Developing a Joint Vision for a Shared Society in Israel
May 24, 2016
Givat Haviva Campus, Israel
The theme of this year’s conference was "Implications of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict on Common Citizenship for Jews and Arabs in Israel". The Conference received messages of support from 3 presidents – President of Israel Reuven Rivlin, Head of the Palestinian authority Mahmoud Abbas, and President of the USA, Barack Obama – along with US Secretary of State John Kerry, and convened a diverse group of participants to discuss the meaning of common citizenship in the political, media and cultural arenas, in the shadow of the ongoing conflict.
Mohammed Darawshe, Director of Planning, Equality, and Shared Society at Givat Haviva moderated the conference, and the conference was addressed by Mark Gallagher, Head of Political Section of European Union Delegation to Israel, Mohammed Barake, Chairman of the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel, Yaniv Sagee, Givat Haviva Executive Director, Dr. Werner Puschra, Director of Friedrich Ebert Stiftung in Israel, Itamar Shviky, Director of the Havatzelet Group, and Nir Meir, Secretary of the Kibbutz Movement. Conference participants included MK Yitzhak Herzog, Head of the Labor Party, MK Ayman Odeh, Head of the Joint List, MK Ayoob Kara of Likud, and MK Ofer Shelach of Yesh Atid, as well as cultural and media personalities.
This year the conference was also followed by an optional workshop on the Co-Construction of Partnership Through Dialogue Practices, led by Drs. Ran Kuttner, Givat Haviva Academic Advisor and Senior Lecturer at the University of Haifa, and Muli Peleg, Senior Lecturer at Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA.
The Givat Haviva Annual Shared Society Conference is widely recognized as the primary convening event for all actors working to build a shared society in Israel. Bringing together citizens and leaders from diverse sectors of Jewish and Arab society, including civil society, government, private sector, academia and the donor community, and providing a much-needed platform for discussions, experience sharing and collaborative strategy development towards building a shared society in Israel.
