Did you see Ross Kemp: Middle East on Sky One last night? The former Eastenders star travelled to Gaza to explore life there in the aftermath of Operation Cast Lead. The second part, next Sunday, will see him travel to Israel.
Last night’s first installment could and should have included more context as to why Operation Cast Lead happened. It is dangerously misleading to focus on the consequences of Cast Lead without giving due weight to the causes of it. That said, compared to a lot of British broadcasting about the conflict it was actually quite well balanced. Hopefully the second part will balance the story further.
It is easy to sneer at the prospect of a soap actor pontificating on such a serious topic, and in fairness his closing statement – “The one thing that I’m absolutely sure about is that the people of Gaza aren’t going anywhere. And neither are the people of Israel” – was rather inane. But the fact is that in many ways Kemp did a more sensitive and balanced job than seasoned professionals like Jeremy Bowen, Jon Snow and Peter Oborne have often managed on this topic.
If we’re going down the road of sending soap stars to the Middle East, who would you like to see out there? Personally, I’d be in favour of a couple of Brookside characters travelling to Gaza and saying to Hamas: “All right! Calm down! Calm down!” And – lest we forget – Coronation Street is a Zionist plot.
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‘Neighbours, everybody needs good Neighbours. With a little understanding, you can find the perfect blend. That’s when good Neighbours become good friends.’
“Neighbours, everybody needs good neighbours (preferably ones who don’t have anything in their constitution that requires your destruction). With a little understanding (and a willingness to discuss things, rather than fire countless rockets and shells into your civilian population), you can find the perfect blend (if they don’t hide their armed forces in the civilian population). That’s when good neighbours become good friends (well, it’s when good neighbours become someone you might be able to talk to).”
How funny that he should be hired for such a program but the question is whether he will get a second series
I thought his meeting with John Ging put some necessary context into the program. The only winners in Cast Lead were the extremists.
The program showed that the likelihood that Palestinians will just forget about about the whole thing and become contented Egyptians or Jordanians is about nil.
The people of southern Israel benefitted from Cast Lead too. Look at the massive reduction in rocket fire.
Chas, Just left a message on CiFWatch for you re the Ross Kemp programme. Interesting that you felt that in spite of some reservations, it was still more balanced than the usual fare from Bowen et al. Do you know if it can be downloaded if one doesn’t have Sky?
Thanks CityCa, it might be available via the torrent route.
i am from jordan and i think that hamas are right to fight back after the pain and suffering that the israelis inflicted on the gazans but it will be good to hear the israeli side of the story
How much of what Hamas does do you think is ‘right’? Suicide bombings that blow up school buses? Rockets fired at civilians? Torture of the Palestinian population?
And yes, looking forward to hearing the Israeli side on Sunday.
Holding Israel Accountable Is Not Anti-Semitic
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/d/r/dr_goldstein/2010/01/holding-israel-accountable-is.php?ref=reccafe
Nobody here says it is, Nathan.
I thought the programme was easily more balanced and sensitive that the normal Jeremy Bowen type drivel, and I think Ross Kemp did very well without pontificating really. I look forward to Part 2.
A little OT, but did anyone else wonder if the underpants bomber ruined Annie Lennox’s Christmas?
Haha – hopefully she’ll let us know soon!
Suicide bombings that blow up school buses? Rockets fired at civilians?
I think Chs when you speak about balance, context is a big part of that, wouldn’t you agree? And at least Avraham Burg had the decency to understand
‘It is very comfortable to be a Zionist in West Bank settlements such as Beit El and Ofra. The biblical landscape is charming. You can gaze through the geraniums and bougainvilleas and not see the occupation. Travelling on the fast highway that skirts barely a half-mile west of the Palestinian roadblocks, it’s hard to comprehend the humiliating experience of the despised Arab who must creep for hours along the pocked, blockaded roads assigned to him. One road for the occupier, one road for the occupied.
This cannot work. Even if the Arabs lower their heads and swallow their shame and anger for ever, it won’t work. A structure built on human callousness will inevitably collapse in on itself. Note this moment well: Zionism’s superstructure is already collapsing like a cheap Jerusalem wedding hall. Only madmen continue dancing on the top floor while the pillars below are collapsing.
We have grown accustomed to ignoring the suffering of the women at the roadblocks. No wonder we don’t hear the cries of the abused woman living next door or the single mother struggling to support her children in dignity. We don’t even bother to count the women murdered by their husbands.
Israel, having ceased to care about the children of the Palestinians, should not be surprised when they come washed in hatred and blow themselves up in the centres of Israeli escapism. They consign themselves to Allah in our places of recreation, because their own lives are torture. They spill their own blood in our restaurants in order to ruin our appetites, because they have children and parents at home who are hungry and humiliated. We could kill a thousand ringleaders a day and nothing will be solved, because the leaders come up from below – from the wells of hatred and anger, from the “infrastructures” of injustice and moral corruption.
If all this were inevitable, divinely ordained and immutable, I would be silent. But things could be different, and so crying out is a moral imperative’.
Of course context and balance should also always remember who the agressor is in any conflict, and as Ben-Gurion admitted, in the I/P conflict the agressor is Zionism.
Trying to excuse suicide bombers who blow-up school buses and cafes is obviously morally disgusting. It is also, as seen in the words of the ridiculous Avraham Burg, often deluded. The terrorists themselves have made clear why they do it, and that their motivations are far removed from the sort of territory Burg and his ilk attribute to them.
‘Republican Stones’, are you also the kind of creep who tells rape victims ‘you asked for it’?
A negotiated easing of the blockade would have been a far less damaging way of reducing rocket fire into Southern Israel in the longer term. I’m talking about damage to Israel’s credibility as well as physical and psychological damage to Gaza.
