Live from the West Bank
By Ruari-Santiago McBride
On March 27, Cloughjordan Palestine Justice hosted a film screening of Mohamd Zwahre’s film On My Land, which centres on family, community and resistance in the occupied West Bank.
Part of the Feeding Ourselves Gathering 2026 Fringe Programme, the screening was attended by approximately 50 people from across the Premier County and beyond. The screening was followed by a Q&A video link with Dr Mahmoud Zwahre, a Palestinian grassroots activist, farmer and academic. The event, which was donation-based, raised €500 euros, which will be sent directly to support Palestinian farmers trying to maintain their independent livelihood.
On My Land documents the plight of farmers in the occupied West Bank. It shows how indigenous livelihoods of growing olives and shepherding has been made increasingly challenging due to land theft and violence by Israeli settlers and security forces. The film underscores the courage of the indigenous Palestinian communities as they resist through organised nonviolent protest as well as in their commitment to build schools and continue the education of future generations. On My Land is a story of hope, one that shows the many ways that Palestinians show solidarity to one another and practice mutual aid in the face of colonial settler violence and apartheid laws.
LOCAL ENGAGEMENT
Following the film, Oliver Moore of Cloughjordan Palestine Justice hosted a Q&A with Dr Mahmoud Zwahre, who features in the film, which was made by his son Mohamd. Dr Zwahre came in live from the occupied West Bank and was able to provide the audience with an on the ground insight into life there. He is a researcher with Coventry University in Peace and Conflict Resolution Studies, who has extensive experience in organising nonviolent campaigns against the building of segregation walls and illegal Israeli settlements.
Dr Zwahre is one of the co-founders of a popular nonviolent resistance network called the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee (PSCC). An indigenous Palestinian liberation movement, the PSCC mobilises protests to challenge land theft and settler violence as well as undertaking community development initiatives, providing legal support to front line defenders, and advocating to change the laws of Israeli settler colonialism.
Additionally, Dr Zwahre is involved in Faz3a (pronounced faz'a). Faz3a is a colloquialism for directly coming to someone's aid at time of need. Their mission is to build a strong international solidarity network and to facilitate people from across the world to visit Palestine to provide direct protection for Palestinians during the olive harvest.
Dr Zwahre discussed a recent situation which highlighted the precariousness of Palestinians’ everyday lives in the occupied West Bank. In a nearby village, an Israeli settler stole a shepherd's car, had an accident and subsequently died. However, the Palestinian community was blamed for the death and paid the price. More settlers invaded the village and burnt everything they found.
These everyday injustices add up to make life in the West Bank unbearable, a conscious strategy of the Israeli settlers to push Palestinians out of the occupied West Bank and from their land.
Dr Zwahre stressed how Palestinians care deeply about their land. The Israel government’s strategy is to take the land from Palestinians by eroding their livelihood –taking livestock, burning olive trees. It is not just people who are killed, but everything on the land is. The aim is to make Palestinian self-subsistence impossible and to render Palestinian communities dependent on food aid, disconnected form their roots, and more controllable.
COME TO PALESTINE
However, Dr Zwahre stressed the fortitude of the Palestinian resistance and the strength of international solidarity. He said that the people standing with the Palestinians gives them hope. He encouraged people to come to Palestine to see to meet Palestinian people, to provide protective presence, to stand in front of the soldiers as he does, to pick olives from the trees of the land, and to bear witness to the ongoing genocide.