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Interview Questions for Professor Dan Bar-On

Why don't you tell me about your background and everything that's relevant to what you're doing now?

Was that your first experience working in the Palestinian- Israeli conflict?

When you got involved in the Israeli-Palestinian issue, did you find that there were parallels with your studies of children of Nazi perpetrators and children of survivors?

How do you feel about the comparison that is often made between what is happening here and the Holocaust?

Can you give me an overview of the activities that PRIME is involved in?

To what extent did you find that the different historical narratives fit neatly into two narratives, rather than maybe more?

Do you think that true peace requires somehow bridging the historical narratives?

How did you pick the nine dates that are presented in different narratives for the textbook? Was there any kind of consensus on what dates to start with?

Can you talk a little bit about the need for such a textbook?

Where do you want the textbook to be used, and what’s the goal?

What have you observed about the range of textbooks available and used by Israeli and Palestinian schools, and the need for a textbook such as the one you’ve created?

Do you have schools that are ready to use the books?

What do you think it will take to get the Israeli Ministry of Education to be ready to use the books?

What is PRIME’s other main project now?

What’s the end goal in bringing those families together?

What are some of the fears the people involved had going into the conversations and the meetings?

Why do you think the media attention would hurt?

So is it your idea that all of the refugees will end up back in their original homes?

Do you think that should be part of an agreement?

What do you think the families involved in the Lachish region project were expecting to get out of it?

What do you think the Palestinians were expecting or hoping to get out of it?

Why do you think the refugee issue is the most difficult to address?

What have you learned about the refugee issue yourself?

How has your work changed in the past three years?

What do you mean by how the narratives will “fit together?“

What are the biggest challenges to doing your work?

Do you ever have any reservations about putting people into these intense situations?

What’s your plan for translating the micro to the macro?

Looking back on previous processes do you think that was the major stumbling point?

What other problems were there with Oslo?

When you think about international players here, whom do you think will be most influential?

Can you tell me a little bit about your experiences with the conflict and how it affected your life?

What’s the most important thing for you to achieve?

Do you have fears associated with the conflict?

How does your family feel about your work?

Have you reached a point with your work with the German-Jewish dialogue that you feel somehow gives you a more complete picture?

Do you feel like you are near a similar point of understanding of the Israeli- Palestinian conflict?