It is hard to be optimistic when thinking about the seemingly endless conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians. But an effort spearheaded by St. Paul educators aims to instill respect at the personal level may succeed where the leaders have long fallen short.

Leaders on both sides in the conflict have made pledges of peace and goodwill. Both have signaled their willingness to sacrifice what they believe to be rightfully theirs. Both have denounced the extremists in their midst. But for all of the declarations, little has been done to actually bring the two closer to living side-by-side. The main reason: they still want and believe they are entitled to the same very small piece of land and all of its resources.

Much has been made lately of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s recent trips to the region and the conference she is trying to put together to bring them together in Annapolis, Maryland, sometime before the end of the year. It is an important effort, and worthy of our support, but these same tactics have been used before and little has been accomplished.

That is why we are heartened by those in our own backyard who are working to build relationships between the peoples of the region. Lou Kanavati, a retired St. Paul Schools Superintendent who was born in Bethlehem; and Arie and Nurith Zmora, Israeli-born professors at Hamline University, have been working for the past few years to do exactly this. Several times a year, the Zmoras, Kanavati and others have traveled around Israel and the Palestinian territories, and Jordan and Lebanon as well, in the hopes of fostering dialogue through education and cooperation.

This summer, they hosted a group of Israeli, Palestinian, Jordanian, and Lebanese educators in St. Paul and worked with them to create a broad curriculum based on mutual respect and peace.
Kanavati and Arie Zmora recently returned from a whirlwind tour of the Middle East, recruiting Israeli, Palestinian, Jordanian, and Lebanese teachers to use their curriculum in their respective areas. They visited many of the same places Rice recently visited, and some of the places that she was unable or unwilling to go.

Kanavati visited educators in the Gaza Strip and could hear rockets being fired from Gaza into Israel as he crossed the border. He also saw Israeli helicopters heading towards the area where the rockets were fired.

Kanavati told us this week that expectations of any sort of breakthrough between the Israelis and Palestinians were slight. “Nobody expects anything,” he said, adding that many Palestinians also believed that a failure of the Annapolis summit to address Palestinian grievances would strengthen the militant group Hamas’ power.

Regardless of the outcome of Rice’s trip or of the upcoming Annapolis Summit, Kanavati, the Zmoras and the Middle Eastern educators they work with will press on, fueled by their determination to see that the children of Israel, Palestine, Jordan, and Lebanon accept one another as neighbors and equals. Their mission is ambitious and certainly will encounter setbacks, but Kanavati is sanguine about the process.

“Even if we move a couple of inches in the next three or four years,” he says, “it’s a movement in the right direction.”

Introduction

My name is Ben Ragsdale and this is my blog. Most of the writing herein will cover topics relating to the Middle East, art, literature, and film.

Each blog will be posted under the subject of its contents. Hope you enjoy.

Thank you,
Ben Ragsdale