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Four Proposals for Peace-Building Projects
We have received partial funding for The Oral History and International
Student Seminar projects.
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CONTENTS
- Palestinian & Jewish Refugees in Israel and Palestine—An
Oral History Project
- Developing Materials for the Improvement of Communication
Patterns Between Palestinians and Israeli-Jews
- Sharing the History: Palestinians and Israelis Writing
Their History Together
- International Graduate Seminars on the Transition from
Conflict to Peace-Building
1. PALESTINIAN & JEWISH REFUGEES IN ISRAEL AND
PALESTINE—AN ORAL HISTORY PROJECT 
Investigators & Historians
Dan Bar-On, Elia Awwad, Julia Chaitin, Farouk El-Farra, Fatmeh Kassem,
Elyan Elyan, Benny Morris, Sami Adwan & Aviad Kleinberg
Project Objectives
This project has the following two main objectives:
- The creation of a computerized data base of oral histories.
We wish to create an audio and video computerized database of at least
1000 testimonies - 500 of Palestinian refugees and 500 of Jewish Israeli
refugees. The Palestinians who will be interviewed were either forced
from their homes or fled as a result of the 1948 and 1967 wars. The
Jewish-Israelis who will be interviewed immigrated to Israel as a
result of the Holocaust or due to persecution in their Arab homelands.
These people moved into the original homes and neighborhoods of the
Palestinians who were expelled or fled.
- Encounters between Jewish-Israelis and Palestinians who once
lived together. We will bring together groups of people, with
members of their families, whom once lived together as neighbors in
Israel/Palestine. In joint encounters, the Palestinians will visit
places where their homes once were and the Israelis will visit refugee
camps where the Palestinians now live. The encounters will include
tours of the area and explanations of the sites. The participants
will share their life stories with one another and together look for
ways to work toward peace. We hope that these two projects will lead
the way to the eventual establishment of a Jewish-Israeli -Palestinian
historical and educational museum that will commemorate and teach
the joint histories of the Palestinian and Jewish-Israeli people.
Eventually, this museum will house the computerized oral histories
of the Palestinian and Israeli refugees, artifacts, photographs, maps,
and other relevant historical documents. The museum staff will continue
to widen its database by interviewing more Israelis and Palestinians,
and will offer historical and peace-building seminars.
Importance of research
We see this two-part project as being important for a number of reasons.
To begin with, to date, there is no computerized audio-visual database
of the life stories of the Palestinian and the Israeli Jewish refugees
who lived through the 1948 and 1967 wars - the wars that are at the
source of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As this population nears
the end of their lives, it is important to learn about their experiences
and record them for generations to come, before their first-hand accounts
are lost to us forever. Secondly, it is our hope that this project will
serve as part of a truth and reconciliation process that will run parallel
to the formal peace process. Events of the last 6 months have highlighted
the fact that without an informal peace process, involving face-to-face
encounters between Jewish-Israeli and Palestinian peoples, a real and
long-lasting peace will not be achieved. Thirdly, Israelis and Palestinians
tend to be unaware of many aspects of their joint history and of the
suffering of the other. The testimonies and encounters, which will be
recorded and computerized, thus making them available for children,
educators, researchers and the public at large, will make it possible
to use this knowledge toward peace-building ends.
Summary of Relevant Background to the Project
Israel-Palestine is a region comprised of refugees. Many Jewish-Israelis
came from Europe, after they survived the Holocaust, or from North Africa
and Asia, where they were persecuted by their Arab governments and communities.
During the 1948 war, and later on in 1967, many Palestinians became
internal refugees (in Israel, but to other regions) or external refugees
(to neighboring Arab countries) when they were either forcibly expelled
from their homes or fled due to fear from the Israelis. To this day,
many of them still live in refugee camps. However, before the war of
1948, for a period of time, many of these Palestinians and Jewish-Israelis
were once neighbors. Unfortunately, this joint history has not become
part of the normative Israeli and Palestinian discourse.
