The Comings and Goings of June 2009
By Lydia Aisenberg
July 23, 2009
As Tel Aviv celebrates 100 years since the vision of a few pioneers turned sand dunes into a city to be proud of, Givat Haviva is in the process of planning this autumn's marking of 60 years since founding.
For some of our visitors to campus this month, the fact that Givat Haviva's educational programs have been up and running for six decades came as a surprise. Givat Haviva is one of the oldest, if not the oldest organization to take up the challenge of running co-existence projects in Israel.
During the month of June, a few hundred more folks from overseas have visited the campus, participated in seminars and toured the region of Wadi Ara with International Department staff members.
During these times of economic hardships, and a marked reduction in the number of participants in the summer groups to Israel in general, the International Department staff members have been kept quite busy.
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A group of 40 North American students on a Hasbara Fellowship's three-week visit to Israel, participated in a workshop dealing with the Arab citizens of Israel, followed by a visit to Katzir and the village of Barta'a. Among the students there were handful of photographers and film makers with serious equipment who are making a film about their experiences in Israel.
Founded in 2001 in conjunction with Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hasbara Fellowships – a program spearheaded by Aish International – brings hundreds of students to Israel throughout the course of the year, all of whom visit Givat Haviva.
To date Hasbara Fellowships has brought to Israel 1,400 North American students from over 250 campuses. Upon return to their campuses the students continue to receive support from Hasbara Fellowships staff.
Hasbara Fellowships students are among the most well-informed student groups Givat Haviva's International Department has the pleasure to work with. Some students remain in contact (via email) long after their visit to the country. We do our best to assist with information and written material wherever possible.
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Dr. Karen Mock - one of Canada's foremost specialists in anti-racist education and chair of the Canadian Friends of Haifa University - last visited Givat Haviva nine years ago but remained in close contact with International Department staff members during this period. On a recent visit to Israel, Karen spent some hours at Givat Haviva meeting with staff, visiting the Peace Library and more. Karen was accompanied by Dr. Maha El-Taji Daghash, Post Doctoral Fellow at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Karen and Maha were taken on a tour of Harish, the Dotan Valley, the security fence and Reichan Checkpoint, the Amir Mountain range and village of Barta'a – where they met with some of the local Palestinians.
Karen later commented that the visit to Givat Haviva and tour had been the "real highlight" of this visit to Israel. Karen wrote that the visit to the campus and surrounding region was "quite an experience with a huge impact for me, and also Maha".
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Israeli tour-guide Ran Tzabar has visited Givat Haviva many times with groups of students from abroad. This month Ran was guiding a large group of university students from New York participating in a special Birthright-Taglit program.
The 42 students in the group were participating in a 14 day Zanke Foundation Leadership Trip for students enrolled in New York State. Most of the participants are currently in some form of leadership position – such as college newspaper, Greek system, the college government or Jewish leadership.
The students had only been in the country for three days before visiting the Wadi Ara area and hearing about the Arab and Jewish citizens of Israel living in close quarters to each other in the region, as well as overlooking a large portion of the West Bank and discussing the relationship between the Palestinians (Jordanian passport holders with Palestinian identity cards) and local Israeli citizens – both Jewish and Arab.
The students were upbeat, interested in the geography, demography and general information about what they could see from the observation point at Katzir, frequently used the maps provided and fielded more than difficult questions for International Department guide.
"Amazing few hours", is how some of the students described their experience, and commented they would highly recommend other visitors to Israel to do such a program but preferably have more time allocated to the topic and area.
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Dr. Yore Kedem, Visiting Lecturer on Modern Hebrew at the Department of Religion, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, is planning to bring a group of Illinois students to Israel later on this year to study multiculturalism and immigrant absorption.
In his youth, Kedem, born and educated at the Hashomer Hatzair movement kibbutz of Beth Kama in the Negev, spent time at Givat Haviva for movement seminars and also rehearsals of the Kibbutz Movement Youth Orchestra.
