:
Chapter 2 - The Encounter Approach
The Israeli programs using the encounter approach typically
bring participants together for relatively short-term, intense sessions
in which they address their similarities and differences.
The School for Peace is unique because it is located in Neve
Shalom/Wahat al-Salam, a village where Jews and Arabs have
chosen to build a community together. Beyond the day-to-day
coexistence of the villagers, the school also offers several programs to
promote familiarity between youths and adults who otherwise rarely
mix. The School has developed a training course for facilitators of
encounters that has already been adapted for use in other countries.
Helping the Helpers is a different type of program, designed
to train mental health professionals in intervention techniques to
treat war-affected and traumatized children. The Carmel Institute
brought Croats, Muslims and Serbs from the former Yugoslavia together
for workshops that have possible applications for American
psychiatrists and psychologists, teachers, doctors, professors and
sociologists working with at-risk children.
Immigrants often have a particularly difficult time coexisting
with "veterans." Like the United States, Israel is a melting pot with
people from every corner of the globe. In recent years, a huge influx
of immigrants has come from the former Soviet Union and
faced difficulties overcoming cultural and emotional isolation. Invitation to a Dialogue, developed by the Joint Distribution Committee,
uses a computer network, combined with face-to-face meetings, to
reduce the isolation felt by teenagers.
Pelech Religious Experimental High School for Girls has
created a program called Education for
Peace, which uses techniques similar to many other programs to bring together Arabs and Jews.
What makes this program unusual is that the Israeli school that started
the encounters is a religious school. Generally, the "religious"
schools in Israel have been reluctant to engage in dialogues with other
groups. The program could be a model for promoting greater
tolerance among Americans attending parochial and public schools.
Encounter programs are typically short, ranging from a day
to a few months. Givat Haviva's Children Teaching
Children, one of the most widely used programs bringing Arabs and Jews
together in schools, is an exception. It is designed to last two years and
thereby create bonds of trust between students and teachers.
Furthermore, by integrating the program into the school day, the pursuit
of coexistence becomes an accepted part of the curriculum.
The School for Peace
Contact:
Nava Sonnenchein
The School for Peace
Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam
Doar Na Shimshon 99761
Tel. 2-916-282, Fax. 2-912-098
Objectives:
To deepen the participants' familiarity with themselves and
with the other side.
To raise the participants' awareness of the complex reality of
relations between the sides, and to enable them to absorb this
complexity.
To make the participants aware of their ability to select their
attitude toward the conflict, to affect their lives and their
surroundings and thus to help mitigate the conflict.
To bring the participants to choose nondiscriminatory
positions and modes of behavior and to give legitimacy to all peoples'
needs, rights and aspirations.
To give the participants an opportunity to experience
cooperation between the sides.
Target Population:
Seventeen-year-old Arabs and Jews
Program and Activities:
Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam (NS/WAS) is a village in Israel
in which Jews and Arabs have chosen to build a community
together and to face questions of coexistence in their day-to-day lives.
Situated in the center of the country, between Jerusalem and Tel
Aviv, the life and work of the community are guided by its
determination to give equal expression to the national and religious identities
of the two peoples. With this as its base, the village conducts
activities that strive to advance understanding between the conflicting
nations. The School for Peace (SFP) is the branch of NS/WAS that is
responsible for most of the village's outreach programs.
SFP conducts educational projects that bring together Jewish
and Arab citizens — youth and adults — from all over Israel, in an
attempt to promote familiarity and understanding between the
two peoples. To date, 13,000 teenagers and adults have taken part in
these activities.
Since 1980, the SFP has been developing long-term
workshop models that enable facilitators to address the changing social
and political realities of the region, and the differing problems and
needs of the two peoples. The methodology is based on models
of nonformal education, on conflict resolution workshop models
using a third-party consultation format and on structured group
processes. The content of the workshops is based on the personal
experience of the participants.
