Professional Documents
Culture Documents
January 2009: A Look Into Israel's Post-War Political Atmosphere
January 2009: A Look Into Israel's Post-War Political Atmosphere
A look into Israel’s post-war for them to teach there during the war, and they
political atmosphere feared that the mourning event would only make
matters worse. On this occasion the municipality
In the aftermath of the war on Gaza, mainstream
stated that "Israel is a democratic state and each
Israeli discourse can unfortunately be character-
has the freedom of expression, but only within the
ized by its undemocratic and racist tendencies.
limits of the law. The use of municipal buildings for
Whilst hundreds of Palestinians, citizens of Israel,
political purposes is prohibited, and therefore the
have been arrested or detained for taking part in
tent must be taken down." It must be of note that
legal demonstrations protesting the war, the Knes-
this principle does not negate the school holding
set committee has tried to ban Arab parties from
army lectures, memorial days for the military and
the forthcoming elections. Though few such inci-
meetings with political candidates during election
dents, national and local, have found their way into
periods throughout the year.
the international media and have been pushed to
the periphery in the latest Israeli coverage, they We are deeply concerned by such contradic-
are nonetheless both significant and telling. tions in the machinery we are facing. In our opin-
ion, it is imperative that educational bodies have
Here in Jaffa, “Ironi Z” is a Jewish school of which
the capability and the tools to deal with these
30% of its demographic is made up of Arab stu-
challenges in the spirit of an equal treatment to
dents. During the war, tensions emerged between
both sides. The educational system is part of and
the Jewish and the Arab students in the school.
is influenced by the national conflict, and as such
The Arabs, wearing the kaffiyah, proudly said
needs to acknowledge it obligation to tackle those
that they identified with the Palestinians in Gaza
harsh and often difficult questions that inevitably
while the Jews, adorning the Israeli flag, largely
arise from it.
supported the military bombardment meted out.
Whilst the school was unsure of how to tackle the For this reason, we at Sadaka Reut have decid-
situation, the municipality’s education department ed to initiate a convention specifically looking at
categorically denied the problem, stating that this the role of the educational system in relation to the
was “a false description. [For more than a week conflict. We want to explore those specific chal-
now] there is no Arab student that has come to lenges faced by both the formal and informal edu-
school with a kaffyiah”. cation work frames, and to find solutions to prob-
lems others would rather we left alone.
In another Jaffan school, consisting of only Arab
students, the students decided they wanted to The Jaffa Convention for Education will
raise a mourning tent in remembrance of Gaza’s be held during the month of March. We will
victims. The school’s Jewish teachers had stat- keep you updated with the details of the
ed that it has become more and more difficult event.
2
A Space for Honesty and are coming from families of the Jewish-Israeli con-
Reassessment sensus, where the influences are staunchly pro-
war. As she notes, “what is vital is that we do not
The Markaz began its activities in Novem-
outcast participants because they do not fit in with
ber with four Jewish groups and five Palestinian
our stance on Gaza, or even my own.” The free-
groups each using music, theatre, photography,
dom the Markaz’s uni-national system provides has
video or activism as vehicles for empowerment
already proved extremely important in creating a
and expression. With a new uni-national approach
space for honesty and re-assessment among her
adopted after the success of the Building a Cul-
group. In their last sessions, the youth were able
ture for Peace scheme, we have attracted more
to raise mainstream positions regarding the con-
participants across all our groups than any other
flict, and then to analyze them critically together
year.
– without the stress of the bi-national clash on the
“There are two different pro- issue of the war. After having deconstructed their
cesses that Jewish and Pales- positions, the youth already have a better under-
tinian groups go through, with standing of the political and social reality that sur-
different goals, emphasis and rounds them. This can only lead to the emergence
educational purposes necessary of more democratic attitudes and a more fruitful
for the project to really work.” bi-national process in the future.
Although the uni-national approach has made it “what is vital is that we do not
easier to attract a wider political range of appli- outcast participants because they
cants, it was also a logical change for Sadaka. As do not fit in with our stance on
Adi Maoz, our educational director explains, “There Gaza, or even my own.”
are two different processes that Jewish and Pal-
estinian groups go through, with different goals,
emphasis and educational purposes necessary for
the project to really work.” The uni-national work,
coming prior to the bi-national stages, is there to
create a safe, freer ground, where many issues
can be raised that would not necessarily come up
in a bi-national setting. This gives the group an
opportunity to work through its own issues before
developing them in conversation alongside their
parallel.
Still, this almost feels like the most difficult Sada- There is no such thing pre-process and post-
ka group to be a part of. With starting groups, the process reality within the bi-national partnership.
main objective is empowering them and getting Essential questions arise at every step of the pro-
them off the ground, looking to approach broader cess, and they must be given their space in order
issues such as identity, society and citizenship, to slowly define a shared vision that can be the
and thinking through them. Only then can they basis for joint life.
really start working on the truly difficult questions
which root the conflict, and this is
where the third year group is at now.
Starting from a more constructive and
responsible place they are re-assess-
ing their vision: why are we still sitting
here together after all these years?
What do we actually want? As Wasim
notes, there are important questions
that arise in any part of a partnership,
and these need to be dealt with.