Death in Gaza [DVD]

In Spring 2003, James Miller and Saira Shah set out to Gaza to "understand how people learn to hate so deeply they’re prepared to die in order to kill". Their focus is the next generation, "the children who will make either peace or war" told through the tainted eyes of three Palestinian children indoctrinated into the creed of Jihad.

Palestinian children in Nablas and Rafah constantly provoke the IDF, showering the tanks with rocks and taunting the soldiers inside. Firing toy guns and playing games of ‘Jews and Arabs’ in the streets by day, the real-life militants come out in the streets by Rafah by night – as do the Israeli tanks and night-vision troops trying to track them down. Miller and Shah visit these militants to survey the determination and mentality of people prepared to die to kill. The cult of martyrdom is engrained in Gaza, with Palestinians celebrating each death by parading in the streets with freshly printed posters that turn the latest person to die into a new martyr. The powerful feeling this evokes amongst those dedicated to the ‘holy cause’ is wonderfully captured.

Death in Gaza culminates with James Miller’s last day. Filming the sustained attack of Israeli tanks on suspected militant residences Miller and Shah are trapped inside a house, and wait until the fighting ceases to make their move. Attempting to leave the area by waving a white flag through the darkness, Miller assumes that the Israeli soldiers will recognise him as a journalist and let his team pass. Instead, shots ring out, killing Miller instantly, the tragedy being captured by a local film crew. James Miller becomes another victim in the conflict he gave his life to cover.

"We asked them not to print a poster of James," says Shah, "but they wouldn't listen. So, on May the second, 2003, the extremists gained another martyr. The rest of us lost James."