The structure of the SFP, and of its workshops is guided by
the principles of equality. The staff of facilitators is a permanent,
professional team composed of Jews and Arabs. Decisions are
made democratically. The workshops are conducted in Hebrew
and Arabic. Each working group is small and is headed by two
facilitators, one Jewish and the other Palestinian. Part of the workshop
is conducted in a "uninational" group setting (all Jewish / all
Arab) to provide a secure, sheltered framework that can meet each
group's separate learning needs. Numerical equality between Jews and
Arabs is maintained throughout the workshop, and each people's
needs are given equal priority.
SFP uses the encounter as the major experience of the project.
The realities of Israel do not give the youth of the two peoples a chance to meet on equal terms. The encounters that take place are
generally accompanied by feelings of fear, humiliation,
disappointment and distrust. The encounters provide an opportunity to process
and understand these feelings, helping youth to cope with the
Jewish-Arab conflict.
One key to the program is the use of both Arabic and
Hebrew in the workshops. Hebrew is the dominant language in Israel
(though Arabic is also an official language). While most Arabs are
bilingual, most Jews do not have a command of Arabic. At the age of 17
(the age of workshop participants), the Arabs' active command
of Hebrew is limited, but they generally understand the Jews and
can express themselves in simple matters.
Language is at the base of one's national identity. Just as
language creates bridges and ties between people, it can be an obstacle
to contact. For example, Arab participants sometimes choose to
speak Arabic and have the facilitator interpret for them, even though
they are capable of expressing themselves in Hebrew. Jewish
participants might choose to speak quickly and use a lot of slang, making it
hard for the Arabs to follow the conversation. The participants'
choice of words can also be provocative without them realizing it.
The classic example is when Jews speak of Palestinian "fighters" or
"terrorists."
The use of two languages in the encounters has several
consequences:
• Discussions proceed slowly; the participants must develop
patience and tolerance.
• Members of the majority group, who do not understand
the language of the minority, are given an opportunity to
experience situations that are generally typical of the minority: the
feeling of being a stranger, of not belonging, of having no influence,
of depending on an interpreter. Familiarity with this experience
increases the majority's ability to "step into the shoes" of the
minority and empathize with situations that the minority
experiences every day.
• Suspicions arise on both sides, especially among the Jews:
What are they saying? Did the facilitator translate accurately? This
is an opportunity for facilitators to raise the issue of trust.
• Should the Arab participants choose to speak Hebrew, they
do so hesitantly. The facilitator's job in such a case is to
encourage them and to create a supportive atmosphere in the group.
• The Arab facilitators have to double as interpreters. In
especially emotional parts of the program it is important for facilitators
to encourage participants to speak their mother language. In
certain cases, the responsibility for interpreting can be passed on to
the group; the Arabs speak Arabic and then translate their own
words into Hebrew. When the interpreter is translating someone
else's words, they make an effort to speak in the first person.
Workshops begin with separate all-Jewish and all-Arab
groups, in which the participants get to know themselves, the other
group members and their own people. "Getting acquainted" includes:
• Exchanging information between group members: hobbies,
way of life, traits, dreams.
• Acquaintance with processes that participants experience in
the workshop: curiosity, fear of self-expression, the desire to be
right, the need to influence.
• Acquaintance with methods of communication and dialogue
that precede the encounter: giving empathy, active listening,
articulation of feelings, refraining from giving advice and voicing
accusations, avoiding generalizations.
The intensity of the encounter and the experience of
meeting members of the other people creates tension and fear, in
addition to curiosity and interest. NS/WAS has found that clear rules,
within a framework known in advance, help the youngsters cope with
these emotions. The following elements of the workshop contribute
to this security:
• A schedule.
• A permanent room for each group's activities.
• Conformance with school rules and Ministry of Education
guidelines; e.g., no smoking and separate sleeping accommodations
for boys and girls.
• Guests (teachers or observing facilitators) are introduced
and confined to a role of passive participation outside the circle
of group activities.
