The primary school in Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam (like the community itself (more below)) is a dream, a bilingual school for Arab and Jewish Israelis. And the short film First Lesson In Peace is up to its setting. It follows film-maker Yoram Honig’s six-year-old daughter through her first days at the school, and what an endearing little girl Michal is. Her sweetness and the politics – both at the school and surrounding Michal – make this an endearing and heart-wrenching 56-minute film.
The politics include the viewpoints of Honig’s right-wing brother and his deeply Zionist father, for whom the director provides a full and complex presence in the film (and in his life). There is also ...
... the family politics of how much Honig will allow Dad's Zionism to influence Michal. And finally the school’s sometimes painful politics – in particular the ‘competing’ nationalist Israeli and Palestinian ‘Days’ (why do societies have to have these?) – create all sorts of difficulties and feelings of anger and separateness, which the teachers mightily and with great caring struggle to placate if not resolve.
Optimistically, I read the film as making more visible the possibility of a single-state solution to the conflict between the Jews and Arabs in Israel/Palestine. Everyone's cherished dreams, even Zionist ones, could be accommodated, I think. But that was just me, you might have a different or more pessimistic take. Whatever your political interpretation, I promise 'First Lesson in Peace' will humanize your understanding of Israel/Palestine, however humane you already consider it to be.
Try your best to see it. It was on Free Speech TV, Dish Network Channel 9415 Friday morning, and will be shown again on January 4, at 3 a.m., 10 a.m., 3 p.m. and 10 p.m. Eastern Time. If you don’t have Dish Network, check out whether your community access cable channel is affiliated with Free Speech TV and therefore will show the 56-minute film.
Go here to learn more about the primary school, and here to learn more about the film. The seond site also tells you about the various festivals where the movie has and will appear.
By the way, when looking for more about "First Lesson in Peace" I saw that on December 1 the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) gave its Building Bridges Award to Deanna Armbruster, executive director of the American Friends of Neve Shalom Wahat al-Salam. The ADC’s Michigan Director, Imad Hamad, said the award was a way to raise the profile of the community – "Oasis of Peace" in both Hebrew and Arabic – in the Arab American community.
In that spirit, I’ll add a little about Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam:
About the Village: Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam, the "Oasis of Peace"
Located mid-way between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam is a community of 50 families, half Palestinian and half Jewish, all with Israeli citizenship. Democratically governed by an elected secretary general and secretariat (mayor & city council), the village's mission is to demonstrate that Jews and Palestinians can live together as equals. During even the most difficult times in Israel, the residents of the village are committed to this ideal. Through their various departments and educational projects, they reach out to the surrounding communities, involving all those who want to participate in lectures, workshops, and classes that further the work of peace among Palestinians and Jews. They reach beyond their borders with the message that "Peace is Possible."
History of the Village: Envisioning an Oasis of Peace
... Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam/Oasis of Peace was conceived of and nurtured by Father Bruno, a Jew born in Egypt and a convert to Catholicism, who dedicated over 30 years of his life encouraging peaceful coexistence between Jews and Arabs.
Father Bruno later wrote of his idea, "We had in mind a small village composed of inhabitants from different communities in the country. Jews, Christians, and Muslims would live there in peace, each one faithful to his own faith and traditions, while respecting those of the others. Each would find in this diversity a source of personal enrichment." Placing Jews and Arabs together was only part of a goal that would involve providing "the setting for a school for peace." Father Bruno stated, "For years there have been academies in the various countries where the art of war has been taught. . . [W]e wanted to found a school for peace, for peace too is an art. . . People would come here from all over the country to meet those from whom they were estranged, wanting to break down the barriers of fear, mistrust, ignorance, misunderstanding, preconceived ideas—all things that separate us—and to build bridges of trust, respect, mutual understanding, and, if possible, friendship."