Swiss promotes education to resolve deadly conflicts

Jerusalem is frequently the scene of violent confrontation between Israeli forces and Palestinians Keystone Archive

Swiss parliamentarian Remo Galli aims to promote greater cultural tolerance at an international conference in Israel. Galli is Switzerland's official representative to the meeting.

The five-day conference of 120 Jewish parliamentarians from around the globe begins in Jerusalem on Sunday. Topping the agenda is the issue of combating violence and terrorism, which cost thousands of lives around the world in 2001.

The participants are expected to express their views on ways to deal with underlying issues which have contributed to violence in the Middle East, as well as the September 11 attacks in the United States and the war in Afghanistan.

The Swiss have long sought to help curtail violence around the world by offering to mediate disputes or send humanitarian aid to troubled regions. Foreign minister Joseph Deiss, for instance, has voiced his concern at the escalation of violence in the Middle East and called on Israel to respect human rights.

Building bridges

But the Jerusalem conference is not aimed at solving the ongoing, deadly conflict between Palestinians and Jews in the Middle East. Rather, Galli hopes to challenge the parliamentarians to build bridges with their Arab neighbours through education.

“I think the key is better understanding among the Israeli people, to understand more the other cultures through integration and not separation,” Christian Democrat Galli told swissinfo.

“I proposed adding the issue of education to the agenda, which they agreed to do,” Galli said. “Until now, Israeli schools are segregated. The Arabs learn separately, and Jewish Israelis learn very little Arabic.

“And if there were multi-ethnic schools, there would be the chance for people start understanding the other groups better simply by learning together rather than separately,” Galli continued.

Integration

Switzerland portrays itself as an example of a multi-ethnic society that has been able to avoid major conflicts through integration and tolerance.

Galli believes others can draw from the Swiss experience. “We give money to different countries for multi-ethnic schools, for example, like in Macedonia, which have proved successful.”

One aspect that concerns Galli, is inequality between Arab and Jewish Israelis. “In Israel, an Arab gets just a third of the pay his Jewish counterpart receives, and Arab school classes are bigger than Jewish ones.”

Anti-semitism

Anti-semitism is also set to be a point of discussion among the parliamentarians. Galli says the message he will take to the sixth such conference is for Israel not to be so sensitive.

“I think we have to explain that sometimes Israel is too quick to get angry about something which might not be as serious as it seems. They are very sensitive about this problem, maybe sometimes too sensitive,” Galli told swissinfo.

“If someone says something bad about the English, it does not mean to say that they’re anti-English. So we have to find out what constitutes anti-semitism.”

Swiss cabinet minister Ruth Dreifuss was also invited to the conference, but had to decline due to schedule difficulties.

by Samantha Tonkin and Ramsey Zarifeh