The 50 Years War - Israel & The Arabs
The conflict in the Middle East between Israel and its neighbors is given comprehensive treatment in this two-video set produced by PBS. Using archival footage and extensive interviews with participants, the production begins by explaining conditions in Palestine at the end of World War II and the crisis created by the exodus of European Jews who went to the Middle East after the Holocaust. The withdrawal of the British, who had controlled Palestine for decades, is detailed, as is the creation of the state of Israel. Much of the region's history is complex, with the local struggles being conducted at times as a part of the cold war between the United States and the Soviet Union, but these videos do an admirable job of explaining the complexities of the situation. The segment on the Six Day War, for example, is masterful, with the scenes shifting from Israel to Egypt to Washington to Moscow, the story developing before the viewer's eyes. The 50 Years War is often a tale of mistrust and betrayal, but this production strives to present a balanced view of history, and is not only impressive for its command of the facts but for its skillful and often dramatic presentation of history. --Robert J. McNamara
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Last updated: December 7, 2009, 11:45 pm
The 50 Years War - Israel & The Arabs Customer reviews:
Average Rating: 4.5 Total Reviews: 44
(Frances Frederick, 2009-09-10) This is valuable information that should be known to better understand the situation in the middle east before we might draw the wrong conclusion.
(Corey Yost, 2009-02-23) If you don't know much about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, you'll think this is a thorough, unbiased piece of work. That's the worst part, in my opinion: they were skillful in making it seem objective to the person who was learning about the whole thing from scratch. For those who know about what has happened without the filter of made-for-TV specials, it's a culmination of one half-truth after another. The film begins at 1948, when the Zionist Organization of America had been lobbying for the Holy Land since the late 19th century. They say that the Lehi are a "small extremist group" even though 40,000 Jews signed up to be trained to take over the land by force from the British (for every person willing to risk their lives for terrorism, think of how many Jews wouldn't take that step but supported the cause nonetheless). They didn't talk about how almost every Prime Minister of Israel was a member of Lehi, several of them were even present during genocidal massacres of Palestinians before 1948. They try to blame the Palestinian press for the mass exodus of the Palestinians while focusing on just one incident of civilian executions by the IMF. They curiously omit the reason that the Christian Lebanese were at war with the Muslims. They didn't mention how the "settlements" purposefully bulldozed Palestinian homes, how Palestinians were treated as second class citizens. They didn't talk about the fact that only 30% of that area was Jewish when the land was first given to them, but 70% of the population was forced out into neighboring countries, which of course had dire repercussions for their economies. They don't talk about how Israel has no Constitution and is the only country in the world that refuses to declare its borders. They don't talk about Resolution 181 and how Israel did not stay within the borders Britain allotted them from the very start. Again and again they invoke the Holocaust, saying how the survival of their people was at stake -- even though they were so superior in military strength that they defeated five Arab nations in six days without trouble. They don't talk about the leaders of Israel being former Communist Revolutionists and how the Soviet Union betrayed the other Arab states expressly for Israel's gain. They don't talk about the billions -- in reality, trillions -- of dollars that America has given to Israel in weapons, military technology and other aid. The number of Palestinian to Israeli deaths is left out. They completely leave out the USS Liberty incident, where Israel attacked a US ship in neutral waters in an effort to make it look as if Egypt had attacked us so that we would get involved in their war. Don't even get me started on the Oslo talks. And always, ALWAYS the reason the Arabs would not cooperate was because they "didn't accept Israel's right to exist," without further explanation. If that's not a loaded piece of propaganda I don't know what is. This isn't to say that the Palestinians or other Arab nations are blameless. Not at all. But much of the actions on their part have been in reaction to the Israeli terrorists and later, the Israeli government -- the things they were reacting to were never mentioned. This film focuses on historical movie clips of Jews, interviews mostly Jews and tells the story from a decidedly Jewish perspective. When an Israeli makes a blatantly false statement on camera, there is no follow up or challenge to it. But I guess we shouldn't be surprised it was not objective since the film was, after all, directed and produced by Jews. Don't buy this unless you'd like to use it as an example of how the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been disseminated into a very narrow perspective in America.
(Aung Htun, 2008-10-21) "Leading statesmen, generals, terrorists and others who made the HEADLINES IN ONE OF HISTORY'S most bitter and enduring struggles tell the story of the Arab-Israeli conflict in The 50 Years War: Israel And The Arabs....." [from the back cover of the video case]
(Simon Egenfeldt-nielsen, 2007-08-08) The documentary is a really good introduction through different sources but gets a bit dry towards the end. It actually led me to look for other ways to learn more about the conflict. I stumbled across a video game called Global Conflicts: Palestine that is really worth a try.
(Jose L. Dager Pattini, 2006-09-17) Great movie, but I'm still dissapointed with the seller. I received my "copy" on time, kind of cheap for a $1.00 DVD+ disc