This past summer, the Middle East exploded yet again, when Israel invaded Lebanon in response to Hezbollah’s abduction of two Israeli soldiers. Regardless of the actors and the reasons (valid or not) behind these conflicts, discord between Israel and its neighbors has been going on for generations now, ever since the United Nations decided in the wake of World War II that the state of Israel should be created from what was then Palestine.

Regardless of the history of the mess created by the colonialist powers and the United Nations and the actions of Israel and its neighbors in the decades since, one thing that has bothered me is the seeming unwillingness of any of these nations and peoples on a collective basis to try to look beyond the religious, ethnic, and personal strife, and attempt to understand and work with each other in ways that will create a better future for themselves and the region. Everytime some effort is undertaken, or some gesture is made, someone, somewhere, crushes it eventually.

But last week, I saw this article, and it heartened me: for any solution to be implemented, it ultimately will have to begin with the next generation. In Jerusalem, of all places, the Yad BeYad (”Hand-in-Hand) School is attempting to integrate Arab and Jewish children in the same classroom, under the tutelage of team teachers: one Jewish, and one Arab. While you and I might think this is neat, what do the administrators of this school hope to achieve? One answer: “…[T]he underlying, spiritual lesson plan at the “Hand-in-Hand” school focuses on one subject, and that is for its students to learn how to empathize with one another.”

Co-administrator Ala Chatib (his co-principal is Jewish) points out one rationale for the school, a reason that I think is essential to this project surviving: “There is more than only one truth. That’s what they learn here, with each other and from each other.”

I agree wholeheartedly with this sentiment. In any argument or debate, there is not necessarily one, and only one, truth: often there’s more than one, and sometimes many different truths. It annoys me when I see politicians, gummint officials, bureaucrats, writers, journalists, and other bloggers act as if there is only one side to an entire issue, and that only one side is correct. It infuriates me even more when such individuals or collectives act as if their view is the only view that matters, is the only view that is correct, and anyone who attacks that particular perspective is automatically the enemy. Israel and many of its neighbors have been guilty of that over the years, and it hasn’t led to any useful, meaningful dialogue. This is just one aspect of the tragedy that is the Middle East, and is an oversimplification of sorts, but hey– we’ve got to start somewhere. One place to start is with the children: unlike some philosophers, I don’t think we are born with the inherent capacity for good or evil. I think a large part of how we develop as individuals and as peoples is through environment, combined with the integral essence of humanity (which *does* contain the capacity for *both* good and evil, or at least I think so…). It’s like that song from “South Pacific”, “You’ve Got To Be Carefully Taught”:

You’ve got to be taught

to hate and fear,

You’ve got to be taught

From year to year…

I’m hoping that this school will help these children learn that they can look beyond the labels, the surface differences, and the philosophical conflicts– and see that underneath it all, they’re just people. They live together, they share the same space, breathe the same air, and celebrate the same common heritage– not as Jews, not as Muslims, but as human beings.

Perhaps this experiment will fail. Perhaps it will succeed. Perhaps it is ahead of its time. But as we are about to celebrate Thanksgiving here in the United States, I think there is a larger, global thanksgiving to celebrate– the triumph of reason and peace over hate and fear; and hopefully the realization, for some of these children (if not all) that there is more than one truth.