MIDDLE EAST WORKING GROUP  led by Liz Sim 

posted 12th March 2009

Peace and Democratic Education MESP Monday 9 March 2009

Ibrahim Issa - Hope Flowers School Bethlehem
Rowena Arshad – Equality in Education
John Dorman – Restorative Justice and Non-Violence in Education
Julie Hepburn – Human Rights in Education

Gari Donn – Middle Eastern Concepts of Peace and Tolerance
James Kearney – Peace and Reconciliation in Rwanda

As the Convenor of the United Nations Association in Edinburgh, I am delighted to be with you this evening. Our main speaker and panellists have drawn attention to the importance of certain defining concepts in education – hope, equality, justice, human rights. May I take a few minutes to speak about PEACE and TOLERANCE? My colleague, James Kearney, will take forward some of these ideas when he speaks about peace and reconciliation camps in Rwanda. He has recently returned from a visit to these camps and what he will tell you may shock you.

But for me, from the viewpoint of the UNA, I start by reminding us of the UN Constitution:

Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed.

..that a peace based exclusively upon the political and economic arrangements of governments would not be a peace which could secure the unanimous lasting and sincere support of the people’s of the world, and that the peace must therefore be founded, if it is not to fail, upon the intellectual and moral solidarity of mankind.

Through working in the Sultanate of Oman and visiting schools in Tehran, I have come to understand a little of the importance of peace, justice, human rights and tolerance in the school curriculum of these countries of the Middle East.

You will know, that the words ‘peace’ and ‘tolerance: al-tasamoh’ play a prominent role in the holy Quran. Often peace and Islam are regarded as two sides of the same coin. Islam calls for peace and tolerance and a rejection of violence in the settling of disputes.

Peace, in particular, has been seen as having many facets when it comes to its involvement in the curriculum:
1. Peace as a behaviour and practice in times of no wars.
2. Peace as a balance of power – maybe more a balance of fear when between two military and armed nations.
3. Negative peace – preventing wars; positive peace – preventing violence within society
4. Peace within the person



However, like ‘peace’, al-tasamoh, tolerance, is a central feature of the curriculum. I think of both peace and tolerance as being ‘key concepts’ running throughout all subjects of the curriculum (rather like our ‘key skills – communication, numeracy, literacy, ICT, team building, leadership etc etc). In the Islamic school curriculum, peace and tolerance are embedded in the following meanings:

Respect for life
Adoption of appropriate behaviour
Freedom, justice, equity, solidarity between people
Harmonious integration of people with their environment (Sadi 2000)

Peace and tolerance, therefore, cover all dimensions from the personal, to local, to the regional, to national communities, to international realms of understanding and then onto global peace.

One country of the Middle East, Oman, states in its curriculum documents that the culture of peace includes:

‘Values, tendencies and principles and is a way of life that abandons violence and seeks problem solving through dialogue between people, communities and countries.’ (Omani National Commission for Education, Culture and Science 2002)

It sounds quite feasible, doesn’t it: yet governments spend over $800 billion each year on armaments whilst ‘peace’ is seen as just a part of school curricula.

Peace is therefore not merely the absence of war and violence but a recognition that for peace to be continued, there needs also to be government commitment to freedom, justice, dignity, equity and security regardless of differences between people. And whilst that may start in the minds of men, it needs also to percolate to the behaviour of governments.

That is what James will now speak to. Thank you.

Monday, February 9th: Royal Overseas League, 100,Princes Street; 6:30 for 7pm
"The Middle East: Palestine and Israel." GAZA: A Meeting led by our Honorary Secretary Liz Sim telling what your Branch did to try to stop the horror and stand up for International Law. We can do more. We have to do more. This is a ‘We the People’ problem. The gossip is that Iran supplies Hamas with weapons. This is wicked; just as wicked as the West supplying Israel with the latest bombs. Our government seems part of the problem ALL WELCOME; COME AND TELL US WHAT THE BRANCH SHOULD BE DOING.

This is (relatively) new group in process of formation. So far several members have expressed interest or may be potentially interested. We have not yet met as a group, but I hope to contact those interested in the near future.
(Question: How far should the brief of this group extend? Israel/Palestine, yes; Israel and its Arab neighbours? Iran??. To begin with, we propose to concentrate on Israel/Palestine.)
Hugh Drummond and Liz Sim attended the first meeting of the (new) Cross-Party Group on Palestine at Holyrood. Most of the ~50 members of the group were present. The invited speakers were: Keith Hammond, University of Glasgow, and Professor Hilary Rose, Convenor of BRICUP (British Committee for Universities of Palestine), who spoke about PACBI - academic and cultural ‘boycott’ of Israeli universities. This is not detachment from Israeli universities, but rather a determination to wake up Israeli academics to the realities of the situation in Palestine, especially the stark contrast between the freedoms of Israeli universities and the closures, restrictions and oppression suffered by universities and students under occupation in Palestine. The third speaker - Ms Rawya Shawya, an MP from Gaza, spoke movingly of her situation in Gaza. In the Q&A session Liz referred to UNA, its modus operandi and policy towards the Middle East (Policy Document 2007 Conference), and its links through UNA-UK with FCO in briefing Ministers at Westminster. Afterwards several people asked for information about UNA. Tony Grahame (Secretary of Cross-Party Group) emailed Liz afterwards asking for help to find a UN speaker for a future meeting of the Group. This request has been forwarded to Mark Rusling who deals with Middle East issues at UNA UK. So far Mark has been unable to help with a speaker, but a potentially useful line of communication has now been established between the Cross-Party group and UNA-UK.

Liz Sim,
Convenor of Middle East group