The effects and trauma of the situation in Palestine-Israel can be far-reaching and people in Britain can be touched and experience emotional and mental pain because of it. It can also, occasionally, spill over into incidents of physical violence.
We want to live in a fair, educated and compassionate society in Britain where we celebrate diversity and protect one another from harm. This includes those who have different beliefs, faiths or opinions from ourselves. As well as caring about Israel-Palestine, we also care about each other.
We believe it is possible to have discussions and carry out activism on this issue without hurting one another in the process, and we hope this guide will help educators in Britain to support their students to do so. We seek to raise awareness through this resource about how various views and words may impact upon Palestinians, Israelis, Jews, Muslims, and others. How people then proceed once they have this awareness is their own decision.
This guide has been developed through listening to alumni from among our student participants, particularly Jewish and Muslim, and our Palestinian and Israeli speakers. Their voices and stories are featured at various points throughout this guide, represented by the speech bubbles and featured in the films.
As this guide is based on real experiences of our speakers and participants, it offers approaches related to what they have faced. Different topics and words are addressed simultaneously in this guide, however that is not to suggest a uniform response to these issues, or an equivalence between those words and issues that are presented together in this guide.
It is designed to help you encourage your students to think critically and understand the potential impact before discussing and forming opinions on Palestine-Israel. It is based around the values of:
- Non-violence
- Equality for all
- Rejection of hatred
It is also based around three critical-thinking questions as they reflect on their position:
- Is the goal a win-win outcome?
- Is it fair?
- Is it constructive?
If you are an educational institution and would like our 90-minute online training session for your staff on recognising and tackling antisemitism and Islamophobia in relation to this issue, please click here to book if you'd like to talk to us about anything in this guide, contact us on [email protected]