New Palestinian Film

[Jurriaan Bendien <bendien@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Palestinian student debuts film

By Shaista Aziz

Thursday 30 October 2003, 13:24 Makka Time, 10:24 GMT

A final year medical student from Dundee University is making her film debut
at the prestigious Raindance film festival in London. Saliyha Ahsan spent
two months in the Palestinian cities of Ram Allah and Nablus filming her
documentary Article 17, focusing on the work of Palestinian paramedics.

The title of the film refers to the fourth Geneva Convention and the
universal right that all civilians have under international law to access
healthcare in a conflict zone. Ahsan, a medical student, travelled to the
West Bank in July 2002 to offer medical assistance to Palestinians in need
and to expose the conditions that medics are forced to work in whilst under
occupation.

''As a trainee doctor, I find it inconceivable that paramedics and
ambulances should be blocked from treating patients. In my country if an
ambulance is blocked at a traffic light, it's all over the newspapers the
next day,'' she said.

Source:
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/2B165EFB-5964-4294-9721-6E019A9ED8D8.
htm