THE DIARIES OF YOSSEF NACHMANI illuminates a controversial period of Israeli history by drawing upon the writings of a land broker for the Jewish National Fund (JNF), who recorded his daily activities and private thoughts from 1935 to 1965. Born in the Ukraine in 1891, Nachmani immigrated to Palestine as a young man, quickly became involved with the Labor Zionist movement, and in 1922 dedicated himself to purchasing Arab-owned lands in order to establish Zionist settlements for the nascent Jewish state.

By 1935, when he began his diary entries, Nachmani was director of the JNF office in the Galilee region. A political moderate who spoke Arabic and respected his Arab neighbors, Nachmani believed that Arabs and Jews could coexist. More radical elements were also active within the Zionist movement, however, especially throughout the British Mandate period leading up to the 1947 UN Resolution which partitioned Palestine into Jewish and Arab states, and whose violent tactics precipitated the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as we know it today.

The film focuses on events in Tiberius, Nachmani's hometown, the first mixed community where Arabs and Jews coexisted harmoniously. Although its Arab population accepted the logic of the UN Partition Plan, they became the first Arabs to be forcibly evacuated from their homes, paving the way for widespread ethnic cleansing. The film recounts atrocities committed by the Haganah and the IDF, including massacres and forced evacuation of Arabs at Nasser-a-Din and Deir Yassein, and the subsequent destruction of their homes to prevent their return.

THE DIARIES OF YOSSEF NACHMANI utilizes excerpts from Nachmani's diaries, rare archival footage, interviews with Nachmani's son and daughter, eyewitnesses and participants on both sides of the conflict, as well as with Israeli historian Benny Morris (author of Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881-2001) and Geography Professor Danny Gur. This provocative historical documentary is sure to become a significant document in the ongoing debate about the basic foundation myth of Israel.

"A powerful documentary built on Nachmani's own observations, interviews and primary texts-a fascinating look at one of the most controversial moments in modern history."—Rebecca Romani, Al Jadid: A Review and Record of Arab Culture and Arts

"Fascinating! A fine balance between facts and ideology, illuminating the past through the prism of the present."—Haaretz

"An impressive visual and historical document. This powerful compilation film... tries to restore this historical account to all of those who would wish to forget it. Using old and nearly lost film footage, and with the help of aging witnesses from both sides of the barricades...and with the incorporation of assessments of the best researchers in the field, Karpel has constructed a flowing film with wise and rich text."—Shlomo Sand, Professor of History at Tel Aviv University, Author of Film as History: Imagining and Screening the Twentieth Century

"The sheer historical weight of the material presented raises fascinating questions."—Lisa Nesselson, Variety