The Heart of Jenin

In 2005, his eleven-year-old son Ahmed suffers fatal head shots by Israeli soldiers who mistake him for an armed Palestinian due to a toy weapon.

The international interest in the film and Ismael Khatib's actions inspired the Italian city of Cuneo to found a youth centre in Jenin's refugee camp.

In Ismael Khatib's youth center, the young people worked on their own short films - and realized that there was no place to show them.

Together with Ismael Khatib and his translator Fakhri Hamad, Marcus Vetter became aware of the old cinema in the heart of the city of Jenin, which had been closed since the beginning of the first Intifada in 1987.

The laudatory speech was given by the former Israeli ambassador to Germany, Avi Primor, who described how difficult Khatib's gesture of peace had been in the tense situation in Israel.

The paper Süddeutsche Zeitung wrote: "[...] A journey through occupied territories and prejudiced hearts – the story of a man, who no longer fights against his enemies but confuses them with his humanity.

"[4] The liberal Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz writes that [o]f the hundreds of tragic tales of children killed during decades of Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Ahmed Khatib's must rank among the most remarkable.

[...] One of its most touching, and disappointing, sequences is toward the end of the film, when, two years after Ahmed's death, Khatib and his brother embark on a road trip around Israel in a beat-up car to visit the children whose lives they saved.

The climax is a confrontation with the Levinson family, who, in an awkward exchange at their Jerusalem home, apologise for their earlier comments and thank Khatib, but betray a deep misunderstanding about life in the occupied West Bank.“[5] An author of the German-Israeli online magazine HaGalil on Jewish issues criticized the film on the occasion of its premiere in Jerusalem: “The film is authentic, emotionally charged and impressively well made.