‘ If we lose hope, there is only war’
McGill’s ICAN program bridges social divides of the Middle East
There aren’t many students at McGill University who can say they trekked for five days through one of the most dangerous places on Earth to have the opportunity to study here.
But that is exactly what Adnan Al- mahied had to do.
In order to get out of Syria last fall to come to Montreal, he found himself taking a long and heartpounding journey through the part of the country controlled by Islamic State militants, also known as ISIL.
Having been one of the founders of the Movement for Democratic Change, Al- mahied was wanted by ISIL, which has terrorized the region with its brutal killings, including well- publicized beheadings.
Already, two of his brothers had been killed and two were “missing.”
So Al- mahied knew, as he slowly and ever so cautiously navigated his way through enemy- held territory to get to Istanbul, Turkey, that, if he were caught, he was a dead man.
As happy endings go, Al- mahied’s jubilant arrival in Montreal with his family is still overshadowed by his sadness at knowing he can’t go home, and that there is so much suffering now because of Syria’s civil war.
And while his story is dramatic, he is in good company — he has come to McGill to study among a group of people who have their own powerful stories to tell, who legitimately understand the horrors and frustration of war even though all nine of them come from opposing sides of the Middle East conflict.
So this is not a story about Al-mahied — it is a story about how the people gathered in a nondescript ground floor office at McGill’s School of Social Work are shaping new directions for the Middle East.
These nine fellows have assembled to earn a master’s degree in social work through a unique program that McGill has built to promote social justice in a region of the world that has long been mired in conflict and strife.
The International Community Action Network ( ICAN) trains a select group of candidates in social work so they can return to their home communities and address issues focusing on equality of rights for all people. In exchange for the two- year, fully funded graduate fellowship, the fellows commit to work for four years in one of 11 rights- based community practice centres the program has established in Israel, Palestine and Jordan.
This is a program that not only provides education followed by badly needed outreach, it offers hope that peace is attainable. Because when the fellows head back to their disparate homelands in the Middle East, they bring a new perspective that can only come from witnessing for themselves how their gaping divisions can, indeed, be bridged.
That is not to say that when the group meets every Wednesday, it isn’t sometimes a politically charged atmosphere.
“We have our differences, for sure,” said Amit Kitain, an Israeli who has already worked to create Jewish- Arab dialogue groups. “We carry the baggage of our ancestors.”
But it is also an atmosphere of respect and friendship, where dissenting opinions don’t segue into hatred.
“We become ambassadors for peace,” said Kitain. “At home, peace has become a bad word, something that is not possible. This experience has given me a lot of energy and hope.”
He, too, has a heart- wrenching story to tell: When he was 13, his 20- year- old brother was killed as he was being deployed to Lebanon. It was a tragedy that made Kitain realize “the high price of war.”
There was also something else he realized: “No one should have to experience this pain, no matter if they are my friend or my enemy.”
Jim Torczyner is a professor of social work at McGill who is also the founding director of ICAN. Since its inception in 1997 ( it used to be known as the McGill Middle East Program), the program has graduated 50 fellows who have returned home to the Middle East to spread the gospel that all people share the same rights.
His philosophy is that you don’t have to love your neighbour, you just have to accept the fact you have one. That’s why the program hasn’t expanded to Gaza, he said, because he wasn’t able to sign an academic partner there “that was willing to work within that framework.”
The i deas generated by the program, he said, probably have touched about one million people in the Middle East. Torczyner said the philosophy of the program fits right in with the “awakening ” during the Arab Spring “about the need for a basic democratic society.”
One thing he said he believes af- ter overseeing the program for almost 20 years is that there can’t be peace without social justice. Just a few of ICAN’s achievements in the Middle East include advocating for early childhood education classes for hundreds of Ethiopian and Arab children in Lod, Israel; spearheading civic education programs in more than 50 Palestinian schools; improving the rights of disabled Palestinian children; campaigning to combat violence against women in Jordan; and advocating for laws to allow public housing tenants the right to purchase their homes in Israel.
Now, with the civil war and massive destruction in Syria, Torczyner is looking to expand the program to plan for the new reality in a post- President Bashar Assad Syria, saying there will be urgent needs that must be met when the time comes. He is trying to raise $ 7.8 million from the government, foundations and individuals to support an expansion of the fellowship program that will also include 24 Syrians over four sessions.
“There is no question Syria will need social workers to rebuild and reshape its society,” Torczyner said. Al- mahied is the first of what Torczyner hopes will be an important new direction for the program. But since he would be killed if he returned to Syria now, Al-mahied will first work at an ICAN centre in Jordan, where many Syrian refugees have gone.
Around the large conference table in ICAN’s office on University St., the nine fellows are equals who have been hugely involved in their communities and want to do even more upon their return. They were selected after interviews with 200 candidates.
In fact, their similarities probably exceed their differences — they have all been uncommonly involved in bridging the divisions between the Jewish and Arab communities in the Middle East, and their commitment to improving the lives of their communities is what drives each and every one of them.
“Everyone here is taking the lead,” said ICAN’s new executive director, Amal El- Saana. She is among the first graduates of ICAN, and has become a leader on issues regarding the status of the Arab minority and the status of women in Israel, as well as a co- founder of a bilingual Arab- Jewish school. “If we lose hope, there is only war.”
Baheej Nasassra, a Palestinian living on the West Bank, says this is the first time he really has had an opportunity to meet regular Israelis.
His viewpoint is tinged with more than a little bitterness. He laments how the West Bank “is like a huge prison,” how he can’t get around easily or go out at night and spent three years in an Israeli prison. But he is also heartened by his experience with ICAN, saying it has given him hope that his son may one day live in peace.
Anwar Alhjooj is a Palestinian from the Bedouin community in Israel. There have been huge conflicts between his community and Israel over land, he said, and he doesn’t believe the discussions the ICAN group have engaged in here would ever have occurred back home.
“It seems absurd we had to travel 13 hours to meet this way,” he said. But it gives him hope that things can change back in the Middle East, too. “Here, we discuss, listen and share, even difficult opinions. But we are also building trust.”
Israeli Shirly Karavani sums it up best: “When you don’t know each other, it’s easy to demonize the other side. Now we know each other.”