Mosque and school, west Barta'a

The Givat Haviva institute, which is located close to Hadera and the Iron Junction, is an educational institution founded by the HaShomer Hatzair movement. Its purpose is to “promote the values of equality and human dignity” and it offers many programs that enable this experience between Jews and Arabs living in Israel. For its work it was awarded the UNESCO peace prize in 2001.

On a beautiful November day Givat Haviva hosted an ‘Arab-Jewish Co-Existence Seminar’ for an interested ESRA group, an outing that had been well planned by Bess Hoffman and Audrey Goodman.

The program was opened by Lydia Aisenberg, a freelance journalist and frequent contributor to this magazine. She lives on Kibbutz Mishmar HaEmek and has long been associated and involved with the work being done at Givat Haviva.

Her enthusiastic and lucid presentation about the Jewish-Arab towns lying in the Little Triangle in the area of Wadi Ara, and those towns that lie over the Green Line but within the security fence, highlighted to us the complexities of this region.

The Director of the Jewish-Arab Center For Peace, Amon Rozmerin, gave his greetings and a short slide presentation of the work of the Center, after which we all enjoyed lunch in the spacious cafeteria on the campus. The cafeteria was overflowing with young soldiers, all part of another program at Givat Haviva. These soldiers, who for one reason or another didn’t study for or take their matriculation exams, come to Givat Haviva for this purpose.

After lunch an intriguing presentation was given by Mohamad Darushe, who explained some of the historical and political developments regarding the Arab population in Israel and efforts being made to address this issue.

Our day culminated with an interesting ‘on the spot tour’ led by Lydia to the Observation Point on the Amir Mountain Range offering a panoramic view of the region, and especially of Barta’a, an Arab village divided by the Green Line in 1949. Before visiting West Barta’a where our trip ended, we rode up to Katzir, a Jewish settlement on this mountain range which was part of the Sharon Seven Stars Plan to strengthen Jewish presence in this region. From here we could see both the geographic and demographic realities that make Givat Haviva’s presence and work so relevant.

This was a fascinating day. We all learned so much, sparking everyone’s interest to learn more about this subject and our fascinating country, and many thanks to all involved who put this outing together.

Lydia mentioned, while we were on the mountain, “we do this work for our children and for our grandchildren”. It seems fair to say that’s what it is all about.