Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land (Google Video)

[cool user name]

I saw this LinkTV program about a month ago.

It is now available on .

Highly recommended for those that want to know about the conflict and the media's role in it.

Summary:

Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land provides a striking comparison of U.S. and international media coverage of the crisis in the Middle East, zeroing in on how structural distortions in U.S. coverage have reinforced false perceptions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This pivotal documentary exposes how the foreign policy interests of American political elites--oil, and a need to have a secure military base in the region, among others--work in combination with Israeli public relations strategies to exercise a powerful influence over how news from the region is reported.

Through the voices of scholars, media critics, peace activists, religious figures, and Middle East experts, Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land carefully analyzes and explains how--through the use of language, framing and context--the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza remains hidden in the news media, and Israeli colonization of the occupied terrorities appears to be a defensive move rather than an offensive one. The documentary also explores the ways that U.S. journalists, for reasons ranging from intimidation to a lack of thorough investigation, have become complicit in carrying out Israel's PR campaign. At its core, the documentary raises questions about the ethics and role of journalism, and the relationship between media and politics.

Interviewees include Seth Ackerman, Mjr. Stav Adivi, Rabbi Arik Ascherman, Hanan Ashrawi, Noam Chomsky, Robert Fisk, Neve Gordon, Toufic Haddad, Sam Husseini, Hussein Ibish, Robert Jensen, Rabbi Michael Lerner, Karen Pfeifer, Alisa Solomon, and Gila Svirsky.


SECTIONS: Intro | American Media: Occupied Territory | Hidden Occupation | Invisible Colonization | Violence in a Vacuum | Defining Who Is Newsworthy | Myth of U.S. Neutrality | Myth of the Generous Offer | Marginalized Voices | Is Peace Possible?


Logistical Information:
Co-Directors: Bathsheba Ratzkoff & Sut Jhally
Producer: Bathsheba Ratzkoff
Executive Producer: Sut Jhally
Editors: Kenyon King & Bathsheba Ratzkoff



Biographical Summary:

Seth Ackerman Media Analyst and Contributing Writer, Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR)
Mjr. Stav Adivi, IDF (Reserves) Courage to Refuse | Board Member, Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, Israel
Rabbi Arik Ascherman Executive Director, Rabbis for Human Rights
Hanan Ashrawi Founder & Secretary General, The Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH), Palestine
Noam ChomskyProfessor of Linguistics, MIT | Author, Hegemony of Survival
Robert Fisk Journalist, The Independent, UK
Neve Gordon Ta'ayush: Jewish-Arab Partnership | Professor of Political Science, Ben Gurion University, Israel
Toufic Haddad Co-editor, Between the Lines, West Bank
Sam Husseini Communications Director, Institute for Public Accuracy
Hussein Ibish Communications Director, American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
Robert Jensen Professor of Journalism, University of Texas-Austin | Board of Directors, Third Coast Activist
Rabbi Michael Lerner Founder & Executive Director, Tikkun Magazine
Karen Pfeifer Professor or Economics, Smith College | Contributing Editor, Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP)
Alisa Solomon Journalist, The Village Voice
Gila Svirsky Co-founder, Women in Black | Coalition of Women for Peace, Israel

[Epiphany4z]

1. thank you

I must admit I haven't known enough to form a real opinion about the mess in ME. This did answer some questions and create a few more.

[cool user name]

2. Glad to be of help.

:-)

[jonnyblitz]

3. thanks for posting this. nt

[cool user name]

4. Since this is not something we regularly see on MSM ...

I thought it would be nice to get a fresh perspective and to share.

[Denver Dave]

5. 35 year occupation

Thank you for posting the video - gives a different perspective - 35 year occupation

[jonnyblitz]

6. I just realized I have seen this before after starting to watch it..

quite the eye opener if all anybody knows is what they see on US NEWS..

[cool user name]

7. I just watched again (3rd time)

It's incredible what is being done in our name when peace could have been achieved so long ago.

It's a shame. It's sad. It's barbaric.

Our media and our policy needs have a radical shift in protraying and understanding this conflict if any kind of peace is to come to both Israelis and Palestinians.

It is up to us, as Americans, to demand accountability from our legistlators, to demand a comprehensive and just solution to this conflict.

Nothing less is acceptable unless you want to continue to see more people die in this conflict.

