Arab-Israeli Conflict

This post is somewhat delayed (a week to be precise), but nonetheless, I thought it was interesting enough to pen down. So about a week ago, I went to watch Munich with Wenwei. For those unacquainted, Munich is about the alleged Israeli retaliation to the massacre of Israeli atheletes by Palestinians during the 1972 Olympics. I thought the movie was one of the best that I had seen in quite a while. With the exception of a rather awkward sex scene that is interspersed with flashbacks of the Munich incident, the film effectively presents a somewhat balanced account of the dilemmas facing both the Palestinians and Israelis as they use violence in pursuit of peace.

The following day, I had my wisdom teeth extracted, after which I went home and watched Kingdom of Heaven. I've had it lying around for quite some time now but never really got down to watching it, so it was really coincidental that it was also essentially about the Arab-Israeli conflict, albeit almost 900 years earlier. While the storyline is pretty unbelievable, the action is nonetheless engaging with an enormous siege battle ala The Messenger. Anyhow, again the question of violent means for peaceful ends was raised.

Amazingly, that very night I was watching BBC and there was a report that Hamas had just swept the Palestinian elections, much to the surprise of observers around the world. Now, I'm not going to give some stunning commentary on the implications Hamas' new-found political power since I know next to nothing on the issue save remnants of knowledge from History 7. However, this chain of events (2 movies + news report) certainly highlights the complicated issues surround peace in the Middle East and the frustration experienced on all sides of the conflict.