Precis

Before the war, 2023 had been the deadliest year for Jews and Palestinians in the occupied West Bank in 15 years. Hamas has included violence towards Palestinians in the West Bank as justification for its brutal attack on Israel. Just weeks ago, Foreign Correspondent's Stephanie March was in Israel and the occupied West Bank documenting rising tensions between Israelis and Palestinians. This program details events from the past 12 months and gives an insight into this part of an a complex conflict.

Episode introduction. Hamas attack

Music

00:10

Massacre at music festival

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: It began with a hail of rockets raining down across Israel. Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip had launched an unexpected, unprecedented assault, attacking Israel by land, sea and air.

00:31

Massacre at music festival

They targeted a music festival in the desert. As young people tried to escape, they were massacred. The terrorists took hostages, slaughtered civilians, and issued a call to arms.

01:00

Building collapses

By mid-morning Israel had hit back and declared war.

01:31

Netanyahu address. Super:
Benjamin Netanyahu
ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, Israeli Prime Minister: Citizens of Israel, we are at war. We're not in an operation, not in a round of fighting, but at war.

01:37

Bombed cars, homes. Bodies

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: As Israeli soldiers took back control, they found sickening scenes, recovering the bodies of men, women and children murdered in their homes.

01:45

Gaza

In retaliation, Israel has hammered parts of the Gaza Strip, flattening buildings, killing scores as Palestinians try to find safety in the tiny, sealed off territory.

01:56

Israeli soldiers watch Palestinian protestors

Before the war started, Israel's focus wasn't on Gaza, it was on the occupied West Bank. 2023 had been the most deadly year for both Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank in 15 years.

02:22

Stephanie driving to West Bank. Meets with Issa

Just weeks before the terror attack, we travelled to the West Bank to investigate the growing tensions. On the ground, we were warned members of Israel's new government were playing with fire, by emboldening settlers in the occupied territory.

ISSA AMRO, Palestinian activist: For me,

02:42

Issa dodges bottle thrown from above

it illustrates the Israeli—

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: A settler must have seen us and just threw a beer bottle at us.

SAYAL KANAN, Burqa Mayor: they want to scare people

02:59

Kanan

and they want people to vacant their home, vacant their land.

03:10

Daloya

DANIEL DALOYA: It's crazy. I don't think anyone in the world can live in this situation. But we live here because we believe that this is our country, this is our land.

03:13

Golan

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: What impact do you think that this government is having on solving the conflict with the Palestinians, particularly the West Bank.

YAIR GOLAN, Former IDF Major General, Former Meretz MK: They've no clue. I can assure you that they have no clue what to do.

03:20

The struggle is burning down there and it will create even bigger eruption.

03:33

Men throwing rocks

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: In this story we'll take you from Israel to the occupied West Bank, amid an atmosphere of palpable tension in the lead up to this war.

03:44

Drone shot over Knesset building. Title: BEFORE THE WAR

Music

03:52

Knesset. Netanyahu election

04:01

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Late last year, the most-right wing government in Israel's history came to power. The ruling coalition includes ultra-religious, and ultra-nationalist parties, some of whose leaders have immense influence over the occupied West Bank.

04:05

Map showing Gaza and West Bank

Israel seized Gaza and the West Bank in 1967 after a brief war. The West Bank is home to about three million Palestinians. Over decades, Israel has enabled and allowed hundreds of thousands of Jews to set up settlements and outposts across the territory, despite that being illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.

04:22

Stephanie driving with Golan

YAIR GOLAN, Former IDF Major General, Former Meretz MK: So the friction here is almost unbelievable.

04:52

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Just weeks ago Yair Golan, a prominent former leftist politician and retired major general, who was once the second most senior officer in the Israeli defence force, was showing me around the occupied territory.

04:57

YAIR GOLAN, Former IDF Major General, Former Meretz MK: I served in the West Bank since I was 18. I fought a lot in the West Bank for many, many years. I fought, I think in all major cities in the West Bank. So I know the terrain and I know the people, Palestinians and Jews.

05:13

West Bank. Israeli soldiers

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: He told me the majority of Israel's land defence forces, are deployed here.

