As mentioned in an earlier post I planned on seeing a film on Thursday night about the Israeli/ Palestinian conflict. The documentary itself was very good, although at times I was distracted by the background as I moved in and out of recognizing various places and spent some time soaking in the nostalgia. That said, I was particularly struck that at no point did the movie suggest any sort of solution to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Nothing. Instead, the group behind the film chose to focus on familiarizing Israelis with Palestinians and vice versa. There were a number of times when someone claimed that they had never actually met someone from the other side who (for Israelis) wasn’t shown as a terrorist on television or (for Palestinians) wasn’t dressed in army fatigues and herding them through checkpoints.
For the most part ,the film follows the group The Parents Circle, who describe themselves as ‘bereaved families supporting peace, reconciliation and tolerance.’ It is truly a remarkable group of mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers who have lost an immediate family member to the conflict and now advocate for non violence resistance to over 1000 schools throughout Israel and Palestine. While the film was fantastic in and of itself, the highlight of the night was the panel discussion afterwards with the two main protagonists: Robi, an Israeli and Ali, a Palestinian. As soon as Robi fielded the first question I believe everyone in the room realized that the slight, middle aged woman before us possessed an incredible combination of intellect and empathy that is rarely seen. Truly remarkable.
I actually forgot to bring any sort of writing materials so I wasn’t able to take notes, but I tried desperately to store some lines in my mind for retrieval later that night. What struck me most about Robi was her assessment of the Jewish psyche and how it relates to the current conflict. Robi shared in a manner that was academic and yet heartfelt that no one should be surprised that Israel justifies occupation in the name of security, precisely because her history has necessitated that she value security since, after all, she was almost eliminated less than a generation ago. This makes sense to me but was difficult to consider in the midst of the occupation. Robi wasn’t saying that it was right- just that it’s there. Let me be clear: I still don’t think it’s right- but it’s there and it helps me to understand why this is happening just a little bit better.
Ali also shared as someone who spent four years in prison for unjustified reasons and lost a brother in the conflict. He says as a bereaved brother he has every right to hate and to plot against Israel. And yet, he is a Palestinian who believes that violence perpetuates violence and so he’s chosen a third way: non violent resistance. He’s chosen to educate himself about Israel and to meet and discuss with Israelis about what it’s like to lose a family member. He believes that when we meet people from ‘the other side’ and hear their stories and recognize that they ‘mourn with the same colour tears’, we have no choice but to treat ‘the other’ as a fellow human. He also shared that in the not so distant past France, Germany and England were doing worse things to each other than Israel and Palestinians are doing today- and now they live together in peace with ungaurded borders.
Perhaps I’ll just throw up a youtube so that you can hear some of this for yourself. Here’s Robi sharing about the murder of her son.
