Adina Shapiro

Middle East Children's Association (MECA)

“ I began this work in 1996 when I finished my national service. That was right after Rabin was assassinated, which had an impact on me, as someone who grew up in the national religious community in Israel. And I began teaching Hebrew at a Palestinian school in Bethlehem, which was a new experience shall I say; a very different experience, a learning process for me. It exposed me more to something that I don't think is new, that the educational component of any peace process is a critical part that needs to be invested in. ” [Source in Complete Interview]

Personal Story and Education:

“ It's not that I didn't think there were Palestinians in the West Bank. It just wasn't part of my conscientiousness. As an aside, I once had a discussion with the principal of the school where I went to school here in Chorev and he said to me, "You know, we don't teach hate. We don't teach our girls to hate." And I confronted him on that, and told him, you can tell that to someone else, but not to someone that was educated in your school system. But in retrospect, they really didn't teach me to hate, it was just that they [Palestinians] were non-existent. ” [Source in Complete Interview]

Obstacles and Challenges and Israeli/Palestinian Power Dynamics:

“ I think that a lot of the Palestinians are very considerate, and it's not that they necessarily expect me to work according to their working methods, but it's hard to turn back and to lose knowledge. That is also said with the backdrop of being the perceived oppressor or the perceived dominant person, and when I come in with fifteen different ideas for what has to be done, and in my mind they are all great ideas and maybe they'll be accepted by all the Palestinians I am working with, that still is too strong. Taking into consideration that the climate we live in is that the Israelis are dominating the Palestinians. So I am more careful about that, and slower in the process, giving more time for there to be buy-in. ” [Source in Complete Interview]

Obstacles and Challenges and Education:

“ when the violence began and it became more difficult to meet, the uni-national meetings became a very structured element because that was maybe the most definite part that we could continue with. We also have the bi-national meetings, less than some people would like, but it is a critical component of the process. Meeting with the other side and discussing matters is essential to being able to cope and even actually model to students what they [educators] went through, even if they don't directly tell the students what they went through [...] the teachers can only be critical teachers if they experience it for themselves ” [Source in Complete Interview]

Obstacles and Challenges and Education and Israeli/Palestinian Power Dynamics:

“ The Israeli curriculum has been around for fifty years, the Palestinian curriculum is just being developed. You can't even put them on an equal basis for comparing, and definitely not work on them together as a joint curricular activity and say "let's all sit down and write curriculum together." I think that might also be seen as one side trying to impose curriculum on the others. So, I think that our goal would be to work within the existing curriculum hoping that as the changes in the curricula take place, that the kinds of things that we're doing will impact those changes. And the teachers we're working with will be able to teach a changed curriculum because the problem many times is not the curriculum. The curriculum for the most part is reflective of what most people are saying, it's not creating something new. ” [Source in Complete Interview]

Vision and Education and Leadership/Empowerment:

“ Providing the children with the skills to cope with the difficult reality and assume responsibility rather than blame and hopelessness and despair is something that is in our interest. And being able to see a more complex reality is in the interest of each side. So the way that we see it, and we emphasize it a lot, is that this is a self-serving project. ” [Source in Complete Interview]

Community Responses to Peace Work:

“ I think that my community was able to accept hearing this other perspective from within. And it's probably the result of me not coming in a confrontational way. I have my criticism of my own community just like I have criticism of many things, but I wasn't coming from the outside, I wasn't coming to say this is all terrible. I received a lot, I have a lot of appreciation and respect for where I come from. And I think that that is felt, and there are some differences of opinion, and there are some people who say that they're happy that I did it because it gives legitimacy for them to have a different opinion within the community. ” [Source in Complete Interview]

Vision and Education and Leadership/Empowerment:

“ If we say that skills of leadership would include being able to see a broader reality than what is right in front of your eyes, that’s one thing that a leader needs and that would be something that teachers need, but also the ability to cope with changing times, the different perspectives, and the messages that have to come across, not the political messages [...] Besides having the knowledge, you have to have the skills to do something with that knowledge and the communication skills to get that message across [...] I think that that is a very important task of a leader, and definitely of a teacher, and people who are working with young people today. We can see into the future, you can have a vision. There can be a time when things are different for us as people, for our region, for you as children, for us as Israelis, or as Palestinians. ” [Source in Complete Interview]

Perceptions of the Other and Settlements:

“ Politically, I happen to disagree with the settlers. But I have an affinity with them, these are people I went to school with, people that taught me, I have family there… it’s not something that’s detached. I have respect for certain things that they do and disagreements with other things. But sometimes the way I hear the way that they are referred to or demonized, is the same kind of demonization of other things I could be upset with. ” [Source in Complete Interview]

Vision and Education and Leadership/Empowerment and Civil Society:

“ I would like to see a reality where every school is a place that can encourage and raise responsible citizens that see themselves as people that can contribute to building society. To see that play a significant role in a peaceful negotiation, eventually filtering down between the two peoples and allowing us not to live nonviolently side by side. For the next generation to be able to take on the challenges that are ahead of them in these changing times is something I think the educational institutions can provide some kind of guidance for. ” [Source in Complete Interview]

Obstacles and Challenges and Community Responses to Peace Work and Israeli/Palestinian Power Dynamics:

“ The context of going to speak to the other side has subversive elements to it and I don't think that we can ignore that. I think that it has a lot of impact on what takes place, especially in a meeting of both sides when everyone feels the need to be loyal to their own group. Because, when we are in despair, why should I show my weakness to the other side? I think that part of the mission that we have to be able to work on is how to not see questioning and feedback as a breach in loyalty. ” [Source in Complete Interview]

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