The following blog is a reflection on the documentary titled, "Peace, Propaganda, and the Promise Land."
I have very strong feelings and views regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. However when it comes to a great majority of the arguments, I must admit that I have always been bias in favor of the Israeli side. I was born and raised in a very non-traditional Jewish household. Both of my parents are Jews, but in general my family is not very religious. I did not have a Bar-Mitzvah and my parents attempted to drag me kicking and screaming to Hebrew school.
I believe that most of my views regarding the Israeli-Palestinian crisis are self-formulated and based mostly on History. When laying out the facts, I believe that Israel as a state comes in two forms. The Israel that we know today, as the place where United Nations generously picked out a plot of land, took it from the current inhabitants, as if the UN said, "hey, sorry about the whole holocaust thing, now here is some land that we will help you defend so you Jews won't be bothered again." And there is the Israel that is mentioned in books of faith such as the Torah. Now, let me admit that his is my own perception of the situation, and that my views may not be historically correct, it is just how I personally took things in.
After watching this documentary my views have drastically changed. I now sympathize with both sides. However it is very hard for me to part completely with the Israeli side of the conflict because even though their treatment of the Palestinians has been completely miss-lead and unlawful, it is not their fault that the physical area of land is named "Israel." There were many surprising facts in the documentary that showed me a Palestinian point of view and has helped me to broaden my outlook of the conflict. There is a 65% unemployment rate amongst Palestinians, who are restricted to their poor neighborhoods in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Their unemployment is not helped by the great number of road blocks set up by the Israeli army in order to prevent chaos and terrorism. The road blocks are not only a great inconvenience to poor and working class Palestinians, but they also are deadly to Palestinians seeking immediate medical attention for deadly injuries and pregnancies. Finally, the road blocks also prevent equal opportunity for education.
The documentary is also heavily geared toward how the US portrays the situation in the media. While European outlets tend to show both sides of the conflict, the US heavily favors the Israeli side. They address various filters that news coming from Israel goes through starting with the Owners of the US media-firms, continuing through the political elite, than the Israeli government's PR representatives that are based in the US, and finally watchdog groups. All news goes through these outlets before reaching its intended audience, the American public. The US fails to pay attention to Palestinian deaths, demolitions of Palestinian homes, and fails to report on the building of Israeli neighborhoods in Palestinian land. These Israeli neighborhoods are also built in strategic locations for the Israeli army to defend. From September 2000 to August 2003 their were 500 Israeli deaths to the 2000 Palestinian. I can go on for a very long time with pure statistics from the documentary, but the bottom line is that being an American has greatly inhibited our views of the entire situation. In a perfect world, I would hope that the Israeli's and Palestinians would divide the land equally, sharing the holy city of Jerusalem and making it neutral.
But the World is not Perfect.
