Paradise Now

The film Paradise Now, directed by Hany Abu-Assad, demonstrates political issue of the conflict between Israel and Palestine in a completely different way (Abu-Assad, 2005). It proves that despite common view on the conflict as good or evil, it is necessary to consider human thing first (Glaister, 2006).

The roots of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict date back to the beginning of 20th century. The appearance of the conflict is related to the emergence of two main movements of Jews and Arabs. Israel and Palestine strived for obtaining independence and sovereignty for their nations in the Middle East. During the 1920s, the conflict escalated into the violence between Jews and Arab communities. Full-scale hostilities took place between the two countries during the civil war in 1947-1948. However, the conflict has not been resolved and continues until now (Gunderson, 2004).

During the Second Intifada of Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Palestinian militant groups began to use suicide bombings in order to attack Israeli targets, including military and civilian strategic objects. There are several reasons for Palestinians to commit suicide bombing. For example, Palestinian radical groups, including Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad, use religion in order to recruit potential suicide attackers. Religion is also used to collect funds for supporting of the bombing operations. However, the purpose of the bombing is to force the government of Israel to alter its policy concerning the Palestinian territories. There are many examples when suicide attacks have led to the territorial and political concessions made by liberal democracies. As a result, the main purpose of the attacks is the attaining political goals. Among other reasons of the bombings, scholars mention poverty, lack of education, and psychopathology. However, according to the studies, suicide attackers do not have any psychological pathology; they are educated and wealthy. At the same time, sociological factors play a key role in forcing people to become suicide attackers. These factors include Palestinians’ collective sense of historical injustice and political subservience (Falk & Morgenstern, 2009). At the same time, Palestinian suicide bombers can be similar to Christian martyrs of the early Roman Empire period. For example, suicidal behavior of Palestinians is often considered not as an end, but as a way of achieving higher purposes, such as self-empowerment, redemption, and honor. These reasons remain one of the most important among motives for suicide attacks in the Middle East.

At the same time, Israel can advocate its absolute right to defend its territory from random acts of terrorism by any necessary means. However, use of force by the two opposing states cannot eventually bring peace in the region. It will result in an endless state of mortal conflict between Israel and Palestine. The famous words of Mahatma Gandhi “an eye for an eye for an eye for an eye … ends in making everybody blind” (Dalton, 2013) can be applied to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In order to resolve the conflict, diplomatic measures have to be applied. Thus, Israel and Palestine have to reject terrorism or development of nuclear programs. Instead, both countries have to adopt a diplomatic solution to the conflict.

Thus, the movie Paradise Now has the utmost importance. It demonstrates how the violence and war destroy the world and human lives. At the same time, the film discloses poverty and problems of desolation of Palestinian people. It is one of the main reasons that force Palestinians to commit suicide bombing. The movie also has a political message. It is represented by the idea that terrorists have the right of choice and political will. As a result, there is a necessity of making films like Paradise Now and release them globally as they can present a view on the conflict between Israel and Palestine. The movie does not force people to take the side of Palestinian suicide bombers or Israeli combatants. The main idea of the film is promotion of peace in the region, through the character of Suha.