Thursday morning our group had the pleasure of visiting Givat Haviva and learning about its mission as well as the history of the 1949 Armistice/Green line and the differences in the borders of Israel in 1949, 1967, and since.
Our first speaker at Givet Haviva was Yaniv Sagee, the Executive Director. He was refreshingly honest about the successes and failures that the program has had since its founding. Using Zionist principles the group initially sought engagement and co-existence through dialogues. 90% of K-12 students in Israel didn’t meet the children of the other religious groups. They have had many collaborative programs but realized with the Second Intifada that their efforts had failed to effectively bridge the divide between the children and families of different faiths. The dialogues and narrative conversations made Palestinian and Israeli children angry and defensive.
He then spoke about how the group has redefined their mission. They are seeking to create a shared and equal society where 100% of Israelis are comfortable living in Israel. They have created curriculum to teach integrated classes of 6-9th grade students geography and civics. They are encouraging and training teachers and principals on contact theory. They are working with schools and communities to create interfaith partnerships based on interests. He said that Arabs are interested in equality and justice while the Jews are interested in security and feeling safe. They are working on many projects including training people in spoken Hebrew and Arabic. They have found that an increasing number of people only speak one language and this creates many barriers in their career opportunities.
He discussed the future goals of Givet Haviva: to create and implement a road map for shared society, model successful partnerships and shared communities on a global scale, moving beyond Israel to other parts of the world.
The next passionate and dynamic speaker from Givet Haviva was Lydia Aisenberg. She emigrated from Wales 50 years ago due to anti-semitism. We heard only pieces of her incredible life story. She lives in a Kibbutz near Givet Haviva and is a fierce advocate for equality. She has 5 children and 12 grandchildren. All four of her sons have served in elite units in the Israeli army. Before we left Givet Haviva Lydia showed us the wall mural pictured below. Naji al-Ali, considered the most significant cartoonist in the Arab world, created Handala, the young refugee boy seen on the right, shoeless and in tatters. He witnesses the world’s tragedies on the reader’s behalf. He is always pictured from behind. On the left is Srulik, a cartoon character symbolizing Israel. This character was created in 1956 by the Israeli cartoonist Kariel Gardosh, known by his pen name Dosh. This character is usually seen from the front.
The title of this post comes from Lydia’s comments about these figures. She wants these f***ers to turn around and walk towards a peaceful world where they can live together.
She also marked maps for us of the area we were in with all the settlements and communities marked and described the fences, walls and divisions created in 1949 and the subsequent changes to the lines.
We went out to the Amir Mountains overlooking the green line and the village of Barta. Lydia described how the village and some families were divided in half by the negotiators during the establishment of the Israeli State. She spoke glowingly about Ralph Bunche, the American negotiator and mediator who headed the United Nations delegation. He played a large role in the successful negotiations and creation of the Israeli State for which he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950. He was the first African American and person of color in the world to win the prize.
She also discussed Haresh, one of seven cities created by Ariel Sharon. Haresh was the only unsuccessful city but is now being developed by private contractors. There was a brief attempt to move ultra-orthodox Jewish families here with government subsidies but she said that effort rallied both the Jewish and Arab Israelis to work together to protest against it and the plans changed. One of the stories she told us about Haresh was that there are separate kindergartens built for the different religious groups but the buildings are clustered together so the parents will have to interact when they pick up their children. Lydia was an excellent guide and we could have listened to her insights on the region and it’s people all day. Alas we needed to move on to the Syrian border.
http://www.givathaviva.org/
