Givat Haviva Update

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Dear Partners,
In this month's newsletter, I would like to highlight the Roadmap for a Shared Society, our flagship program for public engagement and changing policy for establishing a shared society in Israel. This is a three-phase program: The first phase consisted of developing Givat Haviva’s recommendations for a government policy that will lead to a shared and equal society in five areas: Economy, Government, Education, Land Use, and Restorative Justice and Cultural Representation. The second phase is sharing these recommendations with the wider public in Israel. This is the phase we are currently at, and so far a great number of people, around 60 thousand, have been exposed to the teams' recommendations through two online news sites: YNET in Hebrew and Bokra in Arabic. We urge you to visit those websites, so that we know what is most important and feasible in your opinion. At this point, we are also holding 40 open public meetings throughout the country, for both Arab and Jewish societies. The third phase will go into effect in November-December, when our final recommendations, following the public feedback, will be presented to policy makers in the Knesset and in the government.
We recently celebrated the end of Ramadan with Eid al-Fitr. Here is the special message I sent our Muslim friends and partners:

Our dear Muslim friends and partners: We would like to congratulate you on your holiday of Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of Ramadan. This is a holy day of forgiveness and peace, family, community, brotherhood and an opportunity to settle conflicts. We hope that these values, associated with this holiday, will be our guiding lights, helping our work and the achievement of our goals, and serve to deepen our cooperation towards building an equal shared society for the benefit of all the citizens of this country.
Wishing you Eid Mubarak,
Yaniv Sagee,
Executive Director Givat Haviva

Givat Haviva marked the month of Ramadan with a traditional Iftar meal at the common dining hall. The meal, on June 8, was part of the day's events commemorating the 50th anniversary of the occupation.
Many guests attended the meal, including the mayors and representatives of the municipalities taking part in the Shared Communities program, participants from the various programs, representatives of peace organizations, members of HaShomer HaTzair and the Agial Youth Movements, and the Givat Haviva team.
Riad Kabha presided over the festive evening that included greetings by Yaniv Sagee, Executive Director of Givat Haviva; The Honorable Kadi Ayad Zahalka, who spoke about Ramadan; Mr. Anwar Kalaf, representative of the Palestinian Authority; MK Yael Cohen-Faran, and other friends. The successful event was beautifully organized by Ella Eisner from the Jewish-Arab Center for Peace.

Givat Haviva International School – The Academy for Leadership in a Shared Society
In recent years, we have experienced trends of social polarization in Israel, in Europe, in the U.S.A, and all over the world.
Many people are not interested in getting to know other cultures, and cultural conflicts arise.
We have realized that there is a lack of leaders who believe in a vision of shared societies and lead in that direction. We at Givat Haviva decided to take the knowledge we have acquired during decades of activity, and apply it in order to establish an international school where teens from Israel and from around the world will learn how to become global citizens and celebrate multiculturalism.
Our academy will serve as an incubator for a community of young leaders who have the skills, knowledge, practical experience, and commitment for leadership in a shared society. The academy will open in September 2018 for students in the 11th and 12th grades, who will study, experience and live at Givat Haviva for two years. The school will offer classes in English, in a renowned, prestigious academic program, which has a proven record in admission to leading universities around the world.
We will soon begin recruitment of staff,faculty and students. Stay tuned!

International Department
Students and academics from a number of different countries; young people from all over the world volunteering in kibbutzim; a group of teenagers from Chicago with the Write On for Israel project; over 100 fourteen-year-olds from a London Jewish Day School; Birthright-Taglit groups from North and South America; Jewish youth movement leaders on a gap year course in Israel; journalists and more … all attended seminars of the International Department this month.

“We came to learn and today we certainly learned just how much there is to study and better understand about this fascinating country and the people who live here,” said one of the American academics, participating in a study tour organized by the Academic Partners for Peace organization, after a workshop on campus and in-depth tour of the region with International Department staff.

“I have a great deal of respect for the work of Givat Haviva and for those of you who work so tirelessly to teach and share with us so much about the difficulties of bringing people together to create a more peaceful, equal shared society. May you be successful in all your efforts,” commented an educator accompanying the British teens.

