Education has a unique opportunity to affect people’s attitudes and behavior. It canboth encourage respect and promote cooperation between peoples, as well as fuelconflicts by reinforcing social divisions, prejudices and mistrust. The purpose of thisstudy is to investigate how education is used as a tool in the development of civicidentities among Jews and Arabs living in Israel and how distinct narratives are dealtwith in the subject of history. Narratives are conveyed to the younger generationthrough the subject of history, which makes history an essential aspect in thedevelopment of a history consciousness. Consequently, the subject of history can bean important forum for reconciliation and conflict-resolution.The study was conducted at two Israeli Arab high schools and two Israeli Jewish highschools. Altogether, 36 Arab and Jewish students as well as one Arab English teacherparticipated in focus group interviews. Additionally, three semi-structured interviewswere conducted with two Jewish and one Arab history teacher.The findings of this study reveal that questions of citizenship are controversial.Although the individuals vary in their conceptions and opinions of citizenship, there isa divided civic identity among Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs. A majority of the Arabrespondents regard citizenship merely as a judicial status, while most Jewishrespondents additionally add a feeling of belonging to the state as crucial.Furthermore, this study reveals that the creation of civic identities and a criticalhistory consciousness depend on each teacher’s willingness to include variousnarratives and perspectives when teaching history. The teacher participants, withexception of one teacher, all teach history in accordance with their own particularnarrative. As of spring 2011 it can be concluded that only students with teachers whoteach beyond the requirements of the Israeli Education Ministry are exposed tohistory education that aims at greater understanding of “the other”, peace building andovercoming prejudices. These findings indicate that it is the responsibility ofindividual teachers to create environments open to debates and contradicting views.One explanation emanating from this study is the important functions collectivememory and narratives hold in Israeli society as a result of the ongoing conflict.Finally, the findings of this study show that the subject of history is regarded as ofminor influence compared to the importance of primary socialization, such asknowledge received from home.
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