Anti-Israel TV show angers Palestinians

Female prisoners outraged by IDF soldiers' "rape" scenes.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
Turkish Drama311 (photo credit: Courtesy)
Turkish Drama311
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Even the Palestinians are opposed to an anti-Israel Turkish television series that is being aired these days on two popular Arab satellite networks.
The 13-episode Separation: Palestinian in Love and in War (Cry of Stones) is about a Palestinian family that leaves for a vacation to Jordan, only to return to a home that had been demolished by the IDF.
The drama, which was first broadcast on Turkey’s state television last October, depicts IDF soldiers as cold-blooded murderers and rapists.
The Turkish drama, which has strained relations between Turkey and Israel, has also enraged many Palestinians, especially female prisoners held in Israeli jails.
The inmates are particularly outraged over scenes showing IDF soldiers “raping” a Palestinian women.
“This film defames the female prisoners and their struggles in occupation prisons,” the prisoners said in a statement. “We call on the producer of this Turkish drama to apologize to the Palestinian people for the scene which shows Israeli soldiers raping a Palestinian female prisoner called Miriam.”
The statement said that the scene has nothing to do with reality. They also condemned the scene where the family of the “rape victim” kills her upon her release from Israeli jail.
“Palestinian families have always embraced their daughters when they are released from prison,” the women said. “We see this [drama] as an attempt to defame the image of Palestinian female prisoners and as a public insult to the Palestinian people. This film serves only the occupation.”
The statement strongly denied the accusation made in the Turkish series according to which Palestinian women are raped in Israeli prisons.
“Those who think that a Palestinian female prisoner is raped when she’sarrested are living in an illusion and are mistaken,” the femaleprisoners said. “There has never been such a case. Nor have we heard ofa Palestinian family that killed their daughter after her release.”
The women also called on the Saudi-owned MBC network to stop broadcasting the Turkish series immediately.
Palestinian Authority officials have also expressed outrage over the drama, dubbing it “offensive” and “detached from reality.”