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ELUSIVE PEACE: ISRAEL AND THE ARABS (TV)

Summary

This documentary chronicles six years in the fifty-year-plus Arab-Israeli conflict and why attempts to find peace have continually failed. The program opens as future Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat meet in a Barcelona hotel on Nov. 27, 1995. U.S President Bill Clinton then comments on why a peace between the two parties would be advantageous to the Middle East.

As "Part One, 1999-2001" begins, Barak, recently elected as prime minister, visits Clinton in Washington D.C. to discuss Israel making peace with Syria. In Dec. 7, 1999, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright arrives in Damascus to meet with Syrian President Hafiz al-Assad. She is informed by Syrian foreign minister Farouk al-Shara that no peace is possible until Israel withdraws from occupied Syrian land. The Six-Day War of 1967, during which Israel captured the Golan Heights, the West Bank, and Gaza Strip, is then reviewed.

Albright comments on how the proceedings continued, with Shara appearing in Washington a week later to meet with an Israeli representative on neutral turf. Following the failure of the first round of talks, Barak insists on retaining land near the Sea of Galilee. Clinton meets with Assad in Geneva on March 26, 2000 but no resolution is reached. When Assad dies three months later, Barak returns to seeking peace with the Palestinians.

When Barak expands settlements on Palestinian land near Jerusalem, Arafat objects. Arafat states that he wants East Jerusalem to be the capital of their new state. Arafat suggests that Jerusalem serve as the capital for both Israelis and the Palestinians, after which Clinton calls another summit at Camp David. Eight days later, no settlement has been reached, with Clinton expressing frustration at both sides. Ultimately, Barak suggests that both camps share control of the Old City. But since Islam's holy sites would be given away, Arafat walks out on the talks.

Ariel Sharon, Israel's opposition leader, subsequently takes Barak to task for letting the Old City be part of "a bargaining process." Barak then agrees to host Arafat in his home for another attempt at resolution. The two make progress, though Arafat objects to Sharon's planned visit to Temple Mount's Islamic holy sites. When Sharon goes to Temple Mount, Palestinians respond by trying to stone him. The following day, Israeli police kill seven Palestinians at Temple Mount following their morning prayers. Though a violent intifada results, Clinton sends Albright to Paris to meet with Barak and Arafat. Despite progress, the intervention of French President Jacques Chirac squelches all attempts to broker a ceasefire.

Before leaving office in January of 2001, Clinton suggests a compromise agreement in which the Temple Mount would be divided between the Israelis and Arabs. Both sides object to Clinton's parameters, after which George W. Bush takes over the White House and expresses that he has no immediate plans to aid peace in the Middle East.

In "Part Two, 2001-2002," the intifada continues and Sharon is elected to replace Baruk. Before a press conference, Sharon -- unaware that microphones have been turned on -- agrees with Chief of Staff Shaul Mofaz's comment to get rid of Arafat. Little support for Israel comes from America in the wake of 9/11, with Secretary of State Colin Powell convincing Bush to court Arabs to aid his "war on terror." Powell turns to General Anthony Zinni, U.S. special envoy, for help with Arafat.

Complications ensue when Mofaz gets intelligence about a ship in international waters which is carrying weapons for the Arabs to defend themselves against Israelis. The ship is captured, after which Arafat denies involvement with its cargo. In retaliation, Sharon sanctions the killing of Arab guerilla leaders, starting with veteran fighter Raed Karmi. His death increases the violence of the intifada. As Israel is about to accept terms of a cease-fire at Zinni's request, Hamas members -- none of whom consider Arafat their leader -- enact a suicide bombing in a hotel at the start of Passover, killing thirty people.

Shimon Peres, deputy prime minister, recalls thinking that a consequent plan to bomb Arafat's compound was a joke. However, Arafat's compound, the Muqata, was soon taken over by Israeli troops, along with the invasion of Palestinian towns in the West Bank. Within the next week, eighty Palestinians are killed. After Zinni goes to Arafat's besieged compound and doesn't get results, Powell is assigned to take over negotiations. Despite Powell's request, Sharon refuses to back off from Arafat, even as Palestinian resistance proves difficult to subdue.

