Earlier this week, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) and The Parents Circle-Families Forum (PCFF) together with the Clinic for Law and Educational Policy at the University of Haifa, filed an appeal to the Ministry of Education on its decision to remove the PCFF’s “dialogue meetings” from high schools.

The PCFF is a grassroots organization of Palestinian and Israeli families who have lost immediate family members due to the conflict. The PCFF operates under the principle that a process of reconciliation is necessary for achieving sustainable peace. They have been working in Israeli public schools for about 20 years.

In a joint statement, ACRI and the PCFF said, “An education system that becomes a censor is betraying its role. Replacing professional judgment with political considerations hurts the students. The statement that even in the future the forum will not have a place in educational institutions is outrageous and inappropriate.

“If the educators need to be reminded of their role, then here it is: an education system in a democracy must ‘implement the principles in the declaration of the establishment of the State of Israel and the values of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state and develop an attitude of respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms, democratic values, the observance of the law, its culture and its views of others, as well as to educate in the pursuit of peace and tolerance in relations between people and nations.’…

“We will raise our voice, appeal, petition, and we will not stop fighting for pluralistic democratic education which reflects a variety of positions, provokes thought, and develops criticality. [We are doing this] for the students, for us, and for the whole of society.”