Penn State students and faculty gather for “Resistance Climbing” a movie discussion and student panel

On Monday, April 22, students from Penn State's Students for Justice in Palestine, or Penn State SJP, shared the screening of “Resistance Climbing”, a new Reel Rock picture that highlights the importance of climbing in the West Bank and Palestine. Following the showing of the film, a student panel of two Palestinian students shared their thoughts on a few questions provided by the audience and provided some helpful insight into the war in Gaza.

The film was produced by Andrew Bisharat, a Palestinian climber who is the senior editor of Rock and Ice magazine, where he writes the column “Tuesday Night Bouldering,” a humorous inside look at the world of climbing and some of the players within the sport.

The film follows Bisharat as he travels to Palestine to explore his roots, while also highlighting the power of climbing in an area that is going through intense geopolitical hardships.

“Even for a crusty old fart like me; with this place, and these people, the power of climbing is an amazing thing to be reminded of. Without climbing, I may never have come out here, halfway around the world, to discover a community, and a connection I didn’t even know I had,” Andrew Bisharat said.

“Resistance Climbing” also features Tim Bruns, another climber and producer who founded Wadi Climbing, the first indoor climbing gym within the West Bank. Bruns explains the difficulties of finding routes within the West Bank and safely finding places where he and his colleagues can teach Palestinians to climb.

“I’m a climber and I was starting to learn more about Palestinian resistance, so I thought: these are two things I’m passionate about and this film was bringing them together…climbing to me is powerful: it’s pulling on plastic rocks, it’s hanging out with my friends, it’s appreciating the world, but it’s also so much more than that. It’s a way to resist oppression, it’s a way to make meaning and I think we need to understand that and how we as climbers need to stand with Palestinian climbers and all of Palestine in general,” McKenna said, a grad student who served as a student leader for the event.

For more information regarding future events held by Penn State’s Students for Justice in Palestine, visit and follow their social media @PennStateSJP.

Gavin Rollman is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email gmr5526@psu.edu.