New Palestinian Israeli school history textbook - shared narratives

Finally, the full bound edition
SIDE BY SIDE: Parallel Histories of Israel-Palestine
by Sami Adwan, Dan Bar-On, Eyal Naveh, and PRIME - Peace Research Institute in the Middle East
The New Press, New York, 2012, 416 pages

Thursday, May 10, 2007 San Francisco presentation
by the authors

A new history textbook for Palestinian and Israeli students
for this new moment in time for learning and living side by side
created through devotion and cooperation under extraordinary conditions
by dedicated Israeli and Palestinian professors of PRIME -- the Peace Research Institute in the Middle East.

LEARNING EACH OTHER'S HISTORICAL NARRATIVE:
Palestinians and Israelis doves.jpg - 4968 Bytes

     Education and school textbooks are important for peace-building, yet schoolchildren studying history in times of war learn only one side of the story -- their own -- considered to be the "right" one. Teaching is often doctrinaire, to justify one side while presenting a negative portrait of the other. One side's hero is the other side's monster, thus fanning the flames of war.
     Research reveals that history textbooks usually focus on the conflict -- its human losses and suffering -- while neglecting periods of peaceful coexistence between the two sides.
     Teachers become the nation's cultural emissaries -- expected to emphasize the goodness of their own side versus the evil of the other.
     This project trains teachers to be emissaries for peace-building, teaching both sides' narratives, allowing their pupils to question what they learn regarding both narratives. One needn't wait for peace agreements. Yet treaties will make it easier for the teachers, as the nations then change their educational curricula to reflect a culture of peace rather than one of war.
     This new textbook prepares students, even in the midst of conflict, to begin to understand and humanize the "other" -- the beginning of the end of war, and of a new culture of respect and cooperation for the good of all. In December, 2002 the teachers who helped develop the curriculum began teaching the narratives to their 9th at grade classes. The considerable challenges, as well as successes, are being evaluated as the project moves forward with confidence.

( Click on English textbook cover )

( Click on Hebrew textbook cover )

( Click on Arabic textbook cover )

The dedicated Israeli and Palestinian educators of PRIME discovered they were not yet ready to merge both narratives into one satisfactory single story. What they created were 3-columned pages. For any moment in history, there is a column for the Palestinian narrative and one for the Israeli experience of that instance. The center column is left open, provided for the student to to make personal notes -- additions, questions, new insights, conclusions.

The universal appeal of this new, balanced way of studying Palestinian and Israeli history has already spread to Italy and France. There, educators have independently initiated and funded reproducing these texts in French and Italian for use in their schools.

The Three Booklet Versions

BOOKLET I (Balfour Declaration -- 1948 War -- 1987 First Palestinian Intifada)
English, Arabic, and Hebrew versions -- Available in print from PRIME
Download English version PDF -- 56 pages -- 576 KB

BOOKLET II (1920s -- 1930s -- 1967 War)
English, Arabic, and Hebrew versions -- Available in print from PRIME
Download English version PDF -- 95 pages -- 53 MB

BOOKLET III (1950s -- 1970s -- 1990s)
Arabic and Hebrew versions only -- Available in print from PRIME

BOOKLET COVERS, in color (English, Arabic, Hebrew, Italian, French)
Download PDF (344 kb)

VIDEO INTERVIEW
Professors Bar-On and Adwan

Project Coordinators and Co-Directors of PRIME
Sami Adwan, Ph.D., Professor of History, Bethlehem University
Dan Bar-On, Ph.D., Dept of Behavioral Sciences, Ben Gurion University (deceased 04 Sept 2008)

Adrian Musallam, Consultant, Palestinian History
Eyal Naveh, Consultant, Isreli History
Shoshana Steinberg, Observer and Evaluator
Linda Livni, Administrative Assistant
Teachers
Leiana Abu-Farha -- Khalil Baden Niv -- Keidar Eshel Klinhouse -- Sara Maor -- Shai Miselman
Rula Musleh -- Sunia Rajabe -- Abdel Halim Tumaizi -- Yousuf Tumaizi -- Naomi Vered -- Rachel Zamir
International participants
Huweida Arraf -- Michelle Gawerc -- Adena Scytron-Walker -- Adam Shapiro -- Jessica Weinberg
Translators
Shimon Ben-Naim -- Yoav Stern

This project and publication are made possible by:
The Public Affairs Offices of the U.S. Embassy, Tel Aviv, & U.S. Consulate General, Jerusalem -- The Wye River Foundation

Press Coverage

Once Upon a Time. . .In Israel and Palestine
Globe & Mail -- Canada -- October 13, 2005

Professors' history project opens new chapter for Israeli, Palestinian students
USA TODAY -- Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Peace Research Institute in the Middle East (PRIME)
Talitha Kumi, P.O.Box 7, Beit Jalah, Palestinian National Authority
Tel: 02-276-5573 -- E-mail: PRIME@planet.edu -- http://vispo.com/PRIME/

If you have interest in (1) ordering copies of these booklets' preliminary drafts or (2) developing a pilot project to
use the booklets in American Jewish, Muslim or other schools, please communicate with PRIME's U.S.A. contact:
Robert Loeb -- Glen Ridge, NJ -- Tel: 973-748-6113 -- E-mail: RLoeb@AOL.com

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