• Description of the roles of the other staff members
("unknown faces" may arouse suspicion).
• Maintaining the same combination of facilitators and small
groups throughout the project.
Since Jews and Arabs live and work together at NS/WAS,
the public regards the village as belonging to both peoples. As
the meeting place is not identified exclusively with either one of the
sides in the conflict, every participant feels equally at home there.
This makes it possible to create a supportive atmosphere, in which
neither side suffers a disadvantage and both may feel at ease.
NS/WAS selects students for the program with a high level
of motivation to participate and a large degree of influence among
their peers. They work with high schools, which, as part of the
establishment, validates their activities. The schools also provide a
framework to hold activities during school hours, which reinforces the
message that the subject is as important as anything else in the
curriculum. They try to match schools with similar academic levels,
socioeconomic status, and students who have been similarly exposed
to nonformal social and political activities. Without the
teachers' support, students find it hard to decide in favor of attending
the workshops and, afterward, to maintain the change they have
undergone.
NS/WAS found that short-term encounter activities were
not only ineffective, but were even capable of reinforcing
stereotypes and causing participants to reject further involvement with
each other; consequently, each project is conducted over a period of
three to six months. They have three models:
Model A (six months)
1) Ten 2-hour uninational workshops conducted with each
group in their respective high schools.
2) 3-day encounter workshop, conducted with the two
groups together in NS/WAS.
3) 2-hour uninational workshop in the high schools of each
group to summarize the project.
Model B (three months)
1) Two 2-hour uninational workshops conducted with each
group in their respective high schools.
2) 3-day encounter workshop, conducted with the two
groups together in NS/WAS.
3) 2-hour uninational workshop in the high schools.
4) Second 3-day encounter workshop in NS/WAS.
Model C (three months)
1) 2-hour uninational workshop conducted with each group in
their high schools.
2) 2-day uninational workshop, conducted separately with
each group in NS/WAS.
3) 2-hour uninational workshop in the high schools.
4) 3-day encounter workshop with the two groups in NS/WAS.
The Uninational Forum
The program assumes that the better a person knows himself
or herself, the more capable they are of making contact,
establishing relations and getting to know others. The uninational
workshop is part of the educational process in which questions concerning
the conflict are broached and serves as a preparatory stage for the
binational encounter workshop. All uninational activity is led
by facilitators belonging to the same national group: Jewish
facilitators for the Jewish group and Arab facilitators for the Arab group.
The uninational forum enables the participants to work out problems and questions that arise without the inhibitions of facing the
other side. Topics of discussion include:
• Working through some of the fears of meeting the other group.
• Development of tolerance for differences in the group.
• Gaining knowledge about the conflict.
• Assessing the degree to which we are responsible for the situation.
• Assessing our responsibility to act and change.
• Gaining of group-work skills.
• Working through participants' distress caused by past contact
with Jews or Arabs.
The first encounter workshop, participants are divided into
mixed groups of 12-14 Jews and Arabs. The composition of the
groups remains the same for the duration of the project. Most of the
encounter activities take place in this forum. Some of the less
intensive ones take place in a large group with all the participants together.
Before the second workshop, a uninational meeting is
conducted with the groups in their schools. The following issues
commonly arise:
• Participants talk about the change they underwent in the
first workshop, especially with respect to preconceived notions —
ideas about the other group that the encounter disproved.
• Participants describe encounters they had with friends,
classmates and family after the first workshop.
• Some participants have mixed feelings about attending the
second workshop because of disappointment with what they saw
and heard in the first one. Some have trouble coping with the
process and method of the workshop. Some are afraid of being
disillusioned and prefer not to risk ruining a good experience they
may have already had. Some feel threatened by the
open-mindedness they need for the rest of the project and by the prospect of
delving deeper into the issues than they had in the first workshop.
