Roland Nurier’s minor-release documentary The Tank and the Olive Tree about the history of Palestine passed cinemagoers in 2019. Revived for a screening in Sands Films Studios for the London Palestine Film Festival 2025 last month, the film acts as a catalyst for conversation, with the bittersweetness of renewing its appeal, yet through the vein of renewed conflict in the region.

Four years before his better-known iteration of the region’s history, Yallah Gaza (2023), Nurier presents an ostensibly objective history of the foundation of Israel, and the politics that surrounded it, tracking the repercussions over the latter half of the 20th Century. It is a more raw, information-heavy approach than this year’s star-studded Palestine 36, and yet the aim is the same: centre the European powers, notably the British, starting with Arthur Balfour, as the origin of blame for what we see in the news today.

While the historical account is predicated on shedding light on the truth of the region’s history, which is often a contentious one used in different ways by those from different political perspectives, the film undoubtedly has a pro-Palestinian bent. However, the truth it seeks to tell is also not anti-Israel; it positions the mid-Century Jewish population as themselves victims of forced displacement out of Europe, their liberation by the Allies not exactly translating to an invitation to integrate. The enemy of the enemy, in this instance, is not a friend, and from Nurier’s pro-Palestinian perspective, there is a sense of uniting against specific enemies in Washington, Westminster and the Knesset to solve longstanding conflicts.

This call for dialogue is central to the current conflict, particularly given recent civil unrest surrounding the corruption allegations against Netanyahu. In the comfortable, open space of Sands Films Studio, Nurier’s film, despite not necessarily achieving this dialectic on screen, took on a transactional quality that played off the audience, bringing it firmly into the real world. Cheers at the sight of Palestinian victories and groans at the sight of Trump rang through the room, indicating a clear desire for knowledge and rejection of those who stand in the way.

What the film lacks in unique imagery or innovative storytelling, it makes up for in the sheer amount of knowledge it provides the viewer. Leaving the auditorium, I couldn’t help but overhear audience members talking to each other about what they saw, what they learned, and what myths they had previously taken as truth. The Tank and the Olive Tree, in this way, achieves the mobility that most films can only dream of; a modern textbook film for all ages.

To keep up with screenings and events at Sands Films Cinema Club, go to their website.

Image courtesy of London Palestine Film Festival