The accomplished musician, who holds a PhD in Arts and Aesthetics Education, visited the Givat Haviva Art Center and Peace Gallery where octogenarian Mitzi Alper, a former Chicagoan and volunteer of many years standing at the Art Center, showed him around.
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Wili Derbogan from Arbeit & Leben in Germany and partner Anette Klasing, an educational adviser and facilitator working at the LidiceHaus Center in Bremen, have been to Givat Haviva many times over the years, and Anetta also spent a long period working at the Bethlehem International Center in the past.
When Wili brought a group of eight colleagues to Israel and the Palestinian territories recently, he didn't have to look far for a good guide – Anetta of course! With a heavy schedule to meet, the Arbeit & Leben group visited the Jezreel Valley kibbutz of Mishmar HaEmek for an International Department organized seminar entitled: Zionsim, Pioneerism & Socialism.
The group visited the kibbutz in-house museum known as the 'Emda' where kibbutz born member Aviram Paz showed them around and explained about some of the artifacts found there, and told the group about his founder member grandfather – after whom he is named – who was killed in an ambush by local Arabs before the War of Independence.
Givat Haviva staff member Lydia Aisenberg, a member of Mishmar HaEmek for over 40 years, then led a workshop dealing with the past and present way of life on a kibbutz struggling to remain loyal to the basic ideology of a Hashomer Hatzair kibbutz of the old stock.
The German group was made up of two university professors, two radio journalists, two employees of the German Ministry of Social Affairs and two educators.
Arbeit & Leben is a youth and adult political education institution that is supported by the German Federation of Trade Unions and the German Associations of Adult Education.
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British students on a ten-day Taglit-Birthright visit to Israel spent a day visiting Kibbutz Mishmar HaEmek and dealt with the topic of the Arab citizens of Israel and visited Barta'a village.
The students were accompanied by Richard Verber, Officer of the Union of Jewish Students Southern Development. At the end of the day some of the 40 students commented that the seminar had proved to be way above their expectations and would recommend all student groups undertake the study tour of Wadi Ara-Green Line-Security Fence as had they.
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19 German educators on a ten day seminar in Israel organized by the German Ministry of Education and Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, participated in a one-day seminar at Givat Haviva through the International Department.
After a two hour workshop dealing with the Middle East conflict's backgrund, given by staff member Lydia Aisenberg, the teachers – who came from Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz – were taken by Lydia to the Katzir observation point and Barta'a village.
Group leader Rene Winkler, a teacher of religion and social studies, has been to Israel a number of times before but for most members of the group it was a first visit. "This has been such an interesting day and very helpful for better understanding of the general situation", said Rene.
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Another group of British university students – this time 30 student activists from universities across the British Isles and on a high-profile leadership seminar in Israel – spent a day at Givat Haviva and participated in a tour of Wadi Ara.
Already a week in the country before arriving in Givat Haviva, the students heard many different voices from within the Jewish, Arab and Palestinian communities both in the State of Israel and the West Bank, where they had visited a Jewish settlement and the city of Hebron, as well as speaking with Palestinian notables.
Carly McKenzie, Campaigns Director for the Union of Jewish Students in Britain, said the International Department seminar with Lydia had provided a great deal of thought provoking information and the tour to the Amir mountain range and walk around the divided village of Barta'a had been one of the highlights for the students.
Unlike the British university students who had participated in a seminar just a few days before – under the auspices of Birthright-Taglit – this particular group of students comprised former members of youth movements who had visited Israel when in their teens and then on gap-year courses before starting university.
"I was here in Givat Haviva on a seminar with FZY when I was a teen and also participated in another similar seminar when I was on FZY's year course at Machon in Jerusalem", said one of the young ladies. "Even so, today I learned even more about this area and the Jewish and Arab people living in the region and it has been great", she said.
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A busy month and summer has only just begun. Groups will come, and groups will go, hopefully glad to find that an International Department seminar was on their Israel itinerary.