Israel declared its sovereignty on May 14, 1948. One day later, armies from Lebanon, Syria, Transjordan, Egypt and Iraq invaded. With only 600,000 people in the infant nation, the odds seemed overwhelming. Yet they not only survived, they triumphed, and by 1949 armistice negotiations began that would ensure the existence of the Jewish State. Sir Martin Gilbert, author of over sixty books and the host of A&E’s JERUSALEM, hosts this gripping account of Israel’s difficult first years. Filled with rare footage, photographs, and interviews with participants in the War of Independence, this is the definitive document of one of the turning points in modern history.

Sixty years ago Israel fought a war with the Arabs. This event still shakes lives in Israel and the occu-pied Palestinian territories. If they want peace, they need to overcome the legacy of 1948. This documentary focuses on the war between two sides, and the refuges still suffering in its aftermath. Kristallnacht focuses on the ominous start of Hitler s Final Solution.

In the Sinai desert, thousands of African immigrants fleeing conscription, torture and conflict in East Africa risk being shot by border guards and held ransom by people smugglers as they try to get to Israel.Reporter Ramita Navai and director Paul Kittel arrive in the Sinai desert in north-east Egypt just over a month after the revolution that toppled the regime of Hosni Mubarak. Smuggling from Egypt to Israel has gone on for years, but now the smugglers are focused on people rather than goods.

Faith, miracles and fate: All of these seeming intangibles have exerted a powerful pull on the relatively short history of the state of Israel, according to this 13-part documentary TV series. From Israel s struggle for independence to the Yom Kippur War of 1973, the 1976 siege of an Air France plane at Entebbe and more, the tumultuous history of Israel is documented through historical footage and participants eyewitness accounts.