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February 11, 2005
The Road to Sulha
Laura Beatty has been hard at work on her first documentary film, "The Road to Sulha" and will be screening the fine-cut version at a fund-raising gathering in San Francisco. So, come out, have drinks, and meet the woman behind the film.
What: A fundraiser for "The Road to Sulha"
When: Wednesday, February 16th, 7:30 pm (film rolls at 8!)
Where: SOMAsala 465 Tenth Street, No. 102, San Francisco (Between Harrison & Bryant, across from Costco)
Synopsis:
Gabriel and Eliyahu are on a road that has no map. Where the political dialogue has failed to bring an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict–these two Israelis, members of a tribe of visionaries from both sides of the border, hope to succeed. By bringing ordinary Israelis and Palestinians together to attend a gathering inspired by the traditional Middle Eastern process of sulha, or reconciliation, they hope to plant the seeds of peace-not on the negotiating table, but in the hearts of those who come. There, they hope to begin to heal the wounds of the past fifty years, and in the process, spark a revolutionary movement for peace.
Rana, Khaled and Said are all Palestinians from the West Bank. The only Jews in their world are soldiers. Gabriel and Eliyahu hope to change that by inviting them, along with 250 others from the West Bank and Gaza to Tariq al-Sulha, a 3-day gathering with Israelis and Arab Israelis held in northern Israel. While all of the Palestinians accept the invitation, their attendance is ultimately in the hands of the Israeli army, who must issue individual permits for them to cross the checkpoint.
For them, it is a chance to finally meet a Jew outside of their normal confrontational encounters, on relatively equal footing. But that isn’t the only opportunity presented. Though it is only for three days, it is a chance to taste freedom for the first time in years–to actually leave the West Bank and, they hope, visit the places they have been hearing about their whole lives, cities like Haifa and Jaffa, historic symbols of the Palestinian struggle.
For the peace activists–it has been a long and exhausting journey already. With their faith riding on the transformative power of personal connection, they seek an apolitical and spiritually based solution to the conflict. In order to facilitate the dialogue, they have also invited peacemakers from around the globe, leaders who have emerged from their own ethnic conflicts, among them a Tibetan monk, a Zulu priest and an Irish Catholic peace activist. As quixotic an approach as it may be, the strength of their convictions is as fierce as the weapons they seek to neutralize.
"The Road to Sulha" tells the story of their encounter as Israelis and Palestinians meet with their inherited enemies and in the process, are forced to confront their own relationships with the conflict. Punctuated by the moving stories of Rami and Ali, two survivors of the violence that has wreaked havoc on thousands of families from both sides – this is the story of one small group’s efforts at peace in one of the world’s most enduring and bloody conflicts.
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Posted by insideoutmag at February 11, 2005 09:05 AM