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(From left) Bella Hadid, Anwar Hadid, Marielle Hadid and Alana Hadid attend Joe's Jeans and Bella Hadid celebration for the launch of the 2016 Joe's Jeans campaign at Sunset Tower Hotel in West Hollywood, California.
(From left) Bella Hadid, Anwar Hadid, Marielle Hadid and Alana Hadid attend Joe's Jeans and Bella Hadid celebration for the launch of the 2016 Joe's Jeans campaign at Sunset Tower Hotel in West Hollywood, California.

Hadid sister helps launch Palestinian film streaming site

Alana Hadid, the older sister of supermodels Gigi and Bella Hadid, has helped set up a new film streaming platform to bring Palestinian perspectives to a global audience, its founders confirmed Thursday. Watermelon+ was launched at the Cannes film festival as more than 100 people were killed in a Zionist strikes on Gaza on Thursday. At least 80 died on Wednesday.

“Unless we get (Palestinian) voices out there, nothing’s going to change,” said Badie Ali, one of two US-born Palestinian brothers who founded the website, where Hadid is creative director. A model and activist, her father, property developer Mohamed Anwar Hadid, is Palestinian. Showing “neglected or silenced” Palestinian perspectives was particularly important in the United States, an ally of Zionist entity, Ali insisted.

 Alana Hadid attends the Badgley Mischka collection during, New York Fashion Week: The Shows at Gallery 1, Skylight Clarkson Sq on February 14, 2017 in New York City.   --AFP photos
Alana Hadid attends the Badgley Mischka collection during, New York Fashion Week: The Shows at Gallery 1, Skylight Clarkson Sq on February 14, 2017 in New York City. --AFP photos

The platform offers around 60 films, including several set in Gaza. They span from Emmy-awarded documentary “Five Broken Cameras” to “The Wanted 18”, a comic true story about West Bank villagers hiding cows inside their houses from Zionist troops during the First Intifada. Co-founder Hamza Ali said the aim was to humanize Palestinians. “It’s dehumanization and erasure that contribute to the politics,” he said.

“We’re more than our suffering. We’re a warm, hospitable, creative, funny people.” Zionist bombardment has killed more than 53,000 people in Gaza.--AFP

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