The Teens for Peace Podcast: Recent Episodes
Maxwell Hyman
Using several years of research by youth-led organization Teens for Peace in the Middle East, this miniseries seeks to uncover the opinions, ideas, and experiences of teenagers caught in the middle of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and use the words of teenagers to craft suggestions for the future of youth peacebuilding in the Middle East. Each episode highlights one question asked by host, 17-year-old Max Hyman from Chicago, to each of over 30 teens from Israel and/or Palestine in interviews and dissects many of the responses and what they reveal over the successes and failures of the peacebuilding system. Episodes end with conclusions from these discoveries and focus on the importance of listening to teen voices. Teens for Peace in the Middle East, founded in 2020, was built by a team of teens looking to make a difference by creating a network of connected teens for a more peaceful future in Israel and Palestine that values the voices of youth, who are young enough to reverse permanent and harmful stereotypes and opinions. In addition to over 30 interviews, teenspeace.org features educational materials for teens to learn about the conflict from an unbiased perspective, and Teens for Peace in the Middle East hosts panels and discussions. The organization is currently planning a PeaceSummit event and is conducting professional research on the successes and failures of the peacebuilding system.
An aspiring Jewish ethics professor, an aspiring Israeli diplomat, an aspiring politician, an aspiring cross-society educator, an aspiring Palestinian psychologist, and an aspiring Arabic student sit down together. What do they have in common? They're all Teens for Peace interviewee alumni. Listen in on host Max Hyman's illuminating conversation with Itai, Yaniv, Amir, Marsel, Shai, and Liran about changes in the conflict and in their perspectives over the past three years. We cover routes to resolution, educational curriculum, media bias, and everything in between. Most importantly, we discuss where youth peace-building stands today, and where its future might lie. You won't want to miss this!
In Episode 7, host Max Hyman dives into the perceptions of Israeli and Palestinian teenagers regarding the potential impacts of long-term conflict on their futures, hoping to get at the root of what most profoundly impacts teens over time. We hear from Dona, Eliya, and Alisa about the paralyzing fear of constraints on their accomplishments and opportunities; from Yaniv, Mo, and Liran about the frustration of watching young people consistently untrusted by leaders set in their ways; and from Marsel and Michal worried about the futures of their loved ones. Clips of interviews illustrate the raw emotion this podcast attempts to uncover and are again stitched with analysis, focusing on themes of poor resource allocation (and unwillingness to change this), increasing pessimism, and lacking occupational and educational opportunities. After an exploration of these experiences, we make suggestions for creating steady progress in such a fragile Israeli-Palestinian climate to most efficiently and sustainably reach a peaceful future. Hyman founded Teens for Peace in the Middle East as a teen himself and continues the mission of the organization to amplify the voices of teenagers caught in the middle of the conflict through this miniseries. Listen now!
In Episode 6, host Max Hyman dives into the opinions of Israeli and Palestinian teenagers towards why the conflict can't seem to be solved, hoping to get at the root of the perpetual nature of the conflict through the perspectives of interviewees. Hyman analyzes responses to questions about what these teens see as the primary reason for the seemingly neverending deadlock they're living through. Clips of interviews illustrate the raw emotion this podcast attempts to uncover and are again stitched with this analysis, focusing on themes of early education, stereotype implementation, dysfunctional and inefficient governance, and encouragement of consistent interaction. After an exploration of these experiences, we make suggestions for creating steady progress in such a fragile Israeli-Palestinian climate to most efficiently and sustainably reach a peaceful future. Hyman founded Teens for Peace in the Middle East as a teen himself and continues the mission of the organization to amplify the voices of teenagers caught in the middle of the conflict through this miniseries. Listen now!
