Monday Book Nook: The House of Tomorrow Documentary

The House of Tomorrow (documentary film by Hanan Kattan and Shamin Sarif). This documentary is about the first ever TEDx Holy Land. Inspired by the ability of TED conferences to bring together great thinkers, the organizers of TEDx Holy Land brought together both Palestinians and Israelis in an also all-women TED. To hear how these women view their cultures, and the divide between Palestine and Israel, was revelatory. To the person each of them said they believe that if there were contact between the two cultures each would realize the commonalities between them and discord would ease. There was much talk about the wall, and how divisive it is and against that aim. To be fair, the wall has decreased the amount of bombings (at least to the date the film was made) which has saved lives on both sides. That said, it struck me the whole time how similar that wall is to the one that was once splitting Berlin. I happened to have been at the Berlin reunification, when hunks of the wall were being clawed down, and the intense emotions of gratitude, hope, and also suspicion at that event speaks similarly. What happens if we no longer have walls between us?