To Die in Jerusalem

To Die in Jerusalem Synopsis

Ever since 17-year-old Rachel Levy, an Israeli, was killed five years ago in Jerusalem by a Palestinian suicide bomber, her mother Avigail has found hardly a moment’s peace. Levy’s killer was Ayat al-Akhras, also 17, a schoolgirl from a Palestinian refugee camp several miles away. The two young women looked unbelievably alike. The impact of the blast that killed them both remains as powerful today as it was the moment of the explosion. The documentary film, To Die In Jerusalem, explores — through the two families’ personal losses and Avigail Levy’s search for answers — the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, mutual pain despite cultural differences and diverse perceptions of death; and ultimately, the hope for peace. The film’s most revealing moment is in an emotionally-charged meeting between the mothers of the two dead girls.