FRONTLINE/WORLD INVESTIGATES NEW PALESTINIAN LEADERSHIP AND GAUGES PROSPECTS FOR PEACE WITH ISRAEL
Tuesday, May 9, 2006 at 9 p.m. ET on PBS
FRONTLINE/World returns with three new œstories from a small planet”:
Inside Hamas
Gaza/West Bank: On April 17, a Palestinian suicide bomber destroyed a falafel shop in Tel Aviv, killing nine and wounding many more. It was the first such attack inside Israel since the radical Islamist movement, Hamas, won control of the Palestinian parliament in elections last January. The international community called on Hamas to condemn the suicide bombing which had been carried out by the group known as Islamic Jiihad. But Hamas responded by endorsing the bombing as œa legitimate act of self-defense.”
Hamas™ defiance undercuts the argument that being elected to govern the Palestinian territories will moderate the group™s hardline anti-Israel stance. It also reinforces the urgency of the question that hangs over the Hamas government ” can an organization known for orchestrating suicide attacks adjust to democratic rule and accept the existence of the Israeli state?
In Inside Hamas ” airing Tuesday, May 9, 2006 at 9 p.m. ET on PBS (check local listings) ” FRONTLINE/World correspondent Kate Seelye travels to the West Bank and Gaza to see how Hamas is coping with its new role, and to find out if they will put down their guns in order to govern.
Seelye gains access to the highest levels of Hamas™ political apparatus and to its secretive military wing, the Qassam Brigades. She meets Hamas members (some still in Israeli prisons), militia leaders, unseated officials from the late Yasir Arafat™s Fatah party, and Israeli settlers and analysts. What emerges is a portrait of an organization in flux and a region teetering between new hope and a familiar pattern of bloodshed.
On the streets of Gaza, the excitement over Hamas™ victory is palpable. Fifty-six percent of Gaza City voted for Hamas, and lampposts everywhere are festooned in Hamas green. But the fledgling Hamas-led parliament faces an economic blockade, an empty treasury, and soaring unemployment. Every night, thousands of workers line up at the Erez border checkpoint, hoping to make it across the border into Israel in time for work. Israel has closed the only commercial crossing, stemming the flow of goods in and out. Bread lines have become routine, violence a daily affair.
For many Palestinians, supporting Hamas was a protest vote against the frustrations of the status quo and the corruption of Fatah. Others were attracted to Hamas™ strict Islamist platform and commitment to social services. Still, there™s no denying that Hamas built its strength through the use of violence. Posters of their sheheeds ” or martyrs ” hang all over Gaza.
How the Hamas government will approach the conflict with Israel remains unclear. Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh has intimated the possibility of a long-term truce. But Mahmoud Zahar, Hamas™ newly appointed foreign minister, refuses to talk to Israel. œTalking is not our intention,” he tells Kate Seelye, œThe PA [Palestinian Authority] spent many years talking and talking and talking and they reached a big zero.” Asked if Hamas will continue its armed resistance, Zahar is adamant. œGive me an alernative option,” he says. œWe are not surrendering. We are still powerful enough to resist and push the Israelis outside.”
Indeed, Palestinian faith in armed resistance has been strong ever since the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza last summer. For many Palestinians, the pullout was a triumph for military tactics”and a more concrete result than anything achieved during years of negotiations.
But there are challenges to Hamas™ political authority, most immediately from Israel and the West, who have cut off much-needed aid to the Palestinian government until Hamas renounces terrorism and recognizes Israel. There™s also concern among their own constituents about their social policies. œThe people in Ramallah are really concerned with the Hamas government coming to power,” says Hani Kort, a secular businessman. œIt™s a shock for everybody, especially in the West Bank ” what, are we now part of the Islamic world? Many sects in society are starting to feel like we are outsiders. Now you have to be a religious person, a conservative person, and a Muslim in order to be with Hamas.”
Saeb Erekat of Fatah, who was a negotiator of the Oslo accords, feels that Hamas will also have to moderate its diplomatic stance. œHamas is saying they aren™t going to recognize Israel,” he tells Kate Seelye. œThis is a path for enlarging the vicious cycle of violence and counter-violence. I am asking Hamas to accept the two-state solution, to accept the Arab peace plan. Because by doing so they will serve the interest of their people.”
Jewish settlers from Hebron and Ramallah are not expecting Hamas to change its positions. œWhen someone says they are going to destroy you, I™m worried,” says one Israeli settler. Another feels that violence is inevitable. When asked how the Israeli government should address Hamas, he answers: œAddress them? Why should they address them? They should kill them.”
For all the anxiety about Hamas, a recent poll shows broad support among Israelis and Palestinians for a two-state solution. Seelye asks Abdul Aziz Dwek, the speaker of the Hamas-led parliament, if Hamas will listen to the polls. œWhat we™d really like to see is a democratic referendum. We are very much committed to the hudna, which is a kind of ceasefire,” he says. œBut I don™t think this ceasefire will continue as long as Israeli measures continue as they are right now.”
Certainly, in Gaza, there™s a sense more violence is never far off. And there is no lack of faith in the cause. At a funeral for two Islamic jihad members killed in an Israeli strike, the father of one of the sheheeds talks proudly about his son™s death. œI raised my children to resist and respect their religion,” he says. œI thank God that they died this way.”
Chopin™s Heart
Poland: FRONTLINE/World producer Marian Marzynski (Shtetl, A Jew Among the Germans) travels to Poland to witness the 15th International Frederic Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. œLike every child growing up in Poland, I was raised with the music of Chopin,” says Marzynski, who survived the Holocaust in Poland as a young boy. œChopin is a Polish legend woven into the Polish fabric, not only its culture, but its history and politics.” Eight hundred contestants sign up for the first round of the competition, and over three weeks of successive elimination rounds, a winner is chosen for whom the honor will launch a worldwide performing career. But how can one decide who plays Chopin best? œThe whole idea is to be light, like playing it for the first time,” says Adam Harasiewicz, the world-renowned Polish pianist who won this competition 50 years ago, and is one of 18 jurors. œIt should sound like it is improvised. If Chopin is played academically, … then Chopin is not alive, and his truth will not come out.”
Clean Water Is Child™s Play
South Africa: FRONTLINE/World reporter Amy Costello of Public Radio International travels to South Africa to investigate a remarkable invention that may revolutionize the supply of clean water to poor communities: a schoolyard merry-go-round that drives a water pump. The system supplies a day™s water for a village of 2,000 people”through the spontaneous play of schoolchildren. This is no small achievement--in rural villages across South Africa, some 5 million people do not have access to clean drinking water. Costello and producer/photographer Cassandra Herrman visit a small village where the taps have been dry for a week, and document the installation of a new pump. A crew bores 40 meters into the ground until they hit the fresh water table below. Once the pump is in place, dozens of children show up to play”pumping cool, clean water to the surface as they spin. Initially launched on FRONTLINE/World™s groundbreaking, online-only video series Rough Cut, this story was so popular online that the series has decided to move it to broadcast.
Stephen Talbot is series editor for FRONTLINE/World. Sharon Tiller is FRONTLINE/World series executive director. FRONTLINE/World is produced by WGBH Boston and is broadcast nationwide on PBS. Major funding for FRONTLINE/World is provided by ABB Ltd., The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. FRONTLINE/World is closed-captioned for deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers and described for people who are blind or visually impaired by the Media Access Group at WGBH. The executive producer for FRONTLINE/World is David Fanning.
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