Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: A Nonviolent Approach
Written by Jan Jaben-Eilon Wednesday, May 11 2011
Snapshot: Ronit Avni
Ronit Avni is founder and executive director of Just Vision, a nonprofit organization that researches, documents, and creates media about Palestinian and Israeli grassroots leaders in nonviolence and peace building. She is also an award-winning filmmaker, human rights advocate, and media strategist. Avni directed and produced the documentary film, Encounter Point, which received the 2006 San Francisco International Film Festival Audience Award for Best Documentary. The film was an official selection at the Tribeca Film Festival; Hot Docs; and Atlanta, Vancouver, Dubai, and Jerusalem International Film Festivals.
Encounter Point – a documentary that focuses on Israelis and Palestinians who have lost family members in the conflict – has screened at the International Finance Center, the United Nations, and in Gaza, Tel Aviv, Jenin on the West Bank, and more than 200 cities worldwide. It has won five international awards.
More recently, Avni produced the documentary film, Budrus, which received the Berlinale Panorama Audience Award second prize, the Special Jury Mention at the Tribeca Film Festival, and the Audience Award at the San Francisco International Film Festival in 2010. Budrus, which documents a successful nonviolent movement in a Palestinian village in the West Bank, premiered at the Cultural Bridge Gala at the Dubai International Film Festival in December 2009, followed by a keynote address by Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan.
Prior to the creation of Just Vision, Avni coproduced short videos and online video advocacy features in collaboration with filmmakers in Senegal, Burkina Faso, the United States, and Brazil while working for Peter Gabriel’s human rights organization, WITNESS. She has trained nongovernmental organizations from Honduras to The Gambia to produce videos as a tool for public education and grassroots mobilizing, as a deterrent to further abuse, and as evidence before courts and tribunals. She is currently a Young Global Leader, sponsored by the World Economic Forum, a term member at the Council on Foreign Relations, and a United Nation’s Global Expert through the Alliance of Civilizations.
Avni, 33, is married and lives in Washington, D.C.
Womenetics: Why did you launch Just Vision?
Ronit Avni: While working with WITNESS, I interacted with human rights defenders from across the globe, including courageous Israelis and Palestinians who were practically invisible to the world. We often hear about militants, militarists, and politicians, but we don’t hear about the people on the ground who are actually working together to end the conflict. After Sept. 11 and the collapse of the Oslo process (between Israelis and Palestinians), I felt that as an Israeli-North American my backyard was burning. I wanted to devote the skills I acquired at WITNESS to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
I then spent two years conducting 475 interviews with Israeli and Palestinian human rights defenders, peace builders, and nonviolence leaders. This was my due diligence. Their overwhelming message was that they felt isolated and invisible; they wanted to connect with others in the field and with international supporters. It was clear to me that there was a gap to be filled; there was a recurring theme.
I’m somebody who has always been engaged in creative activity, since childhood. I studied theater directing and political science, and I wanted to fuse arts and politics. So documentaries were a natural medium. I wanted to find some way to share these interviews with the world so that others could learn from them. They formed the basis for the 60 interviews that are now on our website. These are people who are urban planners, environmental scientists, educators, former combatants, or activists, but they are all working toward a shared future. I received a camera and editing training while at WITNESS. I learned about the medium and how it’s used, its strengths and limitations in communicating with audiences. It’s an efficient medium because it can reach millions of people. So I quit my job to launch Just Vision.
Womenetics: How difficult was it to get funding when you started? Is it any easier now that you have received so many awards for your films?
Avni: It’s never easy; it still keeps me up at night. The challenge is still there. It’s incredibly difficult. Initially I received a small grant from the Joshua Venture Fellowship, which is provided to young Jewish social entrepreneurs. I started with $30,000 a year over two years. It covered my living expenses and allowed me to start working. There were also some incredible individuals who believed in the vision of the organization and came in fairly early with support. We have a dedicated, loyal base of contributors. Over the years, as people have seen that we’ve been able to produce our films on time and under budget, we’ve earned donors’ trust. But some of the accolades don’t help us monetarily. I was on The Oprah Show in 2005 for a two-minute segment, and no money came from that. But the people who support us are very dedicated, and the highlight for me has been getting to know these folks.
Womenetics: What projects have you done besides Encounter Point and Budrus, your two feature-length documentaries?