In Episode 5, host Max Hyman dives into the experiences of Israeli and Palestinian teenagers dissecting their identities and the concept of identity as a whole. Hyman analyzes responses to questions about how being forced to pick one identity or another has hurt many, whether it be pitting future goals versus family traditions or school curriculums versus the media. Clips of interviews illustrate the raw emotion this podcast attempts to uncover and are again stitched with this analysis, focusing on themes of losing one's identity through trauma, inability to explore nuance, the supposed importance of labels in Israeli/Palestinian society, and successful ways society has and should simultaneously promote both identity strengthening and opportunities for such nuance. After an exploration of these experiences, we make suggestions for creating and improving identity-building in such a fragile Israeli-Palestinian climate to most efficiently and sustainably reach a peaceful future. Hyman founded Teens for Peace in the Middle East as a teen himself and continues the mission of the organization to amplify the voices of teenagers caught in the middle of the conflict through this miniseries. Listen now!
In Episode 4, host Max Hyman dives into the experiences of Israeli and Palestinian teenagers interacting with the other "side," discussing how teenagers view these crucial interactions and what role they can play in natural peacebuilding. Hyman analyzes responses to questions about the ethnic makeup of an interviewee's town or city and how that has impacted the level and type of interaction they have with others unlike them throughout their childhoods. Clips of interviews illustrate the raw emotion this podcast attempts to uncover and are again stitched with this analysis, focusing on themes of purposeful avoidance, inability to dissociate negative experiences from an entire group, and what constitutes a successful interaction. After an exploration of these experiences, we make suggestions for creating and improving interaction in such a fragile Israeli-Palestinian climate to most efficiently and sustainably reach a peaceful future. Hyman founded Teens for Peace in the Middle East as a teen himself and continues the mission of the organization to amplify the voices of teenagers caught in the middle of the conflict through this miniseries. Listen now!
In Episode 3, host Max Hyman dives into the experiences of Israeli and Palestinian teenagers with the media, analyzing the responses to questions about one's discovery of bias in the news they receive and how they've adapted to a difficult climate of being unable to fully trust that information. Clips of interviews illustrate the raw emotion this podcast attempts to uncover and are again stitched with analysis, focusing on themes of selective reporting, the diversity of media one receives, and the dangers of listening to sources "in a vacuum." After an exploration of these experiences, we make suggestions for improving media and its natural and unnatural biases in such a fragile Israeli-Palestinian climate to most efficiently and sustainably reach a peaceful future. Hyman founded Teens for Peace in the Middle East as a teen himself and continues the mission of the organization to amplify the voices of teenagers caught in the middle of the conflict through this miniseries. Listen now!
In Episode 2, host Max Hyman dives into the experiences of Israeli and Palestinian teenagers at school, analyzing the responses to questions about one's educational experience and the impacts it has had over the course of a childhood. Clips of interviews illustrate the raw emotion this podcast attempts to uncover and are again stitched with analysis, focusing on themes of intentional ignorance, uniform and anti-pluralistic historical education, and marginalization in the classroom. After an exploration of these experiences, we make suggestions for improving education of Israeli and Palestinian youth to most efficiently and sustainably reach a peaceful future. Hyman founded Teens for Peace in the Middle East as a teen himself and continues the mission of the organization to amplify the voices of teenagers caught in the middle of the conflict through this miniseries. Listen now!
In Episode 1, 17-year-old host Max Hyman dissects 10 Israeli and/or Palestinian teenage responses to questions of how respondees were introduced to the conflict--to the monumental idea that one lives in a land that has been fought over for much of human history. Hyman uses clips of these interviews to illustrate the raw emotion this podcast attempts to uncover, revealing truly powerful young stories. Some tell us of the constant looming fact of military service coming nearer every day, some recount traumatic incidents where lives were in danger, and some explain their endurance of discrimination throughout their childhoods. After an exploration of these experiences, we make suggestions for the best path forward for peacebuilding in Israel and Palestine. Hyman founded Teens for Peace in the Middle East as a freshman in high school, and continues the mission of the organization to amplify the voices of teenagers caught in the middle of the conflict through this miniseries. Listen now!