You might get a much better understanding of why it has been so hard to negotiate peace between Israelis and Palestinians after watching "The Inner Tour" which is showing Monday, March 31st at 9 p.m. as part of the Sundance Channel's Doc Day.

The film chronicles a bus tour of Israel by a group of Palestinians in 2000, just before the latest Intifada ended such trips. Many visit the land they or their relatives left behind. Director Ra'anan Alexandrowicz has written, "While walking along the Tel Aviv Beach in early 1999, I came across a group of Palestinians on some kind of tour. When I saw how overwhelmed they were just looking at the sea, I suddenly realized that many of them had never even seen a beach before. Though they live just an hour away, the political reality deprives them of it."

Most of the people on the bus come from the West Bank or Gaza Strip through some are from Jordan. We learn their stories as they talk to each other and make their journey and get to know them as people. One man does say he's never the sea when they stop at the beach.

There are signs of hope. In Tel Aviv, one of the passengers asks a cab driver to take him to memorial at Kings’ Square where Yitzhak Rabin was assasinated. He is obviously moved there and the driver asks him why he went. He explains he met Rabin when he was in prison after the first Intifadah and was treated with respect and he later took a risk for peace. One woman's husband is in prison for killing an Israeli soldier, but she expresses empathy for what his wife went through.

But it is mostly a discouraging story particularly in light of what has happened since then. When the group is given a tour of a museum at a Kibbutz, they criticize the view of history presented. The tour guide gives the Arabic names as they pass Israeli cities and villages. And the emotion felt for what has been lost is shown when an elderly man visits the place where his parents are buried. Even if the countries travel on the current roadmap for peace, they would not be able to return to their homes.