Empowering Global Citizens

Overview

Students first learn “how the Middle East got that way” by viewing and
discussing a documentary and reading and discussing an article. They learn
about Muslim diversity as well as diversity within the state of Israel and study
the region through geography, demography, and the importance of water as
a resource. They delve into the historical background of the Israel—Palestine
conflict and examine how the conflict affects families and individuals. They
review various responses to the conflict and then participate in a mock sum—

mit for conflicts in various parts of the world.

Activity GCR.6.1
How the Middle East Got That Way

Students watch the film Promises and discuss the questions and issues that
are raised in the film (http://Www.pbs.org/pov/promises/).

The film’s trailer can be found on the following page: http://www.youtube.
com/watch?v=ySJaH7OXzOA.

The following is the website of the film: http://Www.promisesproject.org/

filmhtml.
The following is a summary of the film from its website:

PROMISES follows the journey of one of the filmmakers, Israeli—
American B. Z. Goldberg. B. Z. travels to a Palestinian refugee
camp and to an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, and to the
more familiar neighborhoods of Jerusalem where he meets seven

Palestinian and Israeli children.
Though the children live only 20 minutes apart, they exist in comv
pletely separate worlds; the physical, historical and emotional ob—

stacles between them run deep.

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