War

We've been talking a lot about war over the last week. We've been studying two major conflicts in Israel's history - 1948 and 1967. We've talked about the causes, the losses and identified the resulting territorial changes. Some complex and troubling issues have come up - the Arab boycott of Israel, the Palestinian refugee problem, the Deir Yassin massacre, and the inevitable casualties of any battle. We're also finishing up a historical fiction read-aloud, Dog of Knots, which takes place during the Yom Kippur War. It relates the personal experience of one young Israeli girl, whose father was killed in the 1967 war, during the time of an attack on her country. The students have asked some great questions and made some very sophisticated observations. I'm trying to be as unbiased as possible in teaching these historical events, though I probably end up incorporating a progressive-Zionist slant. Know that I'm working hard to make sure that students gain multiple perspectives on this conflict, and I encourage you to continue these conversations at home, sharing your own views with your child.

On Thursday we'll be talking about the changes to Israel after the 1967 war with a lesson focusing specifically on the West Bank. I'll report back-