JERUSALEM | Since September 2007, Seeds of Peace has organized two cross-border workshops per year for Palestinian and Israeli educators. These workshops are part of the USAID-funded set of Seeds of Peace initiatives, “Promoting Peace Education & Dialogue in Israeli & Palestinian Centers of Learning.” Workshops have taken place in the deserts of Wadi Rum, Jordan, in Tiberius, and in Neve Ilan, outside of Jerusalem.
Workshops, which last three days, focus on various aspects of peace education—on the process of facilitation, on human rights education, on the role of the media in the conflict, on the best practices of participants. The workshops provide a rare opportunity for Palestinian and Israeli educators to share their experiences, their reflections, their best practices. The workshops are open to all Seeds of Peace educators—Delegation Leaders, participants in USAID-funded workshops for educators, graduates of the Seeds of Peace facilitation course. These workshops strengthen and enlarge the circle of cross-border educators working for the mission of Seeds of Peace. In the early part of 2009, these workshops were postponed because of the Gaza War.
In June 2009, a remarkable group of Palestinian & Israeli educators gathered in Tiberius to meet for the first time since the War. They traveled from Jenin and from Haifa, from Ramallah and from Tel Aviv, from Hebron and from Eilat, to participate in a workshop and to meet friends and colleagues from the other side. The Palestinian and Israeli participants helped to organize this event. They could not agree on a topic, so Seeds of Peace used the process of “Open Space” to meet the wide range of needs, to focus on what bubbled up from the participants. For a detailed look at what was accomplished at this event, see the Summer 2009 issue of The Olive Branch Teacher’s Guide or this booklet created by the workshop participants.
Karen, a teacher from Tulkarem said the following about the Tiberius Workshop:
“After a very disheartening period in the conflict, the Tiberius cross-border seminar refreshed my spirit and renewed my commitment toward improving cross-border understanding and communication. To finally experience a face to face meeting with people whom I share similar thoughts, concerns and interests with gave me the fortitude to carry-on with my work. Moreover, these similarities made me feel welcomed, appreciated and empowered in this gathering.”