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Birth of Israel, The

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Subjects: History, Jewish Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, Political Science, War

Grade Level: SrH-Adult
Producer: BBC
Closed Captioned: No

Running Time: 60 mins
Country of Origin: Great Britain
Study Guide: No

Copyright Date: 2008
Available in French: No

On 14 May 1948 Prime Minister David Ben Gurion announced the establishment of the state of Israel in the portion of Palestine allocated by the UN as a Jewish state. For the Israelis, the events of 1948 were a triumph; for the Palestinians it was the beginning of the ‘naqba' – the catastrophe which saw them driven from their homeland. Within 24 hours the armies of Egypt,Jordan and Syria attacked. What followed was the first of many bloody wars between Israel and the Arabs – a bitter struggle which has dominated the region for the past sixty years and continues to threaten global security.

Jeremy Bowen travels to Israel and the neighbouring countries involved in the conflict to take a fresh look at the events leading to the foundation of the state of Israel. Using a combination of rarely seen archive footage, historical eyewitness accounts and interviews with the surviving political, diplomatic and military figures of the time from both sides of the divide, Jeremy uses the history of the period as a prism to reflect the current state of the Israeli/Palestinian conundrum.

Interviews include Shimon Peres, David Den Gurion's right hand man and now president of Israel, and Hassan Nusseibeh, Jordanian Ambassador to the UN, among others.

Challenging existing myths – promulgated by both sides – about the founding of the state of Israel, this is a fresh perspective on an ongoing conflict.

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