Palestinians daily in Hebron, Jerusalem and all West Bank cities.

Palmdale Mosque Opens

It was a veritable Who's Who of the Southern California Muslim community when more than 350 Muslims and government dignitaries gathered Jan. 3 for the dedication ceremony of the American Islamic Institute of the Antelope Valley (AIIAV) in Palmdale. More than 5,000 Muslims live in the aerospace-centered desert community northeast of Los Angeles, and prior to the opening of the Palmdale facility the devout had to drive miles to the nearest mosque in Lancaster or rent a building for communal prayers.

Under the guidance of UCLA computer science professor Gaber Mohammed, the AIIAV launched a fund drive with a total of $500 in June 1993. Construction of the 6,200-sq.-ft. mosque began Dec.7, 1996. The $500,000 mosque—which in addition to the prayer hall contains offices, a kitchen, dining area, a baby-sitting area and reading and library rooms—was completed one year later, on Dec. 8, 1997.

Among those on hand for the ceremony were Palmdale Mayor James Ledford and representatives of Republican Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon and California state Sen. Pete Knight.

Kamal al-Khatib, who is vice president of AIIAV, says the next phase of construction will be a 35-to-40-ft. minaret which has been approved by the zoning board. This is a contrast to Los Angeles County, where building codes forbid a minaret tower. Amjad Hanbli is architect of the single-story mosque complex.

Also planned is a 2,700-sq.-ft. school which will offer instruction from kindergarten through the sixth grade. In addition to a California state-accredited curriculum, Arabic and Islamic studies will be offered.

AIIAV also has purchased 20 acres of land for a Muslim cemetery 25 miles north of Palmdale in Rosamond. Al-Khatib reports the cemetery has been approved by the Kern County Planning and Zoning Commission.

Crystal Cathedral Cool to Reminders of Iraqis' Plight

Christmas Eve worshippers at Robert Schuller's Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove were surprised to observe a candlelight vigil of 60 demonstrators protesting the plight of the Iraqi people who are suffering from prolonged United Nations sanctions, reports Sheila Cassidy. The vigil was sponsored by the Los Angeles office of the International Action Center. Demonstrators handed out IAC publications including the book The Children Are Dying and Metal of Dishonor, a publication including papers by scientists concerned over the more than a million sanctions-related deaths in Iraq.

Some reactions to the vigil were as chilly as the weather. One man asked the demonstrators why they were protesting "something good." While a few worshippers purposely walked away from the vigil, others requested information packets which were given to those who requested them. One demonstrator, who asked not to be named, told Cassidy she donates her monthly social security check to a relief organization and said she deplored the lack of U.S. media coverage on the suffering of the Iraqi people, for whom no relief is in sight because U.S. officials have said sanctions will not be lifted until Saddam Hussain no longer is in power.

L.A. Bingo King Sends His Profits to Extremists in Israel

No matter the violence and bloodshed he's caused in Israel, right-wing American Zionist supporter Irving Moskowitz continues to win accolades from residents of the bankrupt town of Hawaiian Gardens because of his handouts. What the people refuse to recognize is that by allowing him to operate a bingo club in their one-square-mile city, they enable him to turn over millions of dollars in profits to Jewish extremists in Israel while also turning over an infinitesimal amount to keep the tiny Southern California city running—barely.

When the Hawaiian Gardens police department voiced its disapproval of Moskowitz's bingo operation, the police department was disbanded for lack of revenues. After lengthy legal battles, Moskowitz also was given the go-ahead in early December to open a card club in the tiny Los Angeles suburb.

Moskowitz's power must be stupendous because complaints about his tactics made to the area's representatives in Congress and the State Assembly as well as State Attorney Dan Lungren all went unanswered.

So while Meron Benvenisti, former deputy mayor of Jerusalem, condemns Moskowitz for the millions of dollars he lavishes on Jewish militants intent on ridding Jerusalem of Palestinians, residents of Hawaiian Gardens ignore American, Israeli and Palestinian protests against Moskowitz, who this year gave away some 500 Christmas turkeys and 2,000 toys in Hawaiian Gardens. The pittance seemed enough to pacify the natives while he exported profits of his sleaze kingdom overseas to finance the dispossession of Palestinians from their homes.

Muslim Arab Youth Association Convenes

The newly completed Ontario Convention Center was the venue for this year's Muslim Arab Youth Association conference over the Christmas weekend. In previous years, reports Sheila Cassidy, MAYA sponsored two regional conferences annually, but the new convention complex easily accommodated the 1,200 conventioneers who were joined by several hundred more MAYA members driving in from Los Angeles.