In the second workshop, the groups search for new
possibilities of dialogue. After experiencing the harshness of the dispute and
their own disagreements, participants search for additional ways to
relate, such as sharing more personal experiences, daring to
show vulnerabilities, or the ability to represent oneself and not just
one's people. The groups concentrate on what is happening "here
and now" and cope with the tension between the desire to be open,
get closer, and intensify relations, and the fear of getting close
and revealing too much. At this point, the group's parting is on
the horizon, and the participants feel that time and opportunities
are running out. In general, participants find they had some of
the following opportunities:
• To discuss issues close to their hearts in a binational setting,
which is extremely rare for them.
• To hear how the other side perceives and is affected by the
same realities.
• To discover what happens to them in an encounter with
members of the majority or minority.
• To reexamine and reformulate values and political opinions.
• To make friends.
• To gauge their ability to have influence in the group, the
surroundings and the society.
• To acquire additional communication tools.
• To experience the complexity of relations between Jews and Arabs.
• To have the security to expose their vulnerability to the other side.
Lessons:
Efforts must be made to balance language inequalities.
Clear rules, within a framework known in advance, are important.
A meeting place that is not identified exclusively with either
side of the conflict will make participants feel more comfortable.
Highly motivated students who will influence their peers are
the ideal participants.
Working with schools legitimates the program.
Holding programs during the school day reinforces the idea
that coexistence is as important as any other subject.
Teachers' support is vital to encouraging student participation
and supporting the changes resulting from the program.
The projects help to develop the participants' ability to
appreciate the complexity of the conflict and not to see it as a problem
with simple solutions. As such, the work helps to neutralize extremism.
Opportunities for Cooperation:
A 160-hour training course for facilitators of encounters
between Jews and Arabs has been developed that has been adapted for
use in other countries. It has already been used in Northern Ireland
and in Italy to deal with the conflict between Italians and foreign
workers.
Helping the Helpers
Contact:
Dr. Helena Syna De Sevilia
Director
Carmel Institute for Social Studies
5 Kadesh St., P.O. Box 97
Zikhron Ya'akov 30900
Tel. 06-396818, Fax. 06-397085
E-mail: [email protected]
Objective:
To train mental health professionals in intervention
techniques to treat war-affected and traumatized children.
Target Population:
Mental health professionals.
Program and Activities:
While most Israeli projects in conflict resolution have focused
on Arab-Jewish tensions, one interesting program was applied to
problems in the former Yugoslavia. In 1993, the Chief Imam of
Sarajevo sent a letter to a Jewish charity in England describing how
mental health professionals were being overwhelmed in their efforts to
give trauma relief and crisis intervention treatment to the
children, refugees and the population in general who were victims of the
brutal war. The Imam believed the Jewish people, specifically Israeli
psychologists, were probably best equipped to help, since they
had developed techniques to treat victims of the Holocaust and
the numerous wars and terrorist attacks in Israel. This request made
its way to the Carmel Institute, which developed the "Helping
the Helpers" Seminar, a two-week intensive training program.
Even before the Dayton Accords, the Institute was able to
bring Croats, Muslims and Serbs together for workshops to train
mental health professionals in intervention techniques to treat
war-affected and traumatized children. The participants included
psychiatrists and psychologists, teachers, doctors, professors, sociologists
and librarians.
Two seminars were conducted, followed by several
in-country workshops called the "Expanding Circles" in which the
"graduates" of the Israeli program conducted smaller seminars to convey
what they had learned to a broader circle of local professionals. The
Israeli model subsequently became the standard training method
of mental health professionals in the country.
"Helping the Helpers" was initially designed for mental
health professionals who had been compelled to take on the almost
impossible mission of providing nonstop treatment to war-affected
and traumatized children. It is presently well recognized that
unusually traumatic situations such as disaster, acts of violence and various
war-induced stresses usually result in chronic post-traumatic stress
disorder (PTSD) and other mental disorders such as depression
and anxiety. Children are particularly vulnerable to traumatic stress.
