Israël – Palestine: “Education for peace, needs people who are not afraid to swim against the mainstream”

By Dr. Sarah Ozacky-Lazar, UNESCO – Peace Laureate

ISRAEL- While the political process towards peace in the Middle East seems to move forward slowly but steadily, the internal process of change within the two societies – the Palestinian and the Israeli - might take generations. The transformation from a culture of war and conflict to a culture of peace is hard and painful, and there is no clear-cut formula a people can use in order to change its way of life.

Moreover – the two peoples would need to let go some of their significant dreams, compromise on basic conceptions and form new components to strengthen their national unity and solidarity.

One of the dreams that both share is the hope of each side to control and rule the entire territory of the country. The Palestinian covenant refers to Palestine as an “indivisible land” and many Israelis support “Greater Israel” in the borders of Mandatory Palestine between the river (Jordan) and the sea (Mediterranean). In both sides there are radical groups who sacred the land more than human life and are ready to sacrifice their own life for the sake of the holy land. Both societies are expected to pay a high price of internal disputes and even a risk of civil war if they want to control these radical groups who endanger the whole process, based on partition of the land into two states.

Another important matter is the fact that both societies are military and security-oriented. The Israeli army – the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) is one of the most important institutions, if not the strongest and highly appreciated among national establishments. Every young man and woman must serve in the army when they turn 18 – men for 3 years and women for 20 months. The army is the best channel for social and professional mobility and of course the most important factory of politicians and prime ministers. Generals take off their uniforms after 30-40 years of service and jump into politics right to the top.

Examples? – the late Yitzhak Rabin, Ehud Barak and Ariel Sharon, to name just a few.

The Israeli society would have to change its attitude in times of peace, it would have to re-consider compulsory military service and to raise different kinds of leaders from its civil circles and not from the military.

In Palestine the situation is different, and yet similar.

There is no Palestinian army in existence, since there is no independent Palestinian state, but the semi-military groups and armed organizations control the scene. The late Yasser Arafat used to wear uniforms all the time to represent the “armed struggle” as the most formative national value.

To create a culture of peace between these two rivals would take long years of education and intensive work of non-governmental organizations among all sectors of society.

The Palestinians have yet another huge task to cope with – the transformation from a people under occupation to an independent free nationhood.

In the last 100 years, 4 foreign powers ruled over them – the Ottoman Empire which collapsed at World War 1, was substituted by the British Mandate, which made room for the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan after 1949, and then Israel’s occupation since 1967. To form a new independent society which has to take care of its own needs and neither lean nor blame others for its own mis-conduct is not easy.

Dozens of nations formerly controlled by the colonialist powers in Asia and Africa are still struggling up to these days to form their true independence. Hopefully the Palestinians would not fall into internal war and dictatorship like many of those.

And last but not least – both Israelis and Palestinians consider themselves victims. This is a very deep national feeling which unfortunately dictate their behavior in many cases.

One of the most dangerous phenomena of this sense of victimization is the self-justification of taking any measure in order to protect oneself. Israelis use this when they build the so-called “security barrier” between them and their neighbors and for “target killings” of terrorists even if it means killing innocent people at the same time.

The Palestinians justify the suicide bombers by claming that this is “the weapon of the weak” and by this send a message to their young ones that killing civilians on buses and cafes is a heroic act of self sacrifice for the sake of the nation.

How can the two sides give up this way of life and prepare themselves and the next generation for a different kind of thinking, for a more compassionate and reconciled vision of the other and themselves?

The answer is education. Education for peace, education for culture of peace. It takes time and competent educators, it takes courage and vision, it needs people who are not afraid to swim against the mainstream, it needs support of the international community and from others who had gone through such a process.

There are several groups and organizations in Israel and in Palestine who have been engaged in such activity for a long time. We need to expand their work, expose it to the public and to the world, we need commitment, courage and faith.