half year report final112

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Sadaka ReutArab-Jewish Youth Partnership

Half Year Report

September 1, 2010- February 28, 2011


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Table of Contents

Introduction 3

Building a Culture of Peace 4

Changes in the Environment 4

Planned and Implemented Activities in 2010-2011 5

Changes and Conclusions 8

Future Plans 10

Markaz 11




Future Plans 17

Community in Action 18




Future Plans 22

Encounter groups university students 24

Bi-national framework for SR graduates 25

This report was composed from interviews with facilitators and coordinators of our programs. Inaddition, it was based on documentation of activities we have held, monthly reports that havedocumented these events and observations we have taken from activities.


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Introduction a word from our General DirectorDear friends, supporters and partners,

Im glad to present you with Sadaka Reuts half year report, covering the period from September

2010 till February 2011. Talking about this period, one must relate to the popular revolutions anduprisings in the Arab world, as it was the most significant development in our part of the world.Palestinians and Jews in Israel have been following the events closely, hoping the people of these

many nations will be victorious against dictatorships and oppressors. At the same time, peoplehave been wondering when will these winds of change sweep over Israel and Palestine.

The Israeli media has attempted to draw a vague picture of these developments for their viewers.On the one hand, even the most cynical reporters could not hide their enthusiasm and surprise as

this wave of people demanded freedom and was willing to sacrifice for their liberation. On theother hand, the Israeli media has spread hatred and fear in terms of the possible outcomes of this

popular uprising for Israel. Will the new regimes be as tolerant and cooperative with Israel as the

old ones, or will they overtly express the anger and frustration their people feel towards Israelspolicies and actions.

In our impression, ordinary people and especially youth among them were fascinated by the

events and the fear that Israeli media tried to spread was not embraced.We were all fascinated bythe power of the demonstrators in Egypt, their power of will and insistence on receiving their

rights, their power to mobilize others and their power to express loudly and clearly their thoughtsand demands.

We were also thrilled by the opportunities new social networks provided the people. Very ofteneducators and parents speak against Facebook and about its bad influence on youth culture,isolating them from their reality and replacing real networks with virtual ones. In the last few

months it was undoubtedly proven that Facebook can play an important role in organizing people

and in planning struggles if its used for this purpose.

I believe these uprisings could not have succeeded if it was not for two main factors. One is the

political and social awareness and understanding that demonstrators held. This understanding ofpower structures and the roles citizens play within them gave the people the ability to examine

reality from a critical point of view. They were thus able to realize how and when they wereoppressed and who was profiting from the situation. This led them eventually to refuse to acceptthis role and to believe they deserve more. The second factor was that people went out to the

streets and expressed themselves, they took an action, and they realized that waiting for change tocome does not help to bring it. They understood that knowing your rights and believing youdeserve a better life is not enough. The pivotal factor is activating a struggle and becomingdirectly involved in bringing the change.

On the educational level of Sadaka Reut, these events strengthen our belief in our educationalapproach, which has been developed as a combination of building awareness, encouraging youthto play an active and responsible role in their communities and providing them with tools to take

action. We now believe, more than ever, that one component without the other is not goodenough.

With solidarity and love,

Hana Amoury


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Building a Culture of Peace:

Changes in the EnvironmentDuring the first half of this activity year the local communities that Sadaka Reut works with have

been affected mainly by the wider political developments, and most significantly by the uprisingof the people of Egypt, Tunisia and the rest of the Arab world.

The inspiring images of young demonstrators leading the public towards liberation and freedomhad affected our work on different levels. It made our youth, especially Arab youth, proud ofthemselves. Among the Arab youth and the Arab community in general, the common previous

image of the neighboring Arab countries is weak, miserable and cowardly. The long lastingdictatorships in the region and the lack of any massive struggle against them lead people to

believe that no good will come out of the Arab nation. This frustrating and weakening idea manytimes becomes the self-image youth have of themselves. In order to distance themselves from this

image, many time youngsters tend to alienate themselves from the Arab world, nation andidentity. Since working to develop and deepen identity is a major part of our work, we added allthese elements into the educational process, thus enriching it.

