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Windows to Palestine, Windows to Peace
The Arab Educational InstituteBy
Leyla Zuaiter
 A
three-minute walk down Milk Grotto Street in
Bethlehem lie the new quarters of the Arab
Educational Institute – Open Windows (AEI),
overlooking Beit Sahour. This unique institution
offers Palestinians views into the self, society
and the world as wide as those afforded from its
large windows. The peaceful, timeless view
befits this Pax Christi-affiliated institution
whose overall mission is building capacity for a
just peace. Operating primarily in the
Bethlehem, Hebron and Ramallah areas, AEI
targets three key sections of the society:
women, youth, and educators. To reach its goal,
it promotes community building and the
development of the knowledge, attitudes and
skills needed for the effective communication of
Palestinian heritage and reality to
international audiences. It does so through
written, oral, visual and artistic media, and
non-violent activism.
Although AEI does not shun dialogue with
Israelis when feasible, this is not the main
thrust of its activities. In its view, true
peace starts with the self, and then moves in
ever widening circles: the family, community,
society and finally the Palestinian-Israeli
conflict. "How can we accept the other until we
know and accept ourselves?" asks Development
Director, Dr. Toine Van Teeffelen. "Knowledge
gives pride and confidence. Only with full
knowledge and confidence of one's history,
heritage and self identity can we meet the other
side on equal terms."
 While
its programmes, projects and activities defy
neat classification, AEI's trademark
multi-stranded holistic approach is immediately
evident in all it does. Take its definition of
"knowledge" for example. To really know oneself
and one's heritage, AEI argues, one must be
engaged spiritually and physically as well as
intellectually: knowledge must be acquired
through all the senses—the sights, sounds and
smells of town and country, the feel of the land
under one's feet. Thus, despite obstacles, AEI
persists in helping young people explore the
physical environment. The fieldtrips bring
together Muslim and Christian youth of different
socio-economic groups from towns, villages, and
refugee camps drawn from AEI's network of 21
schools. These young people might be seen
eagerly searching for herbs and recounting their
traditional uses and the folklore attached to
them; visiting a beautiful spot of significance
in the Christian/Muslim tradition, such as the
shrine to Lot in Bani Naim where one can see the
marks made by Abraham's knees while he watched
Sodom and Gomorrah burn; or re-enacting events
in the places associated with them, such as the
story of St. George in the village of Al-Khader.
AEI's Anton Murra is intimately acquainted with
the problems of youth, which often are
overlooked in the struggle for survival. Unable
to absorb all that is going on around them,
their reaction is to become deeply depressed,
apathetic, or completely disconnected from
reality, according to Murra, who leads the youth
groups. "Young people are in desperate need for
someone to bring them to peace with themselves,"
he says. "You can't imagine how eager they are
to get out of their deadening daily routine, to
do something active. Some kids have never been
out of their own village, especially girls." The
Youth Guidance and Awareness Programme provides
young people with a much-needed outlet and the
Youth Centre provides them a place to call their
own. In this supportive environment, they learn
to speak out about their concerns and opinions
about themselves and their community and how to
listen to those of others.
 Young
people are encouraged to examine their own lives
in context, by recording their experiences,
feelings, and aspirations, allowing them a way
to explore their identity and reducing the risk
that they will internalize the distorted image
of themselves and their people reflected in the
media. They are encouraged to write in English,
both as a means of increasing their proficiency
and a way to share their experiences with
foreign readers. One such project resulted in a
70-page collective diary of the Aqsa Intifada,
When Might Becomes Right, When Abnormal
Becomes Normal. AEI’s
Van Teeffelen knows the power of first-hand
accounts: his Letter from Bethlehem, a sequel to
his own Bethlehem Diary, has a wide Internet
following. The impact of these activities is
unmistakable: youth in AEI's programmes are
engaged in life, and find inner resources to
face the difficult challenges in their lives.
Murra himself offers a good example of AEI's
impact: he first became involved in the
institution as a participant in one of the youth
groups.
AEI draws on the long-shared Muslim/Christian
life in the Bethlehem area, recognizing and
celebrating the differences between the
religions, while using the commonalities to
strengthen the community. It encourages
Palestinians to drink deeply from the
wellsprings of their rich shared cultural and
religious heritage for the spiritual refreshment
needed to face current challenges. Promoting
what its director and co-founder, Fuad Giacaman,
calls "Peace Spirituality," AEI uses a technique
called RRCA, for "Read, Reflect, Communicate and
Act," in such activities as the women's
non-violent communication course or the
Muslim/Christian Living Together school field
trips.