[jonnyblitz]

8. right off the bat it tells you the land they took in 1967 is an

illegal military occupation (UN RES 242). they must get away with it because of USA support. it's amazing how the american public can be bamboozled into supporting such thuggery. I am going to go back to watching it in a bit but it just gets my blood boiling and I have had enough of that lately. it pisses me off we are supposed to STFU and support this shit or else we are something vile and evil.

[cool user name]

9. Be patient and watch the rest ...

Not that I'm telling you what to do. :-)

The reason, towards the end, you see the the people in the documentary helping the Palestinians. Explaining what is going on.

You have a seruvnik (Major in the IDF who refuses to serve in the occupied territories) helping Palestinians build homes.

It's incredible. Humans helping humans.

It must be watch in its entirety to get the full effect, and yes, some of that effect will be sadness, anger; yet you will also see compassion and hope.

It's really an incredible documentary.

[jonnyblitz]

10. like i mentioned. i saw it once before awhile back because

I recognize the commentators, the guy from FAIR and Noam, etc. I just forget the specifics! (:smoke:)
I am too busy reading threads to concentrate on the video but i will get back to it..

[cool user name]

11. Kick n/t

[Scurrilous]

12. Kick.

:kick:

[Poll_Blind]

13. Kick! n/t

PB

[Violet_Crumble]

14. I'm a tightarse. Is this video free?

Scratch that question. I've just worked out I can download it for free and put it on my iPod and watch it at work. Thanks for the link!

[PA Democrat]

15. Fascinating video.

I have always been amazed at how little the American press covers the continuing expansion of settlements in the West Bank.

[cool user name]

16. It is fascinating ...

Thanks for watching ...

[cool user name]

17. Kick n/t

[Poll_Blind]

18. KICK again. n/t

PB

[cool user name]

19. And again! Spread the word! n/t

[cool user name]

20. Palestine Is Still The Issue (Video) and Forgiveness Project

I saw this for the first time a few years ago. I was awe struck by this film.

John Pilger cuts to the core. One of the things that I remember from this film was an Israeli father (Rami Elhanan) talking about his daughter. The following is what he said:

"The suicide bomber was a victim - the same as my girl was. Of that I am sure. "

first seen on LinkTV

Also see the

Story of two people who reconciled:

Ghazi Briegeith & Rami Elhanan

Ghazi Briegeith, a Palestinian electrician living in Hebron, and Rami Elhanan, an Israeli graphic designer from Jerusalem, met through the Parents’ Circle – a group of bereaved families supporting reconciliation and peace. Ghazi’s brother was killed at a checkpoint in 2000. Rami’s 14-year-old daughter was the victim of a suicide bombing in Jerusalem in 1997.

Rami
I was on my way to the airport when my wife called and told me Smadar was missing. When something like this happens a cold hand grabs your heart. You rush between friends’ houses and hospitals, then eventually you find yourself in the morgue and you see a sight you’ll never forget for the rest of your life. From that moment you are a new person. Everything is different.

At first I was tormented with anger and grief; I wanted revenge, to get even. But we are people – not animals! I asked myself, “Will killing someone else release my pain?” Of course not. It was clear to my wife and I that the blame rests with the occupation. The suicide bomber was a victim just like my daughter, grown crazy out of anger and shame.

I don’t forgive and I don’t forget, but when this happened to my daughter I had to ask myself whether I’d contributed in any way. The answer was that I had – my people had, for ruling, dominating and oppressing three-and-a-half million Palestinians for 35 years. It is a sin and you pay for sins.

At first I foolishly thought I could just go back to work and resume my life, but the pain was unbearable. Then, a year later, I met Ytzhak Frankenthal, the founder of the Parents’ Circle. He was wearing a ‘kippah’ on his head, and immediately I stereotyped him as an ‘Arab eater’. Even when he told me his personal story, and about the reconciliation work of Parents’ Circle, I was very cynical.

He invited me to a meeting, and reluctantly I went along, just to take a look. I saw buses full of people, among them legends – parents who had lost kids in wars and who still wanted peace. I saw an Arab lady in a long black dress. On her chest was a picture of a six-year-old kid. A singer sang in Hebrew and Arabic, and suddenly I was hit by lightening. I can’t explain it, but from that moment I had a reason to get up in the morning again.

