Activities of the International Department at Givat Haviva
By Hilit Ben-Tzi, Lydia Aisenberg and Uri Barel
December 4, 2007
Although the International Department normally lives up to its name and deals with folks from outside the country, November kicked off with a group of Israeli youngsters from Kibbutz Alonim. The youngsters were between the ages of 13 and 17 – a difficult mix at the best of times.
With the Israeli teachers strike entering a second month, home educators and parents in Alonim decided to have thirty of their out-of-school children utilize at least one day of their enforced holiday for a seminar at Givat Haviva.
“The pupils have been working hard on a number of projects within our community and we decided to reward them with a few excursions, most of which fun stuff but also a seminar at Givat Haviva,” explained Uzi Lionbach, Director of Education at Kibbutz Alonim.
The kibbutz member and educator heard about the International Department seminars from fellow kibbutz movement educators who had participated in a tour of the region the previous month that was also organized by the staff of the International Department.
The Alonim high-school pupils participated in a workshop dealing with the subject of Israel’s minority groups and touched on Jewish-Arab relations before going out and about on a tour of the Wadi Ara -Dotan Valley region. The tour incorporated a stop at the Jewish community of Katzir atop the Amir mountain range, overlooking the northern West Bank, and visiting the Muslim village of Barta’a where they took a walk to the so-called Green Line which unfortunately is anything but, being as these days the area is full of huge amounts of rubbish and rubble.
“As Alonim’s director of educational initiatives it seemed important to have our students see for themselves a region of the Green Line and security fence - thus be introduced to some of the central issues in Israel today. I felt it important that they become familiar with areas and issues so close to them physically but on the other hand, so far away,” explained Uzi whose kibbutz is in the Jezreel Valley and in close proximity to the Bedouin village of Busmat Tivon.
“Hopefully they will be encouraged to think about and discuss issues of identity, politics, conflict, peace and security during today’s experience. Coming for the seminar and tour has afforded us the opportunity to step out of the ‘bubble’ as they say – to get away, spend some time together and just have an enjoyable day.”
“We got what we wanted,” Uzi commented at the end of the day!
In a letter received a short time after the seminar, Uzi complimented the International Department’s ability at being able to hold the attention of the youngsters – even though at times difficult – and do so in a caring and concerned manner.
“The younger pupils in the group enjoyed the amazing views and surroundings when out on the tour although possibly was a bit ‘heavy’ side for some of the really young ones, but the older students enjoyed the opportunity to visit the places we did, to learn – basically from everything and returning home full of new experiences.
It was a very successful day indeed,” he wrote.
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We are used to receiving groups of an unusual character from abroad from time to time but this months visitors from Germany – on a study tour of Israel with the Bundeszentrale fur Politische Bildung organization - were not just unusual but extremely challenging to work with.
The group of 18 journalists, educators, social workers and employees of local municipalities working in departments dealing with the immigrant population, were all German citizens but almost half the group not German born. They and their families migrated from Syria and Iraq (and also one lady from the Kurdish region of that country), Morocco and Pakistan and were Muslims.
The subject of their study tour in Israel was “Migration and Integration in Israel,” a topic apparently encouraged by the Israeli Embassy in Germany and a joint project of the Federal Agency for Civic Education and the Muslim Academy in Germany, a secular institution.
The group were highly knowledgeable of events in the Middle East and showed great interest in the seminar content which included information with regard the work of Givat Haviva, a workshop about the Wadi Ara area, and a talk by an Israeli Arab lawyer. A three hour tour of the Wadi Ara – Dotan Valley area incorporated a visit to Harish, the checkpoint at Reichan in Area ‘C’ of the West Bank) and the divided village of Barta’a. Serious discussions developed between the group and Givat Haviva staff – as well as amongst the members of the group themselves!
A fascinating visit to the Reichan checkpoint and Barta’a village was much appreciated by the German group, many of whom were able to speak directly with the Palestinians at the checkpoint and in the village, as Arabic was mother tongue. Consequently they were not reliant on the facilitator/translator member of staff accompanying them – a rare event indeed!
As the tour drew to a close and the sun set over the Mediterranean the general consensus in the group was that they had been given a great deal to think, talk and write about during the course of the day. It was also a great pleasure as well as a challenge to work with this very special Bundeszentrale group.
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The Holy Land Trust, based in Bethlehem, booked a seminar for one of their Christian pilgrim groups – the New Jersey Presbyterian Church. Also paying his first visit to Givat Haviva was West Bank tour guide Elias, a native of Bethlehem, who was accompanying the group for the duration of their visit.
The twenty folks from New Jersey had visited many places of Christian, Muslim and Jewish interest prior to their visit to Givat Haviva and also heard speakers from almost every position on the political map, both Palestinian and Israeli.
Following their successful seminar the group stayed overnight in the nearby kibbutz of Kfar Glickson. Hopefully we will be hearing from some of the group members once they return home to the States.