In recent years, some Jewish-Israeli scholars (e.g. Kimmerling, 1992,
1995; Morris, 1987, 1993; Pappe, 1988) have begun publicly addressing
the stories behind the expulsion/ fleeing of Palestinians from their
homes, during the 1948 and 1967 wars. They have looked at the part that
the Jewish-Israelis played in this, and the effects that these actions
have had on Israeli and Palestinian society. These accounts challenge
what has been traditionally taught in Israeli educational and academic
institutions. At the same time, Palestinian scholars (e.g. Kanaana,
1992; Kanaana, & al-Kabi, 1987; Khalidi, 1959; Khalidi et al., 1992)
have also explored some of these issues. Some of this work has resulted
in "memorial books" (Slyomovics, 1998) which provide a picture
of the political, cultural and architectural aspects of Arab villages
and neighborhoods that were either depopulated or destroyed by the Israelis.
The proposed project will begin with this and other information, that
has been gathered so far, that deals with the experiences of Palestinian
refugees and with the Jewish-Israelis, who were once refugees themselves.
This project is based on three broad assumptions
(1) Thousands of Jews and Arabs once lived together as neighbors
before the war of 1948. Whatever their relationship was prior to
these wars, it dissolved as a result of them. We assume that these early
life experiences have had an important impact on the way in which these
individuals construct their personal biographies. Furthermore, in order
to understand the significance that they give to their lives today,
we need to explore these early experiences in connection to experiences
during and after the wars, to the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict,
in general, and the social and cultural milieu in which they live today.
(2) We assume that most of the memories recalled by the Palestinians
and Jewish-Israelis, who once lived together, will not be mainly positive
ones. However, we also assume that the memories recalled will provide
rich detail of joint Israeli-Palestinian life - information that will
show how these two peoples lived, and often worked together, despite
their divergent political attitudes concerning the future of Israel/Palestine.
(3) The experiences of these individuals, tied into the social-cultural-historical
context, have molded not only their identity, but also the identity
of generations of Palestinians and the Jewish-Israelis. By learning
about these multi-facets of identity among the different generations,
and dealing with them on a manifest level, progress toward peace can
be made.
Details of project
We propose to audio and videotape the oral histories of at least 1000
Jewish-Israelis and Palestinians who once lived together in the same
areas. The project will begin with residents of Haifa, continue on to
Jaffa and Jerusalem, and then to Jewish-Israeli rural settlements, situated
on former Palestinian villages.
The Palestinians who came from these homes will be located and interviewed
as will the Jewish-Israelis who live there today. In order to locate
interviewees, we will:
- use informants and the snowball technique of reaching other individuals
and
- use Israeli and Palestinian archives.
For example, we will utilize the Israeli archives of the Hagana, the
IDF, and The Mapam Archives. We will also utilize the archives and study
the memory books at Bir Zeit University Documentation Center as well
as draw on the expertise of Palestinian scholars. Researchers, working
together from both countries, will provide information on the history
of the places and people that we wish to interview.
Two Palestinian and two Jewish-Israeli interview teams will conduct
audio or video taped interviews with the Palestinian and Jewish-Israelis
in their homes. In the case of video taping, each team will also include
a videographer. These personal interviews will be conducted in the individual's
native language. The interviews will use a modified "life story"
approach (Rosenthal, 1993), and focus on all periods of the person's
life. However, special emphasis will be given to the experiences leading
up to, during and immediately following the 1948 or 1967 wars. During
the interviews, the individuals will also be given the opportunity to
show photographs or other artifacts and talk about the personal importance
that these objects have for them. These interviews will then be prepared
for multi-media computerized use. Keywords, maps and photographs will
be integrated into the oral histories.
Based on what we learn from the life story interviews, we will plan
joint encounters between some of the Palestinians and Jewish-Israelis
who told their life stories. The overall goal of the encounters is to
enhance reconciliation between the two peoples by facilitating an inter-group
dialogue. Approximately 20 Palestinians and Jewish-Israelis (10 from
each group) will be invited to take part in these meetings. In the encounters,
each ethnic group will first meet separately for 2 days, then together
for 5 days. The participants will be asked to share their personal histories
with one another, to visit their homes, to learn the history of the
regions, and to help devise ways to enhance reconciliation between other
Palestinians and Israelis. Each group will be co-planned and co-facilitated
by Palestinian and Jewish-Israeli facilitators. We propose to schedule
two such encounters. The encounters will be videotaped so that the group
facilitation, the themes of importance to the group, and the group dynamics
can be analyzed. Analysis of these encounters will also serve as an
evaluation tool, making it possible to pinpoint strong as well as weak
points in the planning and running of the encounters.
