the stories of ordinary people in an extraordinary land
Last year American documentary film-maker Beth Toni Kruvant participated in what has become commonly known as a 'Magical Mystery Tour' organised by the International Department at Givat Haviva. Accompanied by staff member, journalist and local guide of MM tours - Lydia Aisenberg – Beth Kruvant and crew viewed, listened and filmed the Wadi Ara region, Green Line and the security fence constructed in the area. "The reason we nicknamed the tours – which we have been doing for many years I hasten to add – Magical Mystery tours is because basically one finds many a surprise when out and about in this area," explained Aisenberg, who has been a Givat Haviva staff member for over 20 years and written extensively about the people, places and events in Wadi Ara and environs. "Maybe the words 'magical' and 'mystery' don't quite ring right for some people when dealing with the daily realities of Jews and Arabs living together - but quite separately - in this area," said Aisenberg, who originates from Britain but living in Israel for close to 40 years. "However the description does fit I can assure you, but if you want to see what I mean, then you are going to have to sign up for a tour," she jokes, whilst at the same time pointing to the general area of Wadi Ara, Green Line and security fence on a map she is holding of the country she decided to make home after experiencing anti-Semitism for most of her formative years growing up in Wales. Beth Kruvant and her film crew took up that invitation and some of what they saw and heard that day is vividly portrayed in Kruvant's 64 minute documentary film THE RIGHT TO BE WRONG, recently screened in film festivals in north America, picked up by the National Education Television Association Distributor (NETA) and due to be offered to all public broadcasting channels in the US. "The documentary provides a glimpse of modern day Israel through the stories of ordinary Israelis and Palestinians. Each story reflects a direct connection to the political conflict," says Beth Kruvant of her Good Footage Productions film. Viewers will meet David Lichman, a former American who – like Lydia Aisenberg – settled on an Israeli kibbutz many years ago. David takes the film crew to meet his best friend Samir who owns a restaurant in Ramla and over humus and falafel the Arab citizen of Israel talks about his ties to Ramla stemming back to before 1948. Samir's son Jalil eloquently expresses his torn identity as an Israeli Palestinian Arab. What David Lichman and his friend Samir share in common – apart from their love of Middle Eastern cuisine – is a passion for peace. Their long friendship and quest to influence others to tread the track of co-existence has transcended the borders of their country as already for a number of years the friends co-host an enormously popular 'hafla' – party – in the name of co-existence and attended by people of all faiths in Kansas City. The film-crew wandered the troubled streets of Jerusalem with human rights worker Najib, an Arab Israeli citizen from Meiser village in Wadi Ara. They film and record Najib talking to Palestinians climbing over sections of the wall in Abu Dis, East Jerusalem. With Lydia Aisenberg they walk the line of the security fence near Jenin and to Umm-el-Fahm, the second largest Muslim Arab city in Israel – the outer neighborhoods of which literally sitting on the pre-67 border with the West Bank and where a section of the security fence is now embedded. "As we journeyed through Israel we were surprised to find the intimate, unusual personal stories not shown on television or read in the newspaper. This is Israel behind the headlines," said Beth Kruvant, who is hoping the film will be screened in Israel in the not too distant future. ** A promo of THE RIGHT TO BE WRONG can be seen on http://www.therighttobewrong.com
