1913: Seeds of Conflict
1913 Seeds of Conflict

Most observers consider the Balfour Declaration and Mandate period of the 1920s as the origin of today’s Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Breaking new ground, 1913: SEEDS OF CONFLICT, a one-hour documentary directed by filmmaker Ben Loeterman, explores the divergent social forces growing in Palestine before World War I, when Arabs and Jews co-existed in harmony as Ottomans, each yearning for a land to call their own. This movie looks at the moment of transformation when Ottoman rule in Palestine was still strong, the identities of Jerusalemites were fluid, and few could imagine the conflict that would dominate the region for the next century. Until now, scholars have focused on the British Mandate as the matchstick of the Middle East conflict.

Year: 2015

Time: 1 hour

View the movie website and movie screenings.

Watch the trailer.

Watch the movie on PBS.

Buy the movie.

Latest Posts

A Burglary Motivated by Racism

A Burglary Motivated by Racism

Haaaretz journalists Gideon Levy and Alex Levac reported on a West Bank burglary case in 2020 in which a small Palestinian business was repeatedly burglarized by Jewish settlers. Was this burglary motivated by racism? Mohammed Mahmadi, 29, left his restaurant job in...

read more
Curt’s Hebron

Curt’s Hebron

Curtis Bell, President of Unitarian Universalists for Justice in the Middle East, spoke to the First Unitarian Church’s Department of Social Justice about his two months in Hebron and what he learned about the Palestinian experience under Israeli occupation. Video...

read more
Virginia Tech GPSS

Virginia Tech GPSS

The Graduate and Professional Student Senate (GPSS) at Virginia Tech passed a resolution in October 2021 demanding that the University’s administration enact an academic boycott of Israel and institutions “complicit in maintaining the Israeli occupation.” The...

read more
Jerusalem