I have no particular interest in the Arab/Palestine-Israel issues, and so found this dramatized semi-doc to be a bit one-sided defense of Israel. Largely dealing w/their Old Jerusalem Six-Day War with a number of Arab states. The story starts w/the UN vote to "divide the land of Israel into two states". Some Israelis celebrated and some did not, "They divided my land. Where is our Hebron? Where is our Shechem? Where is our Jericho? "have they the right to give away even a centimeter of our land? God forbid!, They divided the Land of God".
What is the the foundation for this sense of ownership? The justification that it was God's gift to Judaism as being the first inhabitants 5000+ years ago, but historically that is questionable & seems to me to be a weak present day justification. Since then a complex history in which blame can easily be spread about. The many conflicts are used as justification to decide who has access and rights in Jerusalem region. Even as I write this Palestinians in Israel are further denied basic democratic rights. Israel's relations with the Palestinians has similarities to apartheid, but closer to my country it shares a resemblance to Euro-American 19th & 20th century Native people's placement onto reservations. In both cases we have fenced barriers & containment of culture, opportunity, movement, resources, and rights. And, as the resources on these "reservations" became valuable those lands were taken away, often by force. The history of this latest imbalance of power can be fact checked by looking at just two statistics. The number of killed (Palestinians vs. Israelis) since 2000 (10,000 vs. 1200); since the '50s maps showing the "acquisition" of Palestinian land by Israel. Still another way to understand the Palestinian POV is to imagine this: If someone much more powerful than you was slowly strangling you to death would you give up and die or would you fight back? Decades have shown those to be the only choices available.
What is the the foundation for this sense of ownership? The justification that it was God's gift to Judaism as being the first inhabitants 5000+ years ago, but historically that is questionable & seems to me to be a weak present day justification. Since then a complex history in which blame can easily be spread about. The many conflicts are used as justification to decide who has access and rights in Jerusalem region. Even as I write this Palestinians in Israel are further denied basic democratic rights. Israel's relations with the Palestinians has similarities to apartheid, but closer to my country it shares a resemblance to Euro-American 19th & 20th century Native people's placement onto reservations. In both cases we have fenced barriers & containment of culture, opportunity, movement, resources, and rights. And, as the resources on these "reservations" became valuable those lands were taken away, often by force. The history of this latest imbalance of power can be fact checked by looking at just two statistics. The number of killed (Palestinians vs. Israelis) since 2000 (10,000 vs. 1200); since the '50s maps showing the "acquisition" of Palestinian land by Israel. Still another way to understand the Palestinian POV is to imagine this: If someone much more powerful than you was slowly strangling you to death would you give up and die or would you fight back? Decades have shown those to be the only choices available.
