The Eleven Most Frequent Asked Questions

1. What issues does the program address? The reality of conflict between the two main groups, both citizens of the State of Israel has a significant influence on our daily life and shaped the collective conciseness of both people alike. Each side has its own outlook on the reality and its own narrative of the history. Jews and Palestinians in Israel live very separate lives - in school, in their communities, socially, etc.. They never have the chance to meet and get to know one another. There own collective narratives, myths, stereotypes, prejudices, as well as the current reality form their opinions as it is portrayed in the media. The program addresses the problems arising from this reality in the field of school education.

2. What is the program framework? The program runs for a period of two years and takes place in junior high schools as a part of the formal curriculum. Each class is paired up with a neighboring class from the other group. Throughout the program each pair of classes meets several times. The encounters are designed to compliment the process of learning and dialogue, and the students learn about themselves and the other from the encounters.

3. What makes CTC an innovative program? CTC provides an ongoing experience for the duration of two years. It is the only program of its kind that is part of the formal educational curriculum in Israel - and taught during school hours. Both students and teachers are target audiences in the program. CTC is not oriented towards problem resolution but rather helping the students and teachers to develop the abilities to cope with the complex reality. The encounter in CTC is used as a vehicle that enables the participants to reexamine their attitudes and opinions of themselves and one another.

4. What are the goals of the program? To foster dialogue based on a stable foundation of personal and group identity. To create an encouraging classroom environment that enables personal and collective changes. To offer the teachers the opportunity to experience a professionally facilitated dialogue, for their personal and professional growth and to train the teachers to help the students facilitate dialogue. To familiarize the students and teachers with the centrality of the Jewish/Palestinian conflict and it’s numerous influences on the lives of the people in Israel. To develop the abilities of the students and teachers to cope with the Jewish/Palestinian conflict in the State of Israel. To debate the concept of citizenship, as partnership between all citizens of the state. To challenge the issues that are at the heart of the conflict: the land, distribution of the national (state) resources, collective identity and more.

5. What is the target population? Two target groups: teachers and students in Junior high and high school, All of them citizens of Israel, Arabs and Jews.

6. What is the current operating budget? The total operating budget of CTC is approximately $350,000. This includes $120,000 for the teachers’ salaries, which is funded by the Ministry of Education (55%) and the local school resources (45%). The remaining $230,000 comes from fundraising.

7. What obstacles has CTC encountered? The encounters are run mainly in Hebrew. This poses a problem for the Arab students. Since we understand that language is a way of self-expression rather than just an instrument of communication, we try to encourage both sides to speak in their own language. The Arab students need much more work on strengthening their own identity than the Jewish students; so CTC finds itself applying a kind of "affirmative action" here.

8. Who are the critics of the program? Some Jewish right wing politicians believe the program might encourage separatism and doesn’t deal enough with coexistence. Some Arab parents believe that it hinders the personal success of the Arab children because it encourages them to become involved in the conflict. Some are of the opinion that it encourages Arab children to ask too many questions - to question authority and the hierarchy of the social structure. Some religious Jews believe it might encourage assimilation. Some educators and politicians believe that the encounters should be a goal of such a program and not just an educational tool.

9. What are the most important measures of the program’s success? One measure is the teachers’ continual participation in the program. This indicates that they themselves have entered the process and demonstrate commitment to the program. It has been repeated that graduates of the CTC program have become more prominent in their school setting, taking on more responsibilities in their student councils, becoming active in multicultural issues within the school, and demonstrating more social awareness and social responsibility in their communities and/or youth organizations.

10. What is the program’s most significant shortcoming? This program will never be mandatory in the school system in Israel since it is very demanding both organizationally and financially. Consequently, it will always remain targeted towards a small segment of the population. Therefore, we have to focus on leadership and change agents in society. This coming year (98-99) we are planning to develop a program for student leadership in high schools in two frameworks: student councils and after school clubs.

11. What are the program’s most significant achievements? In some places, such as Emek Hefer, Baka, Nazareth, Tivon and Haifa, the students have chosen to continue the program for a third year and forced us to develop a CTC continuation program for high school students. This shows they are committed to the program and the ideas behind it. On the teacher’s level, we are conducting dialogue sessions with the teachers of CTC who are voluntarily taking part in these sessions in addition to the regular demands of the program. This is a significant achievement because it offers them a great deal of personal growth. Back to Activities...

Last Update: