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The Heart from Jenin is the story of Ahmed Chatib, a Palestinian boy shot by Israelis whose father decided, within twelve hours, to donate his son’s organs to six Israeli children so as to save their lives.
One and a half years have passed since then. What has Ismail al-Chatib, of the Jenin refugee camp, achieved with his peace gesture? To find out how Ismail’s deed changed the life of the recipients’ families, it is necessary to travel throughout Israel, from its northern hills on the Lebanese border, past the con-tended Holy City of Jerusalem, up to the edge of the Negev Desert in the south of the land.
The film is a trip through occupied territory and hearts occupied by prejudice. It leads us to the people who have learnt to overcome their prejudices and to oth-ers who still speak of the misfortune of having to live with the organ of an Arab. It is the story of a humanitarian peace gesture that seemed, for a short instant, to prevail over the insoluble conflict between Israel and Palestine.