An Odd Understanding Reached in Israeli Prisons

HOT HOUSE

Cinemax, tonight at 6:30, Eastern and Pacific times; 5:30, Central time.


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"“Hot House,” Shimon Dotan’s absorbing look at Palestinians held in Israeli jails, is full of remarkable interviews. Prisoners talk about how they issue orders to followers on the outside via smuggled cellphones. A former Palestinian newscaster, Ahlam Tamimi, recalls the day she dropped a suicide bomber off at his target, then coolly went on television to report on the resulting bombing.

Mr. Dotan, who grew up in Israel, is so successful at revealing the world inside the prisons, where about 10,000 Palestinians are held, that by the end of “Hot House” you may feel more than a little annoyance at the two sides in this endless conflict. These enemies know each other absurdly well. They learn from each other, and talk openly about doing so. Yet they can’t seem to break the cycle: a cat and mouse addicted to their own game.

The film, shown tonight on Cinemax, is centered on the 2006 Palestinian elections; some of the prisoners are members of Parliament. And it has a timeliness to it because life in the prisons mimics life outside: there is a Hamas faction, a Fatah faction and so on.

Mr. Dotan too often lets the prisoners he interviews spout the usual hogwash (“We treat all human beings as brothers,” says a Hamas inmate), but he also zeros in on what makes the prisons so fascinating. “The Israel security service does such a good job that the whole military, political and social leadership is here,” says Col. Ofer Lefler, a spokesman for the Israeli Prisons Authority.

And that leadership isn’t making license plates. Prisoners talk about how they have used their time —decades, for some — to learn more about their own cause. Some entered as boys, but now, through newspapers, television and talks with other inmates, they know what they were fighting for back then."

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/27/arts/television/27genz.html?ref=television

about last year....it does tend to destroy the "tortured in israeli prisons" and all those other accusations. But i have learned just because the palestenains "say so" doesnt mean the "left" will agree with them. (it certainly ruins their fantasy of the evil israelis)

it is an interesting peek at the societies...israeli and palestenian and within the palestenian

one of the more interesting aspects was how the fatah leader was studying about ben gurion at the university and basically said that hes their example of how to create a country.