Bringing children together in Israel

In the recent past, images of Israelis being killed in suicide bombings and rock-throwing Palestinian children being shot have led many to believe that there is no solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

However, there may be hope for the Middle East because of people like Penn alumnus Simon Lichman, who gave a lecture entitled "Arab and Jewish encounters: Using Folklore for Co-existence in Classrooms and Communities" in Houston Hall on Friday.

Lichman, who earned his Ph.D. in folklore at Penn, is the director of the Center for Creativity in Education and Cultural Heritage in Jerusalem.

He started the "Traditional Creativity through School Communities Project" 11 years ago to bring the Palestinian and Israeli communities together. The program takes fifth and sixth grade Israeli children to Palestinian schools and sends Palestinian children of the same age to Israeli schools. The children are usually accompanied by their parents and grandparents. Therefore, the program aims to bring about changes in the attitudes of not only the children, but of older generations as well.

"Our aim is to bring the Arab and Jewish school communities together to give participants a window in to each other's lives in order to help them build relationships based on mutual respect and understanding," Lichman said.

The Israeli and Palestinian children participate in a variety of activities including playing traditional games, talking about their family histories, eating traditional foods and constructing traditional toys. All these activities are designed not only to maximize cooperation between the Israeli and Palestinian children but also their parents, grandparents and teachers.

The older generations are familiar with these activities because they themselves indulged in similar activities when they were kids.

In order to ensure that the children understand each other's religion more effectively, Israeli children visit mosques in Palestinian areas and Palestinian children go to synagogues inside Israel.

"We need a program that will bring the communities together and keep them together," Lichman said.

The program has faced many obstacles in the 11 years since its inception. When violence broke out in October 2000, many people thought that the program would have to be cancelled altogether. But it continued, although visits to the Palestinian areas had to be cancelled due to security concerns.

Another issue of concern for Lichman is funding for the program, which he claims is severely limited.

First-year Folklore graduate student and Israel native Dana Hercbergs found Lichman's remarks enlightening.

"Dr. Lichman's integration of folklore with face-to-face encounters is more powerful and lasting than panels or public debates in shaping relationships between people in conflict," she said.

The event was sponsored by the Center for Folklore and Ethnography and the Middle East Center.

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