Under the theme, "The Islamic Civilization as an Alternative in the 21st Century and Our Expected Role," the conferences offered panel discussions and speeches in Arabic and English. Southern California scholars Dr. Ahmad Sakr, Dr. Hassan Hathout and Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi participated in a panel focusing on "Interactions with Other Religions." One of the more popular lectures was entitled "Islam in American Public Schools," presented by Shabir Mansouri. For those interested in the start of the lunar month of Ramadan, Muslim astronomer Dr. Ahmad Salamah explained the process of discerning the new moon which signals the start of the month of daylight fasting.

Moroccan Artist Has L.A. Connections

The romantic paintings of Salah-Eddine Chaoui can be seen in nearly every permanent exhibition in Morocco, be they in museums, hotels or government offices. He also has participated in exhibitions in Paris, London, Copenhagen and Stockholm. Now he is looking for a gallery in Los Angeles where he visits his son, Abdelouahed, who is studying for a Ph.D. in engineering at the University of Southern California.

Chaoui lives in the picturesque inland city of Marrakech, where he has a gallery in his home, and his works are on permanent exhibition at the newly opened Museum of Marrakech.

At the age of 18, Chaoui's work was exhibited in Casablanca and caught the attention of master French artist Jean Cottier. The older artist offered the aspiring Moroccan painter a room in which to work and study, but insisted the young man pursue his own naive style. Chaoui says his approach to art has changed over the years. He began with what he calls a "violent" style as he tried to portray on canvas the inequities of life.

Whereas at 18 it was difficult for him to accept the poverty and ills that befall mankind, Chaoui says he slowly developed a style of symbolism, a reconciliation with life as it is. This was followed by his "light" phase which has evolved into his current "mystique" period.

Chaoui says he has been influenced by the romanticism of William Turner, the impressionism of C³zanne and the unique qualities of Picasso.

One of his earlier works, entitled "Tragedy of Flooding," was purchased in 1969 in Casablanca by the Greek ambassador to Morocco. The envoy had purchased it as a gift for his then-brother-in-law, Aristotle Onassis. The monumental painting depicted life-size figures fleeing from a flood with water to their knees. "There was a lot of light in the painting from the moon and reflections in the water from the torches carried by the victims," the artist commented.

Mist is a characteristic of Chaoui's latest works. "I don't define figures, I leave that to the viewers' imaginations. I hope they see these images as something in a dream. The overall impression should be of mystery. After all, we are all living in a mystery."

In a work entitled "Piété" (Worship), soft, blurry figures pray inside a mosque. In "Lumière d'un matin" (Morning Light), an Arab walks in a towering labyrinth of arches.

The romanticism of his painting belies the struggle Chaoui's family endured during Morocco's struggle for independence. His sister, Touria, was the first woman aviator in Morocco. She earned her pilot's license at the age of 16 in 1952 and was honored by the king. Touria was an actress as well, as befitted the daughter of Abdelouahed Chaoui, a screenwriter and playwright.

Touria also was a leader in the women's movement for independence. On March 1, 1956 while the artist, then 11, sat in the backseat of a car driven by his sister, she was assassinated by a collaborator with the French. The murderer walked to the driver's window and fatally shot the 19-year-old Touria in the neck.

No wonder Chaoui's first phase of painting focused on violence.

On his latest trip to Los Angeles, Chaoui told the Washington Report that his son was going to drive him to Las Vegas. It is mind- boggling to think of the motifs Chaoui may create after viewing the neon city that stretches everyone's imagination—let alone an artist's.

His work can be viewed on a Web site at www-scf.usc.edu/~chaouiar

Debut of Arab Culture Group

The newly organized Arab American Foundation for Culture and Arts staged its initial program Jan. 18 with a concert by the Middle East Ensemble of the University of California at Santa Barbara. Founder Osama Taher says the objective of the foundation is to introduce the mainstream American public to the culture and arts of the Arab people. Exhibitions, poetry readings and stage productions will be offered by the group, whose second event will be a one-woman show by humorist Emily Shihadeh.

More than 350 aficionados of Arabic music were on hand for the Jan. 18 concert in the La Mirada Theater. Under the direction of UCSB ethnomusicology professor Scott Marcus, the 40-member ensemble offered classical "maqams," signature songs of Umm Kulthum and Fayrouz and folkloric dances.