The Oslo Accords were seen as a step forward towards the establishment of the independent Palestine. These accords put an end to the First Intifada and led to the creation of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), which generated a state of hopefulness among the Palestinians generally. Yet, under the ongoing Israeli siege, the PNA has been unable meet the expectations of its citizens. Things have gone from bad to worse, with the outbreak of the Second Intifada in 2000 followed by the bloody confrontations between the political factions Fatah and Hamas in 2007. In the light of such developments, the Palestinian identity has gone through significant transformations, always already in process. This study deals with the complexity of the Palestinian identity. It examines how this identity is (re)constructed in response to the recent developments in Palestine as portrayed in filmic representations. It focuses on the films ―The Salt of This Sea‖ by Annemarie Jacir (2008) and ―Laila's Birthday‖ by Rashid Mashrawi (2008). The events of the first film take place in the West Bank and Israel while the second one is made in the West Bank. These films are analyzed in terms of Israeli-Palestinian relationships and in terms of Palestinian-Palestinian relationships. The study showed the emergence of a nationalist ruling elite in Palestine. This class adopts a pragmatic position regarding the right of return, supporting the citizenship of refugees in the hosting countries. This means that the future Palestinian state will not include all the refugees. This study, also, showed that any experience of return involves a new displacement.

It is noticeable that the end of the internal conflict is a recent goal included on the national agenda. Today, the poor tend to affiliate to national factions to get economic aids. Remarkably, the shared experience of siege exposes the fractures that the ―national unity‖ tries to suppress. Moreover, the state of insecurity also originates within the Palestinian society, and is not only caused by Israel.