The blockade exists in the first place because of the rocket fire (which started as soon as Gaza became Judenrein). Only when the rocket fire eases should the blockade ease, if at all.
So I’m right in thinking that some of you object to this programme about Gaza on the grounds that there was not enough in it about Sderot? Oooohhhhkkkkaaaaayyyyy…..
Ross Kemp initial fame was from his part as a “hard man” in Eastenders, however in the last few years his various docu series on Gangs around the world, on Afghanistan & the day to day role of British troops have been highly acclaimed, insightful & emotive – . His series on our troops was one of the catalysts in bringing attention to the British public who had been before been largely ignorant & indifferent of their remarkable service & bravery. He has credibility & is trusted, just describing him as a soap actor may seem to some in an implicit way to undermind this docu or ones reflection on it as a serious piece of film work – which is rather disingenuous.
The programme is being repeated several times this week :
1
Ross Kemp Middle East: Gaza
Tue, 5th, 10:50pm170Sky1 HDExpand
2
Ross Kemp Middle East: Gaza
Tue, 5th, 10:50pm106Sky1Expand
3
Ross Kemp Middle East: Gaza
Wed, 6th, 10pm107Sky2Expand
4
Ross Kemp Middle East: Gaza
Thu, 7th, 11pm170Sky1 HDExpand
5
Ross Kemp Middle East: Gaza
Thu, 7th, 11pm106Sky1Expand
6
Ross Kemp Middle East: Gaza
Fri, 8th, 9pm170Sky1 HDExpand
7
Ross Kemp Middle East: Gaza
Fri, 8th, 9pm106Sky1
Thanks for your comment, Jude. There’s nothing disingenuous about pointing out Kemp’s soap-acting past. He was a soap actor and he shouldn’t be ashamed of that.
I do recommend people check out one of the repeats. As I said, with a few reservations, I think it was a decent and engrossing piece of work.
I was quite impressed with it, it’s the closest we’re going to get to “balanced” than “pro Israel”. My main problem was that he seemed to blame extremism in Gaza on the war with Israel; I’m sure the next episode will set that straight, but if anyone only chose to watch the first episode that would be quite problematic.
I agree Proud Zionist. The UK has many naive people who are misled by things like that.
@anna
amen.
‘Republican Stones’, are you also the kind of creep who tells rape victims ‘you asked for it’?
Not at all, and as the victims in the I/P conflict are the Palestinians (which Ben-Gurion admitted), Im not chauvinistic enough to demand an oppressed and subjugated people accept what has been done to them.
Ignore him Chaz. He’s a well-known troll.
Also Chas, you aware that even the earliest zionists such as Ahad Ha’am recognised that the zionist project would meet the resistance of the native population of Palestine, so how is it you see fit to absent any context from your argument and simply condemn the actions of the Palestinians without realising that the founders of the ideology and state you support knew full well what kind of resistance their projecgt would meet?
Im a Troll?
For asking pertinent questions and pointing out certain realities !!!?????
All are welcome as long as they are not personal or racist in their comments. I’ve never seen RepublicanStones be either of those things.
RepublicanStones is a pro-IRA Irish Nationalist! Seen him before.
Also he is very boring! Go away RS
I haven’t got Sky, because I refuse to pay for the privelege of watching adverts.
I appreciate your mature stance ref comments Chas, shame Mary isn’t for free speech !
“Their own lives are torture”? “A structure built on human callousness”?
This piece concerning the current state of the Palestinian lands recently appeared in the Wall Street Journal (I discovered it thanks to Melanie Philips):
“Building Palestine Without Obama’s Interference”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704107104574571491401847518.html
How much more evidence is needed that constructive engagement works and rejectionism doesn’t?
And perhaps most importantly of all, we had driven from Jerusalem to Nablus without going through any Israeli checkpoints.
Did Tom Gross fly from Jerusalem to Nablus? I went between the cities in early Nov and had to pass 3 checkpoints?
And if he is using Chadian markets to compare Nablusi markets, then yes, indeed there are plentiful, but if he is using Israeli markets, then his optimism is a little disingenous.
Btw Melanie Phillips lost all self-respect when she referred to the jews concerned about justice (A Time To Speak Out) as Jews for Genocide.
Hi folks,
Would appreciate if someone could provide a streamed weblink for my social network friends to view the programme. A lot of them don’t have a TV, never mind Sky!
Regards,
Mike N.
Did Kemp mention that there is already a “Palestinian” state – Jordan, which is 4/5ths of British mandated “Palestine?”
Did Kemp mention that the Arabs were offered part of the remaining 1/5th in 1937, 1947 and 2000-01?
Did Kemp mention that between 1948-1967, Egypt and Jordan occupied Gaza and the “West Bank” respectively and that no attempt was made to create a separate state of “Palestine”?
Did Kemp mention the ‘Religion of Peace’ context?
I’m guessing he didn’t, and that’s the problem with 99% of documentaries on the Middle East, from the very outset they are based on the fabricated historical narrative of the “Palestinians”, they whitewash the aforementioned facts.
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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123171179743471961.html
Ending the West’s Proxy War Against Israel
Despite the media’s obsession with the Mideast conflict, it has cost many fewer lives than the youth bulges in West Africa, Lebanon or Algeria. In the six decades since Israel’s founding, “only” some 62,000 people (40,000 Arabs, 22,000 Jews) have been killed in all the Israeli-Arab wars and Palestinian terror attacks. During that same time, some 11 million Muslims have been killed in wars and terror attacks — mostly at the hands of other Muslims.
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I thought that this documentary by Ross far more balanced than any other I have seen.Fron my experience people are just not aware of the full facts,one of them being that much of the land in dispute was actually purchased from the Arabs.Read the history of Isreal.