Wide Angle

About the Issue

As the Palestinians enter their 40th year of Israeli occupation, the divisions between their two main political factions - the moderate secular party Fatah and the militant Islamist organization Hamas - are as pronounced as ever. Sporadic fighting between the two rival factions intensified after the death of charismatic Fatah leader Yasser Arafat in November 2004. Following its landslide election victories in January 2006, Hamas, branded a terrorist group by the United States, Israel and the European Union, continued its refusal to recognize the Jewish state or to renounce its tactics of violence. The West responded with a crippling boycott, cutting off more than $1 billion in aid to Palestinians, and Israel not only closed Gaza’s borders but also restricted trade, making food, fuel, and medicine more expensive and increasingly scarce. Tensions between Hamas and Fatah grew after repeated failures to reach a deal to share government power, culminating in an outright civil war in June 2007 that split the Palestinian Territories into a Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and Fatah-dominated West Bank.

About the Film

In the summer of 2006, as internal battles fracture the Palestinian Territories, WIDE ANGLE provides a glimpse inside the conflict as it spirals out of control. Gaza E.R. follows doctors, nurses, and staff at Shifa Hospital, the largest in the Gaza Strip, as they struggle in the face of turf wars between Hamas, rival faction Fatah, and powerful families with competing agendas. Our cameras reveal that gun-battles inside the hospital, massive shortages of pharmaceuticals and basic supplies, and unpaid salaries are routine occupational hazards at this medical outpost in the troubled Palestinian landscape.