Irish Network for Middle Eastern and North African Studies

  by Paola Rivetti On September 8, 2022, the Irish Network for MENA Studies, the Early Childhood Research Centre (ECRC) at Dublin City University, and Academics for Palestine co-hosted the screening of the award-winning documentary Not Just Your Picture: the Story of the Kilani Family , by Anne Paq and Dror Dayan, with the participation of the director Anne Paq. I was surprised at my own feelings while watching Not Just Your Picture: the Story of the Kilani Family . I felt a piercing frustration at one specific point of the documentary. Layla Kilani, one of the protagonists, walks in the streets of al-Khalil/Hebron with her friends, classmates and a guide, when an Israeli settler passes by - insulting them and inciting the Israeli soldiers to remove them from ‘his streets’. This scene is familiar to anyone who has visited al-Khalil/Hebron: the visitors on a political tour, the violent settlers, the soldiers escorting the settlers to guarantee their safety and security – and, it goe...