TEHRAN -- Iranian screenwriter Arash Gudarzi has recently completed a TV drama series on the Second Intifada, the Palestinian five-year uprising against Israel that began in 2000, which has been blended with a love story.

The Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) commissioned Gudarzi to write the series entitled “Mediterranean Summer”, which is planned to be produced in 26 episodes.

“The series is about Yafa, a woman who lives with her family in Ramallah,” Gudarzi told the Persian service of MNA on Friday.

“I have tried to maintain an impartial view in the story, which is about the pain of the people in the region radiating from the Zionist regime,” he said.

The story is set in Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey. Gudarzi spent three months in Syria, Lebanon and Turkey holding talks with people who have spent time in Israeli prisons and also some cultural figures in order to complete the screenplay.

Gudarzi said that international actors are scheduled to be hired for the project, which will be produced jointly with one or more other countries.

“The story of the series was first full of action, but then I decided to add some romantic events to it and now it is drama on love and war,” he stated.

It is not clear yet who will direct “Mediterranean Summer”. However, Gudarzi compared it with “Zero Degree Turn”, Iranian director Hassan Fat’hi’s popular television drama series about the Holocaust that was broadcast during 2007.

The Second Intifada began in 2000 after former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon visited the Temple Mount, which includes the Al Aqsa compound. The First Intifada lasted from 1987 to 1993.

MMS/YAW
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