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Although the big wars seem to be behind us, local conflicts and tensions, often bloody and sometimes entailing horrendous massacres, are still around us. And if it is not an overt conflict, then it is inter-ethnic friction accompanied by manifestations of racism and xenophobia. Yet, while conflict, tension, strife, rivalry and violence are highly salient and visible, quiet activities of peace education, reconciliation, anti-racism and co-existence are carried out all over the world in such countries as Belgium, Sri-Lanka, Israel, N. Ireland, and Croatia. These programs are operated in a variety of forms, ranging from school-based curricula to weekend encounter groups, and from joint summer camps to joint theatre and expressive art groups.
The goals of peace education in its different instantiations are many and varied. But basically one speaks of changed attitudes, increased tolerance, weakened stereotypes, changed conceptions of self and of "other," reinforced sense of collective identity, and the like (see e.g., Bar-Tal, 2002; Bjerstedt, 1993; United Nations, 1999). According to a related approach (Salomon, in press), peace education ought to basically strive to legitimize or at least come to respect the other side's perspective, its collective narrative, fears and expriences. Indeed, some programs try to attain exactly that through the sharing of personal experiences, thus attempting to promote co-existence and reconciliation (e.g., Bar-On, 2000).
But do such peace education programs have any desired effects? Even if we are to adopt very modest goals for peace education, such as a bit more tolerance and somewhat more respect for the "other," would peace education programs meet such challenges? Does the investment of good will, time, energy and financial resources pay off in the desired direction?
Nowhere is this question more important than in regions of intractable and protracted conflict such as Israel, Northern Ireland, Rwanda, or Bosnia. For in such regions, peace education might make a profound difference, if it actually worked, but it would be a painful source of disappointment and frustration if it didn't. And although, as I will show in a moment, peace education in the context of intractable conflict constitutes a class of its own, it entail enough communality with other contexts of lesser severity that lessons from it could be relevant also for the latter.
My talk here today is focused on the question of whether peace education in regions of intractable conflict has positive effects. I use the case of Israel where Jews and Palestinians are involved in a protracted bloody conflict for more than 100 years. I want to assume that if peace education works there, attaining desirable outcomes, that it may offer lessons of importance for other places as well, including places afflicted with racial or ethnic tension.
The question of whether peace education in regions of intractable conflict makes a difference is not a benign one. A close look at the nature of such conflicts would suggest that they do not give peace education much of a chance of being effective.
Address correspondence to:
Gavriel Salomon, University of Haifa, Center for Research on Peace Education, Haifa, 31905, Israel.
Fax (972) 4 824-9372 ; Email: gsalomon@research.haifa.ac.il
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