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shafique · Feb 04, 2011

Louis Theroux spends time with a small and very committed subculture of ultra-nationalist Jewish settlers. He discovers a group of people who consider it their religious and political obligation to populate some of the most sensitive and disputed areas of the West Bank, especially those with a spiritual significance dating back to the Bible.

Throughout his journey, Louis gets close to the people most involved with driving the extreme end of the Jewish settler movement - finding them warm, friendly, humorous, and deeply troubling.
..
I was making a documentary about these ultra-nationalist Jewish settlers, called The Ultra-Zionists. For several weeks I'd been spending time in some of the most hardcore and uncompromising sections of the Israeli nationalist community - the Jewish enclave in Hebron, in the hilltops in the north of the West Bank, and in the crowded Arab neighbourhoods of East Jerusalem - choosing to come at a time when peace talks were ongoing and the extreme settlers were therefore more embattled.

For many years I'd been fascinated by extreme nationalists - and I'd hoped the issue of the West Bank and its settlement by extreme religious Jews would be a chance to understand this mindset at first hand.

Flying Dutchman · Feb 04, 2011

A few things caught my attention:

-the journalist was welcomed and protected very well by the Israeli army. Allowed him to participate during patrols. As soon as he wanted to be alone he was almost stoned by an angry Pali mob.
-Pali's send their children to the front line to throw stones at Israeli soldiers. When a kid gets arrested they cry foul play.

I hope next time to see a documentary from him in Gaza under the protection of Hamas. :mrgreen:

Dillon · Feb 05, 2011

The only revelation I saw in the documentary was that Palestinian Arabs are selling their East Jerusalem properties to Israeli investors then doing a midnight runner and claiming they were illegally evicted so they wouldn’t suffer retribution from their neighbours and Palestinian authorities alike!

The most prolific statement came from Daniel Luria of Ateret Cohanim, speaking about those Israeli properties in Jerusalem;

“In a building that Jews have gone back to, there’s the Flag, there’s the Tabernacle, there’s the House and there’s Jewish life in a United Jerusalem and there’s nothing, nothing that you or the world can do about it, nothing!”

Israel and the Israelis are there to stay and until this is recognised and welcomed by the Arab world, the conflict will simply continue to evolve.

Regards

shafique · Feb 05, 2011

There already are documentaries that have been filmed in Gaza -
dubai-politics-talk/gaza-strophe-t42516.html

What is fascinating is that in the first 10 minutes we have agreement from the 'settler' that the East Jerusalem settlements are illegal under international law, that the rest of the world does not recognise the annexation of East Jerusalem etc. We also have open racism - admission that these extremists view Arabs as lesser human beings than themselves.

The extremists have the protection of the Israeli Military Occupation, the Palestinians don't.

Anyway - the extremists speak for themselves and I guess all decent, justice loving people will be abhored by their extremism and will wonder why the fanbois continue to blame those living under Military Occupation whose land these extremists want to steal. It's illegal under international law, and immoral on a human level - but some find ways to justify this illegal activity. I'd be ashamed if I were them.

Cheers,
Shafique

Flying Dutchman · Feb 05, 2011

shafique wrote:There already are documentaries that have been filmed in Gaza -
dubai-politics-talk/gaza-strophe-t42516.html

The link provided in that thread is a dead link.

shafique wrote:We also have open racism - admission that these extremists view Arabs as lesser human beings than themselves.

I've heard one kid saying that according to him Pali's have less rights to the land than jews. I did hear from the Arab side calling jews dogs and other animals.

shafique wrote:The extremists have the protection of the Israeli Military Occupation, the Palestinians don't.

Pali's should have the protection of the PA police. Duh.

shafique · Feb 05, 2011

The extremist said they don't consider Arabs (which include Christians and Muslim Arabs, remember) to be equal to Jews - as the Jews were the 'chosen people'. Trying to spin this as Arabs 'have less rights' is quite alarming.

It is true that those living under Military Occupation have less rights and are discriminated against - but this film was all about the extremist zionists who are illegally settling in land under Military Occupation.

The truth isn't nice, obviously. No wonder we see posts which try to demonise those living under occupation, rather than address the ugly face of religious racism and stealing of land so graphically shown.

As for name calling - examples from the Israeli side are just as ugly:

May 3, 1983:
"When we have settled the land, all the Arabs will be able to do about it will be to scurry around like drugged roaches in a bottle."
– Rafael Eitan (1929-2004) served as Chief of Staff of the IDF, and later as Knesset member and government minister.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4034765.stm

Cheers,
Shafique

desertdudeshj · Feb 05, 2011

Good find Shaf and well worth the watch. Have a look at the map..again and you'll see why there is no much trouble and these restricted zones and settletments are growing by the day.

Ultra zionists and extremist jews claim land from the Nile to the Euphrates maybe the Arabs should just pack up and vacate the middle east altoghter.

Bethsmum · Feb 05, 2011

Excellent idea DDS! Why didn't I think of that?

shafique · Feb 06, 2011

DDS - indeed, the Israeli human-rights organisation B'tselem released a report last year which put the spot light on the stealing of land under Military Occupation in the West Bank.

Rights group: Israeli settlements control 42 percent of West Bank

Aerial photographs show that 21 per cent of the settlements' built up areas lie on private Palestinian land.

By Chaim Levinson and DPA
Tags: Israel news West Bank Israel settlements Israel settlers

Israeli settlers and their organizations control some 42 percent of West Bank land, even though the settlements' built-up area is just one per cent of the territory, the Israel B'tselem Human Rights Organization said in a report released Tuesday.

Even though some 66 percent of the settlements' built-up areas are defined as being on "state land," B'tselem found that "allocation of this land for settlements was only possible through a manipulative interpretation of all relevant laws in force in the West Bank."
..

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-d ... k-1.300303

Which puts into perspective the refusal of Israel to stop building up these illegal colonies on the one hand, and on the other blame the people living under occupation for holding up the peace process! :roll:

It is a shame that these ultra-extremists zionists are holding not only the Palestinians to ransom, but also the majority of Israelis too.

Cheers,
Shafique

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Ultra-Zionists - BBC Documentary

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