(Zaman Al Wasl)- A huge blaze ripped through a school building established by Jewish and Arab Israelis in the Greek island of Lesbos for Syrian children.
According to reports by Israeli newspapers, the school administration described the fire as suspicious. The fire coincided with the escalation of hostilities against refugees throughout Greece, especially after Turkey decided to open its borders, turning a blind eye to the influx of tens of thousands of refugees in its territory.
Despite the fire destroying a significant part of the school, the administration expressed their intention to move forward saying that, “the school belongs to all who decided to cling to hope … all the people who decided, day after day, to break the walls of fear between us, and work together for peace.”
The school project was established primarily for children of Syrian refugees, who were denied education due to the conflict in Syria. Since its establishment in 2017, the school received around 3 thousand children.
The administration and the founders of the school, represented by Hashomer Hatzair Life Movement (HHLM), are not concealing their main goal in establishing it, which is changing the image of Israel in the minds of the Syrian, Iranian, Afghan and Iraqi people, who classify it as an “enemy”.
On the school’s official website, they are keen to present an image that reflect what they consider as a pure human effort to help and to cooperate with people to demolish the walls between them, and build bridges of partnership. They are trying to suggest that the school is the effort of refugees from various countries, establishing it as a symbol of brotherhood between nations. All analysis show, unambiguously, that Israel has invested well in the Syrian war by creating a foothold in the minds of people who hated even hearing the word “Israel”.
Given that more than half of the refugees are children, and the fragile psychological state of refugee, any helping hand extended to them is a luxury they cannot afford to refuse. Israel knew exactly what to target, especially in the victims of the Syrian war and the atrocities of Assad and his regime. So, it is rather unsurprising to see a Child from the Palestinian Yarmouk camp, talking about the horrors they experienced before the Jewish school took him in. Or a Syrian teenager thanking an Israeli woman who cared for him, sending her a message of admiration in Hebrew. Or a Syrian father teaching his kid to say, in broken English, “Israel very good” in front of the camera.
The school has 25 teachers and administrators, including three from Syria, 16 Israeli teachers and administrators, 2 people from Iran and Afghanistan each, and the rest from the Congo and Cameroon.
According to its official website, the HHLM movement that founded The School of Peace defines itself as a “network of young entrepreneurs”, operating within the “socio-geographic environment of Israel”.
“Our main goal is to promote equality, social justice and democracy in Israel. We work in various frameworks, in the fields of education and social activism, reaching tens of thousands of children, adolescents and adults.”
HHLM engages a group of “Israeli Arabs” in its school project, which stands in contrast with the picture of a state that does not differentiate between its citizens. A project supervisor from “Israeli Arabs” admits that it was difficult at first because the Syrians were anxious about cooperating with Israelis, but over time, after realizing that there are different sects and nationalities in Israel, they began building a bridge of trust between them. The “Israeli Arabs” group presents a sort of reassurance, if not a bait for the refugees.
The HHLM has a varied group of sponsors and partners, including about 10 government agencies, headed by the Ministry for Development of the Negev and the Galilee, led for several years by Aryeh Deri, an extremist politician one of the founders of the Shas Party and its current president. Deri has held multiple ministerial positions within successive governments since 1988.
Among the sponsors is the Ministry of Education whose history reveals that it is an ideological mobilization tool dedicated to transform Israel into a "pure" Jewish entity.
Although The School of Peace is HHLM’s most important project on the first page of the website, its link leads to a "Page not found”, not caused by an error as the other links work. This raises the question about the true purpose of the school, whether it is really providing children with an education and building bridges between peoples, or whether is it solely dedicated to export a better image of Israel.
The parent organization, Hashomer Hatzair, which means “young guard”, is considered the first Jewish youth organization, established around 107 years ago to educate young men on “the love of the land of Israel”, and it is unlikely that you would find a Jewish soldier or politician who did not participate in it during his youth. The organization helped establish the Histadrut, the Jewish National Fund, Palmach, Israel Defense Forces and dozens of kibbutzim (settlements) across Palestine, encouraging the immigration and assimilating of Jewish people.
Zaman Al Wasl- Ethar Abdul Haq
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