The Friedrich Ebert Foundation and Givat Haviva are working together to improve relations between Jews and Arabs in Israel and promote the values of partnership and equality. The May 2021 events brought the importance of these values and the promotion of a shared society in Israel to the surface.
We believe in the importance of education; in teaching the concept of a shared society, starting in early childhood (pre-school), all the way through 12th grade.
Givat Haviva’s Education Department actively promotes shared society education among various demographics in Israeli society. We believe that a Jewish-Arab partnership will be most successful through internal uni-national dialogue in both Jewish and Palestinian societies in Israel along with shared activities.
Ongoing uni-national empowerment can help each such society reflect and build trust, which will ensure a healthy and balanced encounter with the other population. This facilitates further activities based on the principle of a shared and equal society.
These three axes complement each other. We have seen that schools that sent their staff to the Givat Haviva training programs have increased their involvement, leadership, and perseverance in the promotion of youth encounters.
We are now offering counseling and support to diverse organizations in both uni- and bi-national dialogue processes. We’re also calling for the public to come, meet, and talk in our facilitated dialogue circles held in safe space, to process recent events together and ask ourselves where we go from here.