The documentary film *There Is Another Way* follows Israeli and Palestinian members of the Combatants for Peace movement—former enemies who, despite war, violence, and deep trauma, are striving together to find a path to peace. The film will be screened in competition at this year’s Mediterranean Film Festival in Široki Brijeg, an occasion that prompted a conversation with director Stephen Apkon.

It is impossible to be with the Palestinian and Israeli members of Combatants for Peace and not believe that another way is possible. They are living this reality every day and showing what is possible. You experience it in the way that they work together for the freedom and dignity of all.

I began documenting the work of Combatants for Peace back in 2012-2013. I was intrigued as to how a group of former enemy combatants could transcend the narratives they were born into that created a willingness to kill each other and embrace nonviolence and their shared humanity. For me, this story is not just about them, but about all of us and our need to both accept our capacity for violence as well as our capacity for peace, compassion, and love. 

I have always felt that the people in the film have to deal with the violent reality on a daily basis while I get to go home. I always stay focused on this, and the enormous courage they have to live this existence and not fall into complete despair or into violence. That alone is heroic.

It was important that they were able to honestly share their immediate reactions – which included fear, anger, excitement and even hatred, and then to find each other and their greater humanity with each other. The work was strained, but ultimately strengthened and deepened as they were forced every day to choose each other.

It is very important to not create a false equivalence or to not recognize a fundamental asymmetry – the Occupier and the Occupied; one with vast military strength and one without. Yet if we stop here, we end up dehumanizing and disempowering one side. There is also a symmetry – which is the human capacity to choose how we show up in each moment. One needs to hold these seemingly paradoxical notions together so as not to marginalize the Palestinians solely as victims. 

Absolutely. It is far easier to fall into despair, dehumanization, and violence. The real courage is to hold something different and work together through nonviolence. Not to in any way passively normalize the situation and violence, but rather to actively resist and build what is possible.

I believe that we are fed narratives, not only through social media but through our mainstream media. Violent images capture our attention quickly, but documentaries can allow the space to meet people more deeply, and not only listen to their words, but experience their reality and the small choices they make every day to work for peace. This is where “another way” starts, seeing the humanity of whoever we have labeled as “the other.”

Wherever we’ve traveled with the film, the response has been similar. Both the connection to what is going on in Israel and Palestine, as well as the connection with whatever is going on in their society, communities, and families. There is Another Way is always a reality, and the film has helped people feel what is possible in their own lives when they make different choices.

Combatants for Peace holds the imagination and the reality of what is possible for all people. They represent what the day after peace looks like as they navigate the complexities even between them. Peace is not the absence of conflict, but rather the ability to deal with this conflict in a nonviolent way. In this, they are a model for both societies and for all of us. While the Netanyahu government has done all they can to silence and marginalize them, their spirit and consciousness continue to grow in their communities. We see this in many ways, including the Joint Memorial Service they created, which recognizes and commemorates the suffering of all people caught in this conflict, while inspiring people to choose another way.

The War on Gaza has not ended. People continue to be killed there regularly, while the war has also shifted to the West Bank. I am very disheartened by the extreme violence and ethnic cleansing that is happening there now, yet I am also feeling like more and more Israelis are waking up to the Jewish Settler terrorism, often backed by the IDF, and saying “not in our name.” While it is easy to be disheartened and fall into despair, I continue to firmly believe that not only is peace possible, it is inevitable. After October 7th, we saw scores of Israeli’s fleeing and going where? To Germany. Decades after the Holocaust. We know that violence and war end, the only question is how many people need to senselessly lose their lives before we find the imagination to see and create something different. This is the importance and power of Combatants for Peace. And we are asked – will we stand with those who stand for another way.

The first concrete step is realizing that the greatest weapons used against us are not bombs and artillery, it is the destruction of our imagination to believe that war and violence are both inevitable and impossible to end, the dehumanization of others, and the belief that our individual actions won’t make a difference. When we refuse to give up our imagination, recognize the humanity of “the other,” and take action within our own lives and collectively to challenge that which wants to stay in power and divide us we have begun the journey and taken the most important first steps. As I’ve learned from spending many years with Combatants for Peace, this is not only possible, but one begins to live within the freedom and reality you are working to create. It is the beginning of establishing Another Way, which honors the dignity and right to freedom, self-determination and humanity of all.