WASHINGTON, D.C, September 2, 2009,(WAFA)- United States Institute of Peace (USIP) called for addressing education in a possible peace agreement between Palestinians and Israelis in order to create structures for finalizing and sustaining a settlement.

USIP  published a report  in away to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which examines how the parties and international mediators can create an education track for the peace process that would create opportunities for more effective mediation, and increase the chances for success of the process overall.

The report provides the justification for why an education track should be included in the negotiations phase and in the text of an agreement itself, and  forward practical recommendations of how third party mediators can assist the involved parties to create an effective education track in regard to the following:

- Building a role for the Ministries of Education to address both the effects of an extended period of violent conflict and the challenges involved in moving toward peaceful relations when conflict has not been fully resolved.

- Addressing education in the peace agreement itself in order to create structures for finalizing and sustaining a settlement.

- Developing mechanisms in which issues and frustrations arising from the process of implementing a peace agreement can be discussed and facilitated within the network of schools.

Throughout the process, it will be important for mediators to treat an education track not merely as a sign of goodwill by the parties, but as a concrete effort to respond to existing, pressing needs of both educational systems

This report was prepared by USIP based on input of educators and peace activists associated with various local and international educational non-governmental organizations (NGOs). They represent decades of accumulated hands-on experience working with Palestinian and Israeli youth and educators, their respective Ministries of Education, and their wider communities. Primary contributors include Barbara Zasloff of the International Center for Contemporary Education and Adina Shapiro, who co-managed a joint Palestinian-Israeli education NGO.

Education has been able to make an important contribution to reconciliation, conflict prevention, post-conflict reconstruction, and the re-building of war-torn societies, including in Northern Ireland, South Africa, as well as France and Germany after World War II, or in Poland and the Baltic States after the end of the Cold War. Often, the contribution of education in promoting conflict resolution and reconciliation at the grassroots level has been in helping to build a supportive environment in the wider society for a peace settlement or its implementation.

Despite its power to make or break the implementation of a peace process, education has not been addressed as a serious issue in any of the peace processes aimed at ending the Israeli- Palestinian conflict. Unlike the areas of finance, security, health, and environment, none of the agreements signed by the parties have directly addressed the needs arising in the education systems as a result of the conflict, nor have the agreements initiated cooperation between the two Ministries of Education upon implementation. In fact, over these many years, the respective Ministers of Education have never openly met in their formal capacities to address these matters. The educational systems have not been asked to prepare for the necessary shifts in curriculum, textbooks, and programs to ready youth, educators and communities for a time of peace.