BBC Announces New Series By Norma Percy

The BBC has today announced a new series by the acclaimed filmmaker Norma Percy - Israel and the Palestinians: The Road to 7th October for BBC Two and BBC iPlayer.

The series chronicles the decisions that have shaped the Israeli-Palestinian conflict over the past two decades and the failed attempts to broker peace, leading up to the events of 7th October 2023.

The first episode will be broadcast on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer in early March.

With unique, first-hand interviews from those present at key moments, we hear from world leaders and their closest advisors as they take viewers inside the diplomatic wranglings, the confrontations and strategic decisions that have shaped the current landscape in the Middle East.

The series opens in 2003 with the surprise decision by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to withdraw from the Gaza Strip. It tells the inside story of Hamas’s takeover of Gaza and how its leaders cemented power and launched the most traumatic assault on Israel's citizens in its history.

Norma Percy’s previous two series for the BBC, The Fifty Years War (1998) and Elusive Peace (2005), covered crucial moments from the foundation of Israel in 1948 to the 2005 Gaza withdrawal. They are available to watch on BBC iPlayer now.

Norma Percy, Series Producer, said: "We have followed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for over two decades. This series builds on our previous work and includes new, untold stories from key political and diplomatic figures who were directly involved in shaping the events that brought us to the present day. The first programme shows how Ariel Sharon’s decision to leave Gaza – ostensibly the most generous move ever made by an Israeli leader – led to a split amongst Palestinians which has lasted until today."

The series features exclusive interviews with key figures including: US Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton, John Kerry and Condoleezza Rice, President Obama’s chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, Former Prime Minister Tony Blair, Israeli Prime Ministers Ehud Olmert and previously unseen extracts from an interview from the late Ariel Sharon, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, and the late Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat.

The documentary also hears from Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in a rare interview weeks before he was killed – the only documentary interview he gave after October 7th.

Norma Percy and her team at Brook Lapping are known for their documentaries in which world leaders provide new insights on key events in contemporary history themselves. She has won more than two dozen major awards for her work including a Primetime Emmy, two BAFTAs, three Griersons, five Royal Television Society awards, an Orwell Prize, several lifetime achievement awards and most recently, the News and Current Affairs award from Women in Film and TV.

Israel and the Palestinians: The Road to 7th October (w/t) is Executive Produced by Lucy Hetherington, Series Director is Tim Stirzaker and the BBC Commissioning Editor is Gian Quaglieni, Current Affairs. Producer/Directors Max Stern and Tania Rakhmanova.

www.bbc.co.uk