Clash of the Worlds

Episode Three/Three

Palestine Clash Of Worlds tells the story of the extraordinary tensions and mutual misunderstandings, wars and reconciliations that have haunted the Christian and Muslim cultures during Imperial Britain's rise and fall. The programme explores the ways in which the centuries-old conflict between Islam and a Christian West can shed light on the causes of terrorist acts in the 21st century. 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.