How Can They Not Get It???

"The movie put the whole blame on Israel and uses film tools to create empathy and understanding to the bombers motives. Israelis are only portrayed as a military threat. The civilian victims of the bombings are not even seen in the movie and as a result the act of suicide bombing is portrayed as nothing more than a harmless, sterile revenge fantasy"

----Eldad Z. Bek, Film Critic of the Israeli Newspaper, Yediot Aharonot in his review of Paradise Now

Okay, how can you not get it? Why would the movie only show the Israelis as a military threat? Dear Israeli populus, open up your eyes. To the mass of Palestinians, your military might is all that they see! Living down in Gaza, my students are amazed at the pictures that I show them of my trips outside. They don't believe that "Palestine" looks so modern on the other side of the fence. But its not like this should surprise you. When I show my pictures of Gaza to Israelis, they are amazingly surprised that there is anything but rubble in the streets. The are surprised by the nice buildings, the greenery and the normality. Neither side knows enough about the other to fill a short pamphlet. If the only real face that you show the Palestinians is the one standing behind a gun, don't act surprised if that's the one on which they focus.