Over and over again it is the boots on the ground who find real
answers to the big problems that thwart general political solution.
The initiative described here needs to be promoted and encouraged as
it is obvious that people of good will can solve the practical
aspects of living check and jowl.
The general solution is painful expulsion. The local solution is
simple face to face cooperation.
It should also be obvious now that the Palestinian cause is of no
interest today to the Arabs who have turned inward to concentrate on
political reform and modernization. The Arab Spring made it a dead
horse. Thus the Palestinians are left to make their own peace.
And the only way to change the facts on the ground is to enter into
local reconciliation. With local reconciliation in play, it becomes
possible politically for elected officials to enter into real State
building negotiations with Israel. It may even fade away with a
wimper.
I am now optimistic that a resolution can be found for the first
time.
Reconciliation
Between Arabs and Israelis
Documentary “Two-Sided
Story” shows value of talking, listening
By Gary Feuerberg
February 12, 2013
Steve Riskin (L)
moderates a discussion with Robi Damelin (C), and Bassam Aramin (R)
following the screening of a new documentary on the Arab-Israeli
conflict titled, “Two Sided Story,” at the United States
Institute of Peace (USIP) in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 7, 2013.
Damelin, an Israeli, and Aramin, a Palestinian, are active in
promoting peace and reconciliation, particularly through dialogue
between ordinary people on both sides. (Gary Feuerberg/The Epoch
Times)
WASHINGTON—The
two-state solution is considered by most experts to be the best hope
for peace and stability in Israel. It would end the Israeli
occupation, which many Israelis have never been comfortable with, and
it would enable the Palestinians to get on with building a new state.
However, for
successful peace talks at the highest levels, the groundwork needs to
be laid in the lower ranks. Ordinary Israelis and Arabs cannot regard
each other as enemies if real peace is to be achieved.
That is the concept
behind the Parents Circle-Families Forum (PCFF), which is committed
to reconciliation. PCFF consists of more than 600 families, all of
whom have lost a close family member—a son, daughter, father,
mother, spouse, brother, or sister—as a result of the conflict.
PCFF’s website says,
“The process of reconciliation between nations is a prerequisite to
achieving a sustainable peace.”
‘The Two-Sided
Story’ Documentary
On Feb. 7, The United
States Institute of Peace (USIP) hosted a special showing of the
documentary,Two Sided Story, which follows a group of 27
bereaved Israelis and Palestinians who participated in the Narratives
project.
The
Israeli–Palestinian Narratives project is one of many projects
headed by the PCFF. It brings together people of the most diverse
backgrounds, such as Orthodox Jews and religious Muslims, whereas
other projects bring together people with similar occupations or
interests, such as artists or educators.
Emmy award-winning director Tor Ben Mayor follows a highly diverse
group of Israelis and Palestinians, including Orthodox Jews,
religious Muslims, settlers, ex-soldiers and ex-security prisoners,
nonviolent activists, and more. The film was funded in part by USIP
and USAID, although the contents are the sole responsibility of PCFF.
The film shows that
the participants held strong opinions and feelings about the
injustice of their losses—and about who was responsible for those
losses.
“I came not to
change my mind about anything. Because some things never change. I
know what I believe,” said a participant with a view that was
typical of many shown in the film.
But change, even
for the most hardened, proved possible.
After the film was
shown, Robi Damelin, an Israeli, and Bassam Aramin, a Palestinian,
answered audience questions.
Palestinian and
Israeli Mothers Share Sorrows
Damelin immigrated to
Israel in 1967 and lost her son David in 2002 to a Palestinian
sniper’s bullet. She made the decision to use her personal pain
toward reconciliation. She promotes the message of reconciliation, of
the PCFF, to whomever will listen. She devotes much of her time
inviting new members to join the Parents Circle.
Damelin told the story
of a Palestinian woman who had lost her son, and who came to the
meeting “ready to scream.” Damelin asked about her loss and then
shared with the lady a photo of her own son, David. That calmed the
distraught mother.
“Now she’s
changed. Now she’s given up being a victim,” Damelin said. She’s
also very active in the group.
There’s no
difference in the pain of my loss with the Palestinian mother’s
loss of her son, Damelin said.
A Palestinian’s
Story of Nonviolent Action
Aramin’s story is
one of progress from the use of violence to the practice of
nonviolence as the only way toward peace.
As a youth, he became
involved in the Palestinian struggle. At age 12, he was at a
demonstration where a boy was shot by a soldier. He watched the boy
die in front of him. At that moment, Aramin developed a deep need for
revenge. At age 17, he was caught planning an attack on Israeli
soldiers, and spent seven years in prison.
While in prison, he
spoke often with an Israeli prison guard and a friendship between the
two evolved.
The guard began to
treat the prisoners with more respect. Seeing that this
transformation happened through dialogue without force, Aramin
realized the only way to peace is through nonviolence. In 2005, he
co-founded an organization of former Israeli and Palestinian
combatants, leading a nonviolent struggle against the occupation.
In 2007, his
10-year-old daughter Abir was shot by an Israeli soldier while
standing outside her school.
Although one Israeli
soldier took the life of his daughter, 100 former Israeli soldiers
built a garden in Abir’s name at the school where she died.
Aramin did not go down
the path of hatred and vengeance. Instead, he became an active member
of the Parents Circle. He said that, although one Israeli soldier
took the life of his daughter, 100 former Israeli soldiers built a
garden in Abir’s name at the school where she died.
The film captured the
powerful dialogue between the opposing positions.
One rather frustrated
Palestinian woman grew weary of the Palestinian terrorism charge. She
said, “Being called a soldier is a license to shoot innocent
people. … That’s what I am asking about. Why can’t I call him a
terrorist?”
An Israeli woman gave
another viewpoint: “An 18-year-old doesn’t wake up and decide he
wants to carry a gun. Soldiers don’t like standing at checkpoints
and hitting Arabs. You’re looking at it the wrong way.”
The Parents Circle
does not take a political stance, but its members would favor a peace
agreement and two-state solution.
Damelin said, “I
want to live in a country that has a moral fiber, and I think the
occupation is killing the moral fiber of Israel.”
Measuring Impact of
Project
The Narratives project
surveyed its participants to measure its effectiveness. Its research
report states that 314 Palestinians and Israelis participated and
were exposed to each others’ narratives between October 2010 and
June 2012. The survey stated that for two-thirds of the participants
“participation in the program increased their levels of knowledge
and acknowledgment of the other narrative.”
More than
three-quarters (77 percent) reported an “intensified belief in the
possibility of reconciliation.”
The idea is that if
these members of bereaved families can sit together and work toward
peace, others can too. So, part of the project’s agenda is to
educate the general public and leaders, to show them, according to
the project website, that “reconciliation is possible and essential
to stop the bloodshed and bereavement.”
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