05:29

YAIR GOLAN, Former IDF Major General, Former Meretz MK: Here we have this friction between two hostile populations. So you need a lot of soldiers to serve here.

05:36

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Both Israelis and Palestinians claim they have a right to this land.

05:45

Drone shot. West Bank

When this government came to office, it declared the Jewish people have an "exclusive and indisputable" right to all the land of Israel, including the West Bank -- an inflammatory statement for Palestinians to hear. And something Yair Golan believed would be madness.

05:52

Golan interview

YAIR GOLAN, Former IDF Major General, Former Meretz MK: For so many years I worked so hard and I endangered my life and the life of my soldiers and commanders in order to lessen the friction, to provide less and less opportunities for terrorists. And by enlarging the friction, you create more and more opportunities for the most extreme elements in the Israeli society and in the Palestinian society as well.

06:10

Israeli activist protest

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: While we were in the West Bank, Israeli activists staged a protest at a settlement near the house of the national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir. Ben-Gvir is a prominent figure in the settler movement, a convicted criminal, with a rap sheet that includes inciting racism and supporting a terrorist organisation.

06:42

Josh Drill at protest

JOSH DRILL: And we're here to say to Ben-Gvir, who lives here, we're not going to allow him to annex to West Bank and all of these horrible policies.

07:07

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Josh Drill is an American Jew who moved to Israel to serve in the Israeli defence force. After a stint as a 22-year-old first lieutenant in the West Bank, he became disillusioned by the occupation and its brutality towards Palestinians.

07:14

Drill interview

JOSH DRILL: He's normalising settlers. I think that when the settlement enterprise started, it was just these radicals on hills and the army would kind of laugh at them and just remove them. It's become a different beast. It's become a monster…

07:31

Drill on microphone at protest

"And I want to say to Itamar Ben-Gvir, your soul has been corrupted by evil long ago. You are committing a crime against Israeli society, a crime against Palestinian society, and a crime against all humanity."

07:44

Archival. Ben-Gvir, Baruch Goldstein, news reports

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Even before he was elected to office, Itamar Ben-Gvir was a controversial figure. For years, he had on his wall a photo of Jewish terrorist Baruch Goldstein, who killed 29 Palestinians and injured more than 100 in 1994.

08:03

NEWS REPORTER: "When your son asks who he is, what will you say?

BEN-GVIR: "I tell him, he is a righteous man, he is a hero."

08:22

Archival. Ben-Gvir at party, dancing with guns

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: In this widely published video, Ben-Gvir can be seen at party in 2015 where Jewish guests armed with guns danced, while others pretended to stab a picture of a Palestinian baby who had been murdered by a settler.

08:31

Archival. Ben-Gvir interview

BEN-GVIR: Any sensible person who watches the clip can see that I'm standing from afar, I can't even see the pictures… "Go to Syria".

08:49

Archival. Ben-Gvir fighting shopkeeper, with gun

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: In the same year he was filmed by Israeli TV in this provocative confrontation with a Palestinian shopkeeper. And in this video, filmed just last year, he pulls out a gun and urges police to shoot stone throwing Palestinians.

BEN-GVIR: "Shoot them. If they throw stones, shoot them."

08:58

Israeli police at protest

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: In his role as national security minister, he also oversees Israel's police. At the protest near Ben-Gvir's home, some of his supporters – local settlers – arrived.

09:23

Settlers at protest

They were furious the activists had come here.

SETTLER: "Go back!"

09:36

Daloya at barricade

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: One of the settlers at the barricade agreed to talk to me.

09:45

Daloya at home with family

Daniel Daloya grew up in this settlement, and is raising his five children here.

09:53

Daloya interview

The protesters were saying things like calling Itamar Ben-Gvir a terrorist, a fascist, a racist. What do you say to that?

DANIEL DALOYA: I say that I call them terror, fascist and all these, the things I say. They working, working day by day to make the world hate us.

09:57

Daloya at home with children

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: He sometimes prays with Ben-Gvir, and voted for him, because he supports his hard-line approach to Palestinians, he says in light of decades of terror attacks against settlers.

DANIEL DALOYA: We live in continuous terror, this is our life here.