On the local level, the triangle area has witnessed an increase of crime and violence on the innersociety level. The city of Tira was crowned for the first time as the city with the highest number

of crime incidents, according to a popular newspaper. The increase of violent incidents using adeadly weapon by youngsters is terribly worrying for local communities and it indicates the mal-treatment by the authorities of this phenomenon. It also shows the inability of the education

system to foster solidarity and a healthy society.

The neighborhood of Dora in Netanya received increased media attention in the last year, as itwas described as a neglected and wretched place. This image portrayed in the media upset theresidents and brought them to look for alternative ways to express themselves and demand their

rights. In this sense, it is worth mentioning that our work in this neighborhood is distinctlyaffected by actual every day events. Our youth in Dora is living a very harsh reality. Incidents

such as police violence against group members or even sometimes arrest of group members,happens frequently.

The village of Musmus, located in Wadi Arah area, has suffered from several house demolitions

in the last year and popular committees to address this issue have been established in Musmusand the neighboring towns. These committees are leading the struggle against house demolitions

by organizing public events and putting pressure on the media. The main problem in these


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villages is that there is not urban planning and there is very little room approved for new building.This put stress on youth when thinking of their future and where it will be possible for them tolive near their families.

Planned and Implemented Activities in 2010-2011

Planned activities Implemented activities Reasons for deviation

1 Promotion andMarketing-Building cooperation

with educationalframeworks

Netanya- Dora (community center),Techernihovsky Junior High School,Shai Agnon School.

Tira - Beit Tomashin and Amal SchoolQalansawa- Community Center

Jiser al-Zarka- we were not able toestablish any connection in the village

besides with the facilitatorMusmus- Al-Ram AssociationRosh Haayen- meeting and connections

built with the municipality.

2 Outreach-

Implementation ofworkshops ineducational

frameworks(recruitment

program)

Workshops in Netanya- Techernihovsky

(4 classes, 120 kids)

Shai Agnon- workshop was not

implemented because the needsof the school did not align withthe vision of Sadaka Reut.* find a more detailedexplanation below in Changes

and ConclusionsRosh Haayen- cooperation

didnt come to fruition this year.3 Youth GroupsOpening of local

groups in Arab andJewish villages

Planned:

-12 groups (5 Jewishgroups and 6

Palestinian and 1

nation-widebinational)

Groups that were opened: Netanya, Dora- 12 kids, weekly

meetings. Musmus- 2nd year group, 13

kids, weekly meetings. Qalansawa- 2nd year, 12 kids,

weekly meetings. Tira- 3rd year group, 10 kids,

Groups that will open in the comingmonths:

Netanya Tsharnihovsky(group will be opened inMarch)

Groups that we couldnt open: Jiser al-Zarka 2nd year

we couldnt open thisgroup because theconnection with thecommunity was only

with the facilitator, whois a local resident and

the connection with him

was lost on September2010.

*Discussed further in Changesand Conclusions

Taybeh 3rd year- SadakaReut wanted this groupto be project oriented,

but didnt find asuitable person to

facilitate this kind of

more complex project.*Discussed further in

the Changes andConclusions


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Rosh Haayen-Facilitator of plannedgroup decided to study

abroad. Also, theconnection we fosteredwith the municipality

was not strong enoughto establish a group.*Discussed further in

Changes andConclusions

Netanya theater group-This group did notcome to fruition due to

lack of commitment on

behalf of the youth.This usually happens

because youth sign up

in late spring andgroups do not start untilearly fall, this gap in

time is detrimental tocommitment.

4 Local weekly

meetings

This section providesa brief description ofthe main topics

groups have beendealing with

Netanya, Dora- This groupfocuses on the topics of

discrimination, racism, andsocial cohesion. They also workwith Theater of the

Oppressed. Musmus- During the first part

of the year the group dealt with

local social issues such asproblems in their village,

women in Arab society,

education, educational problemsin Palestinian society and

family issues. The second part

of the year focused on politicalissues such as, identity, the

Nakba, inequality,discrimination and the conflict.The final part of the year willdeal with the importance of

volunteering and contributing totheir community, and local

NGOs. They also volunteered

on International Womens dayin the village.

