海角大神

It was the year 2000, and the second Palestinian intifada had just broken out. Ali Abu Awwad was in Saudi Arabia, recovering from an Israeli drive-by shooting, when he received word that an Israeli soldier had shot his brother Youssef in the head at close range.

鈥淗e left us a son and a daughter and this huge package of pain and loss and anger,鈥� recalls Mr. Abu Awwad. Part of him wanted revenge. 鈥淭hen you ask yourself, how many people shall I kill? What could be enough dead Israelis to heal this pain?鈥�

Then his mother, a Palestinian activist who was close to iconic leader Yasser Arafat, did something extraordinary. She received a group of bereaved Israeli parents into her home.

鈥淔or me, it was shocking to see an Israeli crying,鈥� says Abu Awwad, who had been given a 10-year sentence as a teenager for his involvement in the first Palestinian intifada, or uprising. 鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 imagine that Jewish people have tears.鈥�

Abu Awwad has since advocated nonviolence as the best way to end the Israeli occupation. For more than a decade, he worked with peace organizations, even touring the world with an Israeli mother whose peace-activist son was killed by a Palestinian sniper.

But in the past couple of years, he has come to the conclusion that peace will not be made by the Israeli left 鈥� anchored in cosmopolitan Tel Aviv, a world away from the conflict.

Many peace activists disassociate themselves from Israelis who live over the pre-1967 lines, the internationally recognized border of Israeli sovereignty. Some Israelis won鈥檛 drive in the West Bank, where the number of settlers has tripled since the 1993 Oslo Accord.

Abu Awwad understands the gesture, and sees the detrimental effect of settlements on Palestinian national aspirations, but he takes a different tack.

鈥淲e have more than 600,000 settlers in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Who鈥檚 going to talk to these people?鈥� he asks, sitting under a makeshift canopy on his family鈥檚 land between Bethlehem and Hebron, surrounded by settlements. 鈥淭he peace movement is not courageous enough to act where the heart of the problem is. The heart of the problem is here, not Tel Aviv.鈥�

So Abu Awwad decided that in order to achieve Palestinian rights, he would need to engage Israeli settlers. As word got out, Rabbi Hanan Schlesinger from nearby Alon Shvut came to meet him. Though the rabbi had lived here for decades, it was the first time he had ever heard a Palestinian account of life under Israeli occupation.

鈥淚t was offensive, it was jarring, it was challenging, and it made me feel attacked,鈥� Mr. Schlesinger recalls. 鈥淏ut he wasn鈥檛 angry, and he wasn鈥檛 full of resentment or hate. He was telling the story of his life.鈥�

In doing so, Abu Awwad changed Schlesinger鈥檚 life. The rabbi says he realized he鈥檇 been blind to the reality around him. He went back to talk with Abu Awwad again. And again.

They were also joined by Israelis from nearby Tekoa, home of the late Rabbi Menachem Froman, who had actively cultivated ties with Palestinian leaders, including the iconic Palestinian fighter-turned-president Yasser Arafat and Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. Last year, the growing movement established Roots, which promotes taking responsibility for solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Roots doesn鈥檛 endorse a particular political solution, but rather the values of respect, nonviolence, and honoring both sides鈥� deep connection to the land. So far, it has hosted more than 6,000 visitors, including 600 Israeli pre-army students.

鈥淚 think this is the right way,鈥� says Gal Rosenberg, a student and right-wing voter, after hearing Abu Awwad speak. 鈥淭his is the dream.鈥�

Abu Awwad is touring the United States in June with Schlesinger. And Roots, along with Mr. Froman, is prominently featured in a documentary, 鈥淎 Third Way,鈥� which will screen in the US and Western Europe this fall.

鈥淗opefully the film ... models for audiences this process of dialogue and helps them humanize their feelings toward people they鈥檙e stereotyping most of the time,鈥� says director Harvey Stein, who says it challenged his own 鈥渢ypical leftist鈥� views. He hopes to hold 鈥渋mpact鈥� screenings of the film followed by audience dialogue 鈥� perhaps mirroring some of the characters鈥� discussions.

For now, many of those engaging with Roots are foreigners, who tend to be more enthralled with talking than the locals who deal with tensions, checkpoints, and attacks on a daily basis. Within Palestinian society, there is a strong movement against 鈥渘ormalization鈥� of relations with Israel, including anything that would appear to accept the status quo. And on the Israeli side, support for the two-state solution reached a historical low during last year鈥檚 Gaza war.

There鈥檚 also a strong religious Zionist movement that teaches that the whole land belongs to Jews, contrary to Froman鈥檚 teaching that Jews belong to the land.

Abu Awwad says he knows his ideas sound 鈥渃razy鈥� 鈥� as did those of Froman, who once appeared, wearing tefillin, with Hamas鈥檚 Sheikh Yassin in Gaza City before thousands of Hamas followers. Mr. Stein films him telling Mrs. Froman that her husband had a big heart, but also seemed to be deliberately foolish. 鈥淎nd that鈥檚 the big wisdom 鈥� how to be foolish,鈥� he says.

However, he and his partners are pragmatic, too. 鈥淚t鈥檚 about catalyzing people to take responsibility against the violence 鈥� whether it鈥檚 local teachers working against hatred within their students, visiting victims of attacks in solidarity, or challenging the mantra that 鈥榯here鈥檚 no one to talk to鈥� on the other side,鈥� says Shaul Judelman, one of Froman鈥檚 students.

Logistically, it鈥檚 not easy to get Israelis and Palestinians together in the West Bank, since they are largely barred from entering each other鈥檚 communities. Abu Awwad鈥檚 land is a rare piece of territory where both are welcome. There is no sign, just a rusty gate that is left open, leading to an outdoor shaded area where visitors are served water in plastic cups.

They sit in a circle, sometimes straining to hear as a breeze swings open the creaky metal door to Abu Awwad鈥檚 spartan one-room home. It鈥檚 far more elemental than a typical peace conference held in a gleaming hotel.

Just a few minutes away is the hitchhiking stop where last summer three Israeli teenagers were kidnapped by Palestinians and killed, sparking an escalation that led to the Gaza war. Recently the yeshiva classmates of two of the teenagers visited Roots. Mr. Judelman went with his partner to a private Palestinian school. The local Israeli commander came and talked for several hours with Abu Awwad, who saw an opportunity to help make him part of the solution.

Schlesinger has hosted Abu Awwad in his living room to talk with his neighbors 鈥� twice. Some accused him of bringing a 鈥渢errorist鈥� to their community, but dozens came and listened. One left saying, 鈥淚t鈥檚 hard not to be convinced.鈥�

There鈥檚 so little mutual understanding in this conflict, says Judelman in the documentary. 鈥淏ut then you meet the rare person on the other side who has listened to you, and he can speak to you in a way that he understands where you鈥檙e coming from. It鈥檚 just a very different kind of ... talk.鈥�

Abu Awwad is modest about the fruits of his work thus far, emphasizing that nonviolence is a means, not an end, and Palestinian rights have yet to be achieved.

鈥淏ut I think nonviolence is the celebration of my existence. I used to wake up, and I wish that I was not born. Today I wake up and I celebrate this,鈥� he says.
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