Voices from the Field: Hopes and Fears

Description: Participants will explore the diverse hopes and fears of Just Vision's Visionaries and examine their own hopes and fears associated with this conflict.

Goal: Explore the centrality of fear, the differences between Israelis' and Palestinians' hopes and fears, and what these differences mean about the nature of the conflict and possibilities for an equitable resolution.

Supplies: Just Vision’s excerpts on Hopes and Fears, tape, paper, markers.

Estimated Time: 60-90 minutes.

Suggested Group Size: 10-15

PDF: Download Just Vision's sets of printable quotes on

Hopes:               and Fears:  

 

Procedure:

  1. Print out the attached PDF and post the relevant excerpts near pieces of paper with the words: Hopes, Fears.
  2. Ask participants to spend 10 minutes reading the excerpts.
  3. Ask participants to pick at least one theme and write their own quote about it.  Explain to them the quote doesn’t need to be something profound, but simply a thought or a feeling that they hold about this issue as it relates to the conflict.
  4. Then ask participants to tape their own quote under the appropriate theme.
  5. Once everyone is done, invite participants to go around as a group and read what others have written. 
    1. For a larger group and with limited time, you can ask participants to sit in pairs and share their quotes and what they mean to them.
    2. With a smaller group, while standing beside their quote, ask each participant to read their quote and comment on why they wrote it.
    3. Alternatively, you may give each participant a chance to ask one other participant a question about their quote (Please note that a participant asks a question and the other answers.  Follow up questions should not be permitted here).
  6. Participants are asked to return to their seats and sit in a circle.  Pose the questions below.

 

Discussion Questions:

  • What quote did you connect with the most? Why?
  • What quote did you find most challenging to read? Why?
  • Do you think that these hopes are a direct response to these fears or is it the other way around?  
  • Did you hear anything that surprised you from the other participants?
  • How can barriers created by fears, whether real or imagined, not be a hindrance to conflict resolution?