Qalansawa- This group focuses


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on the topics of identity, humanand civil rights, womens rightsand strengthening the

volunteering spirit incommunity.

Tira- This advanced groupvolunteers in different NGOsaround their city and they meetonce a month to debrief. After

two years these kids have takenaction in their community

through the Sadaka Reutframework.

5 EnrichmentActivities

- 4 activities will beheld. One in October,January, March and

May.

Human Rights Day in Netanya,December 2010. During this

day there was a lecture given bythe ACRI educationaldepartment, followed by a twohour activity session and endingthe day with short plays that

presented personal stories aboutviolations of human or civilrights.

Palestinian NGO tour inMusmus and Um elFahem ,

February 201. This tourfeatured a visit to the Al-Ram

Association. Youth learnedabout their projects and thenthey visited the Um elFahem

Art Gallery, which featuresPalestinian art, and met withcurator.

Planned activities in the nexthalf year:

April 2011 - Tour inJaffa, meeting activists

May 2011 - activity inLud

June 2011 - end of theyear activity

6 Weekend youthseminars

-2 seminars in

January and in April

No seminars for this project Not enough budgeting for anovernight seminar. * Discussedfurther in Changes and

Conclusions

7 Initiation and

implementation ofpublic outreachactions

Most groups are in the process still of

planning what their outreach action willbe. Only a few of the groups half waythrough the activity year have already

decided on a specific topic. The groupin Netanya, Dora, is planning to presenta theater play for their outreach action.In Musmus the group has two possibleideas for outreach projects. The first isto organize and collect donations of toys

for Palestinian kids who are

hospitalized in Israeli hospitals. Also,they have thought of organizing a day to


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All of the work that has been done in the Building a Culture of Peace program so far this activity

year is much more than can be fit into a table of events. While some of these activities will beexpanded upon below, as to how they changed our course of action or the activity plans, forfurther elaboration or more pictures please refer to our website or contact Hana Amoury. Our

programs and activities come to fruition through a natural process of development and nurturing.Therefore it is important to examine where we experienced setbacks and what was successful inorder to continue to fine tune and develop our programming to better fit the needs of the

communities and youth we work with and to more effectively convey our educational vision ofsocial change.

Changes and Conclusions:

Our programming during this activity period thus far has been very successful. Within the

Building a Culture of Peace program, it has proved much easier to open Palestinian groups, ratherthan working through the schools and starting smaller scale workshops. This is because it is muchharder to bring in kids from the center region of the country as they are much busier and tend tohave more options for after school activities. This is why we have been successful at opening

many groups in this program, and have focused on building workshops in more formalframeworks within the Markaz program.

Within this program there were

some frameworks in which we

had less success. In order for ourmodular method to be best

effective, each environment thatwe make a connection with isapproached in its own unique

way, and the needs of the

specific community are whatshapes our cooperation withthem.

We had previously formed

connections with the Shai AgnonSchool in Netanya and planed aworkshop with most of thestudents in the school. This

discuss social and political issues intheir schools to raise awareness of their

peers.

9 FacilitatorCoordination -Coordination of thework of facilitators

Planned:- Team seminar inSep-Oct

- 8 meetings duringthe year

There were 5 facilitator meetings inwhich the group prepared for activities,discussed the substance of activities,

built the timetable for the rest of theyear, and debriefed/shared what

happened in the groups.

Due to budgetary reasons therewas no team seminar held.*More details in the Changes

and Conclusion section


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workshop was not implemented because the needs of the school did not align with the vision ofSadaka Reut. The director of the school wanted to have an intensive workshop for the entireschool spanning 2 days. The two days would fully be dedicated to executing workshops that

many times take weeks to finish. While part of our method is to tailor our educational tools to theneeds of the local community, we felt that this specific request rendered our work less effective.Implementing these sessions in a condensed manner makes their content difficult for the studentsto process and digest. Not to mention these workshops are very expensive and with each one we

want to ensure its affectivity. We believed that it would be more effective to spread out the workover time to allow for the youth to get to know us, work together and process the material and

activities they are exposed to. A condensed session would not only be difficult to process, butalso give the kids an excuse to ditch and leave school for the day. This all leads to the fact thatthese workshops aim to lay a base in these communities for youth groups to open in the future. If

this base is not solid and we have not made an impression on the youth, few will sign up for ouractivities after. It is important for us, after this experience to evaluate the methodology we are

using and its effectively in each environment.

