Children Without Childhood

Palestine | 1980 | 22 min | Documentary On August 12th, 1976, during the civil war in Lebanon, the Tal al-Zaatar refugee camp was attacked by Christian factions. 2,000 people were slaughtered. The film is built on the life of the orphans of Tal al-Zaatar Martyrs, in “Bait Al-Somoud”, the house which was established for them by the General Union of Palestinian Women (GUPW). Through these children’s life, the film shows the sufferings that Palestinian kids endure in the Diaspora camps and under Israeli occupation. 1979 was labeled “International Year for the Child”. The film focuses on the contradiction between the “International Declaration of Child Rights” and the reality that Palestinian children live. In 1980, the film won the Jury Prize at the Baghdad International Festival of Films and Programmes about Palestine. A film by Khadijeh Habashneh Khadijeh Habashneh is a researcher, filmmaker and activist for women’s rights and human rights. She worked as a volunteer with the Palestinian Film Unit (PFU) and became an integral member in 1974, when the unit evolved into the Palestinian Cinema Institution (PCI). From 1976 to1982, she worked as the head of the Archive and Cinematheque of the PCI and wrote and directed two documentaries, including “Children Without Childhood”, also known as “Children Nevertheless”. Habashneh has also worked extensively on women’s issues. She was a founding member and served as executive member in the General Union of Palestinian Women (GUPW) from 1980 to 2009, was a founding member and vice president of the Center for Women’s Studies in Jordan from 1989 to 1997 and taught and published several books and articles in this field. Khadijeh Habashneh is the coordinator of the Old Palestinian Films Preservation Project.