The politics of disclosure and the use of looted Palestinian archives in Israeli documentary film production

This article examines how Israeli filmmakers construct historical narratives through documentary films using looted Palestinian materials held in Israeli state archives. The study highlights how knowledge production is deeply intertwined with power relations, shaping narratives that often reinscribe settler power dynamics, even when they ostensibly present themselves as critiques of the settler state. While Israeli researchers enjoy the privilege of accessing and using Palestinian archival material stored in Israeli archives, Palestinian researchers are banned. This study deconstructs three films in order to explain the motivations, ideologies, and political goals of Israeli filmmakers who use looted Palestinian archival material to construct documentaries. Three Israeli documentaries: Hidden and Looted by Rona Sela, Shalal by Karnit Mandel, and Tantura by Alon Schwarz present narratives that ostensibly differ from Israel’s dominant colonial narratives but ultimately demonstrate Israel’s control over the Palestinian Archive.