The head of nutrition at the Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem, Dr. Dorit Adler, and Palestinian dietician Suha Khoury, meet once a week with a group of religious and secular Israeli and Palestinian women interested in losing weight and eating right.

The group called Slim Peace was the subject of a documentary created by television producer Yael Luttwak, who studied at the London Film School. The break down of the peace process in 2000 coupled with her recent weight loss inspired Luttwak to create a documentary about Israeli and Palestinian women trying to lose weight together.The program features American Jewish immigrants now living in the West Bank, secular Israelis from Jerusalem, one Bedouin woman from the Negev and several Muslim women from Ramallah.

Whilst the intention was that the group remain apolitical, it proved impossible to avoid political discussions. Yet despite some palpable hostility, Luttwak was able to refocus the group away from their differences on to their shared experiences as women and their interest in food and losing weight. ‘We talk about eating habits for each of the various [religious] festivals but, really, the main issues are similar,’ says Khoury. For participant Sonia Martin-Khoury, joining Slim Peace enabled her ‘to learn more about nutrition, and it was also a peace group with Arabs and Israelis together.

It is like hitting two birds with one stone.’Since its debut at last spring's Tribeca Film Festival, A Slim Peace (www.aslimpeace.com) has appeared at a number of film festivals, and was recently purchased by the Sundance Film Channel in the US for screening next year.

The UK's Charities Advisory Trust funded the final stages of production, and has offered Luttwak funding to set up further Slim Peace groups in the UK as a model for conflict resolution.

For information about joining one of the groups, contact odelya.slimpeace@gmail.com