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Yulie Cohen Gerstel.
Photo courtesy of Women Make Movies.
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Yulie Cohen Gerstel was an El Al flight
attendant in 1978 when a terrorist with the Popular Front for the Liberation
of Palestine hijacked her London-bound flight, an attack that left her
wounded and a friend of hers killed. A year later she served as a witness
in Fahad Mihyi’s trial, which resulted in a sentence of four life
terms.
Gerstel had always been a proud Israeli nationalist. Growing up, her
neighbors included Yitzhak Rabin and Ariel Sharon. She enlisted in the
Airforce after having completed her mandatory military service, and
served as a captain during the Antebe Operation, Israel’s offensive
against Lebanon in 1982.
Having been on the frontlines and witnessed how Israelis and Palestinians
both play a role in the cycle of violence, however, and as a photojournalist
who’d visited the Occupied Territories of the Gaza Strip, she
began to wonder about a more effective path to reconciliation, and about
the man who’d tried to kill her (and why). Twenty two years after
the attack she decides to seek out Fahad, and when she finds him still
in prison, she visits him there. She found that he “expressed
deep remorse, said that he had turned away from political violence and
was now pro-peace,” so she decided to help get him released. My
Terrorist (Women Make Movies, 2002) tells the story of a woman
who, with children whom she wants a peaceful future to be at least a
possibility for, is bravely searching for a way to mend the endless
cycle of violence that fuels nothing but devastation and hate—and
more violence. She has managed to find forgiveness, and is looking for
a path to help others do the same.
In introducing a recent screening of My Terrorist, Gerstel said: “This
film is my elegy to my lost beloved righteous homeland. My Terrorist is my cinematic journey to convince those around me and myself that
it is time to forgive.”
My Terrorist was shown at the New York Human Rights Watch
Film Festival in June and at the Film Forum in July, where post-screening
Q&A sessions between the audience and filmmaker unsurprisingly dissolved
into fierce debate. Yulie Cohen Gerstel, now back in
Israel working on a new film, recently shared with Rachel Cernansky
a few thoughts on My Terrorist and some of her consequent experiences.
Can you describe the experience you had in the Israeli military
that changed your outlook on the Israel/Palestine situation?
When I came back to the army in 1981, it was not my mandatory service,
it was a career choice. And as a captain in the Israeli Airforce, I
was in a position which gave me an opportunity to see things in a different
way, and I could see how Israel initialized war, what I call a war of
choice, not a war of existence. So this is what opened my eyes for the
first time.
It was the Lebanon War in ’82, and it was against the Palestinians,
who are a people who deserve to have their own state. They became refugees
because of the state of Israel, when we were established in ’48.
So how come we go on fighting against them when all they need is their
state? They are not the enemy. I know that in ‘82, the Palestinians
did not recognize yet the existence of the state of Israel, it came
only later. But still I believe that there are other ways of solving
political problems than with war.
Was there anything specific that you saw because you were in
the military that…
Yes of course but I cannot talk about it.
You’ve just returned to Israel after spending two weeks
here in the U.S. promoting the film. What’s it like for you to
be back there right now?
Well, it’s always good to be home. Few things [have] changed over
the last two weeks. While I was there, the only thing that changed is
the way I saw the Americans. I hadn’t been there for seven years,
so coming back after 9/11, I guess, I see the Americans feel as victims,
which really reminds me a lot of Israelis. And I do have criticism about
this issue, because I don’t think that either the Americans or
the Israelis are victims. I can’t believe that the strongest country
in the world can be victims, and I don’t think that Israel, as
a very strong state, is a victim. I think we tend to victimize ourselves,
and we use it to be more aggressive and we—Americans and Israelis—aren’t
really looking for solutions, but to control other people’s lives
somehow.
How have reactions to My Terrorist differed between
audiences in the U.S. and in Israel?