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Another interesting and very upbeat group of American folk who came for a seminar this month was thirteen folks connected to the YMCA in the States.
Last year a similar group also had a Givat Haviva ‘experience’ during their trip to Israel. Jerusalem based tour-guide Madeleine Lavine made sure that the present visitors would not miss out on a likewise experience.
Having spent a few days in the Galilee and on the way to Jerusalem, Madeleine brought the group to see and hear about Kibbutz Mishmar HaEmek from Lydia Aisenberg, a staff member of Givat Haviva’s International Department and member of the kibbutz for almost forty years.
Flipping through a thick album of photographs published in celebration of the 85th anniversary of the kibbutz this year, the visitors were able to see in a short time the long and very often against-all-odds success story of one of the 280 kibbutzim in the country.
Following the kibbutz, the YMCA folk were taken on a tour of the Green Line and security fence and visited the village of Barta’a where they enjoyed walking through the busy streets and lunched locally.
The group included Linda Garcia, YMCA of Greater Hartford’s Director of Association Initiatives and her husband Tom – a recently retired policeman of thirty one years standing. The YMCA of Great Hartford Branch Executive Director, Shayna Ellovich was also amongst the group, as was Jeff Jones, a retired pilot who worked for American Airlines.
A few days after the kibbutz visit and tour Madeleine Lavine said that members of the group had been very pleased with the day’s activities.
“I was told they thought it had given important educational background toward understanding more about the Green Line and security fence and how truly complicated it makes daily life and for those working toward coexistence,” said Madeleine.”
“One of the group said that the vantage points giving such extensive views, accompanied by the in-depth explanations regarding the security fence were extremely revealing.”
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Thirty four members of ESRA, English Speaking Residents Association - one of the largest and most effective non-profit volunteer organizations to be found in Israel today - spent a day on campus as well as going out and about in the region and visiting to Barta’a village with a International Department educational staff member.
The ESRA volunteers met with Mohammad Darawshe who gave in-depth background with regard to the Arab citizens of Israel touching on many different aspects of their daily lives in the state and their relationship with West Bank and Gaza Palestinians.
They also met with Arnon Rosemarine, co-director of the Jewish-Arab Center for Peace who explained about projects involving encounters between Jewish and Arab youth on and off campus.
The ESRA folk in general have been living in Israel for between twenty to forty years and originate from countries such as South Africa, North America, Britain and Europe. Only two of the thirty four participants had ever visited Givat Haviva before but at the end of an extremely interesting and successful day, the general consensus was they would be planning Givat Haviva 2 in the not too distant future.
From the emails received following the seminar, ESRA members found their day to be “enlightening,” “fascinating” and had “appreciated having learned so much.”
We look forward to the next session with these caring folks who spend so much of their time helping the needy in Israel.
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Thirty people between the ages 25-70 plus coming from ten different countries made up this group of Ecumenical Accompaniers who have been volunteering for the last two months in Palestinian communities in the West Bank.
For a number of years we have been receiving groups of Ecumenical Accompaniers who volunteer for three-month periods in the West Bank under the auspices of the World Council of Churches. The program started in 2002. Many of the participants wear the distinctive beige sleeveless and multi pocket jacket with the emblem of the EAPPI - standing for Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in Palestine - embroidered on the back depicting a dove, a cross and barbed wire.
The seminar program for the present group of EAPPI volunteers dealt with the vantage points in the area of Wadi Ara where possible to see the flat, narrow and central portion of the State of Israel from the Amir mountain range, and other vantage points in ‘Area C’ of the northern section of the West Bank overlooking the Green Line, security fence and Jezreel Valley Jewish communities down below.
After a few days of ferocious storms and blustering weather, the day of the seminar, when it was time to go out and about the sun shone through affording surprisingly clear views under the clouds – the storms having dust-busted the previous week’s heat and particle laden haze.
The Ecumenical Accompaniers also spent a few hours at Kibbutz Mishmar HaEmek dealing with the subject of the founding and development of the 85 year-old Hashomer Hatzair kibbutz in the Jezreel Valley.
Whilst out walking the pathways of the kibbutz however, the stormy weather caught them on the hop and they were drenched within minutes by hailstones and lashing rain.
The multinational folks however were in more than high spirits, took the drenching in their stride and left still asking a multitude of questions about kibbutz, the members, how decisions are made and so on – hopefully they will return for another visit.
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November, 2007 was also a month of undertaking marketing visitations to organizations that have yet to add a Givat Haviva experience to their summer programs being formulated for next year.
Akin with other educational establishments in the country we are gearing ourselves toward the expected increase in educational tour groups intending to visit Israel during the course of next year in order to celebrate the 60th anniversary since the State of Israel was founded and will continue to deal with sensitive issues in the professional but at the same time informal way we have built our reputation upon.