Two events have sparked the public interest (and my own particularly) for this conflict in recent days. The first one being the recent rocket and strike attacks in Israel and Gaza and the second one a social media campaign: "What if a girl in the Holocaust had Instagram?".
It would be absolutely reckless to pretend the conflict is devoid of connection with the Holocaust, as it would be to deny that Israeli settlements are a huge factor in it is current state. Amidst all this, that almost every nation in the world has experienced terrorist attacks from extremists of all kinds makes for a heightened emotional context. To even further this rarified climate, the jewish community has just finished commemorating Yom HaShoah and muslims all over the world have just started celebrating Ramadan.
In this blog post, I will do my best to try to show another perspective. Inspired by the power of visual narrative and videos to increase understanding and develop emotional connections that facilitate knowledge in complex human issues, here are my 5 videos suggestions to better understand the Israel - Palestine conflict:
1. "Can Israelis and Palestinians See Eye to Eye?" by Jubilee
2."The Truth about Jews and Arabs" by Nas Daily
The truth about Jews and Arabs.This is a very difficult video to make. As I reflect back on my 1,000 day journey, I wanted to share with you one moment that stands out. But this time, I wanted to show you what happened next. Don't let a few bad apples ruin it for everybody on both sides. When Israelis and Palestinians make peace, I am confident the entire world's happiness levels will rise by 10%. It's a global issue. It's so important. I hope this video helps shed light on these relationships. I'm finishing my daily video making journey in two days. After which, I'll focus on bigger longer deeper videos like this. But I don't want to end Chapter 1 without putting this issue to rest. INSTAGRAM: @NasDaily GROUP: Nas Daily Global P.S This video is ad-free. I have zero intention to commercialize a message this important. 2 DAYS LEFT.
Posted by Nas Daily on Thursday, January 3, 2019
For those of you looking for a more fact-driven coverage of the conflict, the next two videos by CrashCourse and Vox make a fairly accurate report of the last decades of the conflict:
3."Conflict in Israel and Palestine: Crash Course World History 223" by CrashCourse
Having said that, it is almost humanly impossible to explain such a controversial, many-sided and inherently political subject without making some mistakes and falling into misrepresentations, omissions and biased comments, and there are many reviews that will surely make valid objections to both videos. I particularly recommend the letter by Elisheva Stern published in the Times of Israel blog: How John Green Failed to Understand the Israel-Palestine Conflict.
4."The Israel-Palestine conflict: a brief, simple history" by Vox
As a commenter correctly pointed out "I can assure that virtually everything in this video is accurate; however, don't be fooled into thinking that you can form a position on this conflict from watching a 10 minute YouTube clip. The truth is, it's quite hard to form a proper position on this conflict without doing hundreds - if not thousands - of hours of research into it, which isn't very practical for most people."
I would also like to stress that Vox media has been categorized as Left-biased (typically associated with supporting the Palestine side) while remaining highly factual by Media Bias/Fact check.
5."Israel and Iran: A love story" by Vox
And finally, check out this TED talk by the Israeli graphic designer Ronny Edry on his 2012 campaign Iranians We 💙 You. While it is not directly about the Israel-Palestine conflict, I think it is interesting to question ourselves, what can we do, from our own place, to make this devastating situation better?
It can seem naive or simplistic to think that something like a Facebook post or say, a student from Argentina, can actually solve the Israel-Palestine conflict, and don't get me wrong, it is. But doing something is always better than remaining indifferent, and also, what is to stop us from trying?
To continue reading on this topic you can also check out Nicolas Berneman article Israel-Palestine: Kill or die? on this blog.
I don't think of myself as nothing near an expert in this subject, but it is a topic which I have continued to encounter and read about for years and that has always caught my attention. Please feel free to disagree and share your opinions if you differ from my own.