After the interviews are collected and the joint encounters are completed,
it is our eventual aim to establish an educational and research museum
that will focus on the joint Jewish-Israeli-Palestinian history. The
museum will house the interviews and serve as an information center.
Seminars, guided tours and conferences will be held at the museum. Furthermore,
the museum will train and hire Palestinian and Jewish-Israeli young
adults (high school and university students) to lead tours for youth
who come to the museum.
Innovation
Audio and visual oral histories have been collected by a number of
Holocaust-related institutions (e.g. The Visual History of the Holocaust
Foundation, Yale Fortunoff Archives, Yad Vashem) and Palestinians have
been interviewed for memorial books and other academic publications
(e.g., Khalidi, 1959; Khalidi, et al. 1992; Slymovics, 1998). However,
no computerized database of testimonies of Palestinian and Jewish Israeli
refugees, who share a joint past, exists. In this project, we aim to
make a significant contribution to the peace process by making available
interviews with individuals whose experiences stand at the very center
of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The joint encounters and the eventual
establishment of the museum will augment this innovative peace venture.
Project Structure and Management
PRIME will be the institution that will receive the grant and oversee
the project. Research teams, comprised of Palestinian and Jewish-Israeli
scholars, will jointly determine the interview protocol, training procedures
for interviewers, time table, people to be interviewed, and guidelines
for entering the information into computers. A joint Jewish-Israeli-Palestinian
team of historians will provide historical assistance.
Proposed timetable
February 2001 - August 2001: Pilot study in Haifa
September 2001 - December 2001: Preparation of interview teams
and locating of interviewees
January 2002 - April 2003: Interviewing, transcription and
computation. Planning and running of encounters between Palestinians
and Israelis.
May 2003 - October 2003: Writing scientific articles and reports
on the interview and encounter phases, conducting an international conference
on our findings, preparation for museum phase.
Palestinian-Israeli Cooperation
The entire project, from inception to closure, is based on complete
joint work between Jewish-Israeli and Palestinian researchers, interviewers,
videographers and computer people. All decisions will be jointly made
and implemented.
Expected Benefits of Project
The primary beneficiaries of this project will be the Palestinian and
Jewish-Israeli peoples who will be interviewed, the public-at-large,
who will have access to these interviews and other historical documentation,
the participants in the joint encounters and researchers and educators
who wish to learn about the Palestinian-Israeli joint history from first-hand
informants. Since this project will eventually lead to the establishment
of a museum, the testimonies and historical materials will be accessible
to any and all interested parties. This will guarantee that this project
will have sustainable impact beyond the life of the project.
Estimated Cost
$650,000
2. DEVELOPING MATERIALS FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF COMMUNICATION
PATTERNS BETWEEN PALESTINIANS AND ISRAELI-JEWS
Investigators
Ifat Maoz, Sami Adwan , Eli Awaad & Dan Bar-On
Consultant
Don Ellis
Approach
In this project, we propose to have Israelis-Jews and Palestinians
(from the PNA) analyze their own communication and then produce outcome
documents in the form of a video and educational resources based on
participants' analyses. These resources will be available to practitioners
in the fields of education, conflict resolution, and peace-building.
Rather than impose prescriptive guidelines for improved communication
on the participants from the "outside experts" we will ask
the Israeli-Jews and the Palestinians to study their own communication
strategies and styles. From this we will extract and develop a different
language of analysis and understanding of the communication processes
that characterize their relationship.
