Red Section Peace Summit

The Promises Peace Summit

Red Section English 6

We finished B.Z. Goldberg's movie Promises, during which students took notes on one particular character for our role play exercises. Students then put on name tags with their characters' names, and then they held informal negotiation sessions where they moved around the tables, speaking to other characters, seeing if they could “build alliances”—work through differences or imagine new proposals. They rotated from group to group and discussed alliance building for three-five minutes with every other character, staying in character when they discussed their differences and imagined new proposals.

They then used the experiences in their informal negotiation sessions to make whatever modifications they wanted to the answers to the five questions below.

The Promises Peace Summit was one of the last class days of the unit where we took the five questions one by one and ask for proposals and discussion, and after discussion, we brought these to a vote. Again, students stayed in character during the Peace Summit, while I took notes for us, displaying agreements and disagreements on the overhead. 

1. What rights should the Palestinian refugees have?


RED PROPOSAL #1: Mahmoud: Palestinians should have equal rights with Israelis, including freedom of travel.


RED VOTE ON PROPOSAL #1: Yes: 6; No: 5      Proposal Passed


RED PROPOSAL #2: Sanabel: Remove checkpoints.


RED VOTE ON PROPOSAL #2: Yes: 7; No: 3      Proposal Passed


RED PROPOSAL #3: Sanabel: Give back houses taken from Palestinians or give fair compensation for homes lost.


RED VOTE ON PROPOSAL #3: Yes: 8; No: 4      Proposal Passed


RED PROPOSAL #4: Shlomo: West Bank Arabs should be able to visit Dome of the Rock.


RED VOTE ON PROPOSAL #4: Yes: 7; No: 2      Proposal Passed




2. What should be the status of Jerusalem?


RED PROPOSAL #1: Mahmoud: Jerusalem should become an International Zone with total freedom of movement for everyone, without checkpoint to and from West Bank.


RED VOTE ON PROPOSAL #1: Yes: 5; No: 6      Proposal Denied


RED PROPOSAL #2: Moishe: Jerusalem should be for the Jews but Palestinians can still visit Temple Mount


RED VOTE ON PROPOSAL #2: Yes: 6; No: 5      Proposal Passed




3. What should be the status of the West Bank and Gaza, currently occupied by Israel?


RED PROPOSAL #1: Mahmoud: Remove all borders between West Bank and Israel and Gaza and Israel, and make all Palestinians and Israeli Arabs into full Israeli citizens


RED VOTE ON PROPOSAL #1: Yes: 2; No: 8      Proposal Denied


RED PROPOSAL #2: Shlomo: Gaza for Arabs and West Bank for Jews


RED VOTE ON PROPOSAL #2: Yes: 7; No: 4      Proposal Passed




4. Should the United States give aid to either the Israelis or Palestinians-or to both of them? If so, what kind of aid?


RED PROPOSAL #1: Mahmoud: 1Z2 of U.S. aid given to both sides but only humanitarian aid (no military aid)


RED VOTE ON PROPOSAL #1: Yes: 8; No: 3      Proposal Passed


RED PROPOSAL #2: Moishe: Give all U.S. aid to Israel to protect themselves


RED VOTE ON PROPOSAL #2: Yes: 2; No: 9      Proposal Denied


RED PROPOSAL #3: Shlomo: Give one-quarter of U.S. aid to Palestinians for humanitarian purposes, and give three-quarters of U.S. aid to Israel for whatever they want


RED VOTE ON PROPOSAL #3: Yes: 6; No: 5      Proposal Passed