10:22

Daloya interview

From my building, three people have been murdered in Kiryat Arba. I know more than 15 people, some of them was in my class, that have been murdered. It's crazy. I don't think anyone in the world can live in this situation. But we live here because we believe that this is our country, this is our land.

10:40

Drone shot. Hebron

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Hebron is one of the largest cities in the West Bank. It's home to more than 200,000 Palestinians and just 700 Jewish settlers, under conditions that have been increasingly likened to apartheid.

10:58

Stephanie walks with Issa Amro

What sort of shops were here?

ISSA AMRO, Palestinian activist: All sorts of shops, this used to be our Times Square.

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: I met with Issa Amro, a prominent Palestinian human rights activist,

11:19

Issa photographs graffiti. Translation: Revenge

who long before this war, had been documenting abuse by soldiers, and settlers towards Palestinians.

11:28

What's the worst one you've seen in the last year?

ISSA AMRO, Palestinian activist: Gas the Arabs.

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Gas the Arabs?

11:36

Graffiti on wall: 'Long live the people of Israel'

ISSA AMRO, Palestinian activist: Yes. During the election campaign, we felt

11:40

Issa interview

that there is something going on and something boiling. And when the result came out, I felt that the soldiers felt emboldened. More settler violence, more soldiers' violence, more racist speech against us.

11:43

Stephanie and Issa walk in Hebron

This is Shuhada Street, the main street in Hebron. All Palestinian shops are closed.

11:58

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Because settlers live here, he can't move freely in his neighbourhood.

12:07

Issa and Stephanie at settlement barrier

ISSA AMRO, Palestinian activist: I'm allowed until here. I'm not allowed to go further. So to get inside the street where I was born and raised and played when I was cycling inside, all my life is inside, I'm not allowed to do it now. Only the Israeli settlers are allowed and their visitors.

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: What is the difference between this section and this section?

12:12

ISSA AMRO, Palestinian activist: Because they closed it. That is the difference. It's not for security. What is the difference between here and here. It's about annexation, it's about changing the identity of this area… "It's open, you can pass…" So the settlers can drive, they can walk here, they can do whatever they want.

12:29

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: So the Israeli settlers can drive up and down this road all they want, but you can't pass this invisible line?

ISSA AMRO, Palestinian activist: Yes, I can't cross this.

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: What will happen if you do?

12:51

ISSA AMRO, Palestinian activist: I was arrested a few times. I know one Palestinian who was shot for getting in by mistake.

12:58

Security at settlement area

Music

13:05

Issa at checkpoint

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: The area is under Israeli military control; to get to Palestinian shops and markets he has to cross through checkpoints.

ISSA AMRO, Palestinian activist: Here is the remote control gun.

13:11

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Just over a year ago, a remote-controlled gun, reportedly for crowd dispersal, was installed above this checkpoint.

13:21

Remote-controlled gun

So it's pointing towards the Palestinian area?

ISSA AMRO, Palestinian activist: Towards Palestinians, yes.

13:29

Issa through turnstile

Music

13:33

Issa and Stephanie walk through market. Trash on overhead fence

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: In this part of the city, settlers live in apartments above the Palestinian market.

13:39

ISSA AMRO, Palestinian activist: You can see the rocks, the trash.

13:45

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Palestinian authorities have had to build an overhead fence to catch rubbish and projectiles thrown down by settlers.

13:47

So the Israeli settlers live up here?

ISSA AMRO, Palestinian activist: They live up here and they throw everything down. Twelve shops are closed. The settlers attack Palestinians without any kind of accountability.

13:55

Issa interview in market. Beer bottle is thrown at Issa's head from above

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: How does it make you feel to see this?

ISSA AMRO, Palestinian activist: I feel very sad. From the most beautiful market, to closed shops, an outpost and for me it illustrates the Israeli--

14:05

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Someone from the settlement above has thrown a beer bottle at Issa's head… Are you okay, Issa?

ISSA AMRO, Palestinian activist: I got the beer I think.

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Did it cut you?

14:22

Issa climbs stairs

ISSA AMRO, Palestinian activist: I used to be attacked once a week. Now sometimes three times a day, and the soldiers don't care. What is to add is the police now don't care. The police, what the police will do? Their boss is Itamar Ben-Gvir.

