The friendship between Robbie Demlin and Ali Abu Awad is the kind of Israeli-Palestinian

story that always becomes invisible when new episodes of violence erupt.

But they embody the human capacity to transmute despair into hope.

Robbie's beloved son, David, was killed by a Palestinian sniper.

Ali's beloved brother, Yusuf, was killed by an Israeli soldier at a checkpoint.

These terrible losses led them to each other and to a universe of others on both sides

of that border.

It's a network called the Parent Circle, Bereaved Families Forum.

This citizen-led movement breaks the narrative of Israeli-Palestinian violence.

If I can give any clarity about what we're doing and why we do that, the personal narrative

of a human being is the way to create empathy on the other side.

We keep talking to groups who have dialogue.

I start discovering many things.

I start discovering the fear of the other side.

And the life doesn't become better, but it became possible.

Your life?

Yeah.

I'm Krista Tippett, and this is on Being from APM, American Public Media.

I first learned about Robi Dumlin and Ali Abouawat through a great documentary film called

Encounterpoint.

And I met them in a hotel room in 2006 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

They were there together attending a conference on global models of restorative justice.

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