An additional group was planned to be opened in Jiser al-Zarka however our connection with thecommunity was only with the facilitator, who is a local resident. This individual connection didnot end up being reliable or strong enough. From this experience we learned that it is important to

establish a strong network of connections in each community. Also, without connections in moreformal frameworks or a more extensive reach into the community, the potential for success islow.

We saw this phenomenon also occur in Rosh Haayen and are planning accordingly for the end of

this activity year and the beginning of the next.

One of the most important and successful adjustments that we made to our programming was inTira. We held a group that had already been together for 2 years and had grown past working in

the format of weekly meetings in a project oriented group. We learned that in their 3rd year, youthare already advanced and need a new framework for involvement, as they are ready for action. Itwas important to put them into contact with local social organizations and they now volunteer in

their communities and come together once a month to debrief on their experiences. The two firstyears of the program gave them a base to prepare and tools to use now that they are more actively


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involved in making change. Their meetings with their facilitator once a mount serve to groundtheir work in what they have learned, and help them be more effective volunteers.

In the past years we have held overnight seminars for the Building a Culture of Peace program.

However this year we have had some budgetary setbacks and have decided to instead hold moreday activities. These activities are less expensive than seminar and more youth are able to

participate. Part of the reason that more youth are able to participate in the day activities is that

some of the Palestinian communities we work in are more traditional and religious. Therefore,spending an overnight away from home is sometimes not accepted by the family. As for thetraditional Jewish communities we have worked with, we have also experienced problems withyouth that could not participate in our weekend seminars due to traveling and other restrictionsthat are forbidden by religion on this weekend day.

Future PlansDuring the second half the activity year there are many plans to foster new connections but also

strengthen the connections that we already have. It is very important that the groups that are inprocess work on their final projects and create some kind of product that they are proud of. Thisis an essential part of the working process for these groups. With this final project they can see

something concrete that came out of all their learning and cooperation. Even more importantly,these projects are the youths main tool to create a change in their communities and for SadakaReut this is our way of broadening the impact our work has. Many times these projects travel

around to other schools and organizations and are used as a learning tool for others. Youth arevery excited by their final projects, as it gives them a feeling that they actually created something

new together, on top of the learning and talking they engaged in.

In addition to these final projects, there will be more activities implemented in the coming

months. All of our current groups will continue their weekly meetings as they draw closer to theend of the year. All final projects and events for these groups will happen before the summer. We

will also hold three enrichment activities, as mentioned above. The first activity planned for Aprilis a tour of the city of Jaffa in which youth will meet with many local activists. In May there will

be an activity in Lud and in June a final activity, which is still in the process of being planned will

occur. In addition to all the youth activities, facilitators will continue to meet each month in orderto develop and sharpen their work with the youth and further strengthen a community of

facilitators.


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The Markaz:

Changes in the EnvironmentHalf way through this activity period we have witnessed house demolitions in the city of Lud. In

the month of December 2010 7 houses were demolished, which effected over 60 residents of thecity. After temporary housing was set up, in March 2011this temporary housing was demolishedas well. This blatant violation of human and civil rights has had a distinct influence on the workwe do. This weekly struggle on behalf of the population has not only influenced our groups in andaround the city but has mobilized our young leaders to get involved in many events and protests

held in Lud.

In addition, there have been an increasing number of incidents on behalf of the new settlersmovement in Jaffa. The settlers here marched several times under slogans of a racist nature,

including: An Arab Free Zone. The local community has clearly refused to accept this provocation and has organized protests to resist these new developments. Our staff and youthgroups have worked to support the rights of Jaffa residents in this outburst of anger and hatredtoward the locals. In addition, these events have affected the daily lives of youth living in Jaffa.Our groups and workshops provide an outlet for processing of and reaction to these events.

