Free Zone

Free Zone may refer to:

Freezone may refer to:

See also

Free Zone (film)

Free Zone is a 2005 film directed by Amos Gitai. Shot in Israel and Jordan, the Israeli-Belgian-French-Spanish production stars Israeli Jewish actress Hanna Laslo, Palestinian Arab actress Hiam Abbass, and Israeli-American actress Natalie Portman. It is the second film of Gitai's Border Trilogy.

The film made its debut at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival on May 19, 2005. It was released in Israel on June 9, 2005, and then appeared at numerous other film festivals throughout the rest of the year, having a limited release on December 16, 2005 in the United States.

Plot

Rebecca (Natalie Portman) is a Jewish-American girl who has lived in Jerusalem for several months. She has just broken off her engagement. One day, she enters a cab, driven by a Jewish woman, Hanna (Hanna Laslo). Hanna's destination is the Free Zone in the Jordan-Iraq-Saudi border to collect money owed to her husband, recently wounded in a Palestinian rocket attack. Upon reaching the Free Zone, they meet up with Laila (Hiam Abbass), a Palestinian woman who serves as the contact for Hanna's husband's black market activities. The three women set off on a tense journey to retrieve Hanna's money.

Free Zone (region)

The Free Zone or Liberated Territories is a term used by the Polisario Front to describe the part of Western Sahara that lies to the east of the Moroccan Berm (the Moroccan border wall) and west and north of the borders with Algeria and Mauritania, respectively. The area is separated from the rest of the Western Sahara territory by "a 2,200 kilometer [1,367 mi]-long wall...flanked by one of the world's largest minefields." The border is often referred to as the "Berm".

The zone was established as a Polisario-held zone in a 1991 cease-fire between the Polisario Front and Morocco, which had been agreed upon together as part of the Settlement Plan. Morocco controls the areas west of the Berm, including most of the territory's population. The cease-fire is overseen by the United Nations' MINURSO forces, charged with peacekeeping in the area and the organization of a referendum on independence.

Status and military agreement

The status of Western Sahara is hotly disputed between Polisario and Morocco, and this includes the titles used to refer to areas under the control of the different sides.