A Stony Field, An Olive Grove, An Iron Dome: Researching Peace in Israel/Palestine at a Time of War
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While researching images of peace produced and performed by Israeli activists, I found myself in a pastoral olive grove in Jayyous, in a stony field by Umm el-Arayes, then under an Iron Dome in Tel Aviv as another round of explosive violence erupted between Israel and Gaza. What peace was to be found in these sites? And which war was being fought?
This presentation is a reading that draws on my blogs (http://israelipeaceimages.com) and field notes from my research semester in Israel, fall 2012. It is not an academic analysis of my research material, but a personal reflection on some of my experiences and encounters. This presentation speaks to my motivation for and some of the challenges of undertaking such research. At some points I use ‘we’ to refer to Jewish Israelis, reflecting my own identification within my research context. The visual material you see includes my photographs, along with stills and video footage that activists groups circulate on social media, and other illustrative material.
The reading takes place across several scenes:
Scene 1 – Pillar of Cloud, Pillar of Defense (Israel-Gaza War, November 2012)
Scene 2 – Iron Dome (Israeli missile defence system)
Scene 3 – Composing peace as a picture (Combatants for Peace demonstration by Beit Jala, West Bank)
Scene 4 – The Stony Field: Partnering in Justice (Ta’ayush activity at Umm el-Arayes, South Hebron Hills, and clip from Hill 24 Doesn’t Answer)
Scene 5 – Pastoral Peace: Olive harvesting in Jayyous (West Bank)
Scene 6 – Café in Tel Aviv (activist interview)
Scene 7 – This war here, that war there (clips from Waltz with Bashir and Towards a Common Archive: Video Testimonies of Zionist Fighters in 1948)
Scene 8 – What peace? (Imagination)
Picturing Peace 