From 2013 to 2015 during the Syrian revolution, Bashar Al-Assad’s regime besieged a district of Damascus called Yarmouk Camp, home to the largest Palestinian refugee camp in the world. During the siege, the district was sealed off—no one could enter or leave. Civilians were deprived of food, water, electricity, and medicine as the district was ravaged by barrel bombs. Many died of starvation. Amidst a bleak situation, Yarmouk resident and filmmaker Abdallah Al-Khatib captured the hope and resilience of his community in his debut feature, Little Palestine, Diary of a Siege.
Born and raised in Yarmouk, Al-Khatib and his friends recorded moments of daily life under siege, documenting the courage, anger, despair, and joy of Yarmouk’s inhabitants as they strive to carry on with life. From kids playing with balloons and men singing around a piano on the street, to children foraging for weeds to eat and adults protesting the roadblock, Al-Khatib presents the spectrum of life in Yarmouk with dignity and humanity.
Al-Khatib provides poetic voiceover narration throughout, repeatedly starting with the phrase “Under siege…” to relay deeper meaning of the community’s shared experiences and express internal struggles. Over footage of people out walking through the streets, he comments that “walking is a ritual of survival, the ultimate practice of freedom.” It’s another way for the residents to stand up for their community, to refuse to live in fear.
Prior to the revolution, Al-Khatib worked for the United Nations as a coordinator of activities and volunteers. His ability to connect with people is on display as he interviews residents, plays with children and asks them about their thoughts on the siege. The urge to help others evidently runs in the family, as Al-Khatib films his mother, Umm Mahmoud as she volunteers as a nurse to care for the elderly and hands out balloons to children. She has a strong presence, a steadying calm in the surrounding storm.
The tension ebbs and flows as the community experiences a range of events and emotions: sitting listlessly, starvation gnawing at them; rallying in huge numbers to voice their anger and protest the roadblock; and other times, finding peaceful moments of joy in a game of chess or joking with friends. Widespread starvation causes frustration and despair. New mothers don’t have milk for their babies. Many residents rely on boiled water flavoured with spices, foraged weeds, or cactus. Food boxes from aid groups are few and far between as tanks fire munitions at checkpoints to keep aid from the camp. One local explains that there’s no real pressure put on the Syrian government to lift the siege and allow food in. Almost 200 people die of starvation during the siege. Communal mourning gives way to anger, and a huge crowd attempts to overrun the roadblock. Some voice their preference for a quick end by shelling over death by starvation.
And yet, through it all Little Palestine offers hope and resilience. Young children continue to go to school and play together. A man restores a ravaged building, laying bricks one by one. Community members work together to evacuate residents from a newly bombed building, chanting in defiance, “Palestinians and Syrians are one!” People play music and sing together, arms around one another. In voiceover, Al-Khatib’s offers a message of strength to his community, advising that “when you feel like your existence in the universe doesn’t measure up to a sesame seed, pull yourself together. Don’t surrender. Open your eyes and scream: I will defeat the siege.”
Little Palestine, Diary of a Siege offers unprecedented insight into the lives of Palestinians and Syrians in Yarmouk during the siege, and serves as a tribute to the Palestinians who fought to stay in their second home after being expelled from Palestine by Israel after World War II. An elderly woman Al-Khatib interviews was fifteen years old when she and her family left Palestine in 1948 and relocated to Syria. She describes how welcoming the Syrians were to the Palestinian refugees and relays her anger towards those who left Yarmouk when it first came under siege. Her deep connection to the place she made home is clear. When Al-Khatib asks why she didn’t leave when others did, she responds, “Me, leave? Our first wound is not enough?” It drives home the trauma of forced displacement and the importance of fighting for home.
Little Palestine, Diary of a Siege premiered at the 2021 Visions du Réel where it was awarded the Interreligious Award, and has been selected for the ACID (Association for the Distribution of Independent Cinema) programme at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
Score: B+
© 2021. UniversalCinema Mag.