Movie profile

My Life as a Palestinian Fighter

We gain rare access inside the Jenin Battalion, a new Palestinian armed group that’s formed to fight back against Israeli military raids in the occupied West Bank. Fighter Abu Aseel, not his real name, takes us through Jenin and shows us how the brigade is training and preparing to defend the city for the next time the Israeli army enters. Like many young men in the impoverished refugee camp, Abu Aseel feels he was compelled to take up arms, driven by witnessing decades of violence and oppression against his community. Israel’s new far-right government has accompanied a surge in violence with near-daily military raids across the occupied West Bank.

Directed by Tierney Bonini