‘Gaza is ours, and we need to be living there…’
The conflict between Palestine and Israel is one of the many things that I can’t claim to be an expert on. Far from it. I could provide a (very) basic elevator pitch for the whole scenario, but I don’t know the nuances or the history. I’ve tried to engage it, believe me, I’ve tried. But in the end, I always find myself putting on Halloween 4 instead, or watching an episode of The X-Files, or something. I imagine this is partly due to a lack of intelligence, empathy, intellectual curiosity, and laziness, but either way, I desperately need some education on this subject. Step forward, Louis Theroux…
The Settlers sees Theroux travel to Gaza and the West Bank to speak to Israeli settlers who have illegally built settlements in Palestine for ideological reasons (as I understand it). He also speaks to some Palestinians about their experience of life in wartime, but the main focus, as the title suggests, is on the settlers. What’s striking is that many of them have travelled from Western countries with all their entitlement to settle in a place that doesn’t belong to them (or at least that was my reading of it). Theroux, as ever, gives his more insidious interviewees enough rope to hang themselves without leading them one way or the other. It becomes very clear that most of the Israelis featured in this documentary either hate the Palestinians or simply wish that they didn’t exist. It is also clear that Palestine is a genuinely dangerous place to be, with Theroux having his passport confiscated numerous times and everyone walking around with incredibly mean-looking assault rifles all the time.
The Settlers covers only a very small part of the conflict in Israel, but it does so in a way that is educational, compelling and always entertaining – another Theroux triumph.