14:35

Issa's footage of confrontation

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Just weeks after the November election, Issa Amro filmed a confrontation between soldiers and Israeli activists in Hebron. One soldier tackled and punched an activist, while another lauded the election victory of Ben-Gvir.

14:51

ISRAELI SOLDIER: Ben-Gvir is going to fix this place, bring it back to order.

ISSA AMRO, Palestinian activist: What kind of order?

ISRAELI: SOLDIER: Order of this whole area.

ISSA AMRO, Palestinian activist: How, how will he do that?

15:10

ISRAELI SOLDIER: That's it, you people are done. No more of what you're doing here. This whorehouse you have going on here.

ISSA AMRO, Palestinian activist: What am I doing?

ISRAELI SOLDIER: It's over!

ISSA AMRO, Palestinian activist: Am I doing anything illegal?

ISRAELI SOLDIER: Everything you do is illegal. I decide what the law is and your actions are illegal. Step back.

15:16

Soldier at checkpoint

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: The soldiers were disciplined, but police arrested Issa Amro, he believes, just because he filmed the confrontation.

15:32

Issa interview

ISSA AMRO, Palestinian activist: Their national security minister is Itamar Ben-Gvir. They want to please their boss by attacking, between quotation, his enemies…

15:41

Phone footage of Issa assault by soldier

"Don't touch me."

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Just three months later, another soldier assaulted Issa Amro in front of a foreign journalist.

WOMAN JOURNALIST: "Leave him!"

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: After the video went viral, that soldier was punished. But Itamar Ben-Gvir said the soldier shouldn't have been jailed.

WOMAN JOURNALIST: "Hey!"

15:48

Issa interview

ISSA AMRO, Palestinian activist: I am an optimistic person and I will not give up, but I see very dark future happening and about my safety and my people's safety, I'm very, very worried. I see very dark future, to be very honest.

16:05

Issa at checkpoint turnstile

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: As we tried to cross back from Hebron's Palestinian side we were held up at the checkpoint – it wasn't clear why.

16:17

ISSA AMRO, Palestinian activist: "If it's security it takes you two minutes. It's not security, it's harassment."

16:26

Issa interview

They want to kill your spirit of trying to make a change. Or asking for your rights. They want us to be as sheeps, as animals.

16:36

Issa and Stephanie through turnstile

Music

16:45

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: The Israeli government is quite open about having tougher security requirements for Palestinians.

16:56

Bismuth interview

I met with Boaz Bismuth, a member of Knesset from the Likud party – the most moderate in the coalition – who insists that's it's not about race, it's about keeping people safe.

17:03

BOAZ BISMUTH, Likud Member of Knesset: Let's take for example, you and me, we go to take a plane in Ben Gurion airport and you will see me as a Jew going to the airport and the Arab will be stopped and his car will be checked. Do you think I like it? Of course I don't like it. As I told you before, I'm a very liberal and I have nothing against Arabs or Jews or Australians or Chinese or Indians. What do I care?

17:14

Yet, is there in Israel, a security problem? Is there other terrorist attacks? It's not about, God forbid, differences that you make because of belonging to being Muslim or Christian or Jew. But it's about security matters, point. And you have to understand that.

17:35

West Bank confrontations. Super:
FEBRUARY 2023

NEWSREADER: "A fatal terror attack in the West Bank. Two Israeli men have been shot dead in the northern village of Huwara. Graphic footage shows the car riddled with bullets."

17:53

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Tensions in the West Bank had been rising since this government took office. In February, settlers rampaged through the town of Huwara…

1811

BBC REPORTER: "Hundreds poured in looking for revenge after two of their own were shot dead."

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: ...throwing rocks and setting cars on fire.

18:24

CNN REPORTER: "On Sunday, the occupied West Bank burned."

18:33

DW REPORTER: "We're seeing the tensions really ratcheting up here… very serious fears that things could well spiral out of control."

18:37

Smotrich TV interview

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: This is how Finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, who controls planning in parts of the West Bank, responded.

BEZALEL SMOTRICH: "I think that the village of Huwara should be wiped out and that the State of Israel should do this and not private individuals. God forbid."

18:45

Crowd around Smotrich

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: He later backtracked after widespread condemnation. A prominent settler, he has a history of provocative statements.

