I first met Tevel, Yousef, and Nikol in Navasota, Texas as part of the Jerusalem Peace Builders program. I haven’t seen Tevel and Nikol in two years and Yousef in one year.
I met up with them all yesterday as I traveled from Jerusalem to Netanya to see Tevel and Nikol, and Nazareth to see Yousef. We each spent an hour or two filming for the documentary.
Tevel is a 2nd year student at the University in Tel Aviv in mechanical engineering, he plans to join the army after his studies in order to be a specialized officer. Tevel identifies as Jewish and non-practicing, but his family keeps Jewish transitions. Tevel's father, Israel, is quite literally named after the state.
Yousef is working in Nazareth, with plans to attend the same university of Tevel. Youself is an Arab Israeli Christian. His religion is an integral part of his life, and he chooses not to talk about politics, but prefers to focus on peace. I respect him for that.
Nikol has both Jewish and Christian ancestry, though she identifies as agnostic and Israeli in nationality. She joined the Israeli army a few months ago and plans to be there for over 3 years.
Tevel and Nikol discussed their views of the ongoing war and the detrimental effect the war has had on their friendships with Palestinians from the peace program. Because the situation is so tense in Israel currently, many friendships between Jews and Muslims don’t always continue.
Everyone agrees that the current situation is the worst it's been ever.
Nikol mentioned that once the peace facilitators were no longer present, the participants more often engaged in unproductive ways of speaking to one another - or not speaking to one another. Consequently, their friendship bonds with Palestinians have frayed, and the divisions have grown deeper since October 7th.
Tevel and Nikol both gave substantive interviews and shared some personally challenging moments along with what they hope for the future. I will share parts of their meaningful stories soon.
I also know how necessary it is to equally represent the Palestinians that
were part of the peace program. I'm working on it. Not everyone is comfortable speaking on camera during this time.
I'm trying to build trust and hopefully the vision will help do that.
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