A joint project to the Gush Katif Center, Rabin Center and the Shira Banki’s way

The Yitzhak Rabin Center, the Gush Katif Heritage Center and ‘Derech Shira Banki’ joined forces in a project entitled “From Dispute to Discourse – Managing Dispute in Israeli Society.”

The aim of the project is to strengthen the insight that the way to conduct a dispute is not in violence of any kind, but in listening, strengthening the common elements between us and understanding that the very legitimate existence of a dispute must not lead to hatred, segregation, and violence. We believe that any political, social, and religious position can and should benefit from the multiplicity of opinions and the degree of moderation, and that the extremism of public discourse undermines our very existence as a Jewish and democratic state.

We believe that conducting a discussion on the painful events of the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, the disengagement from Gush Katif and the assassination of Shira Banki – and the joint visits to various sectors in the Rabin Center, the Katif Center and taking part in the Jerusalem Dialogue Circles in memory of Shira, can lead to better understanding of the various opinions and points of view.. .

Project structure:

The project is intended for tenth or eleventh graders from yeshivas, ulpanim and secular schools. Each activity group consists of religious and secular students, with a separation of girls ‘groups and boys’ groups.

Each group is accompanied from the beginning of the process until the end by the same couple of guides from both centers, the Katif Center and the Rabin Center.

The students and their teaching staff participate in three days of activity (Rabin Center, Katif Center, Discourse Circles in Jerusalem), in each of which a preliminary workshop, a tour and a processing workshop are held.

The activity is conducted in “clusters” of three educational institutions (secular, religious for girls and religious for boys) from a nearby geographical area, in order to facilitate follow-up meetings at the end of the project.
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The project was a great success, and the reactions from both the education staff and the students were very positive.

At this address you can find a link to a video describing the program and including views from a festive day we held at the President’s House, in the presence of President Reuven (Ruby) Rivlin, where we launched the project: Click / here