The seminars were based on the Community Oriented
Preventive Orientation (C.O.P.E.) concept of Dr. Ofra Ayalon.
C.O.P.E. is a handbook for promoting coping skills, and is geared to help children manage stressful events of everyday life and with
emergencies caused by the disruption of social equilibrium and security.
The premise is that distress caused by death, separation, threats to
health, pain and loneliness can be mitigated. Furthermore, stress can
be alleviated by channeling the children's energies toward gaining
more control over their environment, facilitating expression and
communication of fears and worries and helping them find the support
and muster the courage that will turn them from passive victims
into action modifiers of their own lives.
The seminar was aimed at teaching skills and promoting
professional self-assurance. The main components of the program were:
• Theoretical and Conceptual Inputs: related to stress and
trauma, children of families in trauma and crisis intervention.
• Expressive Methods: including biblio-therapy,
puppet-theater therapy, video-therapy and various art-therapy methods.
• Relaxation and Treatment Methods: including relaxation
techniques, pacing and leading, eye-movement desensitization.
• Coping and Appraisal: BASIC-Ph model, cognitive
approaches to stress and burn-out.
• "Helping the Helpers" Aspects: including
psychological debriefings, systems approach, creating support systems.
• Self-Guided Sessions: including skill-sharing, case-studies
and C.O.P.E. project.
The participants came from separate, perhaps hostile regions
of the former Yugoslavia; nevertheless, the group developed a
"learning organization" motivated to absorb as much as possible for
back-home applications. Participants learned to overcome inner
conflicts and inter-subgroup tensions and gradually became a cohesive
group. The seminars also strengthened the professional self-confidence
of the participants by enriching their previous knowledge and skills.
A third seminar in the series was subsequently held in
Hungary. This Integrative Seminar included the goals of the earlier ones,
that is, providing advanced professional training in the areas of
trauma-relief and crisis intervention, and enabling skill sharing. This
three-day program also was designed to facilitate reconciliation
perceptions and conflict-resolution orientation; to promote awareness of violent and demonic behavior; to encourage openness and
readiness for coexistence between currently opposing rivals; to discuss
and illuminate the role of mental health professionals in these areas
and to enable participants from the conflicting regions to have
open discussions.
Lessons:
The C.O.P.E. concept can be geared to help children
manage stress.
The self-confidence of mental health professionals can be
enhanced by providing new skills.
Inter-group conflicts among professionals can be overcome
to advance a common goal.
Opportunities for Cooperation:
The training program for mental health professionals in crisis
intervention and trauma relief can be applied to work with
at-risk children in, for example, gang-infested areas. The Carmel
Institute has experience working with American organizations and is
anxious to cooperate in the development of joint programs and to
train U.S. educators and health professionals.
Invitation to a Dialogue
Contacts
Moshe Sharir, Director of Division for Special Projects and Initiatives
Dimitri Virovitz, Project Coordinator
JDC-Israel
POB 3489
Jerusalem 91034
Tel. 2-655-7167, Fax. 2-661-244
E-mail. [email protected]
Objectives:
To create a social and emotional support network for young
immigrants from the former Soviet Union (FSU) struggling to
cope with the difficulties of adjustment to their new life in Israel.
To reduce the cultural and emotional isolation experienced
by many teenage immigrants, help them become more familiar
with life in Israel and integrate into their new environment.
Target Population:
Young immigrants (ages 14-18) from the FSU at locations
throughout Israel, members of Na'aleh groups (teenagers who have
come to study in high school in Israel without their families) and
groups of young Israelis.
Program and Activities:
The nature of Israeli society over the coming decades will be
shaped by how successfully the recent waves of immigrants from the
FSU integrate within it. Invitation to
Dialogue creates a social and emotional support network for young immigrants from the FSU
who are struggling to cope with the traumas of their social and
cultural adjustment to life in Israel.