On March 1st

a demonstration of both residents of Jaffa and of Kfar Shalem asking for more public housing took place in Jaffa. These efforts were organized through cooperation between

Jaffas popular committee and Kfar Shalem residents committee. Several of our youth

participants, facilitators and staff joined the demonstration or were involved in organizing it. Thedemonstration was very successful and encouraged our team to plan the next enrichment

activities on the issue of housing in Kfar Shalem and in Jaffa.

In Bat Yam radical right-wing demonstrations took place. One demonstration was against mixed

marriages and mixed couples and called upon Jewish women and girls not to get involved withArab men. The municipality of Bat Yam denounced this racist demonstration and declared that

Bat Yam was a multi cultural city. This discourse found its way into our workshops that deal withidentity and democracy.


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In general, we try to draw the content of our educational work from the most recent and relevant

events. These last 6 months brought a lot of opportunities in this area and weve tried to capturethem in our educational process.

Another important national event that has affected our work has been the social workers strike.While only a few of the organizations we work with are directly impeded by this strike, theatmosphere it has created has influenced our youth and our work. We encourage our youth to

think critically and support social justice in our society.



1 Promotion andMarketing-Building

cooperation witheducational

frameworks

Jaffa- The Orthodox School, TerraSanta School, Makif School, BeitCherner (community center), Womens

Center (Jaffa municipality), Ironi ZSchool, contact with the Jewish Scouts,

Beit Dror (community center for youthat risk).Tel Aviv- Gymnasia Herzeliya School,

Teacher training course through themunicipality, Shevah Mofet High

School, Ironi D High School, contactwith education department at

municipality to plan their sponsoringof activities, Beit Barbour (communitycenter in Kfar Shalem).

Lod- Neve Yerek Junior High School,St. George School, meeting with headof education department in

municipality.Ramle- attempts to establishconnection with education department

in municipality.

Bat Yam- Ramat Yosef School, RamotSchool, cooperation with deputy

mayor, meetings with ministry ofeducation local officials, meetings withinformal education coordinator,

teachers training courses

2 Outreach-

Implementation ofworkshops ineducational

frameworks(recruitment

program)

Workshops and work in schools

implemented: Jaffa - The Orthodox School-

presentation of Sadaka Reut in

front of students, in the processof organizing further activities.Terra Santa- 2 groups, 14 kidsin each, 10 meetings held for

The outreach project at the

Womens Center in Jaffa was notimplemented because of the socialworkers strike, however it is just

planned to be delayed until afterthe strike.


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each group. *Further

explanation in Changes andConclusions Makif- full day

of workshops planned for Mayabout belonging andresponsibility

Tel Aviv - Gymnasia-presented exhibition of lastyears groups called My Point

of View. Beit Barbour-presented last years exhibition

of Kfar Shalem group. Lud - Neve Yerek- exhibition

presentation of last years

group about women leaders in

their local community. St.George- A tour of Lud is

planned to be held in April.

Bat Yam - Ramat Yosef- 6workshops were held in 9thgrade sociology class on the

topic of the conflict *More onthis workshop below the table.Ramot- 2 groups directed by

participants of the Community

in Action program. *More on

this activity below the table

3 Youth GroupsOpening of localgroups in Arab and

Jewish villages

- 8 groups: 4 Jewish

groups and 4Palestinian

Groups that were opened: Lod -1st year group, 20 kids,

weekly meetings.

Bat Yam -1st year, 8 kids,weekly meetings.

Kfar Shalem - 2nd year, 8 kids,weekly meetings.

Jaffa - 3rd year, 6 kids, weeklymeetings. *Details on this inChanges and Conclusions.Ironi Z 1st year, 8 kids,

weekly meetings for 3 months.

Groups that we plan to open in the

coming months: Jaffa 1st year

Not all planned groups wereopened and therefore more workwas done in schools. *SeeChanges and Conclusions for

moreGroups that we couldnt open:

Bat Yam 2rd year, theatergroup. *Explanation in

Changes andConclusions

Jaffa-Bat Yam 3rd year.*Explanation in Changes

and Conclusions.

4 Local weeklymeeting topics Lud- The main topic this group isdealing with is displaced refugees and

demolished villages. This was decided

in response to the fact that more thanhalf of the participants are frominternally displaced families, including

the facilitator of the group.


