It is a sad fact that when it comes to conflicts, the media tends to concentrate on the violence; the shootings; the bombings. Deadly rockets carving highways across the sky. To many this might seem natural. Isn’t this what conflict is about? Violence and hatred and division?
Yet I would argue that there is a huge component missing here. The real story in any conflict which should be covered by the media, is the story of those who are trying to end the conflict, end the killing, and end the suffering. As in any conflict, there are those who want to cross the great divide and find a way through the walls and barriers to reach out a hand of friendship to the ‘other.’
Exhibitions and film at Sunderland Minster
Such a group are the Parents Circle Families Forum, which is made up of bereaved families from both Jewish and Arab backgrounds who have lost loved ones in the conflict, but who are also determined not to allow their grief to turn into hatred of the ‘other.’ They have come together with bereaved families from both sides to help each other in the healing process. Men and women from this group took photographs documenting parts of their lives, and these are on display at Sunderland Minster until 14 June 2025.
On Saturday 7 June at Sunderland Minster there was a showing of the film The Tinderbox to an appreciative and receptive audience. This was followed by a panel discussion which included representatives from the North East branch of Friends of Standing Together UK, and the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI).
- Friends Standing Together UK (עומדים ביחד نقف معًا) is “an Israeli grassroots movement mobilising Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel against the occupation and for peace, equality, and social justice. In the months since 7 October, they have become Israel’s leading anti-war campaigning group.”
- The Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel is “an international programme coordinated by the World Council of Churches. It brings people from around the world to the West Bank to serve for three months as human rights monitors. We call them Ecumenical Accompaniers (EAs).” Source: Quakers in Britain.
The film ‘The Tinderbox’
As the website puts it:
‘The Tinderbox combines ancient and more recent history, geopolitical problems (racism, inequality, immigration, and fake truths), and psychology, with the deeply personal journey of one person forced to challenge everything she had been taught about the conflict in Israel and Palestine.
‘The film also shows the human face of this conflict by hearing from a wide variety of contemporary voices, ranging from a Settler to a political member of Hamas. Today, while this conflict still rages, an American Middle East Peace Plan is in the works, and anti-Semitism and Islamophobia remain as globally controversial as ever, this film will provide context to show how history continues to play out in the daily lives of people on either side of the divide, and will empower audiences to make up their own minds.’
We began our viewing in Sunderland with an introduction from the Revd. Canon Clare McLaren, before settling down for what was described by her as a balanced exposition of the story of Israel and Palestine up to about 10 years ago.
The films’ narrator Gillian Mosely, who is a British Jew, notes that the Biblical homeland and the land in that area was promised to two peoples with Britain promising it to Jews, under the Balfour Declaration of 1917. Whether we like it or not, this is a story in which we are intimately bound-up.
It was noted that at the time of the First World War global interests had started the process leading to today’s tragedy in Gaza, with Britain promising anything in the First World War in exchange for allies and a possible staging post on the way to India.
Mosely then went on to speak to people from both sides. She admitted that as Jewish person, she was uncomfortable with the idea of Jewish settlements flouting UN various resolutions.
She did speak to one Israeli settler who said that there was room for all…
The film noted that the British had made an agreement, with the fall of the Ottoman Empire in the First World War, to divide Ottoman Land with other European powers and place Jerusalem under international mandate. Jerusalem was described as ‘sensitive,’ being the home of the three Abrahamic faiths.
The years following the First World War saw many European Jews escaping anti-Semitism by going to Palestine. But there were people already living on the land. We heard from a member of an Israeli rock band with fans on both sides of divide, and heard the singer saying poignantly that not enough people care.
Returning to the history we were reminded that the British ended up promising land that wasn’t theirs to give away. Meanwhile an Israeli interviewed argued that “without the land of Israel we are nothing” and that this understanding was quite common among Israelis.
The film commented that Jewish people had learnt from centuries of their own oppression how to oppress others. Biblical passages about welcoming strangers were ignored. It was also stated that Israel is a state based on making anybody who is not Jewish into a second-class citizen, while Palestinians are being pushed out from their heritage.
So, it was argued, we see entrenched patterns, with Palestinians being forced to live in ever smaller areas under occupation. The film portrayed a troubling history of Jewish people being fenced in by others, which is echoed now by the wall around Gaza. It was also pointed out that Jews have strong Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder from the Holocaust.
The most telling thoughts came near the end. It was rightly said that there will be no peace in Isarel and Palestine, until people learn to be in other people’s shoes. Both sides have been victims and see themselves as victims. It was argued that they need to go beyond this self-victimisation and need to learn from each other. It was time for people on both sides to respect the other and say, ‘enough is enough.’
Listening to ‘the other’
Standing Together is trying bravely to ensure that ‘enough is enough’ is heard in Israel today. The organisation is made up of ordinary Israelis and Arabs, who want to live together in peace, to listen to each other and to learn from each other. That seems to me to be the only practical way forward.
On Sunday 8th June, Katherine Fitzsimons of the EAPPI preached the sermon at a well-attended morning service at the Minster. She spoke movingly about how easy it was for her to go to church, and contrasted that with the difficulties that Palestinians have in moving around their own land. The wall and check points often making it very difficult to visit relatives, who might only live a few hundred metres away.
Canon Clare McLaren said:
“I think it has been really important to make space to explore the issues that lie below the headlines. The situation is so complex and the temptation is to boil it down to black-and-white finger-pointing, but watching The Tinderbox film together and having the opportunity to ask questions of people who have actually spent time in Palestine has been a real eye opener.”
Some reflections
Contrary to the impression the news might give, there is nothing inevitable about conflict in Israel and Gaza, or for that matter anywhere else in the world today. After all, many of the conflicts of the past have been resolved. Today’s conflicts can similarly be resolved, if people of goodwill in those places are allowed to hold sway. Perhaps a starting point for that would be for the world’s media to fully allow their voices to be heard.
There are many people of goodwill on both sides in the tragic conflict now playing out in Gaza. Sunderland Minster presented an opportunity for those voices to be heard. Hopefully more opportunities will present themselves as time goes by.
A Channel 4 news report about Standing Together’s anti-war protest can be viewed here.
