Explaining Gaza
Photo by Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona
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Dear Teacher or Parent,
Dear Teacher or Parent,
It's never an easy topic to broach when a child asks about conflict. In an effort to assist teachers to consider how best to prepare a lesson or begin a discussion we have collated a set of resources below.
Can we also ask that if you come across a good resource that then you might forward it to us so that we can include it here. We can be contacted on info@globalcitizenshipschool.ie
Something else that might well be worth considering is the extent to which the children you teach can make some difference by doing something for the children in Gaza as taking action is very often the best antidote to anxiety.
Global Citizenship School.
Global Citizenship School.
First Steps for Teachers, Regardless of Age
First Steps for Teachers, Regardless of Age
Whether a child is 3 or 13, experts stress it’s important to take two steps before proceeding with a conversation with a child. First, regulate your own emotions. Second, ask the children what they know.
How the Gaza Strip came to be | Gaza explained for kids
| CBC Kids News
This is a very useful and succinct description that can be a guide in helping to prepare a lesson on Gaza and has been produced by UNICEF. Important questions that are addressed in this article include:
How did the fighting between Israel and the State of Palestine begin again.
What is the Gaza strip?
What is the world doing to help?
How humanitarian aid works in an emergency.
Below are key talking points:
Below are key talking points:
Muslims lived in an area called Palestine for hundreds of years. We call them Palestinians.
About 70 years ago, there was another group of people, Jews, who were treated very, very, very badly. The Jews moved to Palestine because it was safe.
The world (i.e. “UN”) gave the Jews a big portion of Palestine, calling it a new country, Israel. The world did not ask permission from the Palestinians before giving away their land.
The Palestinians, and many of their friends were upset at this. They fought against the Israelis. The Palestinians ended up losing even more. More than 75% (8 out of every 10 toys) of Palestinian land was taken away.
Over the last twenty years, Israel has continued to take more of the land from the Palestinians.
If you would like to expand further, this video is the best resource we have discovered. Watch it with your child, pausing every minute or so, to explain the details.
Important notes: (1) Do not make Jews the “enemy.” This would be a profoundly unfortunate teaching to inculcate within your children. As Muslims, we have a special level of respect for those that are Ahlul Kitab, followers of the divine books. Further, many Jews do not support the actions of Israel. (2) Do not show children pictures or provide graphic details of the current events. This can likely lead to future desnsitisation. Again, remember the intention; we are sharing the story of Gaza to teach lessons, not to frighten them or to develop stereotypes.
More HERE
Teaching about Gaza - Where to start!
Teaching about Gaza - Where to start!
by Gregor Kerr. Click here to read more
Teaching about Gaza – Where to start
The sheer brutal horror that has unfolded in Gaza in recent months – which is in reality just a grossly intensified version of the horror under which residents of Gaza have lived for decades – can leave us feeling overwhelmed and powerless, especially when it comes to dealing with the issue in our classrooms.
As teachers, our natural instinct is to try to protect the children in front of us from exposure to such horrors. But if we care about Global Citizenship Education we also want to instil in our pupils a sense of their stake in the future of the world and their ability to influence its direction. To quote Ghandi -
"If we are to teach real peace in this world, and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall have to begin with the children."
‘Grandma’s Bird’ – a dual language (English and Arabic) book by Palestinian artist Malak Mattar provides a good starting point. It was written and illustrated by Malak and is based on her experiences of growing up in the Gaza Strip and living happily with her family before the bombing of 2014. It is also the story of how she began drawing as a way of coping with the attack and began to realise her dream to become an artist and travel abroad, telling the world about her experience and that of so many other Palestinian children. ‘Grandma’s Bird’ is one of the few children’s books illustrated and written from Gaza and it is a sign of hope and a dream come true.
The book was published by the Hands Up Project which works to connect children around the world with young people in Palestine through online interaction, drama and storytelling activities. INTO members in Northern Ireland, in particular, have in recent years forged links with the Hands Up project and through it hosted teachers and students from Gaza in 2022, which was reported on in In Touch at the time.
‘Grandma’s Bird’ is available to purchase from the Hands Up website https://www.handsupproject.org/ but unfortunately for those living in the Republic of Ireland it is only available to purchase in the UK. There is however a lovely dual language recording of it available on youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1l9Dhs6Wew
Also available from the ‘Hands Up’ website – in book or digital download form - is ‘Moon, Tell me the truth’, a fabulous collection of poems written and illustrated by children aged 9 to 15 from Palestine, Argentina, India and Spain, submitted as entries for the 2023 Hands Up Project international poetry competition. Poignantly, the home page of the website highlights one of the poems – written by a child who has since been killed in the Israeli bombardment - and challenges us to
Ask yourself what kind of a world we live in, where the responsibility to tell us how to live falls on a 9 year old girl in Gaza.
