School for Peace in a Changing Reality
With new tensions between Jews and Palestinians, the consulting services of the School for Peace have been in demand. Organizations and workplaces with mixed populations are especially vulnerable to issues with staff relations. The School for Peace was called into over a dozen organizations. One example was in the Ben Gurion University of the Negev. School for Peace staff helped the academic staff of an engineering department in preparing for a return to classes, in which some of the students are returning from army reserve duty within Gaza and others are Palestinian, Israel citizens, who are afraid to express opinions or relate their own traumas from the Oct. 7 attacks and ensuing war. The discussions centered on how to deal with political discussion while protecting students and staff from harm.
The Change Agents in Mixed Cities course has become a nexus for learning how to deal with crisis. One lecture in the course were especially relevant to today’s situation. Hassan Jabareen, CEO of Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, spoke about the stifling of the rights of Palestinian citizen, including the arrests of 116 students, the banning of Arab demonstrations and the unprecedented arming of Jewish citizens.
The Change Agents Climate and Environmental Justice course had a riveting lecture, as well, from Jameela Hardal, CEO of Citizens for the Environment, on the environmental impact of the war. She pointed out that the destruction to the natural environment is often irreversible, and that security considerations tend to trump environmental ones in times of crisis.
The School for Peace has been active in reaching out to foreign media. Dr.Roi Silberberg and Noor Abu Ras were interviewed on German television; Roi was interviewed in a Finnish podcast; and articles appeared in Dutch, French and Swedish news.
“Amidst this turmoil, our focus remains unwavering; to be a pillar of support for our peacebuilding communities. We are here to address the needs of both our participants and alumni, while fostering and manifesting Jewish-Palestinian relations based on trust and a vision for a shared future,” writes School for Peace director Dr. Roi Silberberg.
Links to foreign media:
In German: An interview featuring Roi and Noor on the 3sat public television channel, with the segment beginning at the 6:30-minute mark.
In Finnish: Roi’s interview on the “MPA – Everyday World Politics” podcast, with his segment starting at the 19:00-minute point.
In Dutch: An article featured in the “RTL Nieuws Online” newspaper.
In French: An article published in the “Le Parisien” newspaper.
In Swedish: An article published in the” Balder Magazine“, by Thomas Lerner