Chelsea’s Givat Haviva builds bridges between Jewish and Arab youth

Jewish and Arab high school students dance out the tensions of the day during a cultural evening at the Givat Haviva campus recently.

By Natalie Huet

Soothing 60 years of tensions between Israeli Jews and Arabs is neither easy nor insurmountable for the Givat Haviva Institute, which has been working for half a century to foster mutual understanding between the two communities in Israel.

Also known as the Jewish-Arab Center for Peace, Givat Haviva was founded in 1949 by the Kibbutz Artzi Movement—a federation of kibbutzim throughout Israel—and has since developed an array of Jewish-Arab dialog programs throughout the country.

“Face to Face,” the Institute’s thriving youth encounter program in Israel, enables thousands of Jewish and Arab students to finally meet “the other” and put aside their stereotypes. Here in Chelsea, at 114 W. 26th St., in an office referred to by its occupants as Beit Shalom—the House of Peace—the Givat Haviva Educational Foundation represents and supports the Institute’s work, raising money and awareness in the U.S.

While many in the U.S. pro-Israeli lobby community may play down that Arabs account for 20 percent of the population of Israel and suffer a great deal of segregation and hardship, “they are citizens with full rights, but they are not treated equally,” said Hiam Simon, executive director of the Foundation.

Simon highlighted that Israeli Arab schools are the least funded in the country, while Jewish religious schools benefit from the largest allocation. Israeli Arabs—perceived as a security threat—do not serve in the Army, one of the greatest levelers in society. “Arabs are kept out of that network, simply because they are not serving,” Simon said, adding that the two communities are socially and spatially insulated. “There are Israeli Jews who go to school less than a mile away from Arab schools, and they never meet Arab students because they run in separate circles.”

Bridging the gap between the two communities is the primary mission of “Face to Face,” a niche encounter program between Jewish and Arab high schools. Its seminars gather up to 180 students at once and enable Jewish and Arab teenagers to interact in workshops and discussion groups. Held at the bucolic campus of Givat Haviva—east of Hadera, halfway between central and northern Israel—the seminar addresses students from 10th to 12th grade, before the Jews get drafted in the army, “so they have a real picture of Arabs as human beings,’” said Simon.

Jewish and Arab high school students get to know each other during a “Face to Face” encounter at the Givat Haviva campus in Hadera, Israel earlier this year.

Every academic year, about 40 seminars are held outside holiday and exam periods (to attract the most students), and schools may repeat the experience the following year. Since last September, 2,000 students have come from all over Israel to participate in Face to Face. The Israeli Ministry of Education has just recently set the goal of getting every school in Israel to participate in program, and Givat Haviva is now aiming for 30,000 participants within five years.

Although Face to Face is school-based, the students ultimately decide whether or not they wish to attend the program, after discussing their expectations in class with a visiting Givat Haviva facilitator.

Once they arrive at the seminar, they begin with icebreakers like acquaintance and name games, said Shachar Yanai, co-director of Face to Face in Israel.

“Because there is a lot of suspicion, it’s very uncomfortable at first for every participant,” Yanai explained. “Some Jewish students have complained that we hadn’t brought them ‘real Arabs’ but ‘chic Arabs.’ They imagined them differently and were surprised to see these students dressed like them.”

The seminars’ workshops are led by two facilitators—one Jewish, the other Arab, both additionally serving as translators—and bring together 20 students for discussions about their respective cultures and identities.

Yanai said the portion on culture unveils differences between the Jewish and Arab communities, especially when promiscuity and homosexuality are discussed, but is not nearly as fiery as the segment on identity. “The Jews are confused and upset when Arabs identify with Palestine more than Israel,” he explained.

In past encounters, Arab students have overtly accused the Jewish kids of stealing their land, and on one occasion a Jewish 11th-grader fired back that there are plenty of Arab countries they could live in. “Facilitating these groups is exhausting, like a five-set tennis match,” Yanai said.

Fortunately, a cultural evening with music, dancing and refreshments follows to cool things down.

During the second day of the seminar, students in small groups debate “laws” for a more just country in which they could all live peacefully despite their differences: Should the Army include Arabs? Should schools be funded the same way? “They discuss these issues in a civilized way,” Yanai said.

