The year 2020 marked the 30th year that the course, “the Jewish–Arab Conflict in the Mirror of Theory and Practice” was taught, at the Tel Aviv University in its Psychology Department. In addition, for the first time, SFP began teaching the course at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem, and continued teaching it at the Ben Gurion University of the Negev. At Tel Aviv and Ben Gurion University 10 Jewish and 10 Arab students participated and at Bezalel there were 6 Arab and 5 Jewish students. The SFP has been teaching this course at Ben Gurion University intermittently for the last 20 years.

Due to the Covid-19 virus teaching brought new challenges as university campuses were closed and courses began to be taught through the internet. As the dialogue and interaction between the Jewish and Arab students is a central part of this course we were concerned about how we could teach it. We decided to try and were pleased that the students were able to engage with each other in a meaningful way over the internet. We found that working over the internet results in participants’ greater verbal expression as non-verbal messages can’t be easily communicated online. The informal contact and discussions which take place during breaks, allowing students to get to know one another, has been missing.

The new course at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design was a joint initiative of the School for Peace and Professor Senan Abdelqader. In 2018, Abdelqader established the Institute for the Study of Arab Culture in Visual Arts, Design and Architecture in the Bezalel Academy. The Institute works on constructing an academic space that enables interaction with the Arab legacy and the modernization processes. This course is unique among the other SFP university courses as it combines the intensive meeting of Jewish and Arab students with lectures on planning and construction in the shadow of the conflict. The participants’ chose the course because of an interest in the impact of the conflict on planning and construction policy in Israel which has important ramifications on the relations and tensions between Arabs and Jews. It was surprising that both groups lacked knowledge of the history of the Palestinians in Israel from 1948 onward. For the Jewish students it was the first time they addressed issues facing Palestinian citizens of Israel in a joint meeting with them. Arab students were happy to share their experiences of facing discrimination as Palestinian citizens and this first hand open dialogue with their Arab colleagues deeply affected both groups. This year’s course was fully funded by the School for Peace