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Summary: the fifty year war:israel and the arabs
Review: an absolutely remarkable documentary.....it allows the viewer to form his/her own opinions regarding the causes by showing the speeches and statements made during the 50 year and prior history of these people .......made by the leaders and representatives themselves ......recorded visually and verbally......during official speeches and interviews.....so that the viewer...and not a commentator......can decide what the causes of the ongoing war were and are......i highly plaudit the objectivity it affords the viewer..
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Summary: El-Aksa and dome of the rock are the same??
Review: In responce To Rebecca, who wrote a review above, first thing, Mohammed ascended into heaven on the spot where Dome of the Rock is, Not El-Aksa(which is spelt Al-Aqsa) Dome of the Rock was then built on the spot where he ascended to commemorate this. Second Al-Aqsa was not a Church, it was also built by muslims. Temple mount is different, it is sacred to both Muslims and Jews, yet I do not believe that Sharons Visit was what has sparked this uprising, It is a good documentary, unbiased, some of the information cannot really be drawn to full conclusions because both sides present their aguments. There are many that are lying, but it is as close to what we can get so far. Many Arabs don't hate all Israelies, Many Israelies don't hate arabs, there are good and bad in both, mainly the governments of each side are hated, Sharon for his ordering of the killings of palastenian refugees in 1983, and Arafat for his hatred towards Israel and displacing himself from the bombings targeted at jews.(I must add I know many Muslims who hate Arafat and many Jews who do not agree with Sharon's hardline ways) In all I recommend this movie, but I urge caution when trying to draw conclusions, neither side can be trusted fully from what they say on camera.
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Summary: Dare or T R U T H...
Review: The contents of this DVD are not all to be taken as absolute truth, because the documentary is based on:1. The interviews with politicians and leaders where many are well known to be LIARS in their countries and among the nations. 2. Enemies point of view that can be very manipulative for strategic reasons. The main advantages of this DVD, that you may take as facts: 1. The conspiracies between Arab leaders. 2. The conspiracies against Arab nations. 3. The negative influence of USSR. 4. The endless support of USA & Europe to Israel. My advise is not to focus on the conflict between Arabs & Jews, but focus on how the Jews were UNITED with the West... and how the Arabs were BETRAYED by their leaders! THIS DVD IS A MUST BUY!
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Summary: Outstanding Package
Review: Outstanding documentry on the Israeli and Arab conflict on top quality DVD imagery and sound. The series carries viewers from the roots of this conflict to the most recent events when Benyamin Netanyahu was Prime Minister of Israel. Contains abundant newsreels, rare footage and an impressive line of interviews with the significant leaders involved in this historical conflict. Terrific layout of all the events for anyone desiring to obtain a good understanding for what is going on in the Middle Eastern Core. Highly recommended for anyone interested in the history of this region.
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Summary: If you will only view one video on the Middle East conflict,
Review: this should be the one! This accurate and often-haunting exposition of the Israeli-Arab conflict will challenge your preconceptions and highlight the bravery, treachery, deceit and nobility displayed in the last 50 years. Historical footage is mixed with incredible interviews of high-level people. This video would be a great bargain if it cost three times as much...
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Summary: Middle East Insight!
Review: If you are interested in what is happening in the Middle East, then you might want to start with this DVD which tells the story behind the news. You will obtain a more extensive overview of why European Jews flocked to the Middle East and how Israel became a state. You will learn more information about Benjamin Netanyahu and Yasir Arafat and discover Israel's journey to statehood and a victory against Arab armies in 1967. ~...
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Summary: Top Class
Review: Insightful, chronologically accurate. Mixes historical footage with recent interviews. Excellent.
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Summary: gripping and genuinely unbiased British documentary
Review: This is one of the most gripping documentaries I've ever seen. The more nobel aspects, and the less morally sound aspects of both sides are covered in detail. Excellent work created by 1 Palestinian and 1 Israeli for the BBC (even though the blurb above calls it a PBS show, and indeed so does the generic intro on the DVD - it was actually made by the BBC, not an American company, just thought I'd clear that up)
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Summary: 5 STARS without any hesitation!
Review: I want to start my review by disputing a claim I saw over and again in some of the other reviews. Some reviewers (like the one from Saint Louis) claim that this is a pro-Israeli documentary. I could not disagree more!
1) That above-mentioned reviewer, like many others, is questioning why the documentary does not cover the Israelis doing this and the Israelis doing that to the Arabs. By the same token, I could argue--and I'm an Arab, by the way--why the documentary does not have more coverage on the PLO doing this and the PLO doing that to the Jewish people. The answer to both arguments is obvious: this is a five-hour documentary covering a fifty-year war! You cannot include every detail. Whoever expects this documentary to be more comprehensive is either being unreasonable or lacking intelligence. [period]
2) This documentary explicitly--I repeat, "explicitly"--portrays the current Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, as a terrorist: it covers him carrying out his "blow up buildings and cause as many civilian casualties as possible" operation in Jordan, the congratulatory meeting he subsequently had with David Ben-Gurion, and more important, the speech that Ben-Gurion gave him, which in itself defines terrorism (you have to hear it for yourself).
(This is not to mention how the documentary covers [1] the Israeli massacre in Dier Yassin, [2] how they pretended not to have received the "stop the war" US warning to concur more kilometres into Syria [during the 1967 war], and [3] how Kissinger was stalling during the cease-fire talks so Israelis can march closer towards Cairo [during the 1973 war].)
If this sounds pro-Israeli to you, fine, don't buy it; otherwise, it's a must have.
Now that I got that out of the way, I want to praise this documentary on three grounds:
1) As can be concluded from my first point above, this DVD set is only an introduction package to the Arab-Israeli conflict--and a great one at it. No other documentary provides the "big picture" better.
2) You hear the accounts straight from the key players: most of it is in the form of interviews with prime ministers, presidents, etc. where they tell you what was going on and why.
3) It contains a huge amount of footage showing big historic moments such as Ben Gerion's the-birth-of-a-state speech, President Sadat's arrival in Israel, his assassination, etc.
5 STARS without any hesitation!
Rating:
Summary: Interesting, but incomplete
Review: PBS took an interesting and useful approach with this documentary, but ultimately it's limited by the simple fact that you can't squeeze the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict into two DVDs.
Many of the major players are interviewed on the Israeli side. Fewer major Arab figures are there to present their views, partly due to death/assassination, and you're left to speculate as to other reasons. Thus smaller figures usually speak for the Arabs, from generals to foot soldiers, and footage from old interviews fills in some of the gaps. There are no reenactments, and little modern-day footage aside from the interviewees. There is a minimum of judgment or criticism, which may leave viewers wishing for a bit more analysis. Still, it's a generally pleasing format which uncovers many interesting factlets.
Unfortunately, you don't need to dig very far to find problems, as they begin at the wildly optmistic title: '50 Years War' seems more tragicomic with each passing year, and limits the film terribly in that it starts just after World War II, and ends with a sudden stop fifty years later with peace talks on the horizon and an air of 'happily ever after'. One gets no backgrounder on the controversies over Jews initially moving to the area, WWI power plays, or the conflict between 1918 and 1945, let alone the collapse of Camp David talks and Intifada II.
What is there is heavily truncated to fit into five hours of film, while a really comprehensive treatment would probably require a full shelf of DVDs. But anybody trying to gain a thorough understanding of the conflict should review information from as many sources with as many viewpoints as possible, and PBS takes a decent stab at a summary. It's just a shame about the title.
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