Two Israelis and a Palestinian - conquering Everest together

Two Israelis and a Palestinian - conquering Everest together

By Lili Mesterhazy



A man stands on the top of the world, holding two flags, sewn together as one. There on Mount Everest, the ridge that straddles heaven and earth, the Israeli and Palestinian flags flutter together in the sharp, merciless wind.

This is the prevailing image in "Everest: A Climb for Peace," a documentary written and directed by Lance Trumbull, the American founder of Everest Peace Project, and recently released on DVD.

The organization aims to "inspire and to show that people from diverse cultural backgrounds and faiths can unite together as friends and accomplish incredible things."
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The documentary follows nine climbers, including two Israelis and a Palestinian, during their 2006 bid to conquer the highest mountain on Earth.

For Trumbull, making the movie has shown him that "you never know what life has in store for you and that through patience, persistence, and passion any dream can become a reality."

Originally a used and rare online book dealer, Trumbull had to go through his own personal hell before he embarked on the mission of bringing together the peace climb documented in the movie.

"My wife of five years had left me and I was going through one of the most difficult times in my life. The things that previously held meaning no longer did and so I decided to sell literally everything I possessed, including my business, and I moved to Nepal to travel around the Himalayas to find and live a more meaningful life. Several months into the trip I found myself on a mountain top in Ladakh, India and as I was overlooking this amazing valley I had an epiphany - a vision that I would bring people to Mt. Everest, people from different faiths and cultures. Honestly, I felt like Frodo in The Lord of the Rings in that I was given a mission - and so I made a vow to dedicate my life to making this peace climb happen."

Five years later, the film came out.

"Getting the climbing team together was a long and difficult process," Trumbull recalls. "I created a Web site early on and put a call out to the climbing community to find climbers who not only were capable of climbing Everest, but truly believed in the message of the climb.

"It took several years to get the team for I really wanted to have a diverse group of people of different faiths and cultures so I could truly call it a peace climb. It took over two years just to find our Palestinian climber, Ali Bushnaq, and Israelis Dudu Yifrah and Micha Yaniv also joined the team. We ended up having one of the most diverse Everest expeditions ever put together. When you spend 60 days on an expedition under extreme conditions, things can always go wrong, and when you add the potentially difficult mix of having a Palestinian and Israelis on your team... of course, I was initially concerned. But they all got along really well - and became a strong, unified team."

Perhaps the most intriguing moments of the documentary are extracts from conversations between Ali, and the two Israelis. Sitting in a tent at 5,180 meters (17,000 feet) in the Base Camp, the three of them attempt to untangle the yarn of endless cycles of revenge and hatred.

"If I was Israel," says Ali at one point, "I would give an example [of peace]." "Okay, you are not Israel, you are Palestine. Why don't you give an example?" Micha shoots back.

Trumbull also acknowledges that it was not so easy for the three men to forget their shared history.

"In the movie, the three climbers come together and set aside their differences to forge a path of teamwork and cooperation to attempt to summit the world's highest peak. This, however, is easier said than done. Their nations have been embroiled in a brutal war for years; each believes they are on the right side of that war and each knows that on Everest the cooperation of your teammate is a matter of life and death. It was truly a unique story - Palestinian and Israeli men trying to overcome their cultural and personal differences to stand together on the summit of the tallest mountain on Earth - what could be more poignant, symbolic, and representative of the struggle for peace?" the director asks.

Dudu Yifrah's gesture of peace and friendship when he raised the sewn together Israeli-Palestinian flag on the summit of Everest and dedicated his climb to his new-found brother and climbing partner, Ali Bushnaq, was "a magical moment, perhaps the greatest moment" of Trumbull's life.

Even filming at altitudes of over 8,800 meters (28,870 feet) is in itself an extraordinary achievement.

"Brad Clement was our main cameraman on the mountain. Brad is an Everest veteran, a professional climber, and a great cameraman; we were lucky to have him. We also equipped several of the climbers and one of the Sherpas with small, handheld cameras. I filmed part of the documentary as well. If you include all the Sherpas and kitchen crew, we had a team of over 20 people on the expedition."

The documentary is narrated by British movie star Orlando Bloom. Trumbull was adamant he wanted Bloom and no one else for his project.

"I had decided that I really wanted him to narrate my film for I love his voice - it is very powerful and commanding and so I was determined to somehow make it happen," he says. "I tracked down and found his agent's contact information and then I sent her an email. I wasn't sure if she was going respond at all."

Unfortunately, Bloom was filming the third in the Pirates of the Caribbean series at the time. But Trumbull did not give up.

"I believe that Orlando was always very much into narrating the film, but it was just a matter of his schedule and so after a lot of backs and forths with his agent, and excitement and patience on my part, they agreed to make it happen and to fit it into his schedule whenever he could. All in all, it took about a year to make it happen, but it was definitely worth the wait. I met and directed him in a studio in Hollywood. Orlando was a wonderful guy, completely genuine and incredibly nice, and his voice was perfect for the film. I could not be happier. I feel extremely fortunate and blessed that it all came together."

Two years on from their historical climb, the friendship of Dudu, Micha and Ali is still very much alive.

"Just a few months after the Everest climb happened, they got together once again to rock climb in Jordan. They now have met in Jordan three times and they hope to continue to meet at least once a year to climb, but it is difficult because they live in different countries. Ali lives in the United Arab Emirates, and as you know, it is hard for people in certain Arab countries to communicate with people in Israel via the telephone. During the climb they grew close and now they consider themselves life-long friends, and they do have plans to climb other big mountains together in the near future."

Based on his experiences with the three climbers, Trumbull is staunchly optimistic about the prospects of peace in the Middle East.

"I hope that what we have accomplished can inspire others to work towards and achieve similar actions of peace and that there is a ripple affect of inspired and motivated people," he says.

"I think the world could use more of that these days. I believe in what Barack Obama says in that change and transformation start from the bottom up - beginning with the people. Politicians always have their reasons not to do something or to create more war and more division. It is up to normal citizens to build bridges with 'the other side' and to find ways to bring about healing and reconciliation.

"Obviously, it is not a simple thing to do but if I, a Buddhist from America, can get Israelis and a Palestinian to climb Mount Everest for peace, then, truly, anything is possible."