Palestine 36 Fundraiser

Twelve years before the Nakba that founded the Israeli state in 1948, Palestine rose in revolt against British colonial control and growing Zionist domination.

From 1936 to 1939, workers went on strike and, alongside fellahin (peasant farmers), took up arms for national liberation.

It was a threat to the British Empire, which sought control of the region to pillage its oil reserves and to safeguard shipping routes to India, the jewel in the imperial crown.

And it challenged the expansion of the Zionist colonial settler movement.

The story is told magnificently in Palestine 1936, a film by Annemarie Jacir, a Palestinian born in Bethlehem and a founding member of the Palestinian Filmmakers Collective.

The film had its world premiere in Toronto to a 20-minute standing ovation. Israel banned a showing in Jerusalem.