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Standards of censorship. — There is hardly any film industry in Palestine and only imported films which have already been censored in their country of origin are in practice submitted for revision. This greatly simplifies the task of the censors and reduces to a minimum the schedule of censorable subjects.
During recent years in fact only a few short propaganda films and a single theatrical film have been produced in Palestine ; the theatrical film in question (« Jacob's Well ») was of a purely Zionist propaganda kind.
Revision is therefore carried out with a view to the special and contingent needs of the population, so as to avoid that the strictly western character of certain films should be in conflict with the moral and religious feeling of the masses of the population or be damaging to the prestige of the Mandatory Nation.
Iri 1928, 465 films were submitted to the Censor's Office, the greater number of these were of a dramatic or narrative character. About fifty were of a distinctly educational order.
In the case of fifty out of the 465 films in question, the Office was not satisfied with the preliminary examination and required an exhibition of the film. Six films were entirely rejected and cuts were made in twelve others so as to render them fit for public showing.
The criteria followed by this Office may be summarized under two main heads :
a) Politico-religious. — In view of the fierce antagonism between the Arab and the Zionist populations, the projection of films which offend the religious, national, or political sentiments, not only of the whole country but of any section of it, is prohibited.
b) Moral and Social. — All matters pertaining to the common and general basis of the principles of social life and community interests come within the sphere of moral and social control. Thus an absolute embargo is placed on the exaltation of crime, on its realistic presentation, or on all that may tend to impair the prestige of the authorities to whom the repression of crime in all its forms is committed, by presenting criminals in a favourable light. « Dope » scenes, scenes showing the white slave traffic, scenes of promiscuity and indecorous behaviour, and films dealing with sexual problems in a manner offensive to morals and public order are banned.
Contingent reasons (the small number of cinemas, shortage of local production, the importation from abroad of films that have already been subjected to the censors) are responsible, as we have shown, for the lack of any complete schedule enumerating the motives of censoring. In any case, the principles on which revision is based are defined and are sufficient to prevent the cinema, which is such a powerful and excellent instrument of propaganda and education, from becoming a means of social perversion and corruption.
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