Educating for harmony in conflict settings: A case study

For 17 years, I have been the facilitator of a conflict resolution workshop at my university. Most of the time, the students cooperate and interact, though I have to be very creative in order to make sure that their cooperation is authentic. My main goal is to ensure that they experience and react to diversity naturally so as to help them to better accept and acknowledge the other. Nonetheless, at times, the students do not cooperate. This may be because the situation in Israel is tense and both sides (Arab and Jewish) prefer not to talk. Sometimes it is because they just don’t feel like talking. Sometimes it is because the participants are basically people who do not like to interact. As I cannot choose the group and they register via the internet, I can never predict who takes the course. Yet, when the students enter the class, I explain that attendance and participation are obligatory and that half of their final grade is based on their participation.