Reconciliation Through Education: The Case of Jabal Mohsen and Bab Al Tabbanah. (Northern Lebanon)

Abstract

Jabal Mohsen and Bab Al Tabbanah are two neighborhoods in the North of Lebanon separated by one small street. The former is inhabited by Allawites, while the Sunnis dominate the latter. Since the end of the Lebanese civil war in 1990, these two neighborhoo ds co - existed peacefully until the first deadly clash took place in 2008. During that time, there were also clashes in Beirut between the Future Movement (Sunnis) and Hezbollah (Shiites), which led to several clashes around the country, including this one in the North. Unfortunately, and even though the incident in Beirut lasted almost one month only, the case in the north was way worse. The clashes lasted – on and off - till 2014 killing hundreds, and injuring and displacing thousands of people, until a secu rity measure was put in place in 2014 to put an end to this situation. This conflict affected everyone living in these areas, especially kids. Many parents preferred to drop their kids out of schools to prevent any interaction with the kids from the other sect, while other kids had to drop out of school for either economic reasons, or because they had to start working after losing their parents. The main objective of this project is to make sure that the kids, and after two years of different types of activ ities, built trust with the kids from the other sect, and learned about the culture of peace, understanding, and co - existence. This project is intended to educate a new generation in order for it to embrace the differences existing in this area and to lat er on play a part in any reconciliatory or integrational project.