ISSN: 1941-0832 Facing the Nakba by Donna Nevel FACING THE NABKA, PHOTO COURTESY OF JEWISH VOICE FOR PEACE RADICAL TEACHER 45 http://radicalteacher.library.pitt.edu No. 109 (Fall 2017) DOI 10.5195/rt.2017.400 Israel, we recognized how critical learning about the Nakba From the editors: This piece is a combination of an was for our own political development and for article and annotated curriculum offered as a resource understanding more about the consequences of Zionism on and model for flexible use by readers. the Palestinian people. We also thought that this work would be meaningful for many activists and organizers “I support compulsory transfer. I don’t see within the organizations we were part of—Jewish groups anything immoral in it.” (David Ben Gurion, committed to justice for Palestinians. We spent the next Israel’s first Prime Minister) years creating curriculum that we hoped others in our communities would be able to draw upon to facilitate “I agreed that it was essential to drive the workshops and classes. inhabitants out.” (Yitzhak Rabin, Israeli Prime Minister) Through videos, slides, first-hand testimonies, historical documents, readings, discussions, and exercises, “Kill any Arab you encounter.” (Mordechai the FTN curriculum offers an historical lens Machlef, Haganah Officer, Future Chief of Staff of for understanding the root causes of the call for justice for the Israeli Army, April 1948) the Palestinian people. We believe that understanding the history that has led to today’s reality is important not only [Quotes from The Nakba: Sixty-Nine Years of for historical accuracy but for what it means for our own Dispossession and Apartheid—IMEU (Institute for organizing and for the road to achieving justice. Middle East Understanding)] We originally designed the FTN curriculum for Jewish groups and individuals interested in exploring and perhaps rethinking their positions on Israel and Palestine, many of he story of the Nakba—the expulsion and which they learned, like some of us on the coordinating dispossession of approximately 750,000 Palestinians, team, while growing up and studying in Jewish educational T and the destruction of more than 400 villages, by the settings. In many cases, for those who are Jewish, it Zionist movement and then Israel from 1947-1949— means unlearning and re-examining many of the stories we has been well-documented by Palestinian as well as Israeli were told about Zionism and about the creation of Israel. and other international sources. However, not only in Israel But, soon after we created the resources, it became but also in the United States and within the American apparent that many who weren’t Jewish but who had been Jewish community, the story of the Nakba is often raised in the United States were subject to the same gaps disregarded or ignored, focusing, instead, on the creation in education about Israel and Zionism and so it became of Israel as a safe haven for Jews, without acknowledging clear to us that the curriculum and resources could be the dispossession of the Palestinian people that began prior relevant for those outside Jewish communities as well. to and with the founding of the State. The curriculum can also easily be adapted for more We created the “Facing the Nakba” (FTN) curriculum formal classroom use or for after-school workshops or specifically to engage with U.S. Jews, as well as a general other forms of community education. The variety of U.S. audience, about the foundational event of what the materials and exercises are designed to maximize many state of Israel calls the War of Independence and what different forms and styles of participation, from adult Palestinians call the Nakba (Catastrophe). education and synagogue classes to workshops in high schools and on college campuses. Since 2002, the Israeli organization Zochrot (“Remembering” in Hebrew) has attempted to deepen The “Facing the Nakba” curriculum is particularly Jewish Israelis’ understanding of the events that took place relevant for those studying what is happening in the Middle in the period before, during, and after the creation of the East; U.S. foreign policy; Jewish history and Zionism; State of Israel and “to promote acknowledgment and Palestinian history; the relationships between Islamophobia accountability for the ongoing injustices of the Nakba.” and Israel politics; settler colonialism; and/or indigenous After a group of New York City activists attended a moving struggles. It challenges narratives that are part of presentation by a staff member of Zochrot who came to dominant discourse and ideology in the United States and the United States, several of us continued to meet to requires a deeply critical, reflective process of learning and discuss how we could bring some of this important work to engagement. U.S. Jewish communities. As Jews living in the United States and working on this Inspired by Zochrot’s work and that of the Palestinian project to