Real change in the Holy Land will only be possible when we change the narrative in our society about Israel/Palestine, our shared, though often unconscious, interpretation of what is happening there today and how the situation became what it is now. We need to change popular perceptions of Palestinians as the Other, as violent and hate-filled, to introduce accurate information on the history of their struggle for their homeland, their freedom, their rights, and to encourage an understanding of their history in the context of global experiences of colonialism and apartheid.
Education in our schools, our congregations, and our communities is a necessary antidote to the appalling failure in western mainstream media to accurately and fully report the experiences of the Palestinian people since the Nakba began in the 1940’s. After many decades of a persistently biased, Zionist-based perspective dominating the narrative in Western societies, to change that pervading narrative is an enormous challenge. For justice advocates in the U.S. in particular, it is a challenge we cannot afford to shirk, if we hope to reach a “sea change” in our society with a corresponding re-direction of our government’s policies to uphold international law and universal human rights in Israel/Palestine.
All our advocacy work therefore begins with education. The narrative we successfully share with our young people and our adults, the members of our churches and our community groups, our family and friends, this educational work lays the foundation for all our other efforts for justice and peace in Israel/Palestine.
In this section of the Portal, you will find materials that can serve that work in congregations, communities and schools: adult study group curricula of varying lengths, many prepared by churches and faith-based organizations; a wide range of films accompanied by simple guides for single-session discussions; and materials and activities for high school students that adults might also enjoy.
We welcome submissions of educational materials that you believe would be useful to this work; contact us at [email protected].