{"id":12556,"date":"2023-11-11T11:01:50","date_gmt":"2023-11-11T11:01:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/business\/putting-out-the-middle-east-fires-a-teaspoon-at-a-time\/"},"modified":"2023-11-11T11:01:50","modified_gmt":"2023-11-11T11:01:50","slug":"putting-out-the-middle-east-fires-a-teaspoon-at-a-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=12556","title":{"rendered":"Putting out the Middle East fires, a teaspoon at a time"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Stay informed with free updates<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__content-sign-up-topic-description\"><span>Simply sign up to the <!-- -->Life &amp; Arts<!-- --> myFT Digest &#8212; delivered directly to your inbox.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe class=\"article__content-sign-up-iframe close\" scrolling=\"no\" id=\"signUpIframe\" data-prev-url=\"\/register\/in-article-sign-up?ft-content-uuid=81aedd9c-03d2-4d35-a041-c05fd2ff66ce&amp;concept-id=0b83bc44-4a55-4958-882e-73ba6b2b0aa6\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<p>History\u2019s default setting is tragic: the plague in Athens; slave ships; Passchendaele; the Gulag; Hiroshima. But while the norm is carnage and suffering, it would be equally unhistorical to let the darkness entirely eclipse small points of radiance that manage somehow to remain lit amid the enclosing darkness. <\/p>\n<p>Right now, when catastrophe is engulfing both Israelis and Palestinians, posters of kidnapped children are being torn down by heedless zealots, human remains recovered from beneath the rubble of Gaza and the ashes of kibbutzim where innocents were atrociously slaughtered, it may be no bad thing to learn of places where people reach across the razor wire of mutual hatred to speak and listen to each other, work together and attempt to understand each other\u2019s stories. <\/p>\n<p>This is not Pollyanna history. It is 25 years since the Good Friday Agreement that achieved what generations supposed impossible in Northern Ireland: the disarming of tribally lethal animosity.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Ten years ago, filming the final episode of <em>The Story of the Jews <\/em>for the BBC and PBS, I visited the Max Rayne school in Jerusalem, run by the inspirational Hand in Hand Center for Jewish-Arab Education. Jewish and Arab pupils are taught in Arabic and Hebrew and the governing board and teaching staff are drawn from both communities. <\/p>\n<p>No one pretended the school was a cultural utopia. Sitting with a teenage class, I asked whether they visited each other\u2019s homes. Sure, was the answer, but it\u2019s much harder to walk down the street together and be seen by our respective friends.\u00a0But for all the difficulties, teachers and parents were committed to a common enterprise: a principle and practice that is visionary in Israel.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>There is a price to be paid for this courageous exercise in shared learning, devoted as it is to sowing the seeds of a future free of mutual demonisation. In 2014, the Jerusalem school was set on fire by a gang of Jewish fanatics for whom its very existence was tantamount to treason. Undaunted, the Jerusalem school rose from the ruins like a phoenix. <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"n-content-pullquote n-content-pullquote--no-image\" aria-hidden=\"true\">\n<div class=\"n-content-pullquote__content\">\n<p>This is a trial of their ideals; but it is also the picture of a possible shared future<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Today there are six Hand in Hand schools. One of them, founded in 2004 by 10 Jewish and 10 Arab parents as a response to the deadly riots of four years earlier, is located in the Arab town of Kafr Kara. Last week, while the war was raging, the Jerusalem school won the T4 Education prize as the best in the world at \u201covercoming adversity\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>You don\u2019t have to be a pessimist to assume that these high ideals might have taken a beating in the present calamity. But, astonishingly, after a two-week break following the sadistic atrocities of October 7, pupils and teachers have returned and the schools are open again. No one imagines this is easy. <\/p>\n<p>Arab students have families and friends who have been injured or have died in Gaza. In Israel, many know someone kidnapped or worse. A relative of the Arab principal of the Kafr Kara school was killed while acting as a paramedic to the wounded at the Supernova music festival. But schools such as Hand in Hand are more than classrooms and textbooks; over many years they have built a matrix of friendship and deep human connection. So, even though the pain, fear and conflict pull hard at those bonds, it will be possible for each side to talk to each other in a spirit of good faith and mutual trust. This is a trial by fire of their ideals; but it is also the picture of a possible shared future.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>They are not alone in this vision. For years, EcoPeace Middle East, with offices in Ramallah and Amman as well as Tel Aviv, has been tackling environmental issues based on the premise that ecological disaster knows no borders and that solutions to the most intractable problems must be a co-operation between Palestinians, Israelis and Jordanians. Its project to create an energy exchange \u2014 solar power exported from Jordan; desalinated water going in the opposite direction \u2014 to the West Bank was adopted by the Bennett-Lapid government. And it was EcoPeace that provided the means to decontaminate Gaza water supplies that were posing serious health hazards to the Palestinian population.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Knowing that the war has now sabotaged that achievement, it\u2019s tempting to throw up one\u2019s hands in despair. But, if anything, the war has only made the need for acts of mutual co-operation embodied by the work of Hand in Hand and EcoPeace more urgent than ever. <\/p>\n<p>When the great Israeli writer Amos Oz was asked what could be done about the agony of Israel and Palestine, he compared it to a consuming fire. You have a choice, he said. You can run away and save yourself or you can take a bucket and pour it on the flames, and if you don\u2019t have a bucket, use a cup, and if you don\u2019t have that, bring a teaspoon. <\/p>\n<p>The fire is huge and the teaspoon (words were his) is very small, but everyone has a teaspoon and can, in their own way, pour some water on the furious conflagration.