How has the School for
Peace achieved its extraordinary record and growing influence? Director Nava
Sonnenschein-highlights the uniqueness, academic rigor and dedication of this pioneering
institution.
"We are unique in many ways -first of all, in having
equal Jewish-Arab leadership and management positions. The directorship rotates every two
years between a Jew and an Arab.
Second, our investment in research is the most intensive and
comprehensive in the field in Israel. Over the 19 years of the school's existence,
we've developed professional staff, accumulated knowledge and improved our methods through
research. Our way of working with groups in conflict is unique: we connect the micro and
macro levels, focusing on intergroup relations rather than interpersonal which, we've
found, tends to strengthen the dominant group. "We introduced this field to the
universities, and are the only organization to ,develop joint courses with them; We also
conduct the only intensive professional course in Israel that trains facilitators of
conflict groups. We have by now trained several hundred facilitators, many of them serving
as leaders in peace organizations today.
We have also developed a unique model for working with the youth
with our encounter workshops and follow-up. We keep fine-tuning them in response to our
research and the changing reality and needs of our country .As a result, our programs have
flourished, while others have collapsed or stagnated. In 1992, we conducted four workshops
for teenagers; in 1998 we; expect to run twenty.
Finally, there is the uniqueness of our setting -the village of
Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam. Other organizations work in either an Arab or a Jewish
setting, but here, in our supportive atmosphere, both sides feel at home. And the village
itself offers living proof of what we teach -that Jews and Arabs can live and work
together in harmony.
Members of an American tour recently had a chance to observe a
workshop at the School for Peace. One wrote:
"We observed Arab and Jewish teenagers struggling with the
final simulation game. The premise: 'Palestinians and Jews of Israel are at peace. Develop
a document which spells out the rights and privileges of each national group. Describe the
flag if this country. ' Emotions ran high, frustration, distrust; heartfelt anguish
and hope filled the room. We observers felt we were participating in a psychodrama in
which we were asked to examine and feel the chill of separateness and the warmth of
friendship. " July 1998
