The problem with calling a television programme Israel and the Palestinians: The Road to 7th October is that that is a hell of a long road to retrace. Where would a series like this begin? The formation of Hamas? The six-day war? Suez? 1948? 1917? Earlier?
The producer of this film, Norma Percy, has taken a more modern approach. Percy’s strongest skill as a documentary-maker has always been her ability to secure access to the people who matter, such as Gerald Ford for 1994’s Watergate series and Slobodan Milošević for 1995’s The Death of Yugoslavia. Given that the authors of the Balfour declaration – a letter written by the British government in 1917 supporting the creation of a Jewish homeland – are all long dead, Percy has decided to venture back only two decades.