bring the FTN curriculum deep within our organization, BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian communities and to hold ourselves accountable for making Residency and Refugee Rights, we—a group of five Jewish the Nakba visible, we wanted to be sure at all times to women, all of whom are educators in the United States— honor and draw upon the extensive work on the Nakba that decided to come together to develop “Facing the has been done by Palestinians, whose lives and Nakba” (FTN). Some of us had grown up learning about communities have been directly impacted by the Nakba Israel as a “land without a people” and were immersed until this day. Therefore, our resources and materials are throughout our childhood and early adult lives in a Zionist heavily drawn from first-hand accounts and histories narrative without ever having heard about the Nakba. As shared by Palestinians. We also received critical feedback we began to challenge and explore our own views and become part of movements for justice in Palestine and RADICAL TEACHER 46 http://radicalteacher.library.pitt.edu No. 109 (Fall 2017) DOI 10.5195/rt.2017.400 from Palestinian educators and historians with whom we shared our curriculum as it was being developed. “Facing the Nakba” Curriculum In developing the curricula, FTN has 1 Introduction We welcome the group, introduce worked for the past few years together with participants to the different sessions, set community agreements, and begin to PARCEO, a participatory action research center explore the Nakba. that provides training and resources in 2 Encountering the Nakba Participants think about their personal partnership with community-based groups and relationship to the Nakba, explore why so institutions working for justice. (I am also part many of us don’t know about the Nakba, of the PARCEO team.) PARCEO has supported and start to uncover where to look for that history through a slideshow and “found the development of the curriculum to be as documents” activity using primary sources accessible as possible for different kinds of from 1948. learners and for those entering with multiple 3 The Nakba in History Through a slideshow and presentation of forms of knowledge and relationships to the information, we present an historical material. PARCEO also created a detailed overview of the Nakba: Palestinian life Facilitation Guide to provide tangible support before the Nakba, the relationship between Jews and Palestinians, the impact for creating an inclusive, welcoming, and of the Nakba in numbers, the UN Partition accountable learning environment that will Plan, and the reasons Palestinians left enable a wide range of participants in different their villages in 1947-48. Through group discussion, we ask, “How did we get contexts to have the opportunity to engage here?” and develop a deeper deeply with the curricula. understanding of historical context. 4 Testimonies We see and listen to testimonies from Palestinians describing what life was like The curriculum: an overview before and during 1948. We ask what “testimony” means, and examine how we The “Facing the Nakba” curriculum, which feel when we hear people tell what has seven sessions, begins with an exploration happened during the Nakba. We may use academic texts, concepts, and empirical of participants’ personal relationships to the research to understand testimonies, but Nakba and presents an historical overview of our focus is first and foremost on the the events of 1947-1948. It includes personal experience and process. testimonies through videos from Israeli Jews 5 In the Archives This session includes close reading and and from Palestinians who lived through the small group discussions to offer time for participants to reflect on some of the Nakba and addresses the question of how we information they have encountered in the interact with such personal testimonies. It previous sessions. Close readings and considers how the Nakba impacts Palestinian examinations will be of: the Israeli Declaration of Independence, Plan Dalet*, life today, including in the Palestinian diaspora, a testimony of a Palmach soldier, and the and looks at issues related to Palestinian poems from two Palestinian poets, “I refugees, international law, and the right of Belong There,” by Mahmoud Darwish, and “There Was No Farewell,” by Taha return. Each of the sessions is ninety minutes Muhammad Ali. to two hours in length. 6 The Right of Return Participants move from learning about the The seven sessions include the following history of the Nakba to exploring the ongoing effects of the Nakba today and themes: Session 1: Introductory Session; looking at who the Palestinian refugees Session 2: Encountering the Nakba; Session 3: are under international law and the Nakba in History; Session 4: Testimony; considering what would constitute a just Session 5: In the Archives; Session 6: The resolution. Right of Return; and Session 7: Art and Resistance.