Avni: Every few weeks, we publish an interview on our website with a peace builder or nonviolence leader in Arabic, Hebrew, and English. We conduct outreach to universities, youth groups, women’s groups, think tanks, and educators. We want to provide food for thought and inspiration. We engage Israeli, Palestinian, and American audiences. We’re not an advocacy organization in that we don’t lobby or prescribe policies.
Womenetics: Tell us about the educational materials that you provide to viewers of your films.
Avni: We offer a variety of screening guides and community guides in English, Hebrew, and Arabic. We provide a glossary of terms for educators and provide direction on how people can use the material.
Womenetics: There’s been a lot of speculation in the press about the Palestinians following the Tunisians and Egyptians in a nonviolent uprising against the Israelis. But most of these articles don’t even mention Budrus. Why not?
Avni: A lot of the press is skewed toward what catches headlines, like bus bombings and aerial bombardments. These can be easily encapsulated in a photograph or headline whereas nonviolence is more complicated and it takes a lot more work to write about. We are fortunate that quite a bit was written about Budrus after the film was released. Unfortunately, today there are nonviolent activities in the West Bank that are being cracked down on. For instance, several nonviolence leaders in (the West Bank town of) Bili’in are in Israeli jails.
We definitely need more coverage of these unarmed struggles. Generally we tend to overlook the slow and steady organizing required to truly catalyze an unarmed movement. Events in Egypt took years of organizing. A lot happened before Jan. 25. Tunisia was the spark but not the cause of events in Tahrir Square, which had a lot to do with the slow and steady efforts of a smaller group of people.
Womenetics: You worked with Peter Gabriel’s human rights organization, WITNESS. What was that like?
Avni: It was really a privilege to be there. I met the most courageous people. I learned from their strategies. It was humbling and intellectually challenging. I loved the people. I worked there for three years, from 2000 to 2003, and it was hard to leave.
Womenetics: What is the next documentary that you are working on?
Avni: We’re producing a shorter film, 30 minutes, on the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. Israelis are bringing the (nonviolent) tactics they learned in the West Bank to East Jerusalem. The problem in Sheikh Jarrah started when an East Jerusalem Palestinian family was forced out of their home for Jewish settlers to move in. Every Friday afternoon, a group of mostly (Jewish) Israelis comes to Sheikh Jarrah to protest the efforts to move Jewish settlers into Palestinian neighborhoods.
This group is attracting luminaries of literature and members of the parliament – people who wouldn’t go to rallies in the West Bank, but they feel that Jerusalem is in their backyard. Sometimes it’s hundreds and sometimes thousands. The group hasn’t reached into all corners of Israeli society, but they are attracting people who have never been in a demonstration before. The conflict is so huge that ultimately it will take everyone to resolve it including the high tech folks, the educators, the entrepreneurs, and the activists. And, of course, any social movement involves young people. You need to have the 18-to-24 set to have a movement.
Womenetics: Your documentaries offer hope. Are you optimistic about a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
Avni: Ultimately yes, but I’m not necessarily optimistic in the short term. But stranger things have happened in history, like the fall of the Soviet Union or what happened in South Africa. Things can change. The region is too small and people (on both sides) want a better future for their kids. They want their dignity, and they desire self-determination and sovereignty.
But we’ve come a long way. A few decades ago, Israelis didn’t even acknowledge there was a Palestinian people. Now the two populations have resigned themselves to the fact that there is no military solution to the conflict, only a diplomatic and political solution. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of apathy on both sides and that will prolong the resolution.
Womenetics: Many probably think you have the perfect job, combining your passion for conflict resolution with your training and expertise as a documentarian. Did you ever dream that this would be your life’s work?
Avni: Not at all. I never intended to do something related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But I feel very grateful and energized by the people I work with, and challenged by the work.
Womenetics: Who was the biggest influence on your life?
Avni: Different people have given me incredible guidance at different stages of my life. From some I’ve learned discipline, and from others I’ve learned about nonprofit organizational management. And from a Chasidic teacher at age 6, I learned about both social justice and the importance of joy.
Womenetics: Tell us something about your hobbies, or what you do for fun?
Avni: I love running. My husband and I hike and I enjoy activities that are meditative. I love movies and traveling. I also love interacting with people from all over the world.
Jan Jaben-Eilon was a founding staff writer of the Atlanta Business Chronicle. Since then, she has been the international editor of Advertising Age magazine and has written for such publications as The New York Times, International Herald Tribune, Washington Journalism Review, and Consumer Reports. She is the author of soon-to-be-published (There is) Life After Cancer. Jan and her husband have homes in Atlanta and Jerusalem.