Peace-Making & Peace-Building
Many accounts of conflict and peace-making stop at the stage when
the sides reach the peace agreement. The conflict story is assumed to
have reached its end once peace agreements have been signed. However,
recent approaches to the resolution of conflict emphasize the long and
gradual process of "peace-building" that must follow the stage
of "peace making" (Rothstein, 1999). The examples of peace
making in Northern Ireland (Arthur, 1999) as well as the Israeli-Palestinian
peace process (Kelman, 1999), and the South African Truth and Reconciliation
process (Hamber, 1998) demonstrate that signing agreements between policy
makers is not enough. Agreements must be accompanied by the dynamics
of social, psychological, and communicative change at the grass-roots
level (Bar-On, 1997).
Transformative Dialogue
Transformative dialogue (McNamee & Gergen, 1999) is a line of research
that focuses on a communication process through which antagonistic sides
deal with disagreement or conflict by expressing themselves, listening
to the other, and empathizing with the emotions, experiences, views,
and values of the other. Such ideas about dialogue are consistent with
recent reformulations that clarify the contact hypothesis in psychology
(Allport, 1954), and the conditions under which inter-group contact
can be effective in reducing prejudice (Jackson, 1993).
The Contact Hypothesis
Recent reformulations and studies of the contact hypothesis emphasize
that communication processes, such as experiencing and understanding
the other, including the other within the self, and creating friendships
with out-group members, are crucial for contacts that are conducive
to improving inter-group perceptions (Liebkind & McAlister, 1999).
Pettigrew (1998), for example, examined the effect of emotional ties
of friendship with out-group members on attitudes and found that having
an out-group friend was powerfully predictive of lower levels of prejudice.
Similarly, Liebkind & McAlister (1999) conducted a field experiment
examining the effect of extended contact through peer modeling to promote
tolerance among Finnish students. Results showed that examples of inter-group
interactions had a significant impact on inter-group attitudes. Attitudes
of tolerance showed favorable changes in experimental schools and decayed
or remained stable in the control schools. These studies and others
(Adwan & Bar-On, 2000; Maoz, 1997; Suleiman, 1997) substantiate
the impact of communication in ameliorating inter-group hostilities.
Kelman's work is important and well known (Kelman, 1998; Rouhana &
Kelman, 1994) but it uses policy makers, leaders, and members of the
elite to discuss problems and political solutions. Our focus will be
on the communication process: the expressions, patterns, and practices
of communication that members of each culture define as effective or
ineffective, problematic or not. On the basis of these findings, we
will produce broadcast quality video and textual material for practitioners
in the fields of conflict resolution, peace-building, and education.
Procedures
The research protocol will involve comparing expectations of communication
patterns based on previous research and cultural assumptions, to the
subjective categories produced by the participants themselves. For example,
one might expect Israeli-Jews and Palestinians to communicate in a manner
consistent with the cultural communication codes termed dugri
and musayra (Katriel, 1986; Griefat & Katriel, 1989). Thus,
the Israeli-Jews would be expected to be assertive and the Palestinians
more accommodating. However, these codes probably do not match the subjective
understandings of the participants. Our goal in the proposed project
is to focus on the socially constructed nature of meanings. Rather than
using standard communication research methods, which utilize routine
procedures and previously established measurement devices and assume
that messages are expressions of stable structures, we will use the
communication of the participants as a starting point for the determination
of meaning.
Data collection
We will organize one dialogue group between Israeli-Jews and Palestinians.
The dialogue will be video taped and then replayed for the participants.
During the replaying, the participants will be subject to multiple methods
designed to elicit participant understandings of communication practices.
These techniques are reflecting where directed questions will be asked
to stimulate recall and elicit subjective terminology for communication.
The tape will be stopped at various points for reflection or when participants
ask to stop the tape at points they believe important. Subjects will
be interviewed and asked structured questions, including attitudinal
surveys about communication satisfaction. Participants will identify
through these methods instances of inter-group communication they see
as effective in creating constructive interaction. And finally, we will
conduct narrative interviews - a device for sense making. These interviews
are based on the premise that events in life are often communicated
through storytelling. Participants will be asked to tell stories about
their communication with members of the "other" culture.