Eyes are for looking and seeing sun
Tongues are for greeting and saying fun
Legs are for walking slowly and also run
Hands are for shaking with friends not for shooting gun
by Fatema Saidam, 2014 - 2023
Rest in peace
There are no easy ways to tackle the horror but neither can it be an option for us to ignore it. Since October 7th over 9,000 children have been killed, at least 230 teachers/educators have been killed, 370 schools and 11 universities have been damaged or destroyed. In the words of Palestinian historian Abdel Razzaq Takriti
“They’re demolishing universities and schools intentionally. They bombarded and destroyed every single university. They’re using schools as barracks and military stations. They’re killing….thousands of years’ worth of knowledge.”
As teachers who value Global Citizenship Education, who want to forge a better future, we have to educate our pupils in the hope that their generation will do what ours is failing to do and seek to build a world in which ‘Never Again’ becomes a reality.
Teaching about Gaza!
Teaching about Gaza!
by Gregor Kerr from Global Citizenship School. *click to read
Teaching about Gaza – Where to start
The sheer brutal horror that has unfolded in Gaza in recent months – which is in reality just a grossly intensified version of the horror under which residents of Gaza have lived for decades – can leave us feeling overwhelmed and powerless, especially when it comes to dealing with the issue in our classrooms.
As teachers, our natural instinct is to try to protect the children in front of us from exposure to such horrors. But if we care about Global Citizenship Education we also want to instil in our pupils a sense of their stake in the future of the world and their ability to influence its direction. To quote Ghandi -
"If we are to teach real peace in this world, and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall have to begin with the children."
‘Grandma’s Bird’ – a dual language (English and Arabic) book by Palestinian artist Malak Mattar provides a good starting point. It was written and illustrated by Malak and is based on her experiences of growing up in the Gaza Strip and living happily with her family before the bombing of 2014. It is also the story of how she began drawing as a way of coping with the attack and began to realise her dream to become an artist and travel abroad, telling the world about her experience and that of so many other Palestinian children. ‘Grandma’s Bird’ is one of the few children’s books illustrated and written from Gaza and it is a sign of hope and a dream come true.
The book was published by the Hands Up Project which works to connect children around the world with young people in Palestine through online interaction, drama and storytelling activities. INTO members in Northern Ireland, in particular, have in recent years forged links with the Hands Up project and through it hosted teachers and students from Gaza in 2022, which was reported on in In Touch at the time.
‘Grandma’s Bird’ is available to purchase from the Hands Up website https://www.handsupproject.org/ but unfortunately for those living in the Republic of Ireland it is only available to purchase in the UK. There is however a lovely dual language recording of it available on youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1l9Dhs6Wew
Also available from the ‘Hands Up’ website – in book or digital download form - is ‘Moon, Tell me the truth’, a fabulous collection of poems written and illustrated by children aged 9 to 15 from Palestine, Argentina, India and Spain, submitted as entries for the 2023 Hands Up Project international poetry competition. Poignantly, the home page of the website highlights one of the poems – written by a child who has since been killed in the Israeli bombardment - and challenges us to
Ask yourself what kind of a world we live in, where the responsibility to tell us how to live falls on a 9 year old girl in Gaza.
Eyes are for looking and seeing sun
Tongues are for greeting and saying fun
Legs are for walking slowly and also run
Hands are for shaking with friends not for shooting gun
by Fatema Saidam, 2014 - 2023
Rest in peace
There are no easy ways to tackle the horror but neither can it be an option for us to ignore it. Since October 7th over 9,000 children have been killed, at least 230 teachers/educators have been killed, 370 schools and 11 universities have been damaged or destroyed. In the words of Palestinian historian Abdel Razzaq Takriti
“They’re demolishing universities and schools intentionally. They bombarded and destroyed every single university. They’re using schools as barracks and military stations. They’re killing….thousands of years’ worth of knowledge.”
As teachers who value Global Citizenship Education, who want to forge a better future, we have to educate our pupils in the hope that their generation will do what ours is failing to do and seek to build a world in which ‘Never Again’ becomes a reality.
Click the graphic to reveal a resource filled with up to date links and stories that can be a part of any tailored lesson that you might teach your class.
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