The Power of Artsbridge:
In the summer of 2008, Omri met Ghassan. Both are 16-years-olds, live in Jerusalem, and are very proud of their nationalities. Both have very strong and outgoing personalities, and both came to Artsbridge to answer some deep-rooted questions, and to learn how to express themselves through art. But this is where the similarities stop, because Omri is an Israeli and Ghassan is a Palestinian. Omri will soon be joining the Israeli army, and sees it as an honor; Ghassan believes he must stand up for fair treatment of his people, who deserve a state of their own. Being drawn together by their forwardness, they quickly formed a friendship and started to learn about each other, readily engaging in the daily dialogue sessions. For a full week and a half, this relationship grew and both were happy that they had made a new friend and were overcoming obstacles and fears. This is their story.
The Artsbridge dialogue model teaches students to ask questions out of curiosity and to respond to questions reflectively. During one of the dialogue sessions, Ghassan, partly out of his own naiveté and partly out of his assertive personality, posed a question to the Israelis that, rather than being based on curiosity, was inflammatory and hurtful. This made it difficult for the students to remain in a reflective mode. After only a week and a half of training and practice in the model, they were hardly expected to be masters. The participants became upset, very hurtful things were said, and Omri became enraged and stormed out of the dialogue session.
Israelis and Palestinians immediately regrouped in separate rooms. For the next several hours each group processed what had taken place. The Israelis felt confirmed in their beliefs that Palestinians cared only for themselves as victims. The Palestinians felt confirmed in their fears that Israelis remain the violent aggressors and continue to deny the Palestinian story. Some wanted to go home, and some knew they needed to stay and work it out. All were feeling the worry that their newfound friendships were lost. It seemed to many that Artsbridge was going to fail. Ghassan demanded to be sent home and promised that, upon returning home, he would never again work with Israelis and would continue the struggle to regain the dignity of his people.
It was later revealed that Omri had lost 3 very close friends in the past few years, all to bus bombings at the hands of Palestinian terrorists. Ghassan grew up with separated parents, saw close friends and family members thrown in prison for their beliefs, and found comfort and support from groups with very strong, but not violent opinions on how to deal with their relationship with Israel. These two stories had been very defining in the lives of Omri and Ghassan. This very difficult evening eventually became a beautiful testament to the power of the Artsbridge model.
Having left the building to dig deep into his heart and assess what had just happened, Omri was sitting under a tree in the dark, when someone approached him. His new friend, Yazan, a Palestinian from Ramallah, sat down next to him and gave him a hug. Yazan also has a full story. In addition to being shot twice himself, in the arm and in the leg, he witnessed a bullet graze his mother’s face when he was younger. Of all the things that Omri could have anticipated, this was probably one of the last. A Palestinian was the first person to truly seek him out, give him a hug, and tell him that whatever they were going to have to face, they would have to face it together. Omri proceeded to tell Yazan the stories of losing his close friends, that for years he had not told to anybody.
After a couple hours of sharing stories, shedding tears and looking to the future, Yazan and Omri eventually rejoined the rest of the group. Omri, despite his embarrassment at having lost his temper, was able to muster the courage to apologize to and console his Palestinian counterparts.
Although Ghassan eventually agreed to stay, it was on the condition that he did not have to create a film with his partner, who, by coincidence, happened to be Omri. It could have been very easy for the students to give up and walk away in the face of conflict, Omri and Ghassan, deep down, knew that this was the very reason they came to Artsbridge. The incredible fact that these two young men, now feeling entirely betrayed by the other, were paired to work together, gave them the opportunity to prove to themselves, and others, that two people could overcome, forgive and work together to achieve a common goal despite their differences.
Omri and Ghassan eventually shook hands and were able to work through their differences and create a very powerful, and quite humorous film. Since returning home, many of the students, including Omri and Ghassan, have taken it upon themselves to meet regularly in Jerusalem and spend time together as well as mentoring others.