Analysis
Palestinians and Israelis will conduct interviews. The results of the
structured interviews, reflections, and narrations will be transcribed.
These will be subjected to semantic network analysis, which begins with
a content analysis of textual data to determine the most frequently
used symbols. This will be a semantic network analysis of the language
used by participants to describe their communication during the stimulated
recall sessions of the tape replay. The software for this analysis is
CATPAC (Terra Research and Computing, 1994; Doerfel and Barnett, 1999)
- a network computer program for analyzing text such as open-ended question
responses, stories, and speeches. The software identifies the most frequently
occurring words in a text and determines the pattern of similarity based
on co-occurrence. For example, aggressive and communication are two
words that together create the concept aggressive communication. Should,
for example, we find these words co-occurring, it would indicate a meaningful
conceptual grouping. Thus, there is no need for preconceived categories
or subjective typologies. Similar procedures for semantic network analysis
have been used in studies of organizational culture (Freeman & Barnett,
1994), marketing communication (Claffey, 1996), and organizational structure
based on semantic networks (Jang, & Barnett, 1995). The narratives
produced by the participants will be subject to the same semantic network
analysis. The results of these analyses will be re-presented to the
participants for further discussion and evaluation in order to refine
insights and classifications.
Project Timeline
The project will develop in five phases over a two-year period with
allowances for some modifications.
Phase 1: June 2001 to December 2001
Planning for the first meeting between the Israeli-Jews and the Palestinians.
This will include discussion among the principals and all arrangements.
PRIME will begin to recruit group participants, acquire video and audio
equipment, arrange for transcription, and prepare for the dialogue group.
Phase 2: January 2002 to April 2002
Conduct the actual group and self-study. This includes collecting the
data, interviewing the participants, transcription, and data preparation.
Phase 3: May 2002 to August 2002
Process all data from phase 2 and build recommendations. This includes
data input, analysis, and interpretation.
Phase 4: Fall of 2002
Discussion, elaboration, and evaluation of findings and conclusions
with dialogue group members. This is consistent with a grounded theory
approach, which insists on constant comparative analysis for the explication
of meaning systems.
Phase 5: One year
Development of final products.
Final products
We will produce three final products. These will be a video, a manual
containing educational materials, and research reports for journals.
The Palestinians and the Israeli-Jews will jointly create a 45-minute
video of broadcast quality. The video will illustrate significant and
informative communicative exchanges between the two cultures. It will
be drawn from the videotaped interactions in the dialogue group and
professionally edited. The video, as an educational tool, will be combined
with a manual with suggestions for improving communication and understanding
between the two cultures. For example, a particular communication feature
(e.g. a stylistic device, or language mechanism) will be displayed on
the video and then discussed in terms of its potential for confusion
and misunderstanding. Suggestions for avoiding and remedying problems
will follow. We plan to produce a video and manual that are lively,
interesting, and available to a variety of educational and cultural
institutions. Finally, we will submit research reports to academic journals
in communication and peace studies, and make presentations to professional
conferences such as International Communication Association, and others.
Evaluation
Outcome evaluations will be based on two mechanisms:
- Evaluation through Participatory Action Research (PAR); and
- evaluation by experts in the domain.
The PAR approach to evaluation has those actually involved in the
work evaluate their work process and products, using their own language,
terms, and standards of evaluation. This evaluation process operates
in feedback chains, in which results of completed work feeds into the
evaluation process. This is used to refine and restructure the continuing
work process. The research team will discuss, analyze, and evaluate
its own process and products. Then our target population--the Israeli
and Palestinian workshop participants--will be presented with interim
findings for discussion and evaluation. Feedback from both mechanisms
will be used to refine the products. Near the end of the work process,
outside experts in the field of inter-group dialogue will be asked to
read and evaluate the product. Their assessments will be included in
the final product.
Dissemination
The extensive contacts of PRIME with other Palestinian-Israeli dialogue
and cooperation organizations will be used to disseminate the training
manual and video to these organizations. In addition, the Israeli co-project
director on this proposal will be used to disseminate the materials
in these organizations. Moreover, we plan to organize a workshop that
will present the findings of the study and provide an intensive training
session based on these findings to practitioners working in the field
of conflict resolution and peace-building. We would hope to return to
these organizations in the future for additional evaluation. Finally,
we will submit research reports to academic journals.
