When Israel withdrew from the Sinai Peninsula in 1982, the city of Rafah was suddenly split, between Egypt and Gaza, by an immense metal and concrete wall. Families found themselves divided by a highsecurity international border, though their houses often lay less than 100m apart. Before long, influential families moved their business underground, through dozens of secret tunnels burrowed below the Israeli border fence. Everything moves through Rafah's tunnels: from cigarettes and drugs to cash and people. It is a vast enterprise, and pays five times the average annual Gaza salary in one month. It is a family business, passed on from father to son and always - for reasons of security as well as economics - kept in the family.

A thought-provoking and powerful documentary film on the current and historical root causes of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Unlike any other film ever produced on the conflict, Occupation 101 presents a comprehensive analysis of the facts and hidden truths surrounding the never ending controversy and dispels many of its long-perceived myths and misconceptions. The film also details life under Israeli military rule, the role of the United States in the conflict, and the major obstacles that stand in the way of a lasting and viable peace.

Map compilation: The Palestine-Israel area. The Ottoman Empire. Ottoman provinces in the Middle East. Jewish and Arabic towns in Palestine under the Ottoman Empire. The Middle East divided up between France and Great Britain. The Palestine – Transjordan division. The UN partition of Palestine between Arabs and Jews. A Map of the main aquifers in the area. Jewish and Arab towns in Palestine before the partition decreed by the UN. The creation of the State of Israel. Maps of the area after successive wars and crises. The Israeli control matrix of the territory. Map of Greater Jerusalem reclaimed by the state of Israel. Those under Palestine autonomy acknowledged by Israel. Annexations by the wall.  

This highly kinetic tableaux of uprooted sights and sounds works most earnestly to expose the racial biases concealed in familiar images. Relying on valuable snippets from feature films such as Exodus, Lawrence of Arabia, Black Sunday, Little Drummer Girls, and network news shows, the filmmakers have constructed an oddly wry narrative, mimicking the history of Mid East politics.