Fifty years ago, the state of Israel was proclaimed in what had once been British-ruled Palestine. This episode recounts how the US, later Israel's greatest ally, came close to stopping the creation of the new state.
Tracing the pattern of dramatic and covert events leading to the Six Day War of June 1967.
The Palestinian story, beginning with Yasser Arafat's first secret crossing of the River Jordan to launch raids on Israel and ending with his exile to Tunis.
Israel was not prepared for the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War. Ex-US president Jimmy Carter recalls how, in 1978, he managed to broker the Arab-Israel agreement.
The protracted search for peace was repeatedly sabotaged. The deadlock was finally broken by the Intifada - a Palestinian uprising in the occupied territories.
A series of cloak and-dagger manoeuvres sealed a historic first peace agreement between the Palestinians and Israel in September 1993.
Award-winning film-maker Norma Percy looks back on her acclaimed 1998 documentary series The Fifty Years War: Israel and the Arabs.