If you're interested in educating yourself about the conflict in the Middle East, you might want to check out the documentary film series on the Israeli occupation of Palestine that Black Sheep Books is sponsoring this month.

In 1977, the award-winning journalist and filmmaker, John Pilger, made a documentary film called Palestine Is Still the Issue.  It told the story of the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948 and the conquest of the West Bank and Gaza in 1967.  25 years later, he returned to the Occupied Territories to ask why Palestinians are still living under a brutal, settler-colonial occupation. In this second film with the same title, Pilger interviews Israelis and Palestinians, documents the humiliation and dangers of life under military occupation, and explores why “the fate and struggle of the Palestinians are not just critical to the overdue recognition of their basic human rights, but also central to whether the region, and the wider world, are plunged into war.”

The movie is showing on August 17, 2010 – 7:00pm – 9:00pm at Black Sheep Books, 5 State Street in Montpelier. Follow the link for their information and the rest of the film series.