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Bat Yam- photography group. Theyfocus on topics such as identity and the

personal connection they have to their

city.Kfar Shalem- photography group. Lastyear they focused on the topic of their

neighborhood. This year they havewidened their scope to discuss, analyzeand learn about the larger citys fabric

and about the socioeconomic gaps thatexist between different communities

and neighborhoods.Jaffa, Ironi Z Bi-National

photography group, as this school is

30% Palestinian 70% Jewish.

*Explained in more detail in Changesand Conclusions

5 EnrichmentActivities-

- 4 activities will beheld in October,January, March and

May

December 2010- HumanRights Day in Netanya. Duringthis day there was a lecture

given by the ACRI educationaldepartment, followed by a twohour activity session. The day

was ended with a presentationof short plays that featured

personal stories aboutviolations of human or civil

rights.

Planned activities:

Late March 2011 - Tour inKfar Shalem and meeting

activists for housing rights

April 2011 - Tour in Jaffa,meeting activists

May 2011 activity inLud

June 2011 end of theyear activity

6 Weekend youthseminars

- November andFebruary

Neve Shalom- Youth Seminaron the 21-22 of January, 45

kids. This seminar dealt with

the current wave of racism inIsrael. The kids watched aseries called Switch, which

is a telenovelle made for youth(from the center for

educational technology CET),about Arab and Jewish youth

who switch identities andexperience each other lives,dilemmas and choices. A

debriefing of this movie wasdone after. The seminarincluded breaking the ice andfun activities, group building, alot of getting to know each

other. This is because it is thefirst seminar of the year.

The second seminar will nothappen due to financial

difficulties.

7 Initiation andimplementation of

Most of the groups are still working toformulate their final outreach actions,


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public outreachactions

as this is report is written only half waythrough the activity year.Examples:

Lud- The kids are working on a map ofthe demolished villages where theyoriginally came from in order to

present to their schools, families andfriends and to other schools in Lud.Jaffa, Ironi Z - This group will present

their exhibition on April 4th

2011 infront of their school principal and

parents.Bat Yam This group wants to preparecollage of the city of Bat Yam focusing

on residents feelings towards the city.

Kfar Shalem - are working on a collagefor their exhibition.

9 FacilitatorCoordination -

Coordination ofgroup facilitators

Planned:- Team seminar in

Sep-Oct- 8 meetings during

the year

There were 5 facilitator meetings inwhich the group prepared for activities,

discussed the substance of activities,built the timetable for the rest of theyear, and debriefed/shared what

happened in the groups.

Due to budgetary reasons therewas no team seminar held.

In addition to the brief descriptions ofour activities above, many of these

workshops/groups work for monthstogether and touch on many differenttopics. The workshops in Ramat

Yosef and Ramot were verysuccessful and their contents areexpanded on below.

Ramat Yosef: This workshop groupdiscussed the topics of discrimination,inequality in society, how the conflict

affects their lives and that of the other.They also watched a film called Blue

ID about the Palestinian citizens ofIsrael, which created lots ofinteresting discussions. During the final meeting, Mariam, a Palestinian citizen of Israel, came totalk about her experience and point of view in front of the Jewish youth that have never metPalestinians before.


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Ramot: One group focused on theater and the other on art. This programs goal was to enrich theformal curriculum the youth receive. The theater group plans to present play at the end of theactivity year, the other group has set up an art board in the school hallway to publicly display

their projects. They present the art they create during their workshops in order to instigate moresocial awareness. For their final project they have decided to make comic strips on the topic ofstereotypes in their community. This will be presented to the school on their wall at the end of theyear.