Yihiye Beseder (Hebrew Language Enrichment for Arab Schools)
Special Day at Albayrouni, Jatt - June 22, 2017
We celebrated the day together with the Gvanim School from Kadima-Tzoran, and dedicated it to language and culture.
The first part of the day consisted of drama activities in three languages: Hebrew, Arabic and gibberish.
All the children participated in group activities of role-playing in the three languages. In the second part of the day, we moved between language and culture stations.
They included idioms in Hebrew and Arabic, Jewish Holidays Wheel of Fortune, and other activities involving Hebrew and Arabic culture, including social activity and fun together.
Teacher Dafna Feyerman, Albayrouni School, Jatt

The Education Department at Givat Haviva is in the midst of preparation for our next year of activity. We enlisted schools for the Encounters program, and we are preparing for activities in teachers' rooms in the coming month of September and for teaching the materials we developed, while also planning the regional school principals seminar, which will take place in the next few months. We wish all our teachers and students a pleasant and energizing summer vacation!
Read here about the Heart to Heart Delegation and the Children Teaching Children Program

Children Teaching Children Program

The CTC program came to a close at the end of the school year. Festive diploma ceremonies were held during the past month, exposing the program graduates to the other students at their schools. Here is what one of the graduates from the Megiddo Regional High School said: "The Program gave me the experience of a lifetime, and sharpened the meaning of the values of friendship and listening. I learned how much we need real listening, especially in the single-nation meetings, not only in the Jewish-Arab encounters." Several graduates of the CTC Program from Megiddo and Ma'ale Iron presented the Program and Givat Haviva during a meeting with the CEO of the Jewish Federation of St. Louis, in the presence of the Mayor of Megiddo Municipal Council and the school principals. The meeting was very successful and left an excellent impression on the visitors from the Federation.

Heart to Heart Delegation to Canada

Six preparatory meetings for children and their parents were held in anticipation of the camp in Canada in early July. The group is composed of children from various schools that participate in the Children Teaching Children Program. During the meetings, they had a chance to work as a group and participate in workshops on leadership and living together.

A short update on the partnerships
Megiddo – Ma'ale Iron

During this past month, the Environment Team continued working on the restoration of the Misqa Stream, as it has been making the program accessible to various publics.
Ma'ale Iron is promoting a program for the involvement of schools in the restoration process, and Megiddo is also looking at ways of getting the schools involved.
The team is also working on a platform that will allow the community to become involved in conservation and sustainability in the region, with the guidance of the Sewage Authority.
In the meantime, a petition has been presented to the Foundation for Open Spaces, asking for funds for continuing the restoration project of the vicinity of the Stream.
The exhibition "To Speak", curated by Dafna Lev Or, a member of the partnership's Arts Team, opened on the last Saturday of the month with an audience of about 200. The exhibit features Jewish and Arab artists, mostly from the region, and deals with dialogue and shared discourse around the 50th year of the occupation.
The team took part in producing the exhibition and some of their own pieces are featured in it. Here is a work by Shuruq Agbariya:

Emek Hefer and Zemer

The economy, welfare and education teams continued meeting during the month of Ramadan, to advance programs for 2018. The leaders' team was invited to a warm and friendly Iftar meal, where they were told about the customs of the fast of Ramadan and the meaning of Eid al-Fitr.

Baqa al-Gharbiyye and Menashe

The Neighbors Path team of the Baqa-Menashe partnership is continuing its work on the ground. The team is working on authorization of the final route in preparation for the start of infrastructure work on the ground and dealing with road crossings and with private and agricultural lands. The path will consist of three intersecting segments: the intersection of the streams, the mountain path, and the fields path.

Meeting with representatives from Metzer, a fascinating discussion on how to deal with the Neighbors Path that is planned to go by agricultural areas.

Qalansuwa – Lev HaSharon
The Qalansuwa–Lev HaSharon team met to analyze the findings of the mapping carried out by Prof. Khamaisi. The mapping points to some great potential for promoting common interests in the municipal-communal and educational spheres. The findings were presented and discussed in a joint seminar and will be translated into joint work plans.

Meeting for presentation of the Mapping, with Prof. Rassem Khamaisi, as part of the Qalansuwa-Lev HaSharon partnership.

Women Cooking Peace
Registration now open for new class! A fascinating experiential project, where women meet in an inclusive environment. With pots on the stove, the scent of spices and wonderful smell filling the air, with our hands chopping, peeling and stirring, our hearts open up and we become closer to each other. Arab and Jewish women meet once a week to learn new cooking and to make new friends.