<\/p>\n<p><em>Simon Schama is an FT contributing editor<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Follow FTWeekend on <\/em><em>Instagram<\/em><em> and <\/em><a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ftweekend\" data-trackable=\"link\"><em>X<\/em><\/a><em>, and subscribe to our podcast <\/em><em>Life and Art<\/em><em> wherever you listen<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/>Read the full article <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/81aedd9c-03d2-4d35-a041-c05fd2ff66ce\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Life &amp; Arts myFT Digest &#8212; delivered directly to your inbox. History\u2019s&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-12556","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-business"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Putting out the Middle East fires, a teaspoon at a time | inFundPros<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the Life &amp; Arts myFT Digest -- delivered directly to your inbox.History\u2019s default setting is tragic:\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=12556\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Putting out the Middle East fires, a teaspoon at a time | inFundPros\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the Life &amp; Arts myFT Digest -- delivered directly to your inbox.History\u2019s default setting is tragic:\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=12556\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"inFundPros\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-11-11T11:01:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/tech-wall.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Press Room\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Press Room\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=12556#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=12556\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Press Room\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#\/schema\/person\/87f7e632b195ea95c91503d9281f5eff\"},\"headline\":\"Putting out the Middle East fires, a teaspoon at a time\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-11T11:01:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-11-11T11:01:50+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=12556\"},\"wordCount\":927,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Business\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=12556#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=12556\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=12556\",\"name\":\"Putting out the Middle East fires, a teaspoon at a time | inFundPros\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-11T11:01:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-11-11T11:01:50+00:00\",\"description\":\"Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the Life &amp; Arts myFT Digest -- delivered directly to your inbox.History\u2019s default setting is tragic:\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=12556#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=12556\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=12556#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Putting out the Middle East fires, a teaspoon at a time\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/\",\"name\":\"Fintech Advance\",\"description\":\"Latest Finance and Tech News and Updates\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Fintech Advance\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/tech-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/tech-logo.png\",\"width\":409,\"height\":70,\"caption\":\"Fintech Advance\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#\/schema\/person\/87f7e632b195ea95c91503d9281f5eff\",\"name\":\"Press Room\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/avatar_user_1_1697230663-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/avatar_user_1_1697230663-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Press Room\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Putting out the Middle East fires, a teaspoon at a time | inFundPros","description":"Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the Life &amp; Arts myFT Digest -- delivered directly to your inbox.History\u2019s default setting is tragic:","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=12556","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Putting out the Middle East fires, a teaspoon at a time | inFundPros","og_description":"Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the Life &amp; Arts myFT Digest -- delivered directly to your inbox.History\u2019s default setting is tragic:","og_url":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=12556","og_site_name":"inFundPros","article_published_time":"2023-11-11T11:01:50+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1200,"url":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/tech-wall.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Press Room","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Press Room","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=12556#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=12556"},"author":{"name":"Press Room","@id":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#\/schema\/person\/87f7e632b195ea95c91503d9281f5eff"},"headline":"Putting out the Middle East fires, a teaspoon at a time","datePublished":"2023-11-11T11:01:50+00:00","dateModified":"2023-11-11T11:01:50+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=12556"},"wordCount":927,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Business"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=12556#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=12556","url":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=12556","name":"Putting out the Middle East fires, a teaspoon at a time | inFundPros","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-11-11T11:01:50+00:00","dateModified":"2023-11-11T11:01:50+00:00","description":"Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the Life &amp; Arts myFT Digest -- delivered directly to your inbox.History\u2019s default setting is tragic:","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=12556#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=12556"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=12556#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Putting out the Middle East fires, a teaspoon at a time"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/","name":"Fintech Advance","description":"Latest Finance and Tech News and Updates","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#organization","name":"Fintech Advance","url":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/tech-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/tech-logo.png","width":409,"height":70,"caption":"Fintech Advance"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#\/schema\/person\/87f7e632b195ea95c91503d9281f5eff","name":"Press Room","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/avatar_user_1_1697230663-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/avatar_user_1_1697230663-96x96.png","caption":"Press Room"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/infundpros.com"],"url":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?author=1"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12556\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}