This final programme in the series looks at the politically-charged
history of Palestine. It explores how decisions made by the British
rulers of Palestine 90 years ago – when they supported the idea of a
nation state for Jews in Palestine – are still blamed for intensifying a
conflict that continues to this day.
In December 1917 the British General Edmund Allenby entered Jerusalem
with TE Lawrence, the guerrilla leader of an Arab army, by his side.
More than 800 years after they were evicted from Palestine during the
Crusades, the British again ruled over the Holy Land.
From the deserts of southern Jordan, through the West Bank and Israel,
this film traces the roots of the "Palestine Issue" and the competing
nationalist demands that the British faced.
The Balfour Declaration of 1917 promised a homeland for Jews. But many
children in schools in the West Bank and militants fighting the Israeli
army today consider British rule over Palestine as a simple betrayal of
the Arab cause.