Finally, the seminar includes a reunion to bring peaceful closure to the encounter. Each person hands a metaphorical rose and thorn to an individual or a group—the rose for positive feedback, the thorn for negative thoughts. “It’s very interesting to watch,” Yanai said. “Especially when students who had heated arguments give a rose to the ‘enemy’ for being brave and speaking up.”

Not all the tension gets washed away in two days, though.

According to evaluation questionnaires given out to 600 participants during the winter of 2006, some 57 percent of the Arab participants polled after the two-day encounter held the Jews responsible for the state of Jewish-Arab relations in the country, while only 39 percent felt that way before attending the seminar.

When asked to comment on these puzzling results, Yanai pinpointed “disappointment from the Arab side for not being able to convince the Jews in their positions.” He said Givat Haviva is reflecting on these findings and reevaluating the program—a delicate task. “We want to encourage dialog and critical thinking, but should we challenge the Arabs, who are already in the minority, as much as the Jews? It’s a very complicated issue.”

The Zionist Organization of America—one of the largest Orthodox Jewish groups in the U.S., based in Washington, D.C.—used the perplexing evaluations to criticize Givat Haviva’s work for what it perceives to be an anti-Israel bias.

“These programs reinforce both the negative views Arabs have of Israeli policies and the inappropriate behavior of Israeli Arabs and their Knesset members,” ZOA President Morton Klein told Chelsea Now. “Discussions are centered around apologies for Israeli actions, instead of demanding that the Arabs stop supporting terrorist groups like Hamas.”

Yet the same evaluation questionnaires reveal that Face to Face is overall perceived by its participants—Arab and Jewish alike—as a positive experience enabling them to understand the perspective and intentions of the other side: After the seminar, 60 percent of the Arab participants acknowledged that the two communities seem equally willing to make concessions, up from 35 percent prior to the encounter. And more than 60 percent of both the Arab and Jewish students said they are now “very interested” in a joint future in Israel.

Ahuva Dotan, an English teacher at the Lady Davis Comprehensive High School in Tel Aviv, said her students find the encounters “challenging” but enriching. For the past three years, her classes have participated in Givat Haviva’s English-speaking version of “Face to Face.” This experience, she said, goes way beyond improving their proficiency in spoken English. “They get a special opportunity to reconsider their own beliefs, rethink their own identities and learn about their neighbors,” she told Chelsea Now in an email.

For initiatives like these, Givat Haviva received the 2001 UNESCO Prize for Peace Education, in recognition of “the work done for the resolution of conflict through dialog.” The Institute runs myriad other programs promoting long-lasting partnership between Jews and Arabs, including an exchange program between elementary schools, athletic and arts programs for youth, an empowerment business program for Jewish and Arab women, and a Peace Radio broadcasted in Hebrew, Arabic and English (www.allforpeace.org).

Compared to similar Israeli organizations like Neve Shalom—which was nominated four times for the Nobel Peace Prize—and the Peres Center for Peace (named after former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres), Givat Haviva does not receive much media attention in Israel and abroad, said Lydia Aisenberg, an Israeli freelance journalist who also works within Givat Haviva’s International Department.

“We seem to be the best kept secret in the country,” she wrote in an email. “One needs funds for professional PR—that was never really an option with a cash-strapped, kibbutz-movement-operated campus such as Givat Haviva.”

The goal of reaching 30,000 participants in “Face to Face” would cost approximately $3.5 million a year, according to Yanai. Like any school-based program, “Face to Face” receives stipends from the Israeli State school budget, but most funds come from the Givat Haviva Foundation based here in Chelsea. The Foundation, a 501(c) (3) non-profit, raises a little over $1 million a year from individual donors and foundations. Its largest contributor, the Naomi and Nehemiah Cohen Foundation, located just outside of Washington, D.C., has donated over $1.65 million since 1990—not including a $100,000 grant this year.

Orthodox Zionist groups like the ZOA have in the past condemned Jewish-raised money being spent on dialog programs reaching out to the Arab community. At Beit Shalom, the seven left-wing Jewish organizations discretely sharing an office space with Givat Haviva all respond with a simple, peaceful message: Israeli Arabs are citizens of Israel, just like their Jewish fellows.

“Israel really is a country for all citizens,” said Simon. Quoting Theodore Herzl, the founder of modern political Zionism, he added: “If you will it, it is no dream.”