Powell becomes angered at Arafat when he refuses to try to control suicide bombers. Meanwhile, Powell endures criticism from Bush administration members that side with pro-Israeli contingents, forcing Powell to abandon his mission. Though United Nations workers subsequently seek an investigation to see if Israelis massacred Palestinian civilians in Jenin, it is blocked by Sharon, who is later aided by Bush. Prince Saud al-Faisal, Saudi foreign minister, then goes to see Bush at his Texas ranch and tells him to make Israel retreat from the West Bank. According to Powell, Bush agreed to the prince's demand due to U.S. requirements of Saudi airfield space for the planned invasion of Iraq. The U.S. then pressures Israel to leave the West Bank. Israel gives in, with one condition: America must request a stop to the U.N. investigation of the Jenin massacre. Bush concurs and schedules a meeting with Sharon in Washington. He then calls on Palestinian citizens to replace Arafat. However, the Palestinian leader ignores Bush's comments.

In "Part Three, 2002-2005," the intifada still rages, encouraging British intelligence officer Alastair Crooke to go to Ramallah and beseech members of the Tanzim -- militants loyal to Arafat -- to stop suicide attacks. Though the Tanzim agrees, it proves harder to convince Palestinian factions such as Hamas and its leader, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. As an agreement nears fruition, however, Israel opts to kill Hamas military leader Salah Shehadeh. A bomb is dropped on an apartment building to kill Yassin but it misses, instead taking the lives of thirteen civilians, including nine children.

Following intervention from Jordan, Bush releases his plan for an Arab state, which doesn't include Arafat as prime minister. Nabil Shaath, Palestinian minister of planning, convinces Arafat to remain as president by promising him that he will retain control of security. Abu Mazen is subsequently named prime minister. The Bush administration releases a plan in 2003 under which the Palestinians will halt terrorism while Israel withdraws its army from settlements. Both sides agree, though Israel insists that Palestine act first. King Abdullah II of Jordan later hosts a summit for Sharon and Mazen, at which Bush presides.

During the summit, Mazen states that the intifada's violence must end, while Sharon's speech focuses on fighting terrorism. As a result, violence results from Hamas members, during which Israel tries to assassinate Hamas deputy leader Sheikh Abel Aziz al-Rantissi. Following yet more retaliatory violence, the defense ministers broker a ceasefire. Before matters are settled, Israel begins building a five-hundred mile wall which its leaders say will aid against suicide bombers. However, Palestinians state that the wall is being built within their territory and makes new borders that favor the Israelis.

Though Bush sides with the Palestinians, the wall continues to be built, after which Hamas commits a suicide attack on a bus in Jerusalem. When Arafat refuses to hand over control of security to Mazen, Sharon has a bomb dropped on Yassin in Gaza City. However, the bomb fails to kill any Hamas members, after which Mazen becomes the target of Arab, Israeli, and American criticism. Two months after Mazen resigns, Sharon announces that Israel will pull out of the Gaza Strip, but will take more control in the West Bank.

Bush agrees with Sharon's controversial plan, though Powell argues that Palestinians who move to neighboring Jordan can't be denied the opportunity to return to their homes in the West Bank. When Sharon insists on the original wording, Bush sanctions it. Sharon then successfully orders the assassination of Yassin, so that followers of Hamas won't take over the Gaza Strip. By the next summer, Israel pulls its settlers from the Gaza Strip, though Arafat doesn't live to see it, having died in his compound the previous November from a mysterious ailment. The program concludes by noting that a peace deal between the Israelis and Arabs remains "as elusive as ever."

Cataloging of this program was made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Details

  • NETWORK: PBS
  • DATE: October 11, 2005 9:00 PM
  • RUNNING TIME: 2:26:46
  • COLOR/B&W: Color
  • CATALOG ID: B:93475
  • GENRE: Documentaries
  • SUBJECT HEADING: Israel-Arab conflicts;
  • SERIES RUN: PBS - TV, 2005
  • COMMERCIALS: N/A

CREDITS

  • Brian Lapping … Executive Producer
  • Dan Edge … Producer, Director, Music by
  • Mark Anderson … Producer, Director
  • Norma Percy … Producer
  • Naya Mizrahi … Producer
  • Suzanne Nicholas … Associate Producer
  • Suha Arraf … Associate Producer
  • Charlie Miller … Music by
  • Henry Scowcroft … Music by
  • Juliet Stevenson … Narrator
  • Abdullah bin al-Hussein
  • Madeleine Albright
  • Yasser Arafat
  • Hafiz al-Assad
  • Ehud Barak
  • George W. Bush
  • Jacques Chirac
  • Bill Clinton
  • Alastair Crooke
  • Saud al-Faisal
  • Raed Karmi
  • Abu Mazen
  • Shaul Mofaz
  • Shimon Peres
  • Colin Powell
  • Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi
  • Nabil Shaath
  • Farouk al-Shara
  • Ariel Sharon
  • Salah Shehadeh
  • Ahmed Yassin
  • Anthony Zinni