Chronique d'un siège - Ramallah, avril 2002

The filmmaker Samir Abdallah was received by Yasser Arafat in the Moquata’a, Arafat’s HQ, held under siege by the Israeli Army. He went into the Moquata’a on a Palestinian civilian aid mission. Like most of his colleagues, he expected the assignment to take no more than a few hours, but he was to stay there for over a month, until the siege was lifted. He shared with Yasser Arafat’s closest bodyguards, Palestinian fighters and members of the civilian mission, very difficult living conditions, food and electricity shortages, the tension caused by bombings and the intimidation of an eye-ball to eye-ball, military and psychological, confrontation.
The filmmaker, being the only one on the scene, is able to provide us with an exclusive eyewitness account. Thanks to him, its possible to understand clearly, and in concrete terms, the war of nerves between the two sides in this part of the world. In this "Chronicle of a siege", we look at the everyday life of the besieged and the reactions of Yasser Arafat and his entourage to the situation.
We follow the international negotiations, the arrival of a European delegation or that of the more influential American Colin Powell. The trial of PFLP commandos accused of killing the Israeli minister of tourism was also held at this time inside the Moquata’a. However “Arafat under Siege” regularly escapes from behind the closed doors. The besieged church of the Nativity at Bethlehem, the military operation led against Jenine by the Israelis, the situation at Naplouse – these news events have great impact on those inside the besieged HQ, and they enable the film-maker to establish a link between the inside and the outside world.
And so, the siege of the Moquata’a, which is the central pillar of Samir Abdalha’s film, acts as a metaphor for the Middle-East situation. With tension between Israel and Palestine at its maximum is Yasser Arafat’s political leadership entering its final phase ? "Arafat under siege" will be, without doubt, its final testimony.