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Reading as a Way of Reconciliation
—The Case of Crossing Borders
Introduction
The recent violent events in the Middle East have causedIsraeli and Palestinian citizens fears, anxiety and uncertain- ty. Communication and cooperation between the two peo-ples are minimal. Young peoples’ lives have changed ter future. These are the dozens of young high school stu- completely. Palestinians in most areas suffer from siege, dents who together create the youth magazine Crossing Bor- curfew and lack of freedom and Israelis are threatened by ders. The magazine provides them with a platform for suicide bombers, bury their friends who are victims of terror exchange and the opportunity to voice the opinion of the and are reluctant to go out and to lead a free and normal life.
younger generation in the Middle East, one that is not often Historically speaking, the gap between the two neighbour- ing communities is very wide. Even though they share a lotin common, there are many differences between them— Project Description
among others, a language barrier. Hebrew—spoken by Is-raeli Jews, and Arabic—spoken by Palestinians, are two There are four groups of young writers who contribute their languages which come from the same origin. Their basic articles and are represented on the editorial board of Cross- structure is similar, grammar is close, many roots and words ing Borders: Israeli Jews, Israeli Palestinians (Arabs who are alike, both are written from right to left. But still, under- have Israeli citizenship), Palestinians from the Palestinian standing each other is almost impossible, reading each oth- Authority and Jordanians. Each has an adult coordinator who er’s literature needs long years of training, and the respective works closely with the participants all throughout the year.
Each group meets independently (local activity) and to- In Israel, only a minority of high school students take Arabic gether (regional activity). The groups learn about each oth- as an elective in their studies. In Palestine, Hebrew is not er as individuals and as representatives of their society and taught at all in the regular school system.
culture. Personal relationships are built, and gradually mu- As a result, when there are groups of Israelis and Palestin- tual trust and respect are gained, despite the deep differ- ians who decide to meet or communicate despite the politi- ences. During their regional seminars, which are held in cal conflict, they usually turn to English as a mediator summer, the young people learn journalism and media skills.
They are trained by professional journalists and practice dif- One such group of youth, who refuse to raise their hands ferent aspects of media coverage—personal interviews, ed- in despair, are the young journalists of Crossing Borders. They itorials, news reports, opinions, reviews, literary writing, etc.
believe that dialogue and not violence is the preferred path Together they choose topics for the magazine and create to a better future. They share the will to express their feel- and edit the material. It is then sent to the editorial board, ings and views, to read what the “other side” is writing and comprised of representatives of the four groups, which to be able to exchange ideas, opinions and hopes for a bet- chooses, edits and produces the final issue.
Distribution and Reading
The magazine is distributed to high schools, educational in-stitutions and youth organizations in the region. About 20,000copies are sent to schools, and we estimate that each copy isread by at least 20-30 students. Crossing Borders has alreadyestablished an initial network of more than 200 schools inthe region, reaching thousands of students and educators,plus an astounding ripple effect amongst friends and familymembers. In addition, the magazine is distributed to NGOs,libraries and public institutions in the region and abroad.
Part of the distribution is run through teachers of the En- Apart from being general reading material for students and teachers, Crossing Borders has been incorporated into theclassrooms. Today, more and more teachers are turning toCrossing Borders as a discussion tool in their classroomsbecause of its content. Past activities have included lesson lowing participants to be in contact with one another through plans prepared by the teachers themselves and distributed the Internet. By putting the entire magazine on the web, an to their co-workers, and their students regularly write letters unlimited number of readers is added to it.
The teachers who use the articles as a learning material The Jewish-Arab Center for Peace at Givat Haviva
combine several goals:• Encouraging their students to read essays written by au- The Israeli partner in Crossing Borders is the Jewish-Arab Center for Peace at Givat Haviva. This is one of the first orga- • Encouraging the students to write and provide them with nizations in Israel, which began 40 years ago to educate for peace and coexistence and to initiate creative ways of fos- • Discussing current issues in class from different points of tering understanding and tolerance in the Middle East.
The Center initiates educational and communal projects to advance its aims, Crossing Borders being one of many.
• Learning to accept others’ opinions Many of the educational projects incorporate writing and • Keeping the magazine in the school library for future read- reading, through which students and teachers can better express their minds and feelings as well as better understand Crossing Borders Main Objectives
Face to Face
The magazine is a multi-purpose project. It is a “People-to- One such example is the encounter programme Face to Face.
