The comings and goings of October 2009
By International Department
October 30, 2009
Twenty-five journalists and educators from all over Germany and accompanied by Israeli tour guide Rosa Fleischmann, participated this month in a seminar organized by the International Department. A general explanation about Givat Haviva was given by Lydia Aisenberg, followed by a talk and discussion with Mohammad Darawshe, a former spokesperson for Givat Haviva and nowadays co-director of The Abraham Fund.
Following lunch the group went on a tour of the region with Lydia. The tour incorporated a visit to Harish, the Dotan Valley Palestinian charcoal-making arena, the Reichan checkpoint, the Jewish settlement block of Shaked/Hananit, the observation platform of Katzir and the village of Barta'a.
A number of surprises awaited the group during the tour such as having the opportunity to speak with Palestinians waiting at the Reichan checkpoint and again with Israeli Arabs (and also a Palestinian from Gaza now working in Barta'a).
As the seminar drew to a close, the participants gave extremely positive feedback about their visit to Givat Haviva and tour of the region. It was said they now needed time to absorb and assess what they had seen and heard during the course of a highly interesting and eventful day.
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Yad Achat is a German non-profit organization supporting German-Israeli exchange. Some months ago four representatives from Yad Achat visited Givat Haviva while on a fact-finding tour in Israel. This month, eight young Germans, all of whom working in some area of inter-cultural relations in Germany, visited Givat Haviva with Yad Achat group leader Manja Kasten.
The group first visited Kibbutz Mishmar HaEmek to hear about the veteran kibbutz's pre-State relationship with Arab neighbors before beginning a tour of the Amir Mountain range, Jewish settlements and village of Barta'a.
During the tour the group had the opportunity to speak with a 27 year-old Israeli Arab resident of Umm al-Fahm – who happened to be trotting by on horseback! – as well as with a Palestinian businessman waiting at the Reichan checkpoint together with a Palestinian student.
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Richard and Jane Jaffe, a consultant lawyer and local magistrate respectively, heard about Givat Haviva from a relative. The Jaffa's, who live in Birmingham, England, have visited Israel many times and have children and grandchildren living in Tel Aviv.
The Jaffa's met with Etti Amram, director of the Arts Center and Givat Haviva spokesperson Dudu Amitai, who spent some time with the couple explaining about the collection of Palestinian Arabic language newspapers housed in the Peace Library.
A short trip to the Katzir Observation Platform followed by a visit to Barta'a and lunch in Salach's restaurant in East Barta'a, rounded of the visit. "We learnt a huge amount and still absorbing everything we saw and heard", emailed Richard Jaffe a few days later.
A contributor to a number of Jewish and non-Jewish publications in Britain, Richard said he would be writing about their visit to the campus and surrounding area in the hope it would generate further interest and support for Givat Haviva among British folk.
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Mrs. Diana Clark, an American living in London, and her 11 year-old daughter Sophie, heard about Givat Haviva from her friend, American tour operator Nancy Gilbert. In the past Nancy Gilbert's daughter Danielle researched the village of Barta'a as part of her studies at Yale University. In Israel on holiday, the Clark's paid a short visit to the Givat Haviva campus, where Danielle also volunteered for a period in the past, and were taken out and about in Wadi Ara.
A quick call in at Barta'a village lent the opportunity to visit Allam Abo-Abead, a Palestinian from Jenin, in his shop as well as to take in a rooftop view over the divided village.
The Clark's were accompanied by Israeli tour guide Lyana Rotstein who visited Givat Haviva with groups many times in the past. Lyana commented that she always found a visit to Givat Haviva and the tours of Wadi Ara to be most interesting and always found a great deal more was to be learned about the people of the area and the realities of their daily life.
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Three young ladies from Norway, student nurses on a three-month internship at Rambam Hospital and living in Beit Scandinavia in Bat Galim, Haifa, were eager to learn about past and present daily life in a kibbutz and spent a day with Lydia at her Jezreel Valley kibbutz Mishmar HaEmek, a veteran kibbutz of the Hashomer Hatzair movement.
The nursing students, Berit Goderstad, Mona Sandberg and Solveig Karlsen, and Gunnstein Horte a forester back home in Norway, said they were thankful to have had the opportunity to learn so much about the pioneers, Zionism and the social democratic way of life led in a kibbutz of the 'old stock' such as is Mishmar HaEmek.
Promising to stay in touch, the Norwegians also said they hoped they would have the opportunity during their stay in Israel to visit Givat Haviva and learn more about the coexistence projects there.
Berit, Mona and Solveig said that they wanted to learn as much as possible during their stay in Israel so that when they returned home to Norway they could better explain more about the country to their peers.
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Berlin based Beit-Ben Yehuda-Action Reconciliation For Peace brought 23 German folk to Israel for a study trip. The program was organized by the German foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future (Stiftung EVZ) in cooperation with the International School for Holocaust Studies, Yad Vashem.
The group, consisting educators and social pedagogues from diverse cultural backgrounds who work with multi-ethnic groups in different organizations in Germany, attended a one year qualification program on the topic of Anti-Semitism that was conceptualized and facilitated by the organization Keuzberg Initiative against Anti-Semitism in Berlin. Keren Pardo organized and accompanied the group.
"The group is in Israel with Yad Vashem studying Holocaust Education and also to visit different organizations to have insights into the complexity of the Middle East conflict and the diversity of the Israeli society and the region – and for this reason they are very interested in getting to know Givat Haviva and learning more about its projects", stated Keren.
The group met with Givat Haviva spokesman Dudu Amitai who explained about Givat Haviva, heard a talk from Fawaz Mansur with regard the Arab citizens of Israel and was joined by Riad Kabaha, co-director of the Jewish-Arab Center for Peace for a visit to Barta'a village.
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Fifteen South American members of different movements studying at the Machon L'Madrichim in Jerusalem, also spent a day at Givat Haviva this month on a seminar prepared by the International Department.
The youths, who hailed from Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina, belonged to various different youth movements – including Habonim-Dror an Noam – and had been on their youth leadership course, a joint program of the Jewish Agency and MASA long term programs, since February 2009.
Accompanied by educator Jessica Landes, the South American youth met with educator and co-director of the Givat Haviva Face To Face project Ro'ee Peled and also with Lydia Aisenberg, who guided them on a tour of the region.
The students held a summary of their day program upon returning to their home base in Jerusalem. Jessica Landes informed us that "the students were extremely impressed by the work done by Givat Haviva in general and that their seminar had been an amazing experience."
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A group of 50 members of Peace Now from France also spent a day with us this month. With group leader and chairman of Peace Now in France David Chelma and a video team in tow, the peace seekers from Europe met with Miryam Degan-Brenner, director, the Noa-Nuha Center for Women and Gender Studies, who explained about Givat Haviva and some of the various projects to be found on campus.
Miryam was followed by Lydia, who later took the French folk to the Dotan Valley, Amir mountains and to the village of Barta'a for a brief overview. They also met with Riad Kabaha, co-director of the Givat Haviva Jewish-Arab Center for Peace.
With two-thirds of the group Jewish and the other third made up of folks from different religious backgrounds, the Peace Now members from France proved to be a most interesting and very appreciative audience to work with and we certainly hope to see some of them back for further visits to our campus in future.
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With the 60th anniversary of Givat Haviva looming on the horizon - 19th November - we are in for a busy month and are hopeful to see many more overseas and long term program participants in Israel come to visit our campus and participate in a seminar we promise they will never forget.