History

The Late Professor Dan Bar-On
PRIME (Peace Research Institute in the Middle East) Portrait »
Interview Highlights »

“ Our idea was to build two narratives that will exist in the public for a long time, long after there are two states. We believe in the two-state solution. Our idea was actually to prepare the pupils to accept that that there are two perspectives to what happened here. So for example, for the Palestinians, it will always be that the Balfour Declaration was the first time that their rights were not recognized. And for the Israeli-Jews, it will always be the first time that the international community recognized their right to a national home in this land. These things will not change, even if there is a political solution.” [Source in Complete Interview]

Meir Margalit
Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions Portrait »
Interview Highlights »

“ [In Al-Bustan, an expanding Jewish settlement in East Jerusalem] there's a struggle between King David and Fakhri Abu-Diab, the Chair of Silwan's Land Defense Committee, over who has first rights and who has the right to exist here: King David's bones or Fakhri Abu-Diab's house. It's the struggle between Jewish history and the Palestinian present. The problem is that during the struggle between the present and the past, our future is being sacrificed. I understand those who say this site is so important for the Jewish people, but there are 1,000 people living there; with all due respect to what is under the ground, I still prefer what exists above ground! I think we need to be careful with the question of roots because it keeps tripping us up.” [Source in Complete Interview]

The Late Professor Dan Bar-On
PRIME (Peace Research Institute in the Middle East) Portrait »
Interview Highlights »

“ One of our projects is to develop a new school textbook with a group of Palestinian teachers and Israeli teachers and two historians. We suggested that they take some dates from the history of the conflict... there were three dates: 1917, the Balfour Declaration, 1948, and the first intifada. Each teacher should write his own narrative about these dates. Then they read each other's narratives, they commented on them, and they asked questions. Finally, they were written up as two separate narratives. The task of the teacher is to teach both narratives to the pupils, and thereby to make the pupils aware, and to respect and acknowledge the fact that there are different narratives, that it's not one legitimate and one not, and not that one are facts and one are propaganda, like the public says. These are two different perspectives, two different understandings of what happened in the history of the conflict.” [Source in Complete Interview]

Abigail Jacobson
Hands of Peace Portrait »
Interview Highlights »

“ I am astounded every time at how unfamiliar these kids are with history to the point that I think I need to stop teaching at the university right now and teach elementary or high school. I'm not talking about the complexity of history, of how people view history; I don't expect kids to have that kind of insight. I am talking about basic knowledge; kids knew nothing about 1967 or about when the Occupation began. They thought the State of Israel was founded in 1946 and not in 1948. Their answers are very interesting when I ask them when the conflict began. It's interesting to see the starting point, and it's also interesting to see which points are perceived as significant on both sides.” [Source in Complete Interview]

Professor Sami Adwan
PRIME (Peace Research Institute in the Middle East) Portrait »
Interview Highlights »

“ We don't want to create the illusion of a perfect reality that is out of touch with the actual reality in which Palestinian and Israeli children live. In theory, it is possible for us to arrive at a single, joint historical narrative. Psychologically, socially and politically, however, this is very difficult to do. Thus, the aim of our project was not to craft a shared history. Rather, what we simply tried to do was explore the possibility of writing a Palestinian narrative and an Israeli narrative and presenting them side-by-side as equals. This was our aim - bold but humble, some might call it naïve.” [Source in Complete Interview]

Ester Golan
Interfaith Encounter Association Portrait »
Interview Highlights »

“ My mother said, "As long as there is a future there is hope." So that's what I live by. Look, France and England were arch-enemies, and they fought one war after another for hundreds of years. Nobody ever believed there would be peace; in the First World War they ate each other up. And look at it after the Second World War. And the same with Germany and Poland. So there are things on a wider geo-political level that have changed in a way that nobody would have predicted could happen. So if it happens there, why shouldn't it happen here?” [Source in Complete Interview]

Professor Sami Adwan
PRIME (Peace Research Institute in the Middle East) Portrait »
Interview Highlights »

“ Through our analysis of Palestinian and Israeli curricula, we have found that both sides tell one-sided stories. They both tell only their own part of the story; Israelis tell their stories and Palestinians tell their stories. I am not saying that the Palestinians wrote their narrative, however, as this was the narrative presented in the school curriculum written by the Jordanians and Egyptians. Regardless, what is very apparent is a complete denial and disregard for the other's story. Palestinians learn in their own language, Arabic, and Israelis learn in Hebrew. There is not even a proposition to listen to the other's story or learn about how the other thinks. This is one issue. Another issue is that neither curriculum pays attention to the eras of peace and co-existence that once existed between Palestinians and Jews. Rather, both curricula are limited to discussing wars, immigration, revolutions, and attacks.” [Source in Complete Interview]

Khulood Badawi
Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), Ta'ayush, Coalition of Women for Peace, Bat Shalom Portrait »
Interview Highlights »

“ I think that every nation fears for its existence, but the way the Israelis have dealt with it has created a psychological barrier that prevents them from dealing with facts on the ground. They feel the need to continuously remind themselves of those fears. Israeli policies and education are centered on the catastrophe that hit them. This leads them to constantly feel threatened and that's why they are always afraid of the "Arab world," which they have difficulty perceiving in any other way than as the enemy. It's not that the Jews' fears are illegitimate. As a Palestinian I have my own fears, too; I've been through the Nakba, the Naksa, the occupation, and attempts-- which are failing-- to wipe out my identity, but my past does not hold me back. One must move on.” [Source in Complete Interview]

Professor Sami Adwan
PRIME (Peace Research Institute in the Middle East) Portrait »
Interview Highlights »

“ As Palestinians, what we learned about our history in school amounts to only ten percent of our complete history. There are many reasons for this. The Jordanians did not write much about Palestinian history. Then in 1967 the Israelis came and censored the curriculum, omitting mention of much of what had happened to Palestinians. So we have lived, from the 1950's until today, without knowing a thing. This is why documenting oral history is so important. We need to understand the past in order to explain the present and plan for the future. Only in this way can we learn from previous experiences and avoid repeating the same mistakes.” [Source in Complete Interview]

Yana Knopova
Coalition of Women For Peace Portrait »
Interview Highlights »

“ Nowadays I think we're witnessing a revival of the Arab Jewish identity among what is termed Mizrachi people. I think that they have the key to true peace, a kind of peace that is right for the Middle East, a peace that will be achieved by Arab Jews and Christian and Muslim Arabs. It's an inter-Arab issue and the state here will be an Arab one with minorities: a large Jewish minority, and large Christian Palestinian minority, a Muslim minority, a Bedouin minority, Druze, but it will be an Arab state. With all due respect we won't be able to hold on to this, and I don't even know if there is anyone who truly believes that in a hundred years' time there will still be a European presence in the Middle East. It goes against the course of history.” [Source in Complete Interview]