When you read "the George Habash family", that is a reference to his wife, Hilda. She has released a statement protesting against the George Habash documentary that was aired last week on AlJazeera. My sister saw it first and warned me that it is lousy. I watched it and I could not agree more. It was shallow, silly, ill-informed, clumsy, and politically problematic. It did not even go over Black September, because the director clearly did not want to upset the Jordanian regime. It distorted the relations between Nayif Hawatimah and insisted on treating Hawatimah as the best source on Habash. It failed miserably in capturing the charisma and personality of Habash, and the extent of his contributions in contemporary Arab struggle. But the statement by Hilda Habash was petty and silly. She protested on some good points and then requested that the family (i.e., she) be involved, and wanted the family to have the right to screen the documentary before hand. There are serious problems with the documentary but the need for Ms. Hilda to screen it before hand is not one of them.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
The George Habash documentary
When you read "the George Habash family", that is a reference to his wife, Hilda. She has released a statement protesting against the George Habash documentary that was aired last week on AlJazeera. My sister saw it first and warned me that it is lousy. I watched it and I could not agree more. It was shallow, silly, ill-informed, clumsy, and politically problematic. It did not even go over Black September, because the director clearly did not want to upset the Jordanian regime. It distorted the relations between Nayif Hawatimah and insisted on treating Hawatimah as the best source on Habash. It failed miserably in capturing the charisma and personality of Habash, and the extent of his contributions in contemporary Arab struggle. But the statement by Hilda Habash was petty and silly. She protested on some good points and then requested that the family (i.e., she) be involved, and wanted the family to have the right to screen the documentary before hand. There are serious problems with the documentary but the need for Ms. Hilda to screen it before hand is not one of them.