The numerous stresses and difficulties of the immigration
process are particularly problematic for the adolescent. All immigrants
must confront the need for personal adjustment to their new
environment. This includes the cognitive and emotional adjustments to
learning to communicate in a new language and adapt to a new set of
social norms, as well as a redefinition of their cultural identity.
The adolescent, who is any case undergoing the universal
transition between childhood and adulthood leading to upheavals in
their relationships with their families, their peers and the outside
world in general, is particularly vulnerable to the additional transition
of immigration. The need to identify with a peer group is
especially strong for this age cohort, so the language and cultural
barriers compound their difficulties.
The adolescent immigrant is also deeply affected by family
crises often caused by the immigration process, such as material and
financial hardship and a shift in social status. The growing numbers
of young immigrants who are dropping out of school and, in some
cases, drifting into delinquent behavior is an indication of the gravity
of the situation in Israel.
The project has set up groups of young immigrants,
Na'aleh groups and young Israelis at community centers, residential
schools and clubs for immigrant youth throughout Israel. The groups
meet once or twice a week with a counselor who speaks their
language and shares their cultural background. Group activities include
discussion on issues of mutual interest, leadership courses and
journalism.
All the groups are linked by a computer network through
which they can correspond both as individuals or as a group. The
network offers them the opportunity to express themselves in their
own language, Russian. They also have the option of using either
Hebrew or English (the capability to set up World Wide Web pages in
Russian, Hebrew and English will soon be added).
The participants can also correspond with more veteran
adult immigrants who serve as supportive role models for
successful integration into the new environment and also lead specific
activities. These adult professionals currently include a psychologist,
a journalist and an educator. In addition to the electronic
meetings, groups or group representatives meet periodically in person.
In addition to serving as the vehicle to carry the dialogue,
the computer network fulfills a number of other important
functions. Through their familiarity with the network, the young
participants are acquiring skills in the use of advanced information
technologies that will aid in their personal and professional development.
This, together with the general high-status aura of computers, helps
to initially attract the youngsters to the project activities.
Lessons:
The approach is proving helpful across two social/cultural
barriers in the project: between immigrant groups and Israeli
groups, and between different immigrant groups.
When communicating through a computer network rather
than meeting face to face, most characteristics on which social groups
build stereotypes of other groups (physical appearance, dress,
mannerisms, accent) are hidden. This allows the youngsters to create
relationships and "listen" to each other. After the relationships are formed,
the participating groups have face-to-face meetings with people
they already know and appreciate for whom they really are.
The prevalence of verbal and physical violence in contacts
between teenagers of different cultural backgrounds, particularly boys, is
well known. A number of incidents of violence have been reported
between immigrants from different regions and between Israelis
and immigrants. The project combats this by bringing together
marginal youth who learn to "talk" to their peers through the computer.
Opportunities for Cooperation:
JDC is already involved in projects around the world and
has offices in the United States. It is very interested in
collaborative projects and this program could be easily adapted for use with
new immigrants to America. JDC is also involved in another
program that brings immigrants and veteran Israeli youth together for
joint activities.
Education for Peace
Contact:
Shira Breuer
Principal
Pelech Religious Experimental High School for Girls
14 Gideon St.
Jerusalem 93506
Tel. 2-736945, Fax. 2-732703
Objectives:
To provide in-depth knowledge and analysis of the Middle
East conflict and the peace process through class hours and
individual student research.
To foster open-minded attitudes toward differing cultures
and opinions.
To create a non-political platform for open discussion of the
universalistic, humanist values of peace; promote awareness of
human rights issues, particularly of minorities and provide insight into
Arab culture and customs.
To initiate a dialogue between Jewish and Arab youth and
break down stereotypical views.
To foster democratic principles of mutual respect, tolerance
and understanding.
Target Population:
Jewish girls in the 10th, 11th and 12th grades of Pelech, and
Arabs in the 12th grade of the Abu Gosh High Schools.
