Jewish-Arab Hand in Hand Schools: A Deeper Dive
While Hand in Hand schools provide an island of sanity in today’s Israel, peace-building through co-existence can only be accomplished by baby steps.
Sandra’s artistic work is unique insofar as it relates to social trauma which stems in large measure from her own biographical background. As an Argentinian, she experienced firsthand what happens in a society when an authoritarian government shuts down the ability of its citizens to think for themselves, express their ideas, ask questions without fear or be curious about their reality. According to Sandra, “doing so through artistic expression can provide a mechanism for discovering your own identity in a complex reality of being an Arab Israeli.” For example, one of the students questioned what national flag fits her, if at all, when the Magen David (Star of David) Jewish symbol on the Israeli flag is not seen to represent her, yet the Palestinian flag may not either, as it can symbolize daily suffering in the West Bank and Gaza to which the same student may not fully relate.
Sandra believed that the students at Hand in Hand might discover a sense of identity and empowerment through artistic expression. “My thought was that students will find similarities between their current life and my story in Argentina since as a member of the Jewish minority, I lived through a military coup with political restrictions. I hoped they would feel free to discuss and express their struggles through art.” She conducted a one-day workshop at the school in which students crafted pieces that represented the values and stories they individually brought to the school, and together created a tangram or puzzle symbolizing their shared community. To introduce the assignment, Sandra spoke to them in Arabic of her personal history in Argentina, which immediately grabbed their attention.
Read more at https://www.jewishboston.com/read/jewish-arab-hand-in-hand-schools-a-deeper-dive/