Arab & Jew: Return to the Promised Land

Suicide bombings and inevitable retaliations are part of a sad daily cycle in the "twilight war" that has overtaken Palestinians and Jews in today's Israel. Hard to believe that not so long ago--after 1993's Oslo peace accords--that relative harmony seemed almost in sight. Trying to uncover what went wrong, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer-narrator David Shipler returns to Israel to journey into the hearts, minds, and souls of Arabs and Jews, seeking out contemporary viewpoints from the same men and women he previously interviewed for a 1988 documentary. Viewers will hear a tragic litany of enduring beliefs and competing mythologies, a complex ideological battleground where successive wars since the birth of Israel as a nation in 1948 have only hardened positions on both sides, with no room for compromise on issues such as Arab lands, Jewish settlements, and sovereignty over the holy city of Jerusalem. Other irritants include the daily humiliations, discrimination, and high poverty rates suffered by Palestinians in the occupied lands. Scrupulously fair-minded to both sides and thoughtful in its treatment of the complex questions surrounding the Middle East debacle, this timely program concludes with no quick fix proposal or vision of a happy ending, but just a weary realization that both sides will learn to live or die together, and a hope that the next generation will be wiser, more forgiving, and patient in the search for a solution. Highly recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (S. Rees)