Where Olive Trees Weep offers a searing window into the struggles and resilience of the Palestinian people under Israeli occupation. It explores themes of loss, trauma, and the quest for justice. We follow, among others, Palestinian journalist and therapist Ashira Darwish, grassroots activist Ahed Tamimi, and Israeli journalist Amira Hass. We also witness Dr. Gabor Maté offer trauma-healing work to a group of women who were tortured in Israeli prisons. Ancient landscapes bear deep scars, having witnessed the brutal reality of ancestral land confiscation, expulsions, imprisonment, home demolitions, water deprivation, and denial of basic human rights. Yet, through the veil of oppression, we catch a glimpse of resilience—deep roots that have carried the Palestinian people through decades of darkness and shattered lives. This emotional journey bares the humanity of the oppressed while grappling with the question: what makes the oppressor so ruthlessly blind to its own cruelty?
ASHIRA DARWISH | Executive Producer of Where Olive Trees Weep
Ashira Ali Darwish worked for 15 years as a TV & Radio journalist and researcher in Palestine for the BBC, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. She is the founder of Catharsis Holistic Healing, a trauma therapy project pioneering a type of Sufi active meditation, which draws its roots from ancestral and indigenous knowledge. Her personal healing journey from full body paralysis with a severed spinal cord in 2012 has given her a deep insight into the process of recovery and healing. In 2021, she received the “ISABS Honours” from the Indian Society for Applied Behavioural Science for her contribution to positive societal transformation.
ZAHIRA MOUS | Co-director of One State Collective
Zahira Mous has been in the field of professional dance for over 20 years. Her dance theater productions are created under a social scope, addressing themes such as gender inequality, #metoo, mental health, and – most recently – femicide. She is the director of dance theater company Project Zahira and founder of the Healing Arts Foundation. Zahira has traveled to Palestine twice. In 2022, to facilitate her ‘healing through the body’ training and individual movement therapy sessions to freed women prisoners, and in 2024 providing dance therapy to women from Gaza who are sheltering in Ramallah, West Bank. Produced by Ashira’s foundation Catharsis.
MODERATOR:
TANIA SHOUKAIR | Co-director of One State Collective
Tania Shoukair has her professional roots in design. Her early start was in Beirut, Lebanon, her home country, then moved to Qatar, and finally landed in The Netherlands. She is healing from putting too much weight on titles, accomplishments, and expectations. She enjoys moderating, facilitating, and writing, cares about social justice, and is passionate about using her skills to inspire positive change.
