Bicara Timur

A documentary by Rod Liddle, Battle for The Holy Land - Love Thy Neighbour (Ch 4, UK)

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Forty years after the Israeli capture of Jerusalem during the Six-Day War, journalist Rod Liddle takes a journey through the West Bank and considers whether Israel should still be considered a part of the western club of democratic nations. A long time supporter of Israel, he visits families in both the Palestinian and Jewish settlements surrounding Bethlehem and then meets with Israeli Deputy Defence Minister Ephraim Sneh to discuss his observations.

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A thought-provoking and powerful documentary film on the current and historical root causes of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Unlike any other film ever produced on the conflict — ‘Occupation 101′ presents a comprehensive analysis of the facts and hidden truths surrounding the never ending controversy and dispels many of its long-perceived myths and misconceptions.

The film also details life under Israeli military rule, the role of the United States in the conflict, and the major obstacles that stand in the way of a lasting and viable peace. The roots of the conflict are explained through first-hand on-the-ground experiences from leading Middle East scholars, peace activists, journalists, religious leaders and humanitarian workers whose voices have too often been suppressed in American media outlets.

The film covers a wide range of topics — which include — the first wave of Jewish immigration from Europe in the 1880’s, the 1920 tensions, the 1948 war, the 1967 war, the first Intifada of 1987, the Oslo Peace Process, Settlement expansion, the role of the United States Government, the second Intifada of 2000, the separation barrier and the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, as well as many heart wrenching testimonials from victims of this tragedy.

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Excerpt from Channel 4 Website:

On the West Bank, where a quarter-of-a-million Israelis live cheek-by-jowl with over two million Palestinians, ideologically driven Israeli settlers are exploiting political weaknesses to take back settlements the Israeli government expelled them from only two years before.”

Israel’s government is in disarray after its failed Lebanon venture. The Palestinian authority is tearing itself apart in Gaza. On the West Bank, where a quarter-of-a-million Israelis live cheek-by-jowl with over two million Palestinians, ideologically driven Israeli settlers are exploiting these political weaknesses to take back settlements the Israeli government expelled them from only two years before and are expanding into new areas.

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A two-hour documentary entitled Battle For The Holy Land by Paddy Ashdown (Channel 4, UK).
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“In the early months of 1967 tension rose between Israel and its neighbours. On 5 June, Israel launched a pre-emptive strike against Egypt’s air force, and Syria and Jordan were immediately drawn into the conflict. Within six days the Israeli army had conquered the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula, the Golan Heights and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Israel ended up controlling more than three times the amount of land it had started with.”

“The Israeli joy at reuniting Jerusalem was matched by an equal and opposite Palestinian despair at living under occupation. That occupation has now continued for 40 years, generating more bitterness, more conflict and more violence.”

“We need to realize that building peace is a process, not an event and there are a few simple steps that could start that process – put Jerusalem first; the acceptance of a shared history, and a shared city; a status quo agreement that covers all the holy places; a charter of rights for all Jerusalem’s citizens; and an end to the wall and the terror that created it. If those simple steps are followed, then peace in Jerusalem might just have a chance.”
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Picture of Fidel Castro, me, and Yasser Arafat

The film goes inside the minds of the Congolese child soldiers. What makes an 11 year old child capable of awful brutality? “I saw my father die, then they killed my aunt. I didn’t want to die by machete at home. That’s a pointless death. So I decided to join the militia,” says 13 year old Eric.

Responsible for the killings of thousands of innocent lives, the feared child militias of the DRC tell how their childhood was lost. Victims of a war no one understands, brutalised by their commanders who turned them into armed brigands, the children became murderers and rapists in a “kill or be killed” conflict.

For some there is hope. Fourteen year old Jolie describes how she preferred a machete to a gun in battle: “A gun can run out of bullets. A machete is safer if you want to stay alive.” She calmly recalls how she first killed a man: “I hacked off his head and hands.”

But now she has changed her view. Holding her new baby in her arms she says: “This child will never join a militia. His father was killed in battle. And I saw too much suffering myself. What was it for? Nothing.”

For others, like Eric, there is no way back to the normal world. Unable to tell his parents the truth about those he killed and unwelcome in his village he says: “At home I am nothing, but in the militia I had power and money. I want to go back to the bush.”

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Afghanistan, a place of wild beauty and extreme cruelty, it seems never to have known peace.

After the civil war of the 1980s, two-thirds of the population were either dead or refugees. And after the curse of the Taliban, a new hopelessness descended on the country.

Although Afghan children don’t know why any of these wars happened, they know they have been born into a devastated land.

Misery, poverty, cold and never-ending internal conflict - this is their lot. The film looks at the many ways children are compelled to work in order to help their families to survive, and at the terrible conditions they are forced to endure.

Few play activities for children exist, and with no sewage or drainage system in Kabul (population 3.5m), many of their play areas double as open-air toilets.

Signs of war damage abound, and the hospitals bear witness to the daily admission of children maimed by the unexploded ordnance which has littered the fields and valleys of Afghanistan for decades.

The orphanage outside Kabul provides food and shelter for the parentless kids, and though there’s no future to look forward to, at least it’s warm.

The town of Qana has become synonymous with Lebanon’s tragedy. Believed to be the site where Jesus performed his first miracle of turning water into wine, the town has earned infamy for two massacres of children 10 years apart. The first attack came in 1996, when Israel bombed a UN base sheltering 800 people – most of them children. Over 100 children were killed or maimed.

The second massacre was during last year’s war on Lebanon. A rocket hit a house where several families had taken shelter in the basement. It collapsed – burying the children in rubble. Seventeen were killed. The images of children being carried from the rubble, looking as though they were sleeping, horrified the world.

The film goes back to find the survivors of the first massacre - now teenagers – to find that although most of them have rebuilt their lives, last summer’s slaughter devastated them emotionally. And there are extraordinary parallels between the two stories.

In 1996, three year old Hussein Belhas was believed dead, and was put in a morgue freezer. Remarkably, he was discovered alive and was rescued. Now 13, a composed Hussein says: “I am the boy who died, and then came back to life. This was my destiny.” Still suffering horribly from his injuries (his leg was blown off at the kneecap and has grown back as a twisted stick), Hussein will require medical treatment for the rest of his life: “When I try to play football, it hurts me. I stay awake all night with the pain.”

His truly incredible story sits alongside that of Hasan Shalhoub, just four years old. In the massacre of 2006, Hasan lost his sister Zeinab, who was seven. Also believed dead, Hasan was left over-night in a makeshift morgue. “In the morning I woke up. I started talking to a little girl next to me, but she turned out to be dead. Then I asked for my mother.”

Too young to fully realise the extent of his dramatic escape, Hasan says: “I was only injured a little bit in my head. I am fine now.”

(Thanks to wehliye on islamictorrent.net)