Israel and the Arabs: Elusive Peace

This is an excellent documentary detailing the Arab-Israeli conflict from the years 1999 to 2005 (when the film was made). There is a wealth of documentary footage as well as interviews with most of the living major participants, and many second level players. You get a lot of behind-the-scenes information like what was going on with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak when he stalled getting off the plane prior to his meeting with President Hafez al-Assad of Syria at the Middle East Peace Summit at Camp David in 2000. The interviews with President Clinton, Secretary of State Albright, Ehud Barak, Palestenian Prime Minister Abu Mazen, and Secretary of State Colin Powell are particularly interesting for their candor. You come to appreciate that world leaders are humans subject to the frustrations, irritations, slights, and so forth that we all are, and those emotions play a not insignificance role in negotiations. World leaders do seem to have exceptionally well developed egos that can frequently get in the way. For example, French President Jacques Chirac inserted himself into the middle of some delicate negotiations at an awkward time and derailed the proceedings. You come to understand the difficult situations leaders are placed in (or place themselves in). President George W. Bush wanted the support of the Saudis and the Arabs when he was planning the invasion of Iraq, but Israel was not too happy to see him cozy up to the Arabs.

Whereas I doubt that hardly anybody would come away from having seen this without learning a great deal, for a more complete understanding I think background material would have been valuable to establish how we got to where things were at the start of the film. I wanted to see a brief history about the creation of Isreal and the political boundaries at that time. A discussion of the 1967 Six-Day War and its results would be in order and how Arafat came to power (and exactly what power he had) would be of interest. Why is the area surrounding the Temple Mount such a hot button issue? Why is the right of return of Palestinians to Israel so significant? Details on the demographics would be relevant (Arabs living in Israel, Israelis in the West Bank and Gaza Strip). Seeing the film encourages one to do a little independent research.

I came away without much hope that the Israeli-Palestenian conflict will be resolved in the foreseeable future.

This film is not an intro-level film to the Arab-Israeli conflict. Instead it provides continual behind-the-scenes information and insights about the brokering of peace deals with Israel, starting at the Camp David accords and going through the 2nd Intifada. It is fact based and uses actual footage from primary sources to guide the viewer through the developments in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks from Camp David (1999) until the film was made (2005). It is not meant to be a background on the conflict, nor is it a basic documentary that provides stock footage accompanied with information readily found on wikipedia. Rather, this film provides in- depth analysis that would require a viewer unfamiliar with the conflict to conduct outside research in order to more fully understand the issues. In that light, this is an outstanding film that opens the doors into a political world rarely seen and understood by voters.

I was very impressed with this impartial account of the Arab world and the Israelis, and the peace that always seems to be just beyond their grasp. I am surprised their are not more review comments or messages on this film, as it is jam-packed full of useful information. You learn about Jerusalem, and what parts of that holy city are important to Muslims and which are important to the Jews. I have to admit this is something I would have never bothered to read, but I'm glad it was neatly packaged into a easy-to-watch film as this.

I never knew that Bill Clinton and Colin Powell had done so much to aid in this effort of peace between the two; and I am proud of them both.

You must watch this docu when you have time-it is rather long, but extremely worth it.

peace