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Interview Questions for Ibrahim Issa

Please tell me a little about yourself and how you became involved in peace work?

Where was your family from, before Dheisheh?

What did your father do as a non-violent activist?

How did your father go about trying to fulfill the goal of educating Israeli and Palestinian children to co-exist?

Did the parents come with the kids during visits by Israeli students?

He brought Israeli children from kindergartens to the school in El Khader?

How did he get Israeli parents to agree to bring their children here?

Did he choose a particular Israeli city to do school exchanges with?

How old were you when the school first started?

Were you around? Were you involved in the school when you were younger?

What did you think of what they were doing when they first opened the school, when you were 12?

When you were younger and were seeing all these things, like radicals throwing Molotov cocktails at your house, did you ever wonder why your dad has to do these things?

What had changed when you came back to Bethlehem during the intifada?

You say "some things are easier at this time." Why is it easier now?

And when you decided to come back how did that feel?

Can you tell me more about Mubarak Awad [Palestinian non-violent leader in the 80s] and what he did?

How long did you live in the Netherlands?

When did the exchanges with the Israeli students stop happening?

What are some of the largest obstacles you face from within the community itself right now?

Can you tell me more about that demolition order on the Hope Flowers School cafeteria? Why did they give that order and what are you doing to fight it?

Who do you think would have the biggest influence on the Israeli government to reverse the demolition order on the cafeteria?

Can you say more about what you teach in this school?

How would you respond to the assertion that "teaching Hebrew is marketing the language of your occupiers"?

The Jewish Americans and Europeans teach Judaism?

Tell me more about what you do with the parents and teachers.

About the teachers, what happens if there are things they don’t like, things they don’t want to participate in?

What if there is something the parents don't like that the school is doing?

Do you ever have any doubts about confusing the kids with the reality you have inside the school--- what you teach them ---and the reality they see outside?

Are people in the community still accusing you of "normalization"? You said it’s easier now.

What do you think people are afraid of, when they think about what you’re doing and react badly to it or they have doubts about it?

Do you see successes in your students? Can you describe what you see?

What do you mean by leadership? How do you create a leader?

So you have former students who have graduated from university. What do you see some of them doing right now?

What would be the ideal thing that you would hope that a graduate would go and accomplish?

If you could generalize, is there something that keeps people from achieving what they want to achieve?

How has working here changed the way you live your life?

Do the kids in the school know what’s going on with the Israeli army's order to demolish the cafeteria?

How do you deal with news here or with daily events? For example, you’re very close to Deheishe, and if there’s somebody who’s injured, or if a bomber comes from Deheishe, how do you deal with that in school?

It must be hard these days because you can’t actually have a dialogue because you can’t physically get the other side here.

Which school are you working with to set up the Internet communication project for students?

How about the rest of your family, how do they feel about this work?

Do you have other family members who work in the school?

What are the most significant ways this conflict has affected your life, personally?

You were shot. What happened?

Were you at the demonstration?

Do you participate in demonstrations now?

How did your father feel about you participating in a demonstration, throwing rocks?

Did you get any treatment after you were shot?

Where were you shot?

Were you injured badly?

You say children don't understand what the conflict is about, but when you were 16 you must have known enough about the conflict to be demonstrating…

How old were you?

So you followed your father’s footsteps and you continued working in the school, so what led to this change, was it to honor your father’s memory? Any personal reasons?

What do you feel you gained from all this?

What’s the most important thing for you to achieve for yourself and for your pupils?