Full Description
Borrowing an aphorism from the Koran, "If you make it possible, it is possible," this work highlights grass roots efforts of peace-making heroes from Israel and the territories. Bay Area filmmaker Lynn Feinerman has captured moving and intimate portraits of individuals who have devoted their lives to achieving non-violent co-existence in the battle torn Middle East. Included are a Muslim who co-founded, with Mubarak Awad, the Palestinian Center for the Study of Non-Violence; a religious settler who meets regularly with Hamas activists; a Dominican priest who founded the Jewish-Arab village Neve Shalom/Wahat Al Salaam; and two feminists - one Palestinian and the other Israeli - who have built a close friendship through their work with women's issues in a particularly patriarchal society. These peacemakers, who risk their lives on a daily basis, have begun to mend the unraveled fabric of Israeli-Palestinian society and heartily suggest that peace is possible.
Filmmaker Bio(s)
The title of the project derives from an aphorism in the Koran, the holy book of Islam: "If you make it possible, it is possible. If you make it impossible, it is impossible." Many Israelis who have seen the documentary have suggested a companion title, a quote from Theodore Herzl, the 20th century Zionist: "If you will it, it is no dream."
The project designed and produced by award-winning filmmaker Lynn Feinerman, focuses its heart upon these thoughts. It brings a sense of reality to these ideas by examining the lives, viewpoints and character traits of the Middle East Peacemaker heroes who live them daily. They reside in a region of the world which is plagued by ancient hostilities, jealousy of the land which three religions and many cultures hold sacred, and violence fomented by militaristic extremists.
Yet even at the risk of their own lives, these Israelis and Palestinians have succeeded, each in his or her own way, in fostering harmonious relations. They have "made it possible" to mend the ravelled fabric of Israeli-Palestinian life. These individuals span the political spectrum. They do not fit into any facile political or religious categories. They are unique. Their uniqueness, their originality, is what gives their work its clarity and strength.
