The Sons of Eilaboun

The Sons of Eilaboun
original movie dvd cover and poster
Directed by	Hisham Zreiq
Written by	Hisham Zreiq
Produced by	Hisham Zreiq
Cinematography	Amir Reshpon
Edited by	Hisham Zreiq
Music by	Duncan Patterson Marcel Khalife
Release date	September 28, 2007 (2007-09-28)
Running time	24 minutes
Countries	Germany Palestinian territories Israel
Languages	Arabic, English

The Sons of Eilaboun (Arabic: أبناء عيلبون) is a 2007 documentary film by Palestinian artist and film maker Hisham Zreiq (Zrake), that tells the story of the Eilabun massacre,^[1] which was committed by the Israeli army during Operation Hiram in October 1948. Eilaboun is a village in the Northern Galilee between Nazareth and the Sea of Galilee. In the incident, fourteen men were killed and twelve of them were executed. The villagers were expelled to Lebanon and became refugees for few months, before being allowed to return in 1949.

The film is the story of the film maker's family, and specially his father's story.^[2] Hisham Zreiq explained why he made the film when he said "He choked and his eyes were full of tears, and with a trembling voice he said 'I remember it as if it has just happened' -- this is the way he ended the story, the story of a nine-year-old boy from a small village called Eilaboun, in Palestine 1948, the story of my father, when he was a refugee".^[3]

Hisham Zreiq was acknowledged by Ramiz Jaraisy, the mayor of Nazareth and by Hana Sweid, an Israeli Arab politician and member of the Knesset from Eilaboun,^[4] where Jaraisy described the film as an important work that tells the Palestinian story in a contrast with the dominant Israeli version. Gilad Atzmon, an Israeli-born British, political activist and writer, wrote in an article: "Zreiq manages to deliver a very deep and authentic reading of Palestinian history. He also manages to portray the intense emotional impact of the Nakba on those who survived the horror."^[5]