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An Inspirational Visit from German
President
Frank-Walter Steinmeier
On Monday, May 8th Givat Haviva was honored with a visit from President Frank-Walter Steinmeier of Germany on his first trip to Israel as President. It was a beautiful day on our campus and an inspiration to introduce Givat Haviva and our work for shared society to President Steinmeier. During the visit, our Executive Director, Yaniv Sagee, and Director of the Center for Equality & Shared Society, Mohammad Darawshe, led the President on a tour of our campus, a visit to the Art Center, appearances in educational programming meetings, encounters and activities, and a celebratory welcome reception.
In a media piece by i24News, President Steinmeier described the nature of his visit to Givat Haviva: "Steinmeier affirmed that he is particularly excited to visit Givat Haviva, an institution that promotes Jewish-Arab dialogue and that he hopes to discuss ways in which he can advance a two-state solution which he believes is “the only reasonable perspective.”"
The President's closing statement at Givat Haviva included strong words of support for our work and mission, “I have been to Israel at least 20 times in the past but for some reason I never visited the Givat Haviva Center for Shared Society, and have to admit to this being a real mistake. Where politicians failed you are succeeding in showing that Jews and Arabs can live together in Israel and as you say, the goal must be to show youngsters co-existence is just not enough but co-operation is necessary, to have Jews and Arabs not only live in communities close to each other but to share and want a common future. You are preparing fertile ground on which peace is able to grow. You are keeping a window open and I promise you that in my capacity as President I will support you and upon return to Germany I, and the delegation here with me today, will be advocating as much support for Givat Haviva as we can.”
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A must read
in The New York Jewish Week by Sandee Brawarsky, exploring the diverse landscape of civil society initiatives for shared society in Israel. The article features Mohammad Darawshe who shared some personal anecdotes to frame the issue through a humanistic perspective.
An illuminating piece by Dr. Steinar Bryn, a featured speaker at our Annual Conference in March. The article draws parallels between the quest for shared society between Jews and Arabs in Israel, and Dr. Bryn's peace work in the Western Balkans with Nansen Dialogue Center Skopje.
A great blog post by our friend Rabbi John L. Rosove from Temple Israel of Hollywood who recently visited Givat Haviva and reconnected with Mohammad Darawshe.
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Upcoming Events - Join Us!
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JCPA - ARZA Symposium: The Seventh Day - Israel at a Crossroads
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In reflection of the 50th anniversary of the Six Day War, community leaders from across the country will gather to discuss important policy challenges to our field at the
Hebrew Union College in NYC on
Sunday, June 11.
Mohammad will be featured on a panel entitled
Future Possibilities of Peace, beginning at
2pm.
Register here.
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Featuring Mohammad Darawshe,
our Director of the Center for
Equality & Shared Society
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Through Others' Eyes Returns to the US for Summer 2017
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Through Others' Eyes, one of our beloved and most veteran programs, brings together Israeli Arab and Jewish high school aged youth in a photography based dialogue and encounter program. Following their yearlong experience in the program, participants have an opportunity to travel to the United States for a Peace Camp in upstate New York and community outreach events where they can show off their photographs and share their stories.
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