Since the beginning of 2012, the Hanns Seidel Foundation took on board a new partner organization: the I’lam Media Center for Arab Palestinians in Israel. The I’lam Media Center is located in Nazareth and focuses on the freedom of expression, freedom of the press and the media rights for the Palestinian society in Israel. The new project with the Hanns Seidel Foundation called ”Palestinian Citizens as Constituents of a Debating Society” targets Palestinian youth of the Northern districts and engages them in intellectual exchange, dialogue and debate on topics that impact the lives of Israeli Arabs.

Over the last five months, eight workshops were held to increase the knowledge of the youth about theoretical background for debating and to strengthen the understanding of the different elements of debating such as arguments, support and opposition as well as preparing for a debate. The highlight of the workshop sessions were three mini-debates in which the participants formed for/against motion teams, prepared arguments, discussed the chosen topic in front of the camera and judged at the end, together with their trainer according to standards discussed earlier in the workshop sessions.

Part two of the project are three public debates that will take place in Nazareth in September, October and November 2012. The public debates will be screened before a local audience and communicated to the wider Palestinian community via local and international television stations and online. They will be judged by the public audience as well as an evaluation team that consist of five youth that were trained in debating technique and evaluation during the past five month.
The topics of the three planned public debates are: “Collective Rights of the Palestinian minority in Israel”, “Raising the entry age for education on medical subjects for Arab students at Israeli universities” and “Limitations on freedom of expression in Israel“.
These three debates will be debated by civil society activists and political leaders among the community and in the Israeli civil and academic society, each group consisting of two persons supporting and opposing the motion.

For further information you can find here the invitation for the first public debates on “Raising the age of admission to Israeli universities in the fields of medicine and therapeutic studies" that is taking place on September 21, 2012. Speakers are: Dr. Khaled Abu Asbeh, Head of Massar Center for Research and Lecturer in Social Sciences and Education, and Dr. Suhair Bisharat, Dean of Students in the Academic College-Nazareth, & Masud Ghanayem, MK, and Rasool Saada, Head of Empowerment Unit in the Higher Education Council.