 | ||||
| ||||
| ||||
Friendship Village
International Center for Education for Peace and Human Rights in a Multi-Cultural Society
| ||||
| ||||
Women Educators for Human Rights, Peace & Democracy
Project Summary
The purpose of the “Woman Educators for Human Rights, Peace and Democracy” project is to strengthen the alliance between young Jewish and Arab women students and teachers in Israel and to prepare them for their roles as mediators in the future. With the Emeq Yizre'el Academic College, the Oranim Academic College and the Gordon College for Education, this Friendship Village project engages women to actively participate in matters bearing on issues of human rights and democracy within the Israeli education system.
The project has two frameworks: In the first, five separate semester-long academic courses are conducted, including fourteen sessions that are four academic hours each. The second offers one eight-day long Summer Training Course for women educators. In these courses, a total of 110 participants (55 Jews/55 Arabs) work towards developing an understanding about the other’s identity, learning about racism, and exploring the meaning of democracy and human rights. The workshop instructs on methods for educating about these values from within the Israeli school system.
In addition to teaching educators how to engage their students in social and ideological matters, the project focuses on issues relevant to the women educators themselves. These include female self-consciousness, racism and violence in Israeli society. The program also provides a context for learning methods for peaceful conflict-resolution. The courses and workshops offer tools for cooperation based on mutual respect and equality while teaching the means for imparting these values to young people in the classroom.
The Problem to be Addressed
One of the most severe problems in Israeli society is the relationship between the Jewish majority and the Arab-Palestinian minority. While Jews and Arabs live side by side in Israel, socially they are almost completely separated. The relationships that do exist reflect the greater relationship between the Arab and the Jewish populations of the Middle East: The essence of the encounters stem from alienation, ignorance and fear.
The violent events of October 2000 inside Israel proved that the future relationship between Israel and the Arab world (as well as that between Israel and the Palestinian people) is dependent on the ability of the Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel to live in peaceful coexistence. Currently,
Israel’s Arab minority - an inseparable part of the Palestinian people - lives in a state of perpetual crisis. In addition to the "usual" discrimination of a minority, the Arab population suffers from legal and social discrimination, which the State justifies as necessary for "security" reasons.
While the majority of social and economic problems stemming from the relationship between Israeli Jews and Arabs may be dealt with in the arena of politics, an educational approach is also needed. Providing a context for young people to learn and practice tolerance and understanding is a thorough means for ensuring that these values are brought into the public sphere. In the classrooms and civil society, teaching human rights and democratic values can have a more profound and immediate impact on inter-ethnic relations.
Description of the Project
Comprising the greater part of the educational system in Israel, women have an enormous role to play in the educational development of Israeli youth. In the Israeli Jewish educational system, women make up approximately 80% of the personnel. Among teachers they are almost 90%. In the Arab school system (the two systems are totally separated) women comprise an estimated 60% of personnel, in elementary schools about 85%, and in high schools about 50%. This project takes advantage of women’s prominent roles within their communities, particularly within the educational system, and fortifies their positions as role models and educators of social values.
The “Woman Educators' Peace Dialogue” is designed to:
a) Initiate dialogue between Israeli Jewish and Arab women in order to effect mutual understanding and respect. (An open discourse about issues of identity, politics, and history is a significant tool for insuring a prosperous and peaceful society in our region.)
b) Engage groups of young women to aid in combating racism, and to teach tolerance and understanding between Israel’s two main national communities.
c) Educate women teachers in methodologies for peaceful conflict-resolution and the means for imparting democratic values to young people in the Israeli school system.
Project Goals
The immediate goal of the project is to create a team of young Israeli Jewish and Arab women educators who will be effective in the struggle against racism and prejudice in the Israeli school system. The project will focus on combating the rising tide of racism and violence in Israeli society. In addition, it will advance women educators’ methods for peaceful conflict-resolution, and enhance their ability to educate others about salient human rights issues. These include, democratic rights, women and minority empowerment, mutual respect, dignity and real equality.
Objectives
The objectives of the project include:
1.Preparing Israeli Jewish and Arab women teachers and education students to understand and respect the significant differences between their cultures, while also recognizing and nurturing their commonalities.
Preparing Israeli Jewish and Arab women teachers and education students to understand and respect the significant differences between their cultures, while also recognizing and nurturing their commonalities. 2.Emphasizing the significant role of women educators in the development of inter-ethnic dialogue. This includes creating a forum for women empowerment in which women recognize the key role they play in social change.
Emphasizing the significant role of women educators in the development of inter-ethnic dialogue. This includes creating a forum for women empowerment in which women recognize the key role they play in social change.3.Providing tools for all project graduates to engage in the struggle for tolerance, mutual respect, equality and peaceful conflict-resolution in their immediate societies.
Providing tools for all project graduates to engage in the struggle for tolerance, mutual respect, equality and peaceful conflict-resolution in their immediate societies.4.Encouraging ongoing interpersonal communication and cooperation with other women teachers and educational institutes of other national communities.
Encouraging ongoing interpersonal communication and cooperation with other women teachers and educational institutes of other national communities.Work Plan
The program offers a one semester academic course in collaboration with partner colleges.
The Course will include the following chapters:
1 – Gender Roles and Socialization in Different Ethnic and Cultural Societies.
2 – The Development of Personal, Gender, Ethnic and National Identities.
3 – The Psychological and Sociological Development of Ego- and Ethnocentrisms.
4 – Xenophobia and the Fear of Strangers: Human Nature or Learned Behavior?
5 – Social Violence and the Violence Against Women: Aggression Encouragement vs. Aggression Deterrent.
6 – Stereotypes and Prejudice: Effective Means for Treating Them.
7 – Multi-Cultural Education: Formal and Informal Educational Factors in the Development of the Relation to the “Other”.
8 – Israeli Society: The Structure and Impact of the Conflict with the Palestinian People.
9 – Feminine Power: The Place and Role of Women in Society, Religion and Culture.
10 – Internalizing Values: A Case for Friendship, Tolerance, Equality and Peace.
11 – Importing Other Models: How Different Societies Build Understanding in a Multi-Cultural Setting.
12 – Implementing Projects that Promote Jewish-Arab Coexistence and Cooperation.
These issues are explored in fourteen weekly sessions that are four academic hours each. The sessions are conducted in the following format: A two hour lecture is given by one of the lecturers from the College or an external lecturer to precede a two hour dynamic workshop elaborating on and exploring further the issues presented in the lecture. “Friendship Village” facilitators will conduct the workshop.
Plans for Disseminating
Cooperation with the partner colleges is vital for to the project. The Emeq Yizre'el , the Oranim and the Gordon Colleges are important sources of young teachers in Israel. The success of the “Woman Educators’ Peace Dialogue” project will allow for future collaborations permitting the project to run on a wider scale. Providing that finances are secured, the project will be able to expand to other educational institutes throughout Israel.
