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CONTACT THE ENTERPRISE Jocelyn Robinson, News editor jrobinson@heraldnet.com

Students take on Middle East conflict

By Katie Murdoch
Enterprise editor

Seventh- and eighth-graders at Soundview School in Lynnwood are going to take a stab at negotiating peace between Israel and Palestine.

On Feb. 4, the students will participate in a two-day peace negotiation workshop, “Whose Jerusalem? The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict,” organized by Boston-based Axis of Hope. Students will learn to negotiate rather than argue and how such details as body language and word choice impact how they get their point across.

Inae Piercy, head of Soundview, said if young people are taught how to negotiate, they will have the rest of their lives to improve upon these skills.

“At the end, we want them to come up with how to negotiate in a peaceful way,” Piercy said.

The Axis of Hope program focuses on improving the practice of international conflict analysis, management and prevention with students worldwide through hands-on practice.

During the workshop, each student will be randomly assigned one of six positions, which they will independently research and then role-play on the day of the workshop.

Ideally, by the end of the workshop, students will learn to feel empathy for the group they are representing — even if they disagree with its position. In addition, students are expected to accept that views and opinions which differ from theirs can be right too.

To prepare for the workshop, students have been learning the history of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and have created colorful timelines of the its history.

Piercy said the school’s mission is to prepare students for global change in the 21st century, and it’s important for young students to take on complex.

“Life is not all black and white,” she said. “You have to think more critically and complex.”

Piercy said International Baccalaureate schools like Soundview helps students look at the bigger picture to become more internationally minded. Piercy said the Axis of Hope workshop is a real-life opportunity that will allow students to take on an issue going on around them. The workshop is also intended for students to practice taking on an international perspective and be open minded and tolerant, concepts staff emphasizes to their students.

“As you get older you become more biased,” Piercy said. “At this age they have a more pure sense of different perspectives.”

For more information, visit www.soundview.org.