Here’s how it works. A passage or quotation
from the Bible, Koran, or the writings of a
peacemaker concerning a certain theme, such as
helping others, is read aloud and then silently.
Next the participants communicate their feelings
or thoughts on the passage without trying to
convince the others of their views, and listen
to the views of others without passing judgment.
Finally, the group takes action appropriate to
the theme, such as visiting an elderly person
whose home has been demolished, for instance.
For in AEI's view, unapplied knowledge is of
only limited value. An essential sequel to
knowledge is communication and action. Thus in
the wake of its activities AEI often organizes
marches, candlelight vigils, signature or
letter-writing campaigns such as that to Bush
and Kerry during the American elections, or
symbolic actions such as releasing balloons with
attached messages.
 AEI's
publications simultaneously communicate and
strengthen community life. Books such as
Sahtain, a Palestinian cookbook, My
Stories are Your Stories, an oral history
project, and The Bethlehem Community Book,
concerned with religious heritage, to name but a
few, sent people back to the community to cull
and preserve their knowledge of the elders,
increasing inter-generational contacts and
developing communication skills in the process.
While focusing on the Bethlehem community where
it is located, AEI refuses to fall into the trap
of internalizing the ever-increasing
fragmentation of Palestine, as reflected in its
decision to publish Caged in: Life in Gaza
During the Second Intifada, based on
observations of United Civilians for Peace.
AEI's publications for educators explore the use
of traditional proverbs as a basis for facing
today's moral dilemmas, for example, or
information about the major approaches of each
of the monotheistic religions on issues such as
the meaning of land, justice and compassion,
non-violence and reconciliation.
Far from considering art an unaffordable luxury,
AEI believes that it is essential for
Palestinians in their current situation. Art
offers an alternative reality to the harsh
day-to-day world of ugly checkpoints, walls, and
borders which shrink the horizons of the
Palestinian people. Imagination allows one to
see one's environment with fresh eyes, and
increases the possibility of bringing about
change. AEI's response to the Wall, for
instance, was to make a film for distribution
abroad in which the Wall served as a virtual
background for the projection of children's
graffiti, poetry drawings and drama, thus
bringing attention to both the plight and
resilience of the Palestinian people. Art
touches people directly in a way that no number
of historical facts or statistics can, allowing
Palestinians another way of getting their
message across. Thus a course offered to the
women's group on how to develop video material
on the Palestinian reality to foreign audiences
culminated in a 33-minute video entitled
Blessed Are the Olives, made by the women
themselves. But art also offers an emotional
outlet and the refreshment needed to persevere
in the face of difficulties, as in the case of
the women's Muslim/Christian choir which
performs at community events.
One of the paradoxes of AEI's approach is that
remaining rooted in one’s culture facilitates
"crossing borders"-a term commonly used by AEI
staff—in spirit, if not in fact. AEI sets up
international school exchanges, such as "Sharing
Stories," a Palestinian-Dutch Internet exchange,
and its new youth website allows young
Palestinians to communicate their reality
directly to outsiders. International visitors
and volunteers, such as Christine from Germany
who worked with women on the subject of human
rights, or Rune from Norway who worked with a
youth group on youth management, are like fresh
breezes though AEI's open windows, counteracting
the suffocation of closure. AEI opens windows as
well for the foreign journalists, cultural
tourists, volunteers and others who make the
effort to visit its centre, and who wish to
experience Palestine as Palestinians do; it can
also help arrange stays with host families.
Financial director, Elias Abu Akleh, who founded
the AEI with Giacaman in 1986, appreciates the
support the institution has received over the
years. However, he stresses that increased
community awareness and moral support of AEI's
programmes as well as greater financial support
from Palestinian and international partners are
needed for the institution to reach greater
numbers of people in its life-affirming
programmes.
In June, AEI inaugurated its new School of
Communication which features a series of
workshops and courses designed to increase the
knowledge of community members about their
heritage and their ability to communicate their
reality in a credible manner. Communication is a
two-way street, however, and the question
remains, to what degree the international
community is willing to overcome obstacles to
receiving the message.
As for the Palestinians themselves, no matter
how many obstacles or checkpoints are placed in
their paths, AEI strives to dismantle the
checkpoints in the mind, which so insidiously
come to mirror the situation on the ground.
However caged in Palestinians may be physically,
however many walls may block their views, AEI
strives to ensure the windows to their personal
and national identities and the world remain
open. Is anybody out there listening?
To find out more, contact AEI at 02-274 4030,
fax 02-277 7554, email:
aei@p-ol.com.
Leyla Zuaiter conducted a workshop entitled
"Exploring Personal and Cultural Identity
through Family History and Genealogy" to a
women's group at AEI's School of Communication |
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