High school bans Israeli-Palestinian dialogue group due to parents' pressure
Students report that the principal has said the school aims to raise the rate of students who serve in the Israel Defense Forces and that inviting the Israeli-Palestinian organization could damage this.
By Or Kashti Tags: Israel news Ramat HasharonAlon High School in Ramat Hasharon is refusing to allow an organization that promotes Israeli-Palestinian dialogue to operate there. According to students and teachers, opposition to the group, the Israeli-Palestinian Bereaved Families for Peace, has come from the school's parents' committee.
A petition circulated by students alleges that the parents' committee vetoed a visit by the group's representatives due to concerns that students might be influenced by the organization. Parents' committee chairman Hani Fogel said, however, that the committee has not yet come to a position on the matter.
The organization has visited hundreds of high schools around the country in recent years. According to the Education Ministry, school principals can decide whether to invite outside speakers.
 |
Alon High School in Ramat Hasharon. |
| Photo by: Nir Kedar |
Students report that the principal at Alon, Yehuda Yaakovson, has said the school aims to raise the rate of students who serve in the Israel Defense Forces and that inviting the Israeli-Palestinian organization could damage this. Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar also seeks to increase the rate of army enlistment as a goal of the education system.
The Ramat Hasharon municipality, however, denied the comment attributed to the principal.
According to one 12th grader at the school, "the parents, and it seems the school, too, are apparently trying to protect us, but this really is censorship. We are big enough children to form our opinions by ourselves."
Itai Snir, a teacher at Alon and a member of Israeli-Palestinian Bereaved Families for Peace, said he organized a meeting for students after regular school hours to talk about the organization after he was denied permission to do so at the school's Memorial Day ceremony. Snir's father was murdered in Jordan in 2001.
Parents' committee chairman Fogel said the committee, along with the school's administration, "encourages open discussion about values, while keeping a distance from the politicization of the school. The committee did not veto the [organization's] activities. To come to a decision on the subject, the committee met with representatives of the [organization], but a decision has not yet been made.
"A dialogue is underway with the school administration, the student council and the parents' committee on developing activities around values such as humanism and tolerance. Then the content and the groups that will speak to the the students will be examined."
According to the Ramat Hasharon municipality, "[Alon High School] conducts a broad multicultural social-values program that includes a range of activities [involving] meetings with students and their families with Israeli Arabs. The high school works in productive cooperation with the parents' committee and has achieved much regarding values.
"This will be reflected in its high ranking, seventh in the country, in the numbers for completing an officers course, a pilots course, and in the numbers for serving in quality positions in the IDF .... We regret the incorrect statements attributed to the school's principal."
Nir Yesod, responsible for school programming at the Israeli-Palestinian Bereaved Families for Peace, said the group has repeatedly tried to provide programming for the school, but the parents' committee has worked behind the scenes to block it.
"An attempt to prevent the students from hearing a Palestinian telling, for example, how his brother was killed at a checkpoint is ridiculous," Yesod said.
Why Facebook Connect?
Comment on Haaretz.com articles with your Facebook login, and share your thoughts on your own wall.
- Latest
- Most Viewed
- Most Rated
- Open all
If they see the Palestinians as anything other than bloodthirsty terrorists -- if they see them as human -- they will be less likely to kill them indiscriminately. Every country wants its people to see the 'enemy' as dehumanized, it makes them easier to kill.
Promoting violence is more important to Alon High School than promoting peace. This is insanity. What better way to assure Israel will never reconcile with the Arabs?
So the children may no longer follow the "party" line if the school permits fair debate. On an almost daily basis we are seeing the government or - in this case - a parents association implementing measures to curb criticism of the state or quell debate. Yet the people who impose these curbs fail to see that the problem might stem from them, not their critics. Israel continues to see good in remaining a country of occupation and taking measures to strengthen that position. It can only do so at the expense of gagging opposition. If this is a democracy at work, what is state control?
Evidently they're afraid that students listening to Palestinians might get the idea that Palestinians are really human beings. Who knows where such dangerous propaganda might lead?
..it seems obvious to me that both parties should come to the dialogue with a willingness to accept each other party's right to existance and self-determination.Would any such dialogue group allow an Israeli Jew to talk to Palestinians about,for example,how his brother was killed by a Qassam or in a suicide bombing?
"Ranking in Officers Course, Pilot Training, etc" Those are values that the education system needsto give our children? What about humanity, social skills, mathematics? Of ourse telling innocent children about Palestinian and Israeli suffering would make them think (maybe, hopefully). A very dangerous prospect indeed!
a moment of silence for its passing please.
a moment of silence for its passing please.
Our political leaders in israel constantly highlight the indoctrination of Palestinian children - using this as (yet one more) excuse for working honestly towards a peace deal. However, the reality is that the Israeli school system works at a profound level to militarize our children and orient them towards perceiving Palestinians as the enemy. This sad story at Alon school is actually misleading since even while many schools do allow visits from such groups, the underlying message of our education system is one that consistently valorizes the military and pays superficial lip service to co-existence. In fact, our education system mirrors our political system!
If you want your children to serve in IDF, it is better that they first get some exposure to the reality of relationship between Israelis and Palestinians. One, this will help them understand the people they will be dealing with. It will even be better if Israelis would learn Arabic (for every good logical reason). Two, it will make sure they become real soldiers who know the moral ethics, instead of being "robots" that kill lives without discretion. Also, is it not more important to grow up being people who seek peace with their neighbours, than people who seek war?
Yet, another example on how the Zionist refusing to accept, even, a dialogue with the other side,indeed, shows how interested the Zionist are in the quest of peace and understanding!! amazing!!
.... because they are concerned that the students might be influenced. Funny when the Leftists get hoisted by their own petard.
As an educator, I honestly believe we have to expose our pupils to open dialogue, which is a bridge to understanding, co-existence and peace. High school pupils, who are before their military or other national service, should be mature enough to listen and draw their own conclusions. I've had the chance to meet with the Israeli-Palestinian Bereaved Families for Peace and was touched by their honesty and willingness to share their feelings and experiences and help build a better place for us all. I think the Ramat Hasharon parents must do some serious introspection of their own fears if they are afraid to have their sons and daughters meet with the group.
This is terribly sad. Good soldiers can also be good people. Knowith the Other might even help them when they come into contact with Palestinian population during their service.
...because then they may not want to join the army and kill them. What a moral cesspool Israel is becoming.