Estimated Cost
$155,000
3. SHARING THE HISTORY: PALESTINIANS AND ISRAELIS
WRITING THEIR HISTORY TOGETHER
Investigators
Sami Adwan, Eyal Nave, Chaim Hames & Farouk El-Farra
Perpetuating mutually hostile narratives
In periods of wars and conflicts, nations tend to teach their children
their own narratives as the only correct one. At the same time, they
completely ignore their enemy's narratives. If they do include the enemy
narrative, it is always presented as being wrong and unjustifiable.
In this way, children grow up knowing only one side of the story and
it is always the "right one." Self-rightness is a major character
of the war culture. Another major characteristic of a war culture is
that the enemy is faceless, sub-human and irrational in his views.
Textbooks are the main means of the nations, involved in wars and
conflicts, for indoctrinating their children to their own rationale
- a rationale that justifies the use of power to subjugate the enemy.
In addition, textbooks include the nation-legitimized knowledge to continue
convincing the children of the necessity of the continual dehumanization
of the enemy. This not only causes the development of incorrect understanding
among children, but also leads to the development of negative attitudes
and values toward the other. Negative stereotypes and representations
become the criteria of individual behavior toward self and others and
this further enhances the asymmetry relation between them—the powerful
and the powerless.
Mutually hostile Israeli & Palestinian narratives
This state of affairs is very clear in the Palestinian Israeli situation.
Dr. Ruth Firer - the director of the Peace Education Committee at the
Truman Institute (Hebrew University) - and Prof. Sami Adwan, from Bethlehem
University/Faculty of Education have been jointly analyzing Palestinian
and Israeli textbooks since 1995 (with the support of Georg Eckert Institute/
Braunschwieq, UNESCO/Paris, and USIP). The first sample of the joint
work was on "Analysis of the 1948 Palestinian Refugees Narratives
in Israeli and Palestinian History and Civic Education textbooks".
Texts from both sides fail to talk about the refugees as human beings,
their suffering and plight. While Israeli texts put most of the blame
on the Palestinian and the Arabs for their plight, the Palestinian texts
blame mainly the Israelis and the British for their plight. The numbers
of the 1948 Palestinian refugees in both texts varies. Israeli texts
state that there were between 600 - 700 Palestinians who became refugees
as a result of the 1948 war. The Palestinian texts state that there
were more than one million. Both fail to clearly state the exact destinations
of the Palestinians, or from where they came.
The second sample of analysis of the textbooks is a joint analysis
of "The Israeli and Palestinian Narratives of the 1967 war in both
Israeli and Palestinian history and civic education texts" (Firer
and Adwan, 1997). Each side states in their texts that the 1967 war
was an act of aggression by the other side; each side accused the other
of starting the war. The Palestinians and the Israelis blame each other
for not accepting the UN Resolution 242. However, the blame is for different
reasons. Furthermore, each side mainly focuses on the losses incurred
to its own side, mostly ignoring the losses of the other side.
The third comprehensive analysis of the texts focused on "The
Palestinian and Israeli narratives of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict/relation
in both Israeli and Palestinian History and civic education texts".
The study was completed in 1999. The main Palestinian and Israeli texts
mostly reflect a culture of enmity. The terminology used in the texts
has different meanings. What is positive in one side is negative in
the other side. For example, the 1948 war in the Israeli texts is termed
"The War of Independence," while in the Palestinian text is
termed "Al-Nakbah year" (the catastrophe). The heroes of one
side are the monsters of the other. While Israeli texts refer to the
first Jewish immigrants to Palestine as "the pioneers", the
Palestinian texts refer to them as gangs and terrorists (Firer and Adwan,
1996). Negating the existence of each other is clearly shown in maps
that appear in the texts of both sides. Cities and towns of the other
are hardly seen in both texts. The rationality or explanation of certain
events is mostly the opposite. The delegitimization of each other's
rights, history and culture is found in traces throughout the texts.
