L. Ramnarayan Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — Two documentaries by Israelis that are up for Academy Awards in the documentary category throw light on the Middle East conflict through the filmmakers' lens. They also highlight the ground realities in the long-running disagreement between Israelis and Palestinians. The films — The Gatekeepers, in which six living former Shin Bet chiefs speak about the need for a political negotiated peace solution, and 5 Broken Cameras, a first-hand account of non-violent resistance in Bil'in, a West Bank village threatened by encroaching Israeli settlements — are two distinct films but with one voice, seeking peace. The documentaries take on an added importance in light of the recent Israeli elections, in which far right elements were handed a drubbing by voters voicing their dismay over the constant state of war in the region. The Gatekeepers, whose director Dror Moreh was interviewed by CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Monday, contains major revelations that expose the extremist far right Israeli agenda of scuttling any hopes of peace in the region. Moreh said, “The film was made because I wanted to hang a mirror in front of the Israeli people. ‘This is a mirror they cannot ignore,' for these six guys know about the Palestinian conflict, and they know what they are talking about.” While Moreh's individual effort reflects the growing voice of sanity, 5 Broken Cameras is a 2011 documentary film co-directed by Palestinian Emad Burnat and Israeli Guy Davidi. Built around the destruction of Burnat's cameras, the filmmakers cooperated to show a family's endurance over five years of turmoil. The joint effort also reveals the cooperation between people on the ground. Moreh, who has been vilified by the extremist far right for making and releasing this film, was succinct in his opinion of these fanatical elements. “For them religion is everything. They value land more than lives, and they are the biggest threat to Israel. For every time there was move toward peace, they created chaos.” While calling the six secret service chiefs pragmatists, Moreh described, in the interview with Amanpour, an event that could have brought the wrath of the world on Israel. One of the former heads narrated how he managed to dissuade the authorities from carrying out a destructive 1980 plot to destroy the Dome of the Rock (Masjid Al-Sakhra) that is adjacent to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest mosque for Muslims. The then Shin Bet chief recounted the plot by the far right to blow up the support structure of the Dome of the Rock so as to create maximum damage. “The planning was well advanced with a special type of semtex being used for the bombs. My reaction on discovering this plot was that this was a most dangerous move, and I told the then government
