zeitouna: “refusing to be enemies”

Linette and I have a friend that just made a documentary. Her name is Laurie White, and her film, which she’s been working on for the past few years, is about a Michigan-based dialogue group that she’s a part of called Zeitouna (which means “olive tree” in Arabic). The group is composed of one dozen women, with half being of Arab descent and half being of Jewish descent, and the film, entitled “Refusing to Be Enemies,” shows them, over time, dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in very personal terms. As I understand it, while they don’t set out to solve the problems that exist between their two peoples, they do offer a model for creating open dialogue that could be useful elsewhere as these two groups try to find a way to coexist. I haven’t seen the film yet, but, knowing Laurie, I have high hopes. (Laurie, by the way, was a producer on the Michael Moore film, “Roger and Me.”) The premier is going to be this Sunday evening at the Michigan Theater, and tickets can be purchased either through the Zeitouna website, or at any of the following Ann Arbor locations: the Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice, Michigan PeaceWorks, or Exotic Bakery on Plymouth Road.