Program and Activities:
The Pelech High School has an enrollment of 250 students
from a wide range of ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. Pelech
aims to provide the highest standard of Jewish and secular education that encourages a pluralistic, humanistic, democratic approach. It
seeks to inculcate a strong sense of Jewish identity, love of Israel
and communal responsibility. Emphasis is placed on professional
excellence for religious women and their changing role in society.
The Education for Peace program is now in its third year and
now concentrates on the Middle East peace process and the
Palestinian autonomy. Originally, Pelech held joint meetings with the
Terra Sancta School in Jaffa. During the 1995-96 academic year, the
project began to work with Abu Gosh High School.
The project is divided into units:
I) Study of democracy and human rights (Grade 10 — two
weekly hours) — examines civil liberties from a Jewish perspective;
introduces legal systems; freedom of expression; censorship;
sexual equality; minority rights; racism; human dignity; social rights.
II) Conflict and Conflict Resolution (Grade 11 — two
weekly hours) — provides extensive information on the Middle
East conflict and aims to foster in-depth understanding of the
political, legal, social and philosophical elements. Examination
of all documentation relating to the peace process.
Methodology consists of class debate, guest lectures, audiovisual aids,
communications research and meetings with persons who differ
ethnically, religiously and politically.
III) Arab Culture and Customs (Grade 11 — one weekly hour) —
provides an insight into Arab society, beliefs and customs
with an emphasis on the role of women, an overview of Arab
media and communications to include: newspapers, theater, films.
Includes a tour to an Arab village, Neve Shalom/Wahat
al-Salam (see pg. 18) and a meeting with a prominent Arab woman.
IV) Exchange visits with students of the Abu Gosh High
School (Grade 12 — two weekly hours) — planning of meetings
between students of the Abu Gosh High School and 12th
grade Pelech students. Non-coercive policy by the school includes
a personal interview with each student. Intensive preparation
by faculty of both schools and joint a student committee.
Lessons:
This program is one of the few, if not the only, program
that involves the dati (religious) community and therefore may serve
as a good model for working with American religious and
secular schools and resolving issues related to religious tolerance.
Opportunities for Cooperation:
The Pelech school is open to exchanges and sharing its
experience working within the Israeli religious community.
Children Teaching Children
Contact:
Shuli Dichter
Director
Children Teaching Children
Givat Haviva
M.P. Menashe 37850
Tel. 6-309-249/373-336, Fax. 6-373-335
Objectives:
To promote an educational environment conducive to
openness and to personal growth of both teachers and pupils and the
development of a dialogue within the context of an ongoing conflict.
Target Population:
Jewish and Arab students in grades five to nine, adults and teachers.
Program and Activities:
In 1949, the founders of Givat Haviva recognized the need to build a place where Jews and Arabs could meet in safety to discuss
their many problems. It was felt that with patience and
understanding they could help plan a future of democratic coexistence among
all the people of Israel.
Givat Haviva runs a number of programs to advance this goal.
The program that is probably most applicable to the United States,
and also one of Givat Haviva's fastest growing, is Children
Teaching Children (CTC).
Based on theories of humanistic education and conflict
resolution, Givat Haviva's staff of Arab and Jewish educators believe
that through dialogue and creative encounters, children can
overcome negative stereotypes they have about each other. For most of
the students that participate in CTC, this encounter is the first
opportunity for meaningful personal contact with members of the
other community. Now in the seventh year of operation, CTC has
been approved by the Israel Ministry of Education to be introduced
into the regular school day. The program is used in 30 schools
throughout Israel, with 1,400 students and 80 teachers participating.
The class is divided into groups of 12-16 pupils, with one
teacher and usually two assistants. Each class has a weekly two-hour
lesson. After 1-3 months of preparation, the class begins a series of
fortnightly encounters with its parallel group. In each encounter,
mixed groups of 24-32 pupils are formed, so that two or three mixed
classes work with two teachers each. The week when there is no
mixed learning session is devoted both to the assimilation of the
previous week's meeting through discussion, or activity focused on some
of its specific aspects, as well as to preparation for the coming week.
