Catch up TV

Series 1: Episode 2

In 2009, two new leaders took office: Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel and Barack Obama in America. Bitter clashes between the two men were sparked by their very different ideas about how to tackle the intractable conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Top Israelis, Americans and Palestinians discuss how Obama played hardball with Netanyahu as he pressed him for a freeze in Israeli settlement building.\n\nObama’s secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, describes how she managed to bring Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas together to try to begin negotiations for a lasting peace agreement. This episode goes inside the room for the final meeting before talks broke down completely - Abbas and Netanyahu have never met for serious negotiations since.\n\nAnd Hamas leaders as well as senior Israeli officials detail how Netanyahu struck an extraordinary deal with Hamas: in exchange for one Israeli hostage, Netanyahu agrees to over a thousand Palestinian prisoners being released from Israeli jails.

Source: BBC 2