Books/Documentaries on Palestine?

Reckless

Hey all,

I'm going to be having some free time on my hands this winter break, and I'd like to get myself a little more educated on Palestine. Specifically, I'd like to know more about why the Palestinian people rejected the UN Proposal, the current situation in Gaza and the Bank, and the roadblocks to a peace deal between Hamas and Israel.

If anybody could suggest some quality reading or watching material, I'd be much obliged.

UnarmedOracle

If you're into reading giant bricks of books, I recommend Pity the Nation and The Great War for Civilisation, both by Robert Fisk. Pity the Nation deals largely with Lebannon, but a lot of what has happened there in the last six decades has to do with what happened in Palestine and Israel. The Great War for Civilisation has chapters dedicated to most of the major events that have taken place in the middle east (but also including Turkey, North Africa, and Central Asia) in the last half-century, but also has several chapters dedicated to Palestine and Israel, including one studying why the Oslo accord fell apart (if I remember correctly, it was a bad deal, but Arafat wanted to go home.)

I've found Fisk to be an excellent writer (as you would expect from a journalist with his depth of experience,) and the interviews he is able to get are really very astounding -- for example The Great War for Civlisation opens with one of his interviews with Osama bin Laden.

Fisk's writing comes from a staunch humanist perspective, and though he takes a lot of flack for his criticisms of Israel, he doesn't hide his contempt for the "other side" of the conflict. His sympathies are solidly in the camp of the civilians caught in the middle. I particularly like his citation of an Israeli journalist's definition of their work, which I'll paraphrase as being to cast light on the centres of power.