Changes and Conclusions

This year in the Markaz program we have put a focus on developing our connections in moreformal frameworks. In the past years it has been distinctly difficult to recruit Jewish group

participants due to the multitude of options they have for after school activities. With this wehave chosen to focus our efforts to build a strong base for youth groups in these same

communities by hosting workshops and building strong networks in schools, youth organizationsand community centers. We have designated extra efforts to form connections in the cities ofJaffa and Bat Yam. With this new focus we decided that longer term workshops are moreeffective. The format for these workshops maximizes the youths ability to earn from thislearning experience. The first 5 meetings are focused on learning and discussion and the last 5

meetings work towards producing a project that will change the worldand then be presented inother schools and youth forums. This causes the youth to feel ownership over what they learnedand proud of the project they built together. Not only does the project serve to empower the

youth, but it also becomes an educational tool for other youth in our programs. This is the formatwe are using currently in the Terra Sante School in Jaffa. The topic they have chosen to focus on

is responsibility to their community and belonging to their school. The school hopes that this will

boost their sense of responsibility within school. The other group at Terra Santa is in the process

of choosing their focus, but they have been discussing focusing on theater.

Similar to the 3rd year youth in the Building a Culture of Peace program, there are many older

graduates from Bat Yam and Jaffa that did not want to be in an introductory weekly meetinggroup. These youth wanted to open a joint advanced seminar on the topic of video activism, as

they have training from there first two years in this field. Due to budgetary reasons this group wasnot opened. However, after the 3

rdyear Jaffa youth insisted on forming a group, we arranged a

volunteer facilitator to lead them. Currently they are working on building a program for a city

tour in Jaffa that will be offered to schools and other groups (tourists). All of the information theyhave put into this tour is based on their learning from previous years of working as a group. Manyof the topics within the tour have to do with local Jaffa history and struggles the city has gone

through. In addition, the youth plan to present existing initiatives for social change within thetour.

We had planned to open a 2nd year group in Bat Yam, but according to the municipality, not

enough kids are interested in theater to join. It was difficult the first year to set a stable base ofkids and only 3 wanted to continue on from last year. We made some attempts of bringing in newkids but the dynamics and transition was hard for the kids who stayed on from last year and the

group could not stabilize. We decided not to continue with this group.


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One of the new successes we had so far this activity year is the workshop we opened in thebinational school in Jaffa called Ironi Z. It as been a struggle to initiate projects in this specificschool because they have experienced tensions and they have previously worked to avoid many

of the more sensitive issues that we deal with in our educational work. The school is also wellknown for one of the policies the principal has undertaken that does not allow kids to speak

Arabic in school. After many attempts, we were able to open a photography group in this schoolthat focused on the city of Jaffa, how the youth view the city and how they would like it to

change. The photography collage that they created will be displayed in other schools as well.While the turn out for this group was not as diverse as hoped, holding this kind of activity in a

new forum paves the way for workshops and even new groups in the future. Through thisworkshop we have created a more solid connection to the school and will be able to recruit morekids next time. Once kids realize that there is a lot to gain from workshops like these, more will

be willing and excited to participate the following year. While the group was relatively small, weconsider this a big success in terms of the connection we made and the new door we opened.

Our work is based on flexibility and creativity. The dialogue we work to foster between kids, weconstantly work to facilitate between our staff and facilitators. It is important to always reevaluatehow we approach our work and how to make our goals more achievable according to the needs of

each community. This activity year we have raised new ideas of how to encourage better andmore fruitful communication between our staff and facilitators. There have been two suggestionsthat have arisen to achieve this. The first is to open a newsletter for facilitators to share their

experience and ask questions of other facilitators. Facilitators meetings do not occur frequentlyenough, and with this newsletter there can be a more in depth and detailed exchange. In addition,

we have thought to create a forum for organizations that work with youth. This would bring

together many different youth workers to share their experiences and learn new ways to workwith youth on these difficult topics.

Future PlansThere are many activities planned for the second half of the activity year including a history tour

in Lud, opening a theater group in the Jaffa municipal Womens Center when the social workers

strike is over, presenting the final projects from the Terra Santa School, and developing strongerconnections for the year to come in Ramle.


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Community in Action:

Changes in the EnvironmentA lot of the activities that are planned in the Community in Action program are based on whathappens locally to the residents of the communities we work in. While the educational content ofthis intensive program is planned and is successfully implemented through tours, workshops and

trainings, this group is also expected to implement outreach actions and campaigns based on whatthey feel effects their lives. One of the events that delayed some of the workshops planned waswith the house demolitions in Lud. The group decided to spontaneously go out to the field and get

involved in the events that were taking place. This kind of outreach and activism is what weencourage from an intensive group like the Community in Action participants. While some of the

regular educational activities were interrupted, participants activated themselves and gotinvolved.

