"Face-to-Face" Builds Bridges between Jewish and Arab Youth
By Natalie Huet / Chelsea Now
August 30, 2007
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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.
Face-to-Face, Givat Haviva's thriving youth encounter program in Israel, enables thousands of Jewish and Arab students to finally meet “the other” and put aside their stereotypes. 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; 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.”
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.”
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."
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 in New York City.