1913: Seeds of Conflict

Tonight (June 30, 2015) PBS broadcasts what I think will be a very interesting documentary.

From the PBS webpage: "Most observers consider the Balfour Declaration and Mandate period of the 1920s as the origin of today’s Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Breaking new ground, 1913: SEEDS OF CONFLICT, a one-hour documentary directed by filmmaker Ben Loeterman, explores the divergent social forces growing in Palestine before World War I, when Arabs and Jews co-existed in harmony as Ottomans, each yearning for a land to call their own."

CLICK HERE to go to the PBS web page.

View the trailer.

More from the website:

"Government documents, newspaper accounts, and personal letters in five languages from the Turkish state archives provide new and fascinating insights into dramatic events that took place in Palestine just before the outbreak of World War I.

1913 Palestine is a multi-lingual, multi-cultural society. Muslims, Jews and Christians coexist in relative harmony and often gather together in the coffeehouses of Jerusalem. It is a time before Jerusalem’s Old City is segregated into separate ‘quarters’ for various groups. But after European Jewish migrants arrive, Ruhi al-Khalidi, Jerusalem’s representative to the Ottoman Parliament in

Istanbul, voices growing concerns about what he sees as their secret agenda to build a state. So does Albert Antebi, an Arab-speaking Sephardic Jew known as the Jewish “pasha,” who embraces economic and cultural Zionism, but fears the consequences of a Zionist land grab.

Meanwhile, Arthur Ruppin arrives from Germany to be the Zionist’s land agent and Khalil Sakakini returns from a trip to America filled with pride and optimism of a new Palestinian Arab identity. In 1913, growing tensions erupt into violence in the vineyard just outside Rehovot, leaving an Arab and Jew dead, and sowing the seeds for a century of conflict.

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The Enright Files: Israeli-Palestinian Relations

Now that next Spring's tour dates have been set (April 25-May 16, 2015), we're ready to prepare ourselves for what we're about to experience. The tour's title, "Ancient Stones, Living Stones," suggests that participants will enter the ancient world of biblical sites and stories and will visit with some of the people who live, work, and long for peace in the land. This CBC Radio "Ideas" program from May 4, 2015, takes us into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which serves as one avenue into the world of the living stones. Michael Enright interviews two Jewish Israeli journalists who offer their rather different perspectives.

"In the wake of a highly contentious election in March, many were wondering about the future of Israeli-Palestinian relations. It's an issue that Israel's oldest daily newspaper, Haaretz, has long grappled with.  In this episode, Michael Enright revisits recent conversations with two of Haaretz's most influential columnists: Ari Shavit, the author of the acclaimed book, My Promised Land: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel, and the award-winning, but highly polarizing Gideon Levy."

Listening to the full 54 minute program will be well worth your while. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

Related websites:

Haaretz
Ari Shavit
Gideon Levy