The Building Bridges Project
A peace educational project involving Israel, Palestine and Germany
by Mara List, Project Coordinator, Israel
Since 1999 the Building Bridges project achieve years of intensive activity.
During that time fifteen delegations of students, educators and parents from Israel,
the West Bank, Poland and Germany have visited one other.
Our aim is to expand our work and get the support we need to reach our targets which are as follows:
1. Regular meetings in order to learn about each other’s culture, history, religion and way of life.
2. Special attention to a democratic way of treating each other.
3. Main focus on German, Jewish and Arab history in order to learn about our tracks from history.
4. Cautious treatment of history: talking to Holocaust survivors as well as the succeeding generations should improve our understanding of history, thus supporting the development of democratic behaviour.
5. The Middle-East conflict as a topic requiring our understanding for all parties involved.
6. Training in democratic principles and non-violent solutions of conflicts as an essential part of our work.
7. Work at concrete and remaining projects.
8. Building Bridges is rooted in the direct exchange between Germans and Palestinians in 1999, therefore we strive for trilateral relations between Palestinians, Germans, Polish and Israelis but also for international partnerships.
Because of the situation in our area, the continuing violence and the limits both from the Israeli ministry of education and the Palestinian authorities, we decided this year to split the delegations.
The preparation of the delegations from each side includes a long process based on weekly meetings with the students during a period of some months, where we prepare them intensively at all levels about the meaning of being ambassadors of their country.
A year before during September, a delegation from the Hope Flowers School in Bethlehem, composed of formal teachers and graduated students, went to visit our partner school the Friedrichsgymnasium in Frankfurt-Oder (Germany). They went through a training-seminar, prepared by our German partners and directed by Mr. Peter Staffa, a formal educator in the Friedrichsgymnasium who is an expert in Middle–East politics and Holocaust studies. The training was based on methods of conflict resolution with democratic tools, which were mainly developed by the Adam Institute.
In December the last year, a delegation composed of 43 students and educators from the Vadi-Ara region and Eilat in Israel went to visit the German partners. We also practised the same training as the Palestinian delegation did. The Israeli delegation meeting with the Germans also included an additional section of Holocaust studies, where both sides (Israeli and German) acquired a larger view and understanding about the meaning of living under the shadow of the Holocaust. The highlight of our visit was that our students finished the totem which the Palestinian students started last September.
In April , a German delegation from the Friedrichsgymnasium came to visit both the Israeli and Palestinian partners. We build a play-yard instruments that were installed in the Hope-Flower school yard . The students (both Germans and Israelis) build this playard so the children of the Hope-Flower in the West Bank have a chance to play in their school-breaks as every child deserve. This activity made our students delegates of good will of hope and cooperation.
Plans for this year project: BRIDGING GENERATIONS
This coming year we are basing our project in building bridges through generations.
Each student will invest his family history along three generations (students, parent and grandparent). This study will facilitate a mutual learning about one another culture, history and traditions. During early December, a German student's delegation will visit the Holy-Land and during 2006 an Israeli-Palestinian delegation is going to visit Germany.
The main outcomes we planned for this year are:
To build as we did the last year a play-yard instruments for a Palestinian primary school in our area.
To build a stumble stone paving in the main avenue of Frankfurt-Oder of the names of Jewish people that lived in Frankfurt-Oder and with names of Peace makers from the three side (Palestinian, Israeli and German).
A mutual performance and a boat trip in the Oder river in Germany during 2006.
Despite of the hard situation and the conflict we are living since many years , the sides involved, keep regularly contact between themselves through the educators(mostly phone and email connection). An important aim we have , is to realize a face to face meeting between the educators from the three places, so we can make our plans and new targets for the future.
We are seeking for financial help in aim to pay the participants flight tickets (specially the Palestinian) for our meeting planned in Germany during 2006.
If you know anybody who may be interest to join our work or to give us any kind of support, please contact us as soon as possible. If you wish to join our project or get further information, a video CD of our work will be sent to you.
About the partners
Germany:
The Friedrichsgymnasium, is a high school in Frankfurt(Oder) in the east part of Germany. This school has a philosophy of human rights and antiracism.
In the last few years they achieved an amazing step about democratic education. A group of students and teachers from the school led a big campaign in the local parliament of their city and succeeded in opening the parliament to the public once a week, so everybody has the right to question the members of the parliament and get an answer in a given time. All this process is very serious and is supervised by the media. It has been an extraordinary educative experience for me seeing students being so involved, coming to the city parliament and talking with the parliament members and their city mayor about their rights and requests to improve their life and about other local issues.
In the frame of the Building Bridges project the Friedrichsgymnasium staff have already succeeded in involving schools from Poland and West Germany.
Israel:
Schools involved in past and present in the BB project:-
Rabin high school - EIlat,
Ktzir school.
Gvanim high school.
Mevoot – Eiron high school.
The Democratic School of Hadera
The Democratic School of Zichron.
Kfar Kara Arab high school .
West Bank:
The Hope Flowers School.
The Hope Flowers School is a unique example of progressive education in the Palestinian Territories, currently under Israeli occupation. The school was created to meet a need for a safe and supportive environment where children could grow and develop into future citizens of a peaceful and democratic Palestine. We are currently supported by many groups and individuals from a wide range of nationalities, faiths and political persuasions who share our philosophy of peace and democracy
Beth-Hanina community Center , East Jerusalem.
Staff members:
Peter Staffa – Project Director, Germany
Sabine Donzik – Project Co-ordinator, Germany
Ibrahim and Ghada Issa – Project Coordinator, West Bank
Mara List – Project Coordinator, Israel
Additional staff:
Hundred of students, educators and parents that were and are part of our dream.