The audiences in the U.S. and in Israel who came to see the film both
got very excited and emotional, and were challenged to re-think the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict. However, the big difference I found was
in the media’s reaction. While in Israel all of them didn’t
like the film, saying it was boring and shallow, in NYC the reaction
was overwhelming: The New York Times, The New York Post,
Daily News, The Star-Ledger, The Village Voice,
The Jewish Week, Forward, TV Guide, TimeOut, The New Yorker and
New York Magazine. All of them were very positive and I was very
surprised. In Israel, it was not at all like this.
You’ve faced a lot of criticism because of your views
and your activism. How has that affected you?
First of all I became lonelier than before, but it was and still is
my choice. I’d better stand for what I believe in than be surrounded
by people who prefer escapism. I feel—as a human being, as a mother
and as an Israeli (Jewish)—obliged to keep my eyes open every
day.
What do you see as the most difficult challenges or obstacles
to your work?
In My Terrorist I wanted to tell a story about reconciliation
and forgiveness and it was difficult because I didn’t have an
excellent partner to tell the story with (since Fahad [the Palestinian
who hijacked the El Al flight] didn’t want to be exposed at all)
so I had to do it on my own and more or less get reconciled with my
own history and past, which was not so bad, after all. Today, working
on my new film My Land Zion, I have different obstacles; I go into some
deeper doubts and secrets in my history here and wish to come up with
a message of hope. I am not sure yet if I get there...it is an emotional
process while trying to tell a story of the place I love so much—the
Land of Israel which has been immoral for so many years now.
Have you encountered reactions of emotion in places where you
least expected them (reactions such as love and support, or hate and
criticism)?
The reaction of the Israeli media—hate and criticism—was
a shock for me. I knew I was doing a non-conventional act in the film,
but since the media has an image of being on the left I was sure they
would love it even more than the audience. Despite this, after the first
TV broadcast I received many support letters and only a few [negative
or] accusatory letters.
I lost some friends but I gained some new friends. I didn’t expect
these reactions, generally speaking. I couldn’t believe how much
people don’t like to look at themselves at the mirror.
What are your thoughts on the growing movement of Israeli peace
activists? Where do Israeli (military) Refuseniks fit in?
I signed the petition of the Refuseniks and I support them. I find the
Israeli peace activists powerless and too small, especially when the
media has no interest to expose them and cover their activities, but
rather hide it. And we know that if you are not in the media you don’t
exist.
Are you a pacifist? How does pacifism differ from your views on nonviolence,
and are there situations when you believe violence is necessary?
I am not a pacifist. A group of people, any group, needs limits and
law to protect its members and somebody has to take the role of the
guards. Police is an important factor to society and they use force.
The problem rises when armies become political and economical factors
for states. They are all being used by the politicians to achieve different
aims which are not necessarily for our protection.
Do you have hope that peace will be achieved in the region?
Unfortunately, no. I think peace in the Middle East is still far away.
We—Israelis and Palestinians—are still so deep in the stage
of fear and hate. That needs to be healed before change comes.
What do you hope for your children? Do you want them to follow
in your footsteps and become activists?
My hope for my children is first of all to be able to live a full fruitful
and peaceful life with no violence, preferably here, in Israel. Then,
I want them to do whatever makes them happy and satisfied. No need at
all to follow my footsteps. Everyone should do what is good for himself
and I am sure the world would be better.
What are you working on now?
I am working on a new film: My Land Zion. The film will cover
the history of my family in the land of Israel from the beginning of
the 19th century through Zionism, the Holocaust, the ‘48 war up
until today. I wish this film to be a journey that moves between the
personal and the general, while searching for my moral stand as an Israeli
Jew. A serious concern is nesting in my heart: the picture of my daughter
in a few years, protecting settlers and/or being assaulted by them while
evacuating them from a settlement, sends chills down my spine. My personal
quest implicates social and national questions reflecting on the future.
The future of my state. The future of my homeland. The future of my
daughters and of the Jewish existence in the land of Israel, the land
of Palestine.
