Holy Land: A Year in the West Bank

Devoting equal time to Israelis and Palestinians across the cultural/political spectrum—from peace activists to hardliners—filmmaker Peter Cohn spends a year (winter 2011 to 2012) in the turbulent West Bank. Intransigent Hebrew settlers, including Los Angeles-born Aron Katsof, declare that their 120-odd homestead-villages are there forever. Meanwhile an Israeli anti-settler movement, Peace Now, seeks to obtain their eviction through the nation's Supreme Court. A young Palestinian named Mohammad—taking his cues from the (semi-ill-fated) "Arab Spring" uprisings in Egypt and Syria—creates his own news agency and films the strong-arm tactics of Israeli soldiers against his family and people. Katsof blames those very same troops (the only key personnel here not conspicuously interviewed) for permitting Arab violence and lawlessness against Jews. A truly heroic figure is the much-loved Rabbi Menachem Froman, who is still building bridges with the Islamic community despite his advanced colon cancer. Froman's 2013 funeral ends the real-life drama on a note of hopeful uncertainty (although we sadly know that nothing has much improved since). Although other documentaries have analyzed this agonized situation—including Tears of Gaza (VL-11/13), Death in Gaza (VL-5/06), and Gaza Strip (VL-7/07)—few have been as scrupulously nonpartisan in trying to present clashing viewpoints. Featuring both the full-length documentary and a 56-minute abridged edition, this is highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (C. Cassady)