By Nate Feldman
Tel Aviv on Fire is a 2018 satirical drama by Palestinian director Sameh Zoabi about a Palestinian soap opera writer and the relationship he forms with the Israeli commander at the local checkpoint he must cross to go to work every day.
Salaam Abass, an East Jerusalem Palestinian, has begun working for his uncle, a soap opera producer based in Ramallah, on his TV show "Tel Aviv on Fire." The show revolves around a Palestinian woman prior to the 1967 Six Day's War being sent on a mission by Palestinian fighters to get top secret information from an Israeli general. Salaam is there to help with the character's Hebrew, but he is eventually promoted to full-time writer. The only problem is he has no writing experience, so he begins consulting Assi Tzur, the commanding officer at the checkpoint Salaam crosses through to get from Jerusalem to Ramallah and back on a daily basis, for ideas with his script. Assi offers his assistance in return for Salaam bringing him the best hummus possible. This begins a bizarre, often humorous relationship between the Palestinian soap opera writer and an Israeli soldier controlling his movements. Assi, whose wife is a devoted fan of the show, insists the Palestinian spy in the story fall in love and marry the Israeli general. Salaam, however, realizes such a plotline would offend the Palestinian backers and audience of the story. But Assi is willing to do everything possible to make sure the story turns out as he envisions.
Tel Aviv on Fire is an incredible movie which remarkably gives insights on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict while remaining humorous and depicting characters from both sides of the conflict in a sympathetic light. The film itself is a model of co-existence with well-accomplished Palestinian and Israeli actors working together. The movie, both in the fictional and real world, shows that while the longstanding Israeli-Palestinian conflict may be difficult to resolve, little bits of coexistence and peace are already there.
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