There was great attendance by the Commissaries, the friars and the volunteers of the Custody at the evening for the presentation of the documentary “Tra i popoli di Dio: incontri oltre i muri”, produced by the association Ponte di Pace in collaboration with the Commissariat of the Holy Land of Piedmont. This meeting in parallel with the work of the conference aimed at throwing light on the society that lives in the Holy Land.
The guests of the evening were Meir Margalit, Jerusalem city councillor, and Chiara Tamagno, president of Ponte di Pace and who supervised the documentary. Maria de Lurdes Nunes, a journalist with the Franciscan Media Center, coordinated the speakers and introduced the images which were screened: “only some clips of a kaleidoscope, where the faces, the voices and the stories are truly multi-faceted and surprising, vibrant with colours and emotions.”
The images of the Holy Places scroll across the maxi-screen, forming the background to the stories told by figures, famous or not, of the Holy Land: bishops, friars, writers, doctors, sociologists, rabbis, former soldiers and ordinary people... All these voices have in common a passionate commitment for dialogue and the reconciliation of peoples. “We want to show the ferment of a minority,” explains Chiara Tamagno, “whether Israeli, Palestinian, Jewish, Christian or Muslim... These are men and women who have the courage to go towards what is different, to go beyond the wall. Our documentary aims to give added value to the pilgrimage, in the spirit of St. Francis and before him Jesus, who listened to people as he walked these roads... in a society which even then was highly varied and complex.”
Particularly significant is the testimony of Meir Margalit, who is Jewish and a staunch supporter of human rights in a country that “suffers from two serious pathologies, acute paranoia and chronic amnesia”. Meir explains: “The fear that grips the majority of Israelis prevents them from opening their eyes and hearts to the Palestinians and a sort of historical amnesia means that they do not remember what we suffered during the persecutions in Europe, if we then dare to make the non-Jewish in this land suffer the same.” These are strong and sincere declarations by an Israeli Jew who wanted to invite the Conference of the Commissaries to work together for peace: “The movements for peace are often opposed or even persecuted by the government, but we do not lose heart and we are convinced that by uniting our forces, together with the ecclesiastical movements, the Franciscans of the Custody in the first place, we can prepare a better future for this land.”
It was an evening and a documentary that aroused great interest with the public and in particular the Commissaries, who promised to promote the film and translate it into other languages.
D.F.
The guests of the evening were Meir Margalit, Jerusalem city councillor, and Chiara Tamagno, president of Ponte di Pace and who supervised the documentary. Maria de Lurdes Nunes, a journalist with the Franciscan Media Center, coordinated the speakers and introduced the images which were screened: “only some clips of a kaleidoscope, where the faces, the voices and the stories are truly multi-faceted and surprising, vibrant with colours and emotions.”
The images of the Holy Places scroll across the maxi-screen, forming the background to the stories told by figures, famous or not, of the Holy Land: bishops, friars, writers, doctors, sociologists, rabbis, former soldiers and ordinary people... All these voices have in common a passionate commitment for dialogue and the reconciliation of peoples. “We want to show the ferment of a minority,” explains Chiara Tamagno, “whether Israeli, Palestinian, Jewish, Christian or Muslim... These are men and women who have the courage to go towards what is different, to go beyond the wall. Our documentary aims to give added value to the pilgrimage, in the spirit of St. Francis and before him Jesus, who listened to people as he walked these roads... in a society which even then was highly varied and complex.”
Particularly significant is the testimony of Meir Margalit, who is Jewish and a staunch supporter of human rights in a country that “suffers from two serious pathologies, acute paranoia and chronic amnesia”. Meir explains: “The fear that grips the majority of Israelis prevents them from opening their eyes and hearts to the Palestinians and a sort of historical amnesia means that they do not remember what we suffered during the persecutions in Europe, if we then dare to make the non-Jewish in this land suffer the same.” These are strong and sincere declarations by an Israeli Jew who wanted to invite the Conference of the Commissaries to work together for peace: “The movements for peace are often opposed or even persecuted by the government, but we do not lose heart and we are convinced that by uniting our forces, together with the ecclesiastical movements, the Franciscans of the Custody in the first place, we can prepare a better future for this land.”
It was an evening and a documentary that aroused great interest with the public and in particular the Commissaries, who promised to promote the film and translate it into other languages.
D.F.