There is no recognition of each other sufferings. The Holocaust is barely
mentioned, except in a few lines in Palestinian texts and the trauma
of the Palestinian is also ignored in Israeli texts.
The Palestinian and Israeli textbooks ignore the existence and the
rights of each other (Adwan, 1999, Firer, 1999). Texts only include
events of wars and conflict and fail to include the peaceful relation
between the peoples, and as a result, the peace relation is absent from
both Israeli and Palestinian texts.
Learning one another's narratives
It is our belief that children should learn the other's narratives,
as they are told in the other side, and from their perspectives, if
the aim is peace and coexistence. Children are to be given the chance
to discuss the rationale of self and the other in the light of both
claims, in order to be able to start thinking positively about one another.
This is a long process and needs bottom-up formula, not only political
statements.
Time and Teachers
We are very aware that the modification/changing of textbooks - from
a war culture to a peace culture - needs time and energy and time for
mourning. We cannot expect this to take place in the mist of the conflict.
It would be immature to do so. In addition, we cannot ignore the role
of teachers and their values and attitudes in this process. Involving
teachers - the agents of change - is a necessity. Studies have shown
that teachers have more power than the mere written texts on forming
childrens' understandings and value systems. As a result, the project
described below focuses on the centrality of teachers in the process
of using shared history texts in the classroom.
The Proposed Book & Associated Pedagogy & Further Research
The proposed book, that will be an outcome of this project, aims at
documenting the Palestinian and the Israeli versions/narratives related
to their historical conflict/relationship. These narratives are to be
introduced in classrooms of Israelis and Palestinians schools to allow
pupils to learn about the narratives of the other side. For this purpose,
a selected number of Israeli and Palestinian history teachers (8-10
from each side) will be trained to use these materials in their classrooms.
The training will include learning of the materials, educational methods
for their implementation and guided tours to places in Israel and Palestine
with historical significance. Teachers' experiences, such as difficulties,
problems and challenges, as well as pupils' responses and feedback will
be documented by video and written documentation. This will make it
possible for the research team to assess the book and classroom work
in order to further develop the written materials as well as the pedagogic
aspects involved in teaching the narratives of the other. This experiment
will last for one school year.
Some Topics
This project, and the experience gained from it, will help in the
future when both sides really start to change/improve their own school
textbooks in the context of recognition and the presence of the others
in more positive way. Such materials covered will include a long list
of historical narratives. These narratives include: Jewish immigration
to Palestine, the Balfour Declaration, the British Mandate over Palestine,
the events of World War I, the events of 1929 and of the 1930's events,
Britain's role, the impact of the Holocaust on Palestine/Israel, World
War II, the 1948 war, the issue of Palestinian refugees, the 1967 and
1973 wars, 1976 Land Day, Lebanon invasion/war, the Intifada, Peace
Talks (Oslo and others). The definite list of events will be agreed
upon by a team of Israeli and Palestinian experts. Furthermore, it is
suggested that other issues, which could bring both sides to a more
positive relation in the future, will be addressed. These issues include:
Children's Rights, Environmental Day, Human Rights and events that reflect
positive images, such as life in Andalus.
Translations
The Palestinian narrative on these events, which will be written in
Arabic, will be translated into Hebrew and the Israeli narrative, which
will be written in Hebrew, will be translated into Arabic. This is to
allow pupils to learn the other narrative in their own language and
to avoid language difficulties and barriers.
Evaluation
Evaluation of the effect of this project will include pre and post
interviews with teachers and pupils. A set of questionnaires will be
also be developed to measure the changes as a result of the introducing
the text in classes in both sides. We shall also employ observation
techniques and documentation of pupils' and teachers' reactions/responses
during the discussion of the narratives of the other. Experts in education,
psychology, conflict resolution and peace education from both side will
be involved in this project.
Project Timeline
This is a three-year project.