18:57

Photos. Smotrich

In 2017 he wrote a manifesto promoting crushing the hope of Palestinians for sovereignty, and forcing them to submit to a Jewish state, emigrate, or be dealt with by the security forces.

19:06

Smotrich speech

In March, he caused uproar when he quoted a French Israeli Zionist.

BEZALEL SMOTRICH: "You know that Jacques said there's no such thing as Palestinians, because there is no such thing as a Palestinian people."

19:20

Super: Eli massacre
JUNE 2023

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Before the war, according to the UN, Palestinians had killed nearly 30 Israelis in the West Bank this year.

19:32

ELIANA PASENTINE, Eli resident: These were Palestinian terrorists that came in and just shot people down. That is unacceptable.

19:45

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, Israeli Prime Minister: "Our forces are now operating on the ground to settle the score with the murderers.

19:48

Netanyahu address. Super:
Benjamin Netanyahu
ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER

We've already proven in the last few months that we settle the score with all the murderers."

19:54

West Bank, Israeli security raid

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Nearly 200 Palestinians had been killed, mostly by Israeli security forces.

19:59

AL JAZEERA REPORTER: "It began in the early hours of the morning. The biggest assault in the Jenin refugee camp since the second intifada."

20:05

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: It had become the most deadly year in the West Bank on both sides for 15 years.

20:14

BBC REPORTER: "There's been escalating violence in the West Bank for months, but the risk here is always that there could be a wider Palestinian response, including from Gaza."

20:21

Drone shot Tel Aviv, driving to Burqa

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Among the reasons Hamas gave for its terror attacks on Israel this week, was Palestinian deaths in the West Bank, and settlement expansion.

20:32

Music

20:44

Burqa GVs

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: I went to the West Bank village of Burqa, home to 3,000 Palestinians. Many grow olive trees and own livestock, relying heavily on the surrounding land. Over time, this way of life has become more difficult.

20:57

Stephanie walks with Sayal Kanan

SAYAL KANAN, Burqa mayor: We live in a large prison in Burqa, because it's surrounded with all these settlements.

21:17

Israeli settlements around Burqa

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Burqa is surrounded by settlements, outposts and a highway. Some are well-established. Others look like they've sprung up overnight.

21:22

Mayor Sayal Kanan shows me the newest outpost called Oz Zion – unauthorised under Israeli law and illegal under international law.

21:34

Kanan interview

SAYAL KANAN, Burqa mayor: They start with one caravan here, look at now how many caravan, we have about 13 of them and they are more and more.

21:44

Man with grazing goats

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Confrontations over grazing land between settlers and Palestinians are common. In August, one here in Burqa turned deadly.

21:56

Family photo, Qusai

An 18-year-old Palestinian man, Qusai Matan, was shot and killed by a settler, after settlers herded their animals near the village and both sides threw rocks at each other.

22:04

Photo. Politician visits suspected shooter in hospital

A member of Bezalel Smotrich's party visited the suspected shooter in hospital, releasing this photo on social media.

22:17

Elisha Yered in court

Another suspect is Elisha Yered, a former spokesperson for a member of Ben-Gvir's party. They were both released under house arrest. Ben-Gvir said they deserved medals of honour.

22:25

Oz Zion outpost tower

Music

22:41

Oz Zion GVs

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: This is the unauthorised outpost of Oz Zion that overlooks Burqa.

22:48

Stephanie visits with Yehuda Lieber

The only settler who was willing to speak with me was 26-year-old father of three, Yehuda Lieber. He lives here with five other Jewish families. In one of the caravans they have a synagogue.

22:56

Lieber interview in caravan synagogue

YEHUDA LIEBER, Oz Zion settler: It is told that when Ben Gurion was asked by an English lord: 'Where is your title deed to the land?' he showed him the Bible. Here, this is our title deed. It says here that this land was given to Abraham our forefather and to his descendants.

23:15

Drone over Oz Zion

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: He told me he hopes this government will help Jews settle all the empty land around Burqa and the West Bank. In his eyes, Burqa is a village that supports terrorism, and the settler who shot Qusai Matan had every right to do so.

23:35

Lieber interview

YEHUDA LIEBER, Oz Zion settler: Anyone who defends himself, and especially others around him, deserves a reward.

