WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:05.320 Hello, gentlemen. My name is Dr. Ben Malov. I'm a lecturer here at Bar-Ilan University 00:05.320 --> 00:12.240 in political science and conflict management. And my particular area of expertise is in the 00:12.240 --> 00:17.300 Jewish political tradition and political science, and particularly in terms of conflict resolution, 00:17.820 --> 00:23.300 interreligious, intercultural approaches to Arab-Jewish-Israeli-Palestinian dialogue, 00:23.720 --> 00:28.100 basically seeing religion as a bridge and not merely as a factor for escalation. 00:28.100 --> 00:35.240 Now, that's a very important issue in terms of planting the seeds of a culture of peace. 00:36.680 --> 00:42.480 I have heard about issues of inculcating a culture of peace in the Palestinian side. I'm not an expert 00:42.480 --> 00:48.720 in that, but I would focus on the Israeli side. I think that there are efforts to do that within 00:48.720 --> 00:54.840 our educational system, but there needs to be more, frankly, on both sides. There needs to be more 00:54.840 --> 01:01.640 study of Arabic in our schools. There needs to be more appreciation of Islam. But in the university 01:01.640 --> 01:07.420 situation, there is, for instance, here at Bar-Ilan University, a very strong Arabic 01:07.420 --> 01:15.300 department, a very strong Islamic studies department. Jerusalem as a whole is the Islamic museum. 01:15.300 --> 01:24.280 And I myself, in terms of my own work, I've been running a special MA course called New Approaches to 01:24.280 --> 01:31.580 Conflict Management in Israeli Society, which sees Israel in terms of more of a, well, a Jewish and multicultural 01:31.580 --> 01:37.200 society as opposed to everyone having to be the same. Multicultural expertise, multicultural sensitivity, 01:37.200 --> 01:43.040 both within the different factions in Israeli society, everything from the ultra-Orthodox to 01:43.040 --> 01:48.820 the more secular, to those coming from a Russian background, and the Arab-Israeli sector in relation 01:48.820 --> 01:55.880 to the Jewish sector. And the students have had a wide-opening exercise, eye-opening exercise. Every 01:55.880 --> 02:03.860 year we have finished our work, our culmination of our special program of study in which hundreds of 02:03.860 --> 02:10.840 students have participated in a special inter-religious, intercultural seminar in the Arab-Jewish 02:10.840 --> 02:16.780 mixed city of Akko, which I think is known in the Muslim world, involving the cooperation and 02:16.780 --> 02:25.020 partnership between the chief rabbi, the chief sheikh, a municipality in which there is a Jewish 02:25.020 --> 02:31.480 deputy mayor from actually a right-wing party, but also an Arab deputy mayor from an Islamic party. 02:31.480 --> 02:37.980 And they cooperate very well on the local level. There are other examples of this. Unfortunately, 02:37.980 --> 02:44.860 we're in a period in which the extremism gains most of the headlines and more of these elements 02:44.860 --> 02:51.360 on the grassroots. I've only given a very small example from my own experience and involvement, 02:51.360 --> 02:54.960 but there are other people who, colleagues, who were very much involved in these initiatives 02:54.960 --> 03:03.140 and trying to develop a culture of peace. And we really need to elevate the consciousness and the 03:03.140 --> 03:08.300 awareness of this from the micro to the macro. And we're not just, you know, following the headlines 03:08.300 --> 03:14.780 of extremism. Well, I would say, I think you've hit something very important, that the Jewish people have 03:14.780 --> 03:19.120 common heritages with many European countries. For instance, even Germany, there was a German-Jewish 03:19.120 --> 03:28.260 heritage. The period of the Turkish Empire, and you're saying Turkey being a hospitable home for 03:28.260 --> 03:35.780 the Jews after the Spanish Inquisition. I think that common heritage can be a very important bridge, 03:35.780 --> 03:42.560 because this way it can remind us of the partnership between Islam and Judaism during the Golden Age of 03:42.560 --> 03:47.600 Spain, for instance. And that can be the type of bridge-building and bringing Jews and Arabs 03:47.600 --> 03:53.200 together, Israelis and the Muslim world, together under the ideal of the true service of God.