On Wednesday, Poland and Israel’s education ministers signed a declaration in Warsaw to foster meetings between the youth of both nations.
In mid-June 2019, the Israeli Ministry of Education made a controversial decision to cancel educational trips to Poland for high school students. The ministry cited safety concerns as the reason for their decision, claiming that potential issues had arisen which could prevent students from receiving a proper and secure education while travelling.
On Wednesday, Przemysław Czarnek, the Polish Education Minister, declared that a bilateral agreement had been reached in the spirit of partnership. This was confirmed by the signature of the declaration.
“It is an agreement that seems to have finally ended the period of our talks on resuming the visits of young Israelis to Poland and Polish youth to Israel,” Czarnek told a press conference.
“We need outstanding relations between Poland and Israel, but relations that are forward-looking and must build our young residents of Poland and Israel,” he continued.
Polish Minister of Education and Science Przemysław Czarnek emphasized the importance of mutual understanding between Poland and Israel. He highlighted that the document contained a provision that “young Israelis and Poles alike must be educated about the common culture and history of our two nations, who shared the same space.”
Israeli Education Minister Yoav Kisch has stressed the importance of educating the nation’s youth about the Holocaust, emphasizing the need to visit Poland, where Nazi Germany had planned the “Final Solution”.