School for Peace AGM presentation

Dialogue
in Times of War
v
The School
for Peace

Dialogue’s Difficulties
in Times of Crisis
Silencing of the oppressed (How can you hold space for
dialogue when half the group is silenced?)
One of the Jewish facilitators shared:
“How can we have any real dialogue... when the current
dialogue is highly asymmetrical? ... We bring Palestinians to
the meeting because their organization has asked them to
participate… Organizations shut employees’ mouths and send
them to participate in dialogue… It's absurd that people are
put in this situation.”
2

Dialogue’s Difficulties
in Times of Crisis
The sense of danger and threat has an impact on facilitation - facilitators are afraid
to take risks and take a stand
One of the Palestinian facilitators shared:
"I led a dialogue session in a mixed team that is involved in an educational field... At
first, I was afraid to intervene - to highlight and reflect back the oppression the Jewish
participants were exerting towards the Palestinian participants. I felt that I did not
protect the Palestinian participants in the group and left feeling suffocated and
incompetent."
3

Why Persist? What is the Role of
Dialogue in Such a Time of Crisis?
Allows processing
the dynamic change
in identity
Safe Space
Restoring a sense of
agency and control
through an attempt
at equal relations
Use of other –
I can calm myself
down through
the other
5

The Crisis is Answered
With
Partnership
Resilience
Renewed belief in our Dialogue method
4

Some numbers of 2024 (Until now)
880
participants
118
Participants in
the Universities
program
In
6
Academic
campuses
42
Lectures in
all activities

Activities with
the NSWAS
community
▪
▪
▪
WASNS Community Dialogue
Bilingual School Teacher Training and
Parents Learning group
Photo Exhibition of Graduates of the
Environmental Justice Course Mish Adi
(Not Normal)

Activities with the NSWAS
community
▪
▪
▪
Photo Exhibition of Graduates of the Environmental Justice Course Mish Adi (Not Normal)
Lecture on Wartime Freedom of Speech with the Spiritual Center
Health Care Professionals Group (Organized by Raed, Lihi,Nihaya, Ayelet amd Ela)

Selected activities
7

Universities
8

Some preliminary results of the
Universities program
Out of 82 students that took the course in the previous academic year:
73%
Agreed or very much agreed that
the course helped me understand
how the unequal power relations
between Jews and Palestinisn
manifest themselves in reality.

Some preliminary results of the
Universities program
Out of 82 students that took the course in the previous academic year:
82
%
Agreed or very much agreed that
the encounter strengthened my
awareness of the importance of
the national identity and its
influence on the other.

Some preliminary results of the
Universities program
Out of 82 students that took the course in the previous academic year:
84
%
Agreed or very much agreed that
the encounter helped me
understand the importance of the
presence of the two languages in
creating an equal environment

Graduates conference
9

Hackathon
10

Dialogue
Group for
Palestinians
and Israelis
Living Abroad
14

Moving Forward - Strategic Priorities
and Activity Framework for Next Year
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
Working with all parts of the Palestinian people specifically the west bank
Developing SFP’s facilitation approach in accordance to the crisis
Mental Health
Creating more visibility to our work, worldwide and in the region
Being aware to the danger of normalizing this un-normal situation we living in

Thank You