Iraq News Now

The creators of Israel’s hit TV show “Fauda,” the action

series that chronicles the adventures of undercover Israeli commando operatives

in the Palestinian territories, are gearing up for their most ambitious mission

yet: Gaza.

After two successful seasons, co-creators Avi Issacharoff

and Lior Raz are in the thick of filming their much-anticipated third season,

which centers on the Gaza Strip, where the show’s lead character poses as a

Palestinian boxing instructor to infiltrate the senior ranks of the Hamas

militant group.

The Netflix release date hasn’t been revealed, but the

season trailer debuted this week.

Gaza, a crowded Palestinian enclave ruled by Hamas, is off

limits for the Israeli creators. Although Gaza borders Israel, it’s a world

away — crippled by an Israeli-Egyptian blockade imposed after Hamas seized

power from the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority in 2007.

The blockade, which Israel says is needed to prevent Hamas

from arming, has crushed Gaza’s economy and brought the territory to the brink

of humanitarian disaster. For over a decade, Gaza’s 2 million people have

suffered from rising poverty and unemployment, undrinkable water and frequent

electricity outages.

Israel has forbidden its citizens from entering the

territory since withdrawing from Gaza in 2005. The following year, Israeli

soldier Gilad Schalit was captured in a cross-border raid and held captive by

Gaza militants for five years. Since the Hamas takeover, Israel has fought

three full-blown wars and numerous bloody skirmishes with Palestinian

militants.

“We cannot go to Gaza of course to shoot it, so this is why

it’s so challenging to find the right places that give the feeling that we’re

almost there,” said Issacharoff, a veteran Arab affairs journalist. He added

that the past decade of Israel’s on-and-off wars with Gaza has made it a highly

combustible subject for the Israeli public.

“It deals with one of the biggest fears of the Israeli

audience, maybe because of Gilad Schalit’s five years in prison over there,

maybe because people don’t know Gaza,” he said. “We know that we’re touching

something very sensitive at the heart of the Israeli audience. And it’s not

going to be easy.”

The series, which dramatizes the intractable

Israeli-Palestinian conflict that many of its spectators live out every day,

was never billed as escapism. It has won rave reviews for what many say is a

realistic and nuanced look at life in the region.

The show’s new setting of Gaza appears to be a case of art

imitating life. Just last fall, a covert Israeli operation in Gaza went awry,

setting off a fierce battle that left eight Palestinians and an Israeli officer

dead and triggered a brief but intense round of cross-border fighting.

“Many things that you would see in Fauda are in a kind of

dialogue with reality. It’s not 100% what happens in reality, but we were

inspired by true stories, we were inspired by true characters and sometimes we

invented characters and stories that we found later, in reality,” said

Issacharoff.

Besides shootouts and chases, the show delves into the

personal lives and minds of the Israeli commandos and Palestinian militants,

often depicting their motivations and family struggles in a sympathetic manner.

For both Israeli and Palestinian spectators, it provides a glimpse, even if

fleeting, into the human experiences on the other side of the separation

barrier and the decades-old conflict.

“We’re trying to bring the human side of them as characters,

as family people, with kids, with love, with every challenge that we have as

human beings,” said co-creator and lead actor Raz.

The show doesn’t have any Palestinian writers, according to

a spokesman for the Yes satellite network, which, critics say, limits its

capacity to truly explore both sides.

The Palestinian-led movement that promotes boycotts of

Israel has asked Netflix to nix the series, calling it an “Israeli propaganda

tool that glorifies the Israeli military’s war crimes.”

Bishara Halloun, an Arab citizen of Israel who studies at

Hebrew University, said that although he devoured both seasons and has many

Palestinian friends who enjoy the show, he felt a creeping sense of unease as

the series progressed.

“You leave with the stereotypical image about Palestinians,

and about Arabs in the Middle East, that with their bombs and guns, they’re the

antagonists,” he said. “I felt a little offended. Even if the Israeli soldiers

use brutal tactics, they’re the show’s heroes. If you’re a local, you know the truth

is somewhere in between.”

Raz admits his inherited Israeli perspective brands

Palestinians as “the enemy.” Just because the show contains tender moments and

grapples with thorny political issues, the creators say, doesn’t mean it

strives to deliver world peace.

More than anything, it’s a gritty thriller and a blockbuster

hit, aimed especially this season at attracting an international audience.

“The show is just an attempt by us, by Lior and myself, to

be a good show, to be a good drama,” said Issacharoff. “I would say that none

of us has the intentions of changing reality or bringing peace to this planet.

Especially when we’re dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it’s kind

of mission impossible.”