Have you heard of the movie, "The Green Prince"? I hadn't until friends invited us to a Saturday showing at the Schonell Theatre yesterday.
The film is a scripted documentary. The main "characters" are Palestinian, Mosab Hassan Yousef and Israeli, Gonen. Mosab is the eldest and most dutiful son of a senior and influential figure in the zealously anti-Israeli Hamas. Gonen, on the other hand, is an Israeli secret service operative in the ruthless anti-Palestinian Shin Bet, with a background including psychology.
Under the carefully manipulative influence of Gonen, Mosab is transformed. At 17 he is angry and hell bent on avenging what he perceives to be the unjust and cruel targeting and repetitive jailing of his much loved and respected father by Israeli forces. A stint in prison, however, showed him first hand how Hamas members in prison committed greater atrocities on their own with less justification in his view than the Israelis. Over time he came to see the basis of Hamas's terror tactics in Israel as flawed and even his father as one-eyed and not amenable to reason.
Not only did Mosab become a highly prized informant for the Israelis by virtue of his close association with his father as his trusted advisor and assistant, but he and Gonen developed a relationship based on genuine trust and affection - to the extent that they demonstrated extreme loyalty towards each other in the face of great risk of harm or even death at the hands of zealously single-minded individuals in both Shin Bet and Hamas.
Was Mosab a selfish person who worked for the Israelis to save his own skin or did he undergo a true moral awakening in the face of the deaths of so many Israeli citizens at the hands of suicide bombings and other violent tactics orchestrated by Hamas?
How is it he was able to betray (according to his upbringing and his nationality) his father and his kinsmen? Was it in fact betrayal or did he believe that if he could help stop the violence perpetrated by Hamas then there might be a better world for Israeli and Palestinian alike?
What about Gonen? Did he really connect with Mosab at a human level, or was Mosab no more than a much valued prize pawn in the fight against Hamas?
Talk about 50 shades of grey: I'm thinking that in this situation 50 might be an underestimation!
Are there any similarities or learnings here for us to take into dispute resolution for separating couples, disputing workers, extended families in crisis?
Methinks there is always more than one story to hear and that there are also many ways to view each story. When in doubt, don't judge. Listen, listen and keep listening and potential solutions will usually emerge under the guidance of a skilled and sensitive mediator.
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