Since then my work with the Parents’ Circle has become the centre of my life, a sacred mission. If we – Ghazi and I – can talk and stand together after paying the highest price possible, then anyone can. There is a high wall between our two nations, a wall of hate and fear. Someone needs to put cracks in the wall in order for it to fall down.

Ghazi
You need a ticket to belong to the Parents’ Circle – the ticket is to have lost a member of your close family. This means Rami and I are brothers of pain.

My own brother was killed in 2000 at the beginning of the Intifada. I’d been with him just minutes before he died. As I was walking home I heard a shot. I found out later he’d been stopped and searched at the checkpoint. When he protested, the soldier shouted, “Shut your mouth, or I’ll shoot you, you son of a bitch,” to which my brother replied: “YOU son of a bitch!” So the soldier shot him. It was a machine gun in a kid’s hand. Sometimes the power makes them mad.

At first I was completely out of my mind – crazy with grief. There should be no forgiveness for the killers of innocents, and yet even then I saw the soldier as a victim of the occupation just as my brother was, just as I am still. But forgiveness is a very personal thing. Even if I choose to forgive the person who killed my brother, I can’t force my brother’s kids to forgive. But I can show them that far more valuable than a violent response, is opening your heart to reconciliation and peace. I can show them that opening a new page is their only hope of living a better life than ours.

The Palestinians have nothing left to lose, so the Israelis must realise that they are destroying their own nation by causing so much suffering. You don’t need to love each other to build a bridge between the two nations: you need respect. If I can stand with my Jewish brother Rami, respecting him as he respects me, then there is hope.

[tnlefty]

21. Just a kick.

I've seen the film, Ia Palestine Still the Issue, and I will try to watch The Forgiveness Project. So much pain and suffering laid bare.

[cool user name]

30. Kick n/t

[jonnyblitz]

22. thanks for this.

:thumbsup:

[cool user name]

23. Kick n/t

[Scurrilous]

24. Kick

:kick:

[Poll_Blind]

25. Kick! n/t

PB

[Poll_Blind]

26. Kick! n/t

PB

[Violet_Crumble]

27. My iPod thanks you....

The only video I had on it up to now was Modest Mouse doing 'Float On'....

[cool user name]

28. LOL ...

I dig Modest Mouse.

Do you have LinkTV?

You can get these sorts of documentaries on LinkTV.

[cool user name]

29. Kick n/t

[UndertheOcean]

31. Thanks!

n/t

[northamericancitizen]

32. As someone seen this video.

http://brasscheck.com/videos/middleeast/me1.html

Is it that bad?

edit for clarity

[uppityperson]

33. watching, so far listening to Peter Gabriels' music

[northamericancitizen]

34. I did not watch more than 10 minutes cause my speakers are terrible.

Will buy some soon.

[Scurrilous]

35. Watching...

...thanks for the link. :thumbsup:

[Demit]

36. I watched 20 minutes of it, will watch the balance later.

Looks like all the speakers are reciting facts. The documentary is listing facts (about the ignored UN resolution, about the PR companies, about the watchdog groups). Not sure what you mean--is what that bad? The media leaving out context? Or the situation itself? Or have I not yet got to what you're referring to?

[northamericancitizen]

37. I guess I am discovering many things these days.

I am slowly learning about Israel gov and Israel population.
About Zionists, about the complex history of the Middle East, etc.

Yes to : Is the situation that bad?

I got my answer.

peace

[durrrty libby]

38. Goes to prove how the media works......................

and works us over.


Thanks for posting

Eveyone should watch it K & R

[chiffon]

39. Bravo!!!

I watched the video in its entirety and Sut Jhally has done another excellent piece.


:applause:

[whistle]

40. Yes, it is that bad and now worse because the U.S. is now openly

...in support of whatever Israel does.

[sistersofmercy]

41. Very Well Done

Gives really good examples I wish they would play a documentary like this right before the Superbowl. I saw a documentary a few years ago that specifically addressed the destruction of Palestinian homes and the building of settlements. It was so sad to see people helpless to save their homes, crying elderly people watching the destruction of their home. Just sad.

[cool user name]

42. Was it one of these two videos?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=124x137547

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=124x137194

Edited to say that one of the videos is already in the lead post.