Mohammad Bakri, Palestinian Actor and Filmmaker, Dies at 72

Mohammad Bakri, an Israeli Palestinian actor and director whose 2002 documentary about fighting in the West Bank was banned in Israel and later the subject of years of legal battles, died on Dec. 24 in Nahariya, in northern Israel. He was 72. His sons Saleh and Adam Bakri announced his death on Instagram, and the family told Agence France-Presse that he had been treated for heart disease.

Mr. Bakri, who never renounced his Israeli citizenship, was one of the first Palestinians to work in Israel’s film industry and used his work to depict the difficult realities faced by Arabs in Israel. His documentary Jenin, Jenin relied on testimony from residents of the Jenin refugee camp about a 10-day battle in spring 2002; a U.N.

report said 52 people were killed in the fighting, as many as half of them possibly civilians, and 23 Israeli soldiers also died. Human Rights Watch concluded that Israeli forces had committed “unlawful or willful killings” and had used Palestinian civilians as human shields. The film was criticized as one-sided and was initially banned by the Israeli Film and Theater Review Board, though art-house theaters screened it.

Key Topics

Culture, Mohammad Bakri, Jenin, Jenin, Jenin Refugee Camp, Nahariya, Israeli Supreme Court