Hanitzotz Publishing House – Jaffa
Project Title: Education and Art with Children in the Baqa Centers
Currently, the Hanitzotz Publishing House runs three cultural centers located in three different Palestinian population centers in Israel: one in Jaffa, one in Nazareth, and the third in Majd al-Krum. The Al Baqa Centers host cultural and community programs designed to supplement the programs run by the Israeli government.
However, these centers do more than supplement the activities offered to Palestinians in Israel due to the governments’ neglect of the Palestinian sector of the population. Children at a disadvantage in their communities benefit the most from the efforts of these centers that promote progressive change and inclusionary democratic methods in teaching and in activism.
All of the centers are open year round and offer a summer camp for members as well. Marginalized as a community, Palestinians in Israel suffer from government suppression of their national aspirations and anything that can be related to those aspirations. As such, the education system in Israel denies the majority of Palestinians the chance to develop positive ideas about themselves, their people, and their history.
Programs at the centers ensure that the attendees are presented with a Palestinian perspective that does not demonize them for being an oppressed people. In strengthening the consciousness of these youth as Palestinians and human, the centers provide the youth with an alternative reading of their position in Israeli society. This alternative position contrasts with the message offered by the Israeli government, and instead of mere propaganda, offers them a chance to “deepen their connection with their history.”
The beneficiaries of this project include over 300 children, their parents, as well as the entire community. Children in the program are happy to have an alternative source of information and activities other than those run by the Israeli government. In the words of the project coordinator, Roni Ben Efrat: “We are showing that an alternative educational experience can be successful.”
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