Rating: 
Summary: Excellent but narrow documentary
Review: Whatever your political views are regarding the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians (and I certainly have my own strong opinions), all serious students of the conflict in the Middle East should watch this PBS documentary. For those intimately familiar with the general course of the conflict, there are no groundbreaking revelations here. On the other hand, this five-hour DVD is chock full of archival footage and interviews with many of the political leaders, generals, guerrila/terrorists and diplomats that shaped the many decades of this frustrating struggle after World War II. Arafat and Sharon, enemies that they are, get to tell their fascinating sides of the story, as does Peres and an aging King Hussein, along with file interviews from Rabin and Sadat.This DVD is essentially the diplomatic history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Its story narrowly revolves around wars, conversations between diplomats and heads of state, etc. If you are looking for an account of the social history of the Israeli or the Palestinian people and their grievances, or want a detailed discussion of the history of settlement activity, terror bombings or life under the occupation, you will be disappointed. Such controversial and disputed topics are (perhaps wisely) beyond the scope of this documentary. A significant shortcoming in the video is the absence of any prelude episode that looks over the history of the area in the early twentieth-century under Ottoman rule or the Palestinian mandate. It begins rather abruptly just as the new state of Israel declares its independence in 1948. For an understanding of how the roots of the conflict were sewn, again you will have to look elsewhere. Finally, the video was produced several years ago, when Netanyahu was still Israeli PM. Eager viewers will have to await a future DVD to explore the terms of Barak and Sharon and the al-Aqsa intifada.
Rating: 
Summary: Moving. The human face of a bitter political conflcit.
Review: This is a moving story that shows the human face of one of modern history's longest and bitter conflicts. "The 50 Year War, Israel and the Arabs" shows in two Dvds, with a running time of five hours a complete and balanced account of the Middle East, starting in the first episode with Israel's struggle for statehood, the partition of Palestine and the war of 1948. Also on the second and third part of the first DVD, the viewer will find about the Six Days War of 1967, the history of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Yasser Arafat's turbulent rise to the leadership of his people, the lebanese war and the tragedy of the refuggee camps. On DVD number 2 also divided in 3 chapters, the film deals with the Yom Kippur War, the peacemaking process, the Camp David accords of 1978, the Palestinian Intifada, the Oslo agreements of 1993 and later events up to 1999. Included in this documentary are interviews with Middle East leading statesmen, political leaders and warriors, such as the late King Hussein of Jordan, Nobel Peace Prize winner Shimon Peres, Arafat, former israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S presidents Jimmy Carter, George Bush Sr. and Bill Clinton among others. A well made documentary, a complete and balanced film that show us the tragedy and the drama, the hopes and the dreams of arabs and jews, and in a sense of the whole world that has been protagonist and witness of one of the most dramatic events of modern times
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Documentary
Review: Documentary is excellent for everyone who want to know what had been happening in the middle east for past 50 years or so. I agree with one of the reviews made earlier that the beginning of the documentary is not what it should have been. It does not tell about the region under Ottoman rule and the British mandate after World War I. Furthermore, I was very shocked and in utter disbelief that there is no mentioning of massive airlift provided by the United States to Israel in the 1973 war that effectively saved Israel. No word at all. One must wonder why? Any way overall a very informative documentary.
Rating:
Summary: Good Documentary, but it is very broad
Review: I really like the documentary, it had interview from almost very one involved in the Arab-Israeli wars, peace processes, etc. It really did cover a lot of information, but my only problem is that it covers too much and did not go into detail on many issues, I would have liked to seen more information about the wars that Israel and the Arabs went through with more original footage instead of just mostly interviews. In addition, more maps throughout the documentary to describe the situations of the wars and the settlements. I had some historical problems in the documentary, it makes it sound like there were no Jews in the then Palestine before 1948 which is very wrong, the majority were Arabs but there were a large number of Jews living in Palestine before 1948. All in all the documentary does cover a lot of information and is very unbiased.
Rating:
Summary: Moving. The human face of a bitter political conflcit.
Review: This is a moving story that shows the human face of one of modern history's longest and bitter conflicts. "The 50 Year War, Israel and the Arabs" shows in two Dvds, with a running time of five hours a complete and balanced account of the Middle East, starting in the first episode with Israel's struggle for statehood, the partition of Palestine and the war of 1948. Also on the second and third part of the first DVD, the viewer will find about the Six Days War of 1967, the history of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Yasser Arafat's turbulent rise to the leadership of his people, the lebanese war and the tragedy of the refuggee camps. On DVD number 2 also divided in 3 chapters, the film deals with the Yom Kippur War, the peacemaking process, the Camp David accords of 1978, the Palestinian Intifada, the Oslo agreements of 1993 and later events up to 1999. Included in this documentary are interviews with Middle East leading statesmen, political leaders and warriors, such as the late King Hussein of Jordan, Nobel Peace Prize winner Shimon Peres, Arafat, former israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S presidents Jimmy Carter, George Bush Sr. and Bill Clinton among others. A well made documentary, a complete and balanced film that show us the tragedy and the drama, the hopes and the dreams of arabs and jews, and in a sense of the whole world that has been protagonist and witness of one of the most dramatic events of modern times
Rating: 
Summary: Arafat should shut up!!!
Review: Yasir Arafat is a baby. He blames everyone for the woes of the Palestinians. Did you see the 60 Minutes report on what a criminal he is? He is a thief!!! The worst thing Israel has ever done is not getting rid of him years ago.
Rating:
Summary: the naked truth...
Review: This is the only objective report I ever came across.All the ones
I watched or read before are biased -99% of them favoring the jews.This DVD , in contrast , shows the naked truth of how the jews under the cover of British colonialism came to Palestine as illegal immigrants and took over...
I wish I had 6 billion copies to give to the whole world for free so that they see the naked truth...
Rating: 
Summary: Decent documentary
Review: This is a pretty open minded documentary dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As it is produced by an american TV network, you will expect little information about how Israel literally stole a country from the Palestinians, but apart from that, it's a good documentary.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Watch
Review: Informative and well balanced. Pick it up.
Rating:
Summary: Must have - even if PBS did it
Review: []this documentary shows/tells the ABSOLUTE truth about the struggle for the tiny Jewish state, and how 22 arabs states tried to destroy it for the last 50 years. Running throughout the documentary is the brilliant subplot exposing arab truculence and intractability. You can't help but marvel when the Jews establish and maintain the state of Israel with little or no help from the Western world. And then continue to defend their homeland against barbaric hoards. The '48, '56, '67, and '73 wars are covered in great detail and explain how a little country with limited resources defeated supposedly superior arab forces. Was it the hand of G-d??? Watch the documentary and you decide.
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