The MSU Students for Palestinian Human Rights is sponsoring a film viewing today to increase conversation on campus about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

The documentary "Women In Struggle" will play at 7:30 p.m. today in B106 Wells Hall.

The film tells the story of four Palestinian women who were detained in an Israeli prison because of their political activism. Some of the women were detained for about 10 years after their involvement in the bombing deaths of Israelis.

"The film explores the lives of these women today and the difficulties they have experienced trying to integrate back into Palestinian life," Buthina Khoury, the film's director and producer, said.

Khoury said as a Palestinian and a woman, she always believed the subject of female political prisoners should be addressed.

"It is time to start talking about this from a Palestinian perspective," Khoury said.

Khoury, who recently came from Taybeh, a city in Palestine's West Bank, will be on campus to introduce the film and participate in a question-and-answer session.

Michael Perez, a Students for Palestinian Human Rights representative, helped bring Khoury to campus.

The group picked her movie because it presented the role of Palestinian women in the resistance. This was an element the group had not been able to convey before, Perez said.

"It allows us to see the Palestinian women as not passive subjects of history, but as active members of a struggle," Perez said. "Palestinian women are suffering and Americans have a moral responsibility to help their cause."

Perez said the documentary is part of a larger film series.

"We feel a film series is a real productive way of reaching our audience," Perez said. "The films allow a humanistic viewpoint you can't get with a lecture."

Perez said all the events in the series were designed to bring up the Palestinian side of the conflict with Israelis, he said, adding he hoped students would ask questions about the conflict.

David Dworin, spokesman for the Jewish Student Union, said he supported bringing the film to campus.

"The college campus should always embrace the free discourse of ideas," Dworin said.

However, Dworin said the film only presents one side of the conflict.

"I think it is disingenuous to show these women, who have killed other human beings, as if they have a monopoly on victimhood," Dworin said.

Dworin said the presentation does not accurately portray the political layers of the issue.

Perez said Palestinians have a right to oppose the occupation of their land - even if they need to use violence.

"You can't have a violent resistance if there is not a violent occupation," Perez said. "The American Revolution was a violent resistance. People think of resistance differently when it's put into the historical perspective - this is history happening now."