23:52

Oz Zion settler activity

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: According to the UN, settler-related incidents in the West Bank have increased to three per day this year. The UN says since 2022, more than a thousand Palestinians have been displaced because of settler activity and violence. Four communities have abandoned their land entirely.

23:58

West Bank settlements

Before the war, the government had been turbo-charging the settlement enterprise in the West Bank. It had advanced planning approvals for thousands of new settlement housing units and moved to legalise some unauthorized outposts. Finance minister Smotrich vowed to double the number of Jews in the West Bank to a million.

24:19

It's not the track many of Israel's allies wanted it to be following. Many still hoped the Oslo Accords, signed 30 years ago, would bring about the two state solution, and the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. But the coalition government appeared to have walked away from that.

24:49

Bismuth interview

So do you think the two state solution is dead?

25:10

Super:
Boaz Bismuth
LIKUD MEMBER OF KNESSET

BOAZ BISMUTH, Likud Member of Knesset: First of all, I think that it died a long time ago, and I think that the Oslo agreement right now, if you teach them in university, you don't teach them in the history department, you teach them in the archaeological department.

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Does this government want to annex the West Bank?

25:12

BOAZ BISMUTH, Likud Member of Knesset: You can't annex something that is yours. I will tell you, if you land there, I will tell you, welcome to Israel. I can't be more clear than that.

25:24

Stephanie with Yair Golan at West Bank lookout

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: Just weeks before the war started Yair Golan took me to a lookout in the West Bank.

25:34

YAIR GOLAN, Former IDF Major General, Former Meretz MK: If you look to the west, you still see a gap between the Palestinian town and the Israeli settlements. In a few years, in ten years, in 20 years, it will all be covered with houses and with more and more friction between the population. What for? What kind of goodness is going to evolve out of this friction? Nothing.

25:45

West Bank GVs

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: He believes the government wants to annex the West Bank, which he says would not just be wrong, it would be crazy, and would destroy the only option he sees as viable – a two state solution.

26:20

Golan interview

YAIR GOLAN, Former IDF Major General, Former Meretz MK: This is a disaster for Israel. That could you know destroy Israel entirely. Think about the following: they want to annex 2.8 million Palestinians, totally hostile.

26:34

It's not because I'm a kind of flower child from the '70s or something like that, not at all. I'm very realistic. I know the terrain, I know the people, I know the history. There is no way to merge two people with such a blood history and make them live together. It's impossible.

26:51

West Bank GVs

STEPHANIE MARCH, Reporter: He warned then that Israelis could no longer ignore what was happening in the West Bank.

27:22

Golan interview

What impact do you think that this government is having on solving the conflict with the Palestinians?

YAIR GOLAN, Former IDF Major General, Former Meretz MK: They've no clue. I can assure you that they have no clue what to do.

27:28

Israeli soldiers, Palestinian protestors, West Bank

They think only by force, brute force, we can reconcile them and we can suppress them and that's it.

27:42

But the struggle is burning down there and therefore it will create even bigger eruption. Not tomorrow morning, but three, four, ten years from now.

27:54

ON SCREEN TEXT:
At 6:35am on the 7th of October, Hamas launched a terror attack on Israel.

Music

28:12

Josh Drill says at least three of his friends have been killed.
His brother-in-law and 3-year-old nephew his in their house while terrorists slaughtered those around them.

28:19

Issa Amro says after the war began he was detailed for ten hours by Israeli soldiers and was bound and beaten.

28:27

Daniel Daloya says two his neighbours' sons were working as security guards at the music festival near the Gaza border. They are now missing. He fears they've been killed or taken hostage.

28:34

Sayel Kanan says after the war began, settlers attacked a home in his village and tried to set it on fire.

28:43

Yehuda Lieber says on the morning of the terror attack, he made sure people had weapons and were on guard duty. He says he is now on reserved duty in the area.

28:51

Boaz Bismuth say he knows people who have been killed. He says there is no time to weep or be angry. He says now is the time for unity and victory.

29:00

Yair Golan put on his army uniform and drove to the frontline. He rescued six young people from the music festival where at least 260 people were killed.

29:09

Credits [see below]

29:19

Outpoint

29:38