On Monday, saw the documentary "Six Days", which detailed the Six Day War in June 1967. It's been forty years, and the tensions between Israel and the surrounding Arab/Palestinian population has only increased. What astounded me was the way in which the Israeli military (Moishe Dayan, et al) simply used the initial conflict as a way to annex other areas of the West Bank. The takeover of Jerusalem (which had been a "divided" city, but the reason for the division had been the acknowledgement of Jerusalem's importance for different religions, and this was obliterated, as well as the original population) was particularly horrifying, as the Israeli army simply bulldozed people out of their homes (which stood for centuries). The people were simply ordered to leave their houses immediately, and everything was then destroyed.

The documentary itself (directed by Ilan Ziv) had a very "Frontline" feel to it; the use of the narrator, and the "objective" stance. "Six Days" was very well-done, but left me feeling really bereft, as if the possibility for peace in that region were really impossible. It's like watching people throwing gasoline on a fire, and that fire continues to rage out of control, forty years later.