Preparation Stage: This takes place in homeroom and is aimed
at preparing for the mixed group. The participation of the
children in planning and organizing is a precondition to success. Subjects
such as conformism, stereotypes and social pressure are discussed, as
well as the legitimacy of expressing emotions, the creation of an
atmosphere of acceptance in the group and the ability to give
attention and awareness to different points of view about any event or
subjects.
Mixed Group Experience: The content is decided jointly by
the pupils and the teachers during the preparatory period. This
may include language studies; art projects; theater and dramatic expression; formal school subjects such as geography, agriculture
and computers; or social issues, such as the characteristics of
adolescence of both groups, relations between adults and children and
school culture. Students are encouraged to communicate with their
counterparts through storytelling, drama, art, music and other
media. The students are encouraged to think about, and openly
discuss complex questions of identity. Through dialogue and shared
activity, they confront and conquer their own stereotypes,
prejudices, fears and anxieties.
The learning process takes place on two levels — that of the
teachers and that of the pupils. The program is perceived and
accepted as an integral part of the school curriculum, and not as an
external subject. Teachers' workshops and parents' meetings are an
important and dynamic part of the CTC program. Throughout the
school year, the teaching and supervisory staff participates in 12
in-service training days, and meet once each week to plan activities and
share ideas, experiences and problems. Teachers attend summer
workshops for 10 days. The first is an encounter workshop. A second
one is devoted to the role of the teacher in the program. During the
academic year, teachers gather for day-long workshops. In
addition, teachers participate in biweekly team meetings with teachers
from the twin school and with their colleagues in the program.
CTC thereby creates a growing core of teachers who have acquired
new tools and gained significant experience in the sphere of the two
major objectives of the program.
CTC is a two-year program with the possibility of concluding
it at the end of the first year or extending it beyond two years.
While homeroom work concentrates on specific and largely different
needs of the groups, the work in the mixed groups tries to answer
common needs. The creation of a basis for mutual trust between
teachers and teachers, between teachers and pupils and between
pupils and pupils is the primary objective and a necessary condition
for a continued operation of the program.
Lessons:
CTC emphasizes long-term conflict resolution. Once
students have been paired with counterparts from another class, they maintain the same Jewish or Arab partner throughout the entire
school year, leading to greater understanding and lasting friendships
between participants.
Because CTC functions within the Israeli and Arab school
systems, ongoing multiyear programs that reinforce a consistent
commitment to improving cross-cultural relations are possible.
The program is integrated into the school curriculum,
making participation mandatory and reinforcing the idea that
coexistence is as important as any other subject.
Without a clear statement of acceptance from the principal
followed by symbolic and real expressions toward the participants
in the program, the chances of success are minimized.
Students are not rushed into meetings. A long period (1-3
months) is devoted to preparation.
Students are intimately involved in preparation for the
meetings and the content is determined jointly by Jews and Arabs.
Projects cover a range of activities, from formal school
subjects to arts projects to discussions of social issues.
Although children are the program's main focus, the
teachers, school administrators and parents also benefit from CTC.
These adults face similar challenges associated with the
implementation of a cross-cultural education project in a society sharply divided
along ethnic lines. Givat Haviva views this as an opportunity to
spread the program's central message of coexistence beyond the
classroom and into Jewish and Arab homes and communities.
Opportunities for Cooperation:
Givat Haviva has already provided its expertise in conflict
resolution to other countries and has a proposal to hold a 2-3 week
non-intensive seminar to train teachers and/or community workers.
A handbook has also been developed for teaching CTC in English.
Givat Haviva has some experience working with groups in
the United States, such as a USIA-sponsored exchange of
American, Israeli Arab, Jewish and Palestinian teachers developed with
Educators for Social Responsibility, and a reciprocal visit of
municipal leaders. Arab and Jewish teens from Givat Haviva have also
participated in the International Peace Games at Harvard.
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