Muhammad Bahri's documentary film called Jenin, Jenin focuses on Jenin's destroyed houses and the Palestinians' oral testimony. This is just one aspect of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Nonetheless, everybody writing on the subject agrees on the importance of this film as a part of the dialogue between the two parties - and this agreement really riles me. Reality being that the Israeli society suffers from constant terror against civilian population, the brunt of this dialogue - at least in Israel - should be conducted from our point of view.
The media noise around this movie is the opposite of a muted reaction to Empty Rooms, a documentary dedicated to 21 young people who died in the Dolphinarium disco, a film financed by the Michael Cherney Foundation to aid terror victims. The film shows the empty space left behind by the dead children - a space that cannot be re-filled. The film, made by a Dutch director Willy Lindwer, received a warm reception at the Denver International Film Festival and at the Los Angeles Jewish Film Week, and has already been selected for several other festivals - it has proven to be able to touch people's hearts anywhere in the world. This film is important in explaining Israel's image abroad - yet it is unknown in this country.
Bahri shows the destroyed Jenin. No one doubts that the victims of war are real, and no one should fault the Israeli media for airing this point of view. On the other hand, we cannot forget the empty rooms and the parents who are still unable to cope with their pain.
Suffering is not confined to one side. The deaths of Palestinians are a consequence of military action. Israeli citizens, on the other hand, die in their own country only because of what they are - Israelis. Their deaths are the consequence of terror and crimes that need to be denounced.
One cannot forgive the murder of children. As an Israeli citizen, I am pained to see the pain of the parents who are trying to cope with the death of their children - and then to witness the trend of the Israeli public to forget it all.
In Jenin, Jenin, a witness says, "You can give birth to children, you can build a house, you can even get a new wife - but you can't change our feelings." Empty Rooms reflects the Israeli position: nothing will cure the pain of losing a child.
We must not lose sight of the value of human life. Therefore, we must do everything to prevent the acts of terror from cutting short the innocent lives. In Jenin, they remember that; but in Israel they sometimes forget.
Dmitry Radyshevsky, the Executive Director of the Cherney Fund for helping terror victims
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