People” programme aimed at decreasing alienation between It brings together high school students from Arab and Jew- young people in the Middle East and creating a common ish communities, who otherwise have no opportunity to meet ground for them to write on, read about and discuss current each other and discuss common issues on an equal basis. At the end of a three-day session, we ask the students to writeletters to one another. The actual writing makes the young people concentrate on their experience, summarize the • Increase intercultural and multi-national contacts and trust knowledge and insights they have gained, and come to con- • Create a vehicle of communication between young peo- cise conclusions regarding the impact of the workshop on them. Thus, in a short time, while their memory is still fresh, • Foster a critical dialogue between Palestinian and Israeli they have to put on paper the results of the experience they • Overcome stereotyping and prejudice between Arab and On the other end—the students who receive the letters read them, sometimes in private and sometimes aloud. Reading • Deal with complex human relations in a changing political their friends’ writings affects the students in several ways: they reflect upon the meeting; they see it from the other side’s eyes; they can compare their reactions to the others’; theycan choose to answer and write back; they can keep the let- ter or throw it away; they can show it to their parents, teach-ers, friends, and more. Usually what they do is collect all the The website (http://www.crossingborder.org) allows readers letters, add some drawings and titles, and bind them into a from all over the world to learn about the project, view is- booklet to be kept in the school library. This way, it can be sues of the magazine and contact the editors, as well as al- read by other students who were not part of the encounter.
Following is a letter that was written to the Arab students read them and relate to them as part of the process of recon- from Nazareth by a Jewish participant from a high school in Jerusalem, after the seminar at Givat Haviva in February 2002.
Sarah Ozacky-Lazar
“The truth is that it is very hard for me to write these words Born in Israel, 1947, and grew up in Tel Aviv. After graduating from but… I have so much in my mind and in my heart. We went Hebrew University, Jerusalem she worked as a researcher in the field through an amazing experience, many things surprised me, of Israel’s relations with the Arab World in governmental offices, then it wasn’t easy but I enjoyed it a lot. I believe that meetings of later taught Arabic and History at a high school. Since 1986 she has this kind are very important and sensitizing to many, for many worked in the Jewish-Arab Center for Peace at Givat Haviva, and has reasons. I hope that our generation will find the right way been its Co-Director since 1997. She has written extensively on the is-sue of Jewish-Arab relations in both academic papers and journalism because it is obvious that in wars there are no winners. We and writes regularly in the Hebrew and Arabic press. She has partici- need hope and belief, and the most important—good will.
pated in many academic conferences and workshops domestically and And we proved we have that (in this seminar)! abroad. In 2001, the Jewish-Arab Center for Peace, Givat Haviva re- “Above all it is important to remember that we are all first ceived the UNESCO Prize for Peace Education for its outstanding human beings and we have no difference between us and there should not be any. I received from the other side a lot Co-Director, The Jewish-Arab Center for Peace, Givat Haviva, MP Menashe 37850, of information, sensitivity and empathy and I was trying to Israel, fax: 972 4 6270891, e-mail: [email protected], do the same. I hope that we were able to make each other understand and want to know each other more and closer,but with all the closeness there are still unopened doors Iwish one day it will be possible to open.
“It is a bit difficult to finish this meeting and to know that the general situation is not up to us… I can only wait for theday that we can be influential and make the difference. Sountil the next time we meet I hope you remember us and thethings we said, and most of all the things we agreed upon—because now we have seen that it is possible to get closerand to listen to each other’s pain, fears, hopes and dreams.
“To Givat Haviva—Thank you for opening for me a differ- In a world full of violence and uncertainties, and in a regionlike the Middle East which suffers from continuous conflicts and wars, it is essential for educators to find ways and tech-niques to ease the burden on their young students. One suchway is the use of written words. Both writing and readingare vehicles of self-expression, of comfort and of hope.
The Jewish-Arab Center for Peace at Givat Haviva
Creating common platforms of writing and reading for peo- ple from two sides of the conflict lines is an innovative meth- Established in 1963, the Jewish-Arab Center for Peace at od that provides for the exchange of rival ideas, positions, Givat Haviva is Israel’s oldest and largest peace education thoughts and emotions in a more “civilized” and softer man- institution. Its main aims are to foster closer relations be- tween Jews and Arabs in Israel, to educate for mutual un- The Jewish-Arab Center for Peace at Givat Haviva, Israel, derstanding, and to promote partnership and permanent as one of the oldest institutions of its kind in the Middle East, dialogue between the two communities. Each year, around uses these methods daily in its educational work among Arab 25,000 people participate in its activities.
Despite the wars and upheavals of the last 38 years, the In this short article we have brought two examples of such Center has made, and continues to make, an important con- models of communication between people across political, tribution to peace through its education and research national and cultural lines. Crossing Borders is a youth mag- projects, its conferences and workshops, its library and in- azine written and edited by young people in the region, who formation centre, and its publications, notably Crossing choose to meet, cooperate, write together and read their Borders, an English-language bi-monthly magazine. This peers’ articles and literary work, instead of shooting, throw- magazine, financed by Denmark and the result of work by ing stones or fighting each other like the grown-ups in their Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian youths, is one of the rare Israeli-Palestinian projects—maybe the only one—that haskept going in the current difficult climate.
In the Face to Face programme the emphasis is put on per- (reprinted from UNESCO Press page informing the winners of the sonal meetings and discussions, but at the end of these en- UNESCO Prize for Peace Education 2001, http://www.unesco.org/bpi/ counters the participants write letters to the other group who

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