The Law In These Parts
Jan 18 - Jan 24, 2013
(Ra’anan Alexandrowicz, Israel, 2011, Blu-ray, 101 min)
Winner of the Sundance world documentary jury prize, The Law In These Parts explores the four-decade-old Israeli military legal system in the Occupied Territories. Since Israel conquered the territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the 1967 War, the military has imposed thousand of orders and laws, established military courts, sentenced hundreds of thousand of Palestinians, enabled half a million Israeli "settlers" to move to the Occupied Territories and developed a system of long-term jurisdiction by an occupying army that is unique in the world. Why does Israel invest so much into the legal infrastructure of the occupation? What is the rationale behind the work of the people charged with developing and upholding the law? The Law in These Parts tries to answer these questions while also exploring the implications of the very effort required to document such a system.
“A thoughtful investigation into Israel’s justice system. The film includes some amazing testimony from legal officials who remain steadfast in their discriminatory policies where ‘security comes before human rights.’” –Anthony Kaufman, Indiewire
“The film depicts, graphically and painfully, how it is possible for the highly educated to impose a system of oppression while remaining under the illusion that what they are doing is compatible with the highest legal principles.” –Nick Fraser, The Observer (London)