Givat Haviva Under The Berlin Spotlight
By Lydia Aisenberg
December 24, 2008
At the beginning of December, former Knesset member Yael Dayan and Hanna Siniora, the well-known Palestinian businessman and peace activist of many years standing, visited Germany on behalf of Givat Haviva.
The visit to Germany was at the invitation of the German Friends of Givat Haviva and funded by the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Yael Dayan is an author, journalist, ardent peace and social justice activist and former Knesset member. Nowadays she is also deputy mayor of the Tel Aviv municipality.
Hanna Siniora is a Palestinian newspaper publisher living in East Jerusalem and a founder of the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information (IPCRI) as well as a partner with Givat Haviva in the All For Peace radio station broadcasting out of Ramallah.
The main event of Yael Dayan's and Hanna Siniora's visit to Germany, kicking off the celebrations of the 60th anniversary since the founding of Givat Haviva, was held at the Berlin representative house of the State of Rheinland-Pfalz.
The first of many events planned for the coming year, the Middle East peace-seeking duo of Dayan and Siniora was joined for a panel discussion by Rheinland-Pfalz Prime Minister Kurt Beck. Andrea Bahner, a journalist and member of the foreign news editorial staff of Germany’s Channel One, moderated the panel.
Ms. Bahner was the first chairperson of the German Friends of Givat Haviva and has remained active on behalf of the organization since gleaning important electronic and print media attention for the innovative projects and programs offered by Givat Haviva.
One of those projects - Through Others’ Eyes – was brought in to sharp focus for the evenings participants and audience through a display of photographs taken and quotes made by the Israeli Arab and Jewish youth involved in the extremely successful and creative project founded eight years ago.
Among the audience was Berlin graphic artist and book designer Martin Hoffmann, a founder of Amnesty International in East Berlin during GDR times who has participated in seminars at Givat Haviva a number of times over the years.
“The exhibition of photographs from Through Others’ Eyes was very impressive, especially the aspect of their visiting each others homes,” emailed Martin Hoffmann to Givat Haviva staff in Israel after the event.
During their visit to Berlin, Yael Dayan and Hanna Siniora met with representatives of the German Foreign Ministry, members of the Federal Parliament, the Chancellor’s Office as well as the governing Lord Mayor of Berlin Klaus Wowereit. They also met with the Israeli Ambassador and the General Delegate of the Palestinian Authority in Berlin.
“This visit to Berlin has greatly improved the image of Givat Haviva in Germany,” summed up Givat Haviva representative in Europe, Alex Elsohn.
“Both Yael Dayan and Hanna Siniora repeatedly stressed the importance of Givat Haviva’s activity in all the meetings they attended here in Berlin and the visit really can be summed up as a most positive way of opening our intended special 60th anniversary events to be held during the forthcoming year,” he added.