How can “Dual Narrative” resources on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict help educators work with this challenging topic?

Facilitated by Rabbi Maurice Harris, Associate Director of Affiliate Support at Reconstructing Judaism

For educators, education directors and clergy

Wednesdays, 3pm-4 pm EST— January 17, January 31, February 14, March 7

Holding educational programs on the topic of Israel/ Palestine can be a minefield, and so we tend to avoid it. A new approach to the subject, called “Dual Narrative,” can help. The Dual Narrative approach, developed collaboratively by Israeli and Palestinian scholars, starts by acknowledging major disagreements over the historical facts and then presents the two conflicting narratives side by side. It helps arouse empathy for all parties to the conflict, and it supports civil discourse and respectful disagreement. Rabbi Harris will offer strategies for using Dual Narrative, including concrete examples, and together we’ll discuss possible program formats for some of the communities we serve.

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Resources

We took our first steps into learning about the dual narrative approach for talking about Israel and Palestine. By examining text studies and side-by-side maps, we examined the benefits and downsides of using dual narratives to frame our dialogue.

A summary of key pros and cons in using a narrative model. 

We continued our journey with dual narratives by comparing two kavanot for peace in the Middle East and diving into the elements often left out of Palestinian and Israeli narratives.

We walked through essential structural choices for planning dual-narratives events and workshops, and took a closer look at the pitfalls of dual-narrative programming.

By examining the stories told through maps, we can draw on the way Zionist and Palestinian narratives are conveyed through visual mediums.