Finding Peace Through Food & Entertainment

JERUSALEM, Israel July 25, 2008 — -- The groundbreaking television drama series "Good Intentions" gives viewers of Israel's channel 2 a "taste of conflict," as it was aptly renamed for its screening at the Jerusalem Film Festival last week.

The series aims to show the humanity of both sides of the Middle East conflict through the experiences of two women, an Israeli and a Palestinian, who, in a show-within-the-show, play the co-stars of a fictitious T.V. cooking program.

"What are we eating? Coexistence treats?" the Palestinian co-star's brother asks in one scene when he sees the bags of food his sister has brought home. "I'm not hungry," he adds.

The two lead characters on the show face resistance from their families and communities to their new "jobs" for Israeli television.

Amal Fauzi, played by Arab-Israeli actress Clara Khoury, has taken the job on the show to help take care of her brother, who was shot by Israeli soldiers and is now paralyzed from the waist down. Later, her brother burns the money she has earned from what he sees as the Israeli enemy.

Tammy Rosen (played by Israeli Orna Pitusi) is Amal's co-host on the cooking show. When her 18-year-old son's name is called out at the Israeli Defense Forces induction base at the start of his compulsory military service, he hugs his mother goodbye. "Well, mom," the son asks, "Shall we meet in Ramallah?"

The idea for the show came from The Parent's Circle Foundation (PCF), an organization made up of Israelis and Palestinians who have lost family members in the conflict. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has contributed significant funds to the project.

"Much of what you see is our daily life," PCF member Roni Damelin says. Damelin's own son was killed by a Palestinian sniper during his reserve service.

"I remember my own son going to the army. The pain I experienced is exactly the same as hers."

Israeli scriptwriter Ronit Weiss-Berkowitz says she drew much of her inspiration from the Parent's Circle.