There Is Another Way: Struggling for a Just Future in Israel-Palestine through Strategic Nonviolent Resistance
What would you do if you lost a loved one to war, violence, or oppression? How does one recognize shared humanity with others in a time of tragedy and anger?
One activist organization, Combatants for Peace (CfP), has taken on the challenge of nonviolent activism and acknowledging mutual humanity in the face of immense pain. Combatants for Peace was founded by Israeli and Palestinian former combatants who laid down their weapons to seek a peaceful, equitable future side-by-side. Committed to a third way, CfP prioritizes the needs, rights, and safety of all people living in Israel-Palestine and dedicates their energy to co-resisting the occupation and transforming oppression through nonviolence. CfP members channel their anger and grief into strategies of nonviolent activism, fighting for the just and rights-filled future that all Israeli and Palestinian people deserve.
On November 7, 2024, the Human Rights Program, alongside the Institute of Global Studies and the CLA Student Board, hosted two CfP activists, Mai Shahin via Zoom and Elie Avidor in person, and film director Stephen Apkon, also in person, for a work-in-progress preview screening and discussion of Apkon’s new documentary, There Is Another Way. The event was organized through American Friends of Combatants for Peace, an organization working in solidarity with Combatants for Peace. The screening drew around 80 students and members of the University and broader community who had a chance to ask Apkon and the two CfP activists questions during a Q&A session.
Before the film began, audience members were encouraged to listen to each other with compassion and keep an open mind while acknowledging deep personal trauma.
The film first opened with a quote: “Stories rarely have clear beginnings” —a reminder that it is up to us to “unravel the narrative.” The quote set a solemn mood as the film transitioned into graphic footage of the October 7th Hamas attacks on Israeli communities and Israel’s bombing campaign in Gaza. The violent scenes were interspersed with videos of protesters and Israeli settlers that highlight the intense emotions fueling the conflict.
Throughout the film, viewers witness CfP’s nonviolent activism as members stage marches, protests, and other methods of resistance like interrupting Israeli settlers who harass Palestinian shepherds near Israel’s illegal settlements in the West Bank. These clips are accompanied by powerful testimonies and interviews with Palestinian and Israeli CfP members. Many CfP members have lost loved ones in the fighting. Despite grief and personal loss, they continued the struggle for liberation, often engaging in difficult conversations with one another, speaking to international press outlets, and reaching out to their respective communities. One mother, Michal Halev, who lost her son and only child, Laor Abramov, in the Hamas attacks on the Nova Music Festival, received an image of a IDF bomb with her son’s name written on it. Despite her grief, the mother instantly knew that she did not wish for revenge, nor did she want to inflict the same kind of pain on Palestinian mothers. “Not in my name,” she said firmly, as she spoke out against Israel’s escalation of the violence.
The film shows that the decision to choose peace is anything but easy—in fact, for Palestinian and Israeli CfP members, engaging in challenging conversations with each other is an often difficult choice they must make every day. As Palestinian CfP activist Sulaiman Khatib said in the film, “Every day the Israelis deny me my humanity, and every day for the past seventeen years, I get up and go to Combatants for Peace.” In choosing nonviolent activism despite dehumanization, Palestinian CfP activists alongside their Israeli counterparts challenge the very systematic violence that fuels division and hatred, allowing us to imagine a future in which all of our rights are secured.

A conversation with director Steve Apkon and the activists followed the film. Longtime CfP members Elie Avidor and Mai Shahin were present at the event, Avidor in person and Shahin via Zoom. A Palestinian peace activist based in Ezariya near East Jerusalem, Shahin works as a therapist specializing in nonviolent communication, nonviolent resistance, and war trauma-focused therapy. Her inability to secure a U.S. visa in time to travel for the event underscores the stark reality of conditions on the ground for Palestinians in Israel and Gaza.
When asked about her nonviolent approach in the Q&A session, Shahin talked about learning about Jewish stories. “To me as a Palestinian, I had never heard the Jewish narrative from a Jewish person,” she said. “The only place I met the Israelis was at the checkpoints when they asked me for my identification.” She reemphasized that nonviolent resistance allows her to strive towards freedom and justice—two things she wished for as a Palestinian child living under oppression.
Shahin also spoke on the challenges of taking a nonviolent approach to the oppression, enclosure, and occupation Palestinians have endured for seventy-six years. “Nonviolence is not the absence of violence but the presence of justice, compassion, and empathy. And this is the difference,” Shahin explained. “The choice of nonviolent communication is a strategy that helps connect things after the war, not only what is now. What is the freedom we are fighting for?” Shahin reaffirmed her belief in nonviolence as a means of securing a truly free future for Israelis and Palestinians. She stressed an essential point—When the smoke of war clears and Palestinians finally have their own state, how will Palestinians and Israelis maintain a secure and prosperous future? To Shahin, this kind of future is only plausible if both peoples achieve peaceful coexistence.
Elie Avidor is an Israeli engineer and long-time CfP activist from Haifa. During the Q&A session, Avidor talked about his activities resisting settler violence, including strategies like “protective presence”—walking with Palestinian shepherds to offer protection from the harassment of settlers and the military in the Jordan Valley. He also spoke about the political persecution CfP activists face from the Israeli state—even if they are Israeli themselves. On one occasion, the army and police sought to persecute the planners of a peaceful CfP protest. Avidor was forced to evade the army and police in the night “like a criminal,” as he put it. Despite persecution from the army, the demonstration still went ahead.
When asked about the future of CfP activism, Avidor answered simply. “I cannot be happy if the people around me aren’t happy … Until Palestine is free, Israel is not free. To be optimistic is hard, to be pessimistic is not a plan, so all we can do is do good every day. When I lose my brother and they lose their brother, we share the pain.”
During the event, film director Stephen Apkon issued a powerful message to the audience in attendance, as well as the greater global audience. “This film is not just about them, it's about all of us,” said Apkon. “Work to see the humanity in others because when you do, you're also recognizing your own humanity.” Apkon mentioned the impact that U.S. funding to Israel has had on the conflict, a point that the film also raised. It is an important reminder for any American concerned about the mounting human cost of Israel’s military campaign, highlighting our collective responsibility to stay engaged.
As destruction rages on in Gaza and threatens to turn into a larger regional war, many fear that the bitter fighting will never be truly resolved. Through methods of resistance that center on our shared humanity, CfP’s ongoing activism and the progress they have made on the ground show that there is another way to advocate for liberation and justice for the Palestinian people and long-lasting peace for all those who dwell in the region.