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November 01, 2004
Mideast meets 'West Wing'
By Hannah Brown
Jerusalem Post
The popular US television drama The West Wing aired an episode on the Middle East peace process last week and won high praise from both fans and Israeli Arab actor Makram J. Khoury, who played the part of the Palestinian Authority chairman.
"I found it to be fair and a very good script," said Khoury, who works with the Haifa Theater and also stars in the soon-to-be released, award-winning film, The Syrian Bride. "I was satisfied that it was equal for both sides. It was such a wonderful experience working with all the regulars. Everything was perfect."
The plot summary for the episode that appeared in TV Guide reads: "As bombs fall on a terrorist training camp in Syria, the Palestinian and Israeli leaderships gather at Camp David for negotiations on ending their impasse. It'll be a six-day war (of wills, anyhow)." The episode, Khoury said, was based more on the Camp David negotiations in 2000 than on the current situation.
In a rare move for the show, which generally takes place in the White House and Washington, the episode was filmed on location in Virginia, to simulate Camp David. Khoury appeared in scenes with all the show's stars, including Martin Sheen, who plays President Josiah Bartlett. Khoury was impressed by the talent of all those on show, and singled out Lily Tomlin, who plays an aide to the president, for special praise. The part of the Israeli prime minister was played by Armin Mueller-Stahl, a German-born actor best known in the US for his starring role in the 1990 film Avalon. Khoury found the cast knowledgeable about Israel, but said that the cast and crew were surprised when he met Eli Danker, an Israeli actor playing Israel's defense minister, on the set.
"I hadn't seen Eli for years, and we embraced. People were surprised to see an Arab hugging an Israeli. All the time, they asked questions, they were very curious and very enthusiastic."
Richard Schiff, who plays Toby Ziegler, the White House director of communications, was quoted in an Associated Press article on the episode as saying that he was impressed with the actors' off-screen friendship: "Both actors are working for peace [outside of the TV world] and are truly good friends."
Fans of The West Wing discussed the episode on the many Web sites devoted to the series, but most viewers seemed more interested in the relationships among the regular characters on the series than the portrayal of Israel or the political situation. One viewer noted a minor inaccuracy, wondering, "How crazy/blind/insensitive would the administration have been to serve crab cakes to Jews and Muslims?"
One negative comment about the episode came from a Palestinian newspaper, the Palestinian Chronicle, by syndicated columnist Ray Hanania, who argued that the "plot follows almost word-for-word Israel's official propaganda about the Palestinians... It reinforces what Americans have been brainwashed for years by pro-Israel propaganda to accept for the past 56 years."
Khoury would not agree with this assessment. Seeing the Middle East situation portrayed realistically on television, he said, "is so important for the American public."
For Khoury, a veteran actor who has worked a great deal on stage, the chance to be seen by millions of viewers in a high-quality television show was a blessing.
"I hope it makes a noise and gets noticed," he said. "I would wish to be on [the show] again."
Posted by Jo at November 1, 2004 07:29 AM