John Pilger tackles another hot topic in a documentary about the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the effects of this occupation on Israelis and native Palestinians. Pilger likens the occupation to South Africa's apartheid regime, and goes against much of the usual coverage of the conflict which he says has tended to be biased towards the occupying Israelis against the Palestinians, whose desperation has turned some of them towards suicide bombing.Pilger looks at both sides of the argument here, talking to Palestinians affected by the occupation but also dissenting Israelis who refuse to serve in the Occupied Territories. He also examines the history of modern Israel, and how a recent compromise by Yassir Arafat (head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation) with the occupying Israelis did virtually nothing for ordinary Palestinians and in fact paved the way for the occupation to get worse.This is capped by an interview with Dori Gold, Israel's senior adviser to the Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Pilger can occasionally be judgemental when interviewing political figures, allowing his accusations to get in the way of the interview. This doesn't happen here and Gold's words in themselves display his complicity in his own governments terrorism and occupation, along with total disregard for the Palestinians. This is backed by Western governments, who supply the occupying forces with arms in return for looking after their oil supply.Pilger's examination of history, while strong, could have been more thorough. As it is, it seems a little sketchy in places and I would liked more detail to have been shown, particularly on the founding of modern Israel.Pilger ends the documentary for a plea for compassion for the Palestinians and to end the destructive silence on their plight. He also looks for a solution to the problem which has become marred in endless negotiation and violence.

i know that many do not like that this movie is one-sided, but where you stand determines what you see. in discussing the israeli occupation of palestine and all the other elements of this conflict, actually tackling the occupation itself is the most important element of the conflict to include.pilgier does it a gain by going straight to the heart of the matter and raising all the tough questions; in israel, these types of discussions are commonplace, but in the u.s., unfortunately, the most important parts of the story are taboo. discussion of the situation from which the violence grows are taboo. you can't discuss the israel/palestine conflict without tackling the reason for the season...the israeli occupation. as every story has a few dozen (at least) sides to it, if you're gonna pick one side to cover, pick the one that addresses the root causes of the subject matter. pilgier has done it again.equal time would be something like this--ordinary palestnian life under military occupation--12 hrs/day, 7 days/week. but this is a good start.

British writer DH Lawrence once classified the passion for justice as the finest and noblest of all emotions. John Pilger's accurate and fair account of the conflict between Palestine and Israel is one of the finest examples of this passion. Pilger is now teaching at Cornell University and is the recipient of countless journalistic awards. A renowned veteran war reporter, he has covered some of the most war-torn regions of the world: Vietnam, Cambodia, East Timor, Afghanistan and many others. Only the most sullen opponents to his commitment to freedom and justice would deny him the status he enjoys as a first-class journalist."Palestine Is Still the Issue" is a must-see for Americans, who are kept in the dark by the media and political elites by the real nature of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It is a conflict about land, which the documentary makes clear. The brutality of the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) in dealing with the people it occupies--the Palestinians--is, indeed, uncomfortable to watch for people who wish to shrink from the truth, but the film is repletewith interviews with conscientious Israelis who oppose the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands--including a traumatic interview with an Israeli father of a victim of a suicide bomber.

This film is completely one-sided and lacking truth on a subject that is constantly in our news.This film's presenter John Pilger was not very HONEST when addressing issues such as history. False statements like "Israel is the world's 4th largest military", poison this film. In reality Israel's IDF ranks 13th behind Syria, Morocco, Turkey, Pakistan, Vietnam, France, Germany and others large nations.In 1982 this Writer and presenter of the film screwed up an article on Thai prostitution rings so bad that the Oxford dictionary actually coined a term "Pilgering" which basically means to make up a story so it supports your conclusion or views.Pilger uses misquotes and historical information that has been proven false.He ignores the fact that the Palestine Mandate was split to form Israel(Palestine) and Transjordan, which actually is 78% of "historical Palestine" or historical Israel, depending on your views. Pilger makes the mistake of saying that Israel controlled 78% of the land after the 1948 War of Independece. Looking at any historical map, one can see that this is simply untrue with Israel controlling 55% of Historic Israel.In short this film is filled with lies that can be found on any hate website attacking Jews or Israel. These Nazi-style tactics are horrid and only show how far people will go to discredit the only free democracy in the Middle East.