Donor Opium

The discourse on Palestine is changing. If you are interested in building an independent Palestinian economy with food security and free movement of goods and people, you must watch this documentary, Donor Opium.

Two decades after the Oslo Peace Agreement was signed, Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are still occupied. Their government and lives are no longer sustained by various forms of popular resistance but by enormous amounts of donor aid. This film explores the politics and the abuses of both the international donors and the PA and NGO's which receive the aid, how this money has been spent and why, despite this aid, Palestinians are now poorer than they were before Oslo.

Peace and the establishment of a Palestinian state have been the declared goals of all the support. But the actual results are the fragmentation and pacification of the Palestinian people. International aid to the Palestinians is viewed by many people to be a tool to further strengthen the Israeli occupation over the Palestinian territories. Critics of the foreign aid have described it as “opium” because it keeps the Palestinians drugged while Israel further entrenches the occupation. Fair trade and empowered farmers and farming communities will lead Palestine forward to the healthy sustainable agricultural economy that will bring food and economic security, an independent Palestinian economy. This is our vision at Land of Canaan Foundation.

Donor Opium – Directed and Produced by Mariam Shahin & George Azar. December 20, 2011. 25 minutes.