1913 - Seeds of Conflict

This 2015 documentary, directed by Ben Loeterman and based on Amy Dockser Marcus's book "Jerusalem 1913: The Origins of the Arab-Israeli Conflict," explores the divergent social forces in Ottoman Palestine before World War I, when Arabs and Jews coexisted in relative harmony under Ottoman rule. It examines the emergence of competing national identities, with Jewish immigrants establishing agricultural settlements and cultural institutions while Palestinian Arabs asserted their own sense of identity and rights to the land. The film highlights key figures like Arthur Ruppin, a Zionist land agent from Germany, and Khalil Sakakini, an educator returning from America, and culminates in the violent clashes of 1913 in Rehovot, where tensions over land erupted into fatal confrontations, sowing the seeds for a century of strife. Through dramatized scenes, archival footage, and interviews with historians, it portrays a pivotal moment when shared Ottoman citizenship began fracturing into ethnic divisions, offering insights into the complex origins of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.