Essay On Detaining Dreams

The Students for Justice in Palestine hosted a screening of the film Detaining Dreams followed by a discussion about the film and other relevant topics regarding the Palestine and Israeli conflict. The film screening and the discussion was led by the various members of the SJP including the president, the vice president and other members.

The first part of the event was a screening of the film. Detained Dreams focuses on four young Palestine boys (Abed, Ameer, Mohammed and Mohammed) and their experience of getting arrested taken to detention centers by Israeli militants. The film focuses on five specific stages found in each boy’s narrative of events. These five stages were the arrest, the transfer, the interrogation, the hearing and sentencing

During their detainment the boys were often brutalized by the soldiers working in the prisons. The prisons themselves were often horrible places that often had no heat, no windows or proper food available for the prisoners. The hearing and sentencing process was also extremely corrupt and negligent toward the boys. For example many times the families were unaware of the court dates or release dates and the prisoners themselves were not given any information about their situations. The boys were also often sentenced to jail without bail. The last topic covered within this film was the issue how life was for the boys after their arrest and release. The boys talked about dealing with PTSD and often not being able to feel like themselves after this experience. The movie also had interviews with various experts on the various negative consequences that affect children after they experience of this type of brutal and traumatizing arrest process. The second part of the event was a discussion about the film and other related topics. One of the main topics of discussion following the screening was regarding the issue of Israeli militant violence against Palestinians and the lack of accurate coverage by U.S media following these events. During