Description: participants will explore their own sense of global awareness through recalling their narratives as well as hear the narratives of Palestinian and Israeli peacebuilders, specifically about 1948.

Goal: Participants will explore how events shape personal and collective narrative, their own global awareness, and gain an introductory understanding of one of the key events in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict through multiple and diverse narratives.

Supplies: Long piece of paper, markers, pens and paper

Estimated Time: 90 minutes

Suggested Group Size: 15

PDF: Download a sample of entries from Just Vision’s collective historical timeline

Part I

Prepare a long piece of paper and place it on the floor with a line down the middle of it.  Roughly mark the decades for the last 30 years, leaving space before 1980 in case anyone marks events before their lifetime.  Please note that the decades marked can vary according to the ages of the participants; make sure to create a timeline that best fits your specific group.    

Give participants pen and paper and ask them to take 10 minutes to write 3 historical events in their lifetimes that they felt were monumental.  For each event, ask them to write down 1-2 sentences about it and how it affected them. 

After participants are done, ask them to write down their events and explanations on the timeline – if another participant had already marked an event, other participants are to add their explanation beside the event. 

After everyone is done, ask participants to examine some of the other events people marked.  Pick a few events and read some of the differing descriptions.   Ask participants:

1. Do you see any differences in the events people chose?
2. For events that more than one person chose as significant:  Are there differences in the way people described the event(s)? Are there any patterns or similarities?
3. What surprised you, looking at the timeline?
4. Do any of the events differ in their impact? For instance, do some have a personal impact while others have a national or global impact?

Part II

Ask participants to sit in a circle.  Give the following explanation of what happened in 1948 and explain that it is an event that is at the core of the conflict: 

1948 is remembered in Israel as the year of independence and in the Arab world, especially among Palestinians, as Al-Nakba, “the catastrophe,” the continued flight and expulsion of Palestinians from the territory previously known as Palestine. 

Divide the room in half, one side Palestinian and one side Israeli (it might be helpful to put a sign in the middle of each group that says “Palestinian” and “Israeli” to help participants remember).  Give each participant an excerpt from Just Vision’s timeline compiled from our Visionaries (please see the quotes provided in the PDF) and explain that these are the narratives of 1948 from Palestinian and Israeli peacebuilders. 

Ask participants to read their entries aloud, alternating between quotes from Palestinians and quotes from Israelis.  After they are done reading, ask participants:

• What are some of the similarities and differences between these narratives in general?  Between narratives of Palestinians?  Between narratives of Israelis?
• What do you think could be some of the challenges of having so many different narratives?
• What do you think it means for people in a society/community to have the same narrative about the same event? To have a different narrative on the same event?

Closing Questions: What is the difference between acknowledging someone's narrative and justifying it? What are the risks in acknowledging the other's narrative?