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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