May 15, 2002

Dear Chaver/a Tnua

            The following pages contain what is the current Habonim Dror North America resource book on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.  Certainly, this issue is one that has affected all of us very deeply in several ways.  It has created feelings of both solidarity and hatred, swayed us politically to both ends of the spectrum, and has inflicted wounds upon us; some so deep they may never be healed.

            As Progressive Zionist educators in these difficult times, how might we teach our chanichim about an issue that we ourselves have such a difficult time grappling with?  This resource book does not propose to be a solution to that question.  It can, however, serve as a helpful guide to aid us in educating our youth. 

            The book contains brief histories of the conflict and the attempts at peace, outlines of the roots of the conflict, articles of various opinions, our own movement’s ideology and positions concerning the issue, sample peulot, experiences in hagshama, and personal stories and poems to gain more of a human feel to the issue.  These several approaches could serve as a great aid in the process of educating our chanichim…and ourselves.

            We educate, not simply in order to pass on information, but also in order that we can foster change for the future.  We live in hope that our own actions can manifest the changes that we seek, but there is the possibility that our actions will not bear the fruits of peace.  If that is the case, then we must depend on future generations of like-minded youth.  We must provide these future generations with the tools that are necessary to achieve the peace that we have always longed for. 

            This resource book will not change the world or the conflict at hand.  We progressives, however, have that opportunity.  I urge you, the chaverim of HDNA, to use this resource book to the best of your abilities in order that we can help bring this conflict to an end, and to help ensure that our chanichim will not have a need to use such tools with their chanichim in the future.

Aleh V’Hagshem,

Ari Levy

Racaz Tnua Aleph 2001-2002


How to use this resource book

This resource book may seem a bit intimidating at first, but not to worry, it is organized in order that you can use it easily.  It is organized into six large sections.  These are history, peace process, al-Aqsa Intifadah, HDNA perspective, peulot, and web resources.  The first four sections have descriptions of events, articles, relevant documents, poems and stories, and peulot dispersed throughout the sections.  At the end of most of the descriptions, articles, and documents, there are a few questions clearly marked that can be used as a guide in writing peulot.  The fifth section has extra peulot and the last section contains a list of more resources easily accessed on the internet.

This resource book is being released in three different forms: binded copies, smaller paper copies, and the web.

The binded editions: there will be two copies of this edition at each machaneh.  This will have all of the resources that are needed for a complete resource book.

The web edition: This edition can easily be accessed through the Habonim Dror website.  You just have to go to http://www.habonimdror.org, then go to the link that says publications.  The full copy of the resource book will be located there.  This edition should also be used along with the virtual cheder chinuch, which can also be found on the HDNA website.  To access the virtual cheder chinuch, you will need to follow the link that says peulot.  The virtual cheder chinuch will have full documents that do not exist in the actual resource book.  There are also more peulot there, and people are able to add more peulot in the future.

The small edition: This edition will be given to every madrich at machaneh in the summer of 2002.  This should make it easy for every individual to use it as s/he pleases.  The smaller edition does not include all of the resources that the binded copies and the web edition include.  However, it can easily be used in conjunction with the larger book or the online edition.

So, good luck and have fun.  We hope that chanichim and madrichim alike will be able to take from this.