(1) September 2001 - March 2002: 6 months preparation of the
narratives
(2) March - May 2002: 3 months translation:
(3) June - August 2002: 3 months of training teachers
(4) Sept. 2002 -June 2003: Implementation in classrooms
(5) July 2003 - December 2003: Evaluation and restructuring
of the materials
(6) January 2004 - June 2004: Introducing the modified booklet
(7) July-Sept. 2004: Writing final report
Estimated Cost
$150,000
4. INTERNATIONAL GRADUATE SEMINARS ON THE TRANSITION
FROM CONFLICT TO PEACE-BUILDING
Investigators
Sami Adwan & Dan Bar-On
Overall scheme
Part of the mission of the Peace Research Institute in the Middle East
(PRIME) is to enhance peace-building processes through understanding
the roots of the long and violent conflict between Palestinians and
Israelis, its causes and its after-effects. This mission could be achieved
by creating an intellectual dialogue among Palestinian and Israeli graduate
students (MA, Ph.D.) and Post-doctoral students, together with graduate
students from other countries around the world. To this end, PRIME is
planning to organize International Seminars for Graduate Students.
Each year, the seminar will have a special focus. We propose three
such consecutive seminars. The proposed topics of the seminar are
- Education and its Role in Peace-building,
- Identity Construction and Transformation and Social Justice and
- Oral History of Refugees from Both Sides and their Recollections
Before and After 1948.
The seminar will be open to graduate students from Israel, Palestine,
Arab countries, and other countries from around the world. We propose
to host approximately 15-18 students at a time, providing the Palestinians
and Israelis with stipends that will enable them to devote their time
to their studies. Where possible, we will help secure financial aid
for the international students as well. A maximum of 18 students will
be accepted for each seminar: 6 Palestinians, 6 Israelis and 6 international
graduate students. Priority will be given to those who are more qualified,
who apply first and who will be willing to commit themselves to the
longer aspects of the study.
Eligable Students
In order to be a candidate for the program, the student must meet
the following requirements: The student must have successfully completed
a BA or B.Sc, with preference given to students who have successfully
completed an MA or M.Sc. The student must be fluent in English (both
oral and written). Finally, each student must fully commit him or herself
to the program (the student will be required to sign a letter of commitment).
Each applicant will be required to undergo a personal interview in which
their motivation for participating in the seminar will be explored,
as well as the special talents and contribution that they will bring
to the seminar. Furthermore, each applicant will be required to submit
two letters of recommendation.
Application Deadline
Students wishing to participate in the seminars must apply by May 31st
of each year.
Publication
We plan to hold a conference at the end of the three seminars and to
publish a book that will include some of the best papers written by
the students and by the scholars who tutored them.
Faculty
We will choose faculty members that consist of Israelis, Palestinians
and international experts/professionals. The faculty will tutor/conduct
the seminars in English.
Student Activities
Students will study a total of 120 hours during each seminar in 18
meetings throughout the year (see detailed schedule below). At the beginning
of each year, the students will have a two-day orientation. The students
will then meet once every two weeks and each session will last for 6
hours (total 96 hours). Students will be required to write a paper at
the end of each annual seminar and present it to the forum (10 hours).
The papers will focus on a topic related to the major themes and concepts
of the seminar. Students will also be required to attend consultation
meetings with their tutors (total of 14 hours). At the end of each yearly
seminar, the students will meet for a final group seminar that will
last two days.
Accreditation
Each student will be awarded a certificate upon completion of all
requirements successfully and upon the recommendation of the tutors.
Attendance will be compulsory for all meetings. Students will be able
to use the certificate that they attain at the end of the seminar for
accredited academic studies or for professional promotion.
Location
The seminars will take place at PRIME.
Specifics on Seminars
Each seminar will start in the beginning of October and run through
June. The proposed topics for the three annual seminars are:
2001 -2002: The Role of Education in the Transition from Conflict
to peace-building.
2002-2003: Identity Construction, Transformation and Social Justice.
2003-2004: Oral history of Refugees - Recollections from Before and
After 1948.
Conference
At the end of the third year, we plan to hold an international conference
on "Transition from Conflict to Peace-building." The conference
is scheduled for July 2004.
Estimated Cost
$320,000
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