Half way through this activity period we have witnessed house demolitions in the city of Lud. Inthe month of December 2010 7 houses were demolished, which effected over 60 residents of the

city. After temporary housing was set up, in March 2011this temporary housing was demolishedas well. This blatant violation of human and civil rights has had a distinct influence on the work

we do. This weekly struggle on behalf of the population has not only influenced our groups in andaround the city but has mobilized our young leaders to get involved in many events and protestsheld in Lud. The participants in the Community in Action program mobilized to get directlyinvolved in protests against these demolitions and have worked to be involved in the long termstruggle in this city.

In addition, there have been an increasing number of incidents on behalf of the new settlersmovement in Jaffa. The settlers here marched several times under slogans of a racist nature,including: An Arab Free Zone. The local community has clearly refused to accept this

provocation and has organized protests to resist these new developments. Our staff andcommunity in action participants have worked to support the rights of Jaffa residents in thisoutburst of anger and hatred toward the locals. In addition, these events have affected the daily

lives of youth living in Jaffa. Our groups and workshops provide an outlet for processing of andreaction to these events.


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The Community in Action project includes 3 different types of work:

an intensive leadership training * Will be explained in this section encounter groups for Arab and Jewish university students * Will be presented in

a separate chapter

Bi-national framework for Sadaka Reuts graduates *Will be presented in aseparate chapter



1 Recruitments andselection of participantsfor intensive

volunteering program

Feb - May 2010

14 interviews were conducted and 8

participants were chosen

2 Beginning of yeartraining programs

Objectivesseminar

Training incampaign

building

Building a workplan

The group met 4 times a week for all-day intensive seminars during themonth of September. This included

workshops that served to build groupdynamics and trust. In addition, thegroup built personal and jointexpectations from the program and a

mutual vision of how they see theiryear together. On top of the more

personal side of these seminars, the

group was also familiarized withJaffa during group trips and seminarsin the community

3 Enrichment program

- Once a week (lectures,workshops, conferences

and tours)

- 5 tours in mixed cities andmeetings with source people

* More explained below this table

4 Training program

Training inconflict groupfacilitation

Enrichmenttrainings:

Psychometry,spoken Arabic

- 3 training courses on differentsocial, local and internationaltopics, each course had 3-5

sessions.* More explained below this table


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Training incampaign

production

Training in othersocial change

skills

6 Action program

Work with youthwithin SadakaReut and inother local

frameworks

Volunteering inother civil

society NGOs Initiating

Campaigns and

participating insocial and

political

struggles

- Participants volunteer in the

following NGOs: Zochrot, Physiciansfor Human Rights, women coalitionfor peace, the social television, the

library at Lewinski garden, Gisha.- Participants volunteer as facilitators

assistants in Building a Culture andMarkaz youth groups and outreach

workshops in schools- Participants helped organizingenrichment activities and weekendseminar in the above mentioned

projects.

- implementation of 2 outreachcampaigns- participants volunteer in tutoring

center for Arab children in Jaffa- participants facilitate 2 youth

groups in Ramot School in Bat Yam

* Further explained below this table

Enrichment activities:

The 7 participants of the program took part in these 5 tours, and documented them with photographs according to the photographic plan they had composed with Oren Ziv fromactivestills. The tours focused on the housing crises in mixed cities and participants learned

about the different public struggles within these cities. In addition, the tours emphasized howdivided mixed cities are, as they visited the segregated neighborhoods and learned about theformal and informal educational systems. After the tour they wrote down their impressions anduploaded their essays and photographs to their blog. The five tours they participated in are as

follows:

- Akka where they met with Juhaina Sefi, CEO of Hirakuna and a local activist- Jaffa where they met with Mary Copti, former principal of the Arab Democratic School- Haifa where they met with Nidal Othman from Musawa center- Lud and Dahmash where they met with Fida Shehade from Khutwa youth movement

- Jerusalem where they met with Reoven Avarjil, former black panther and member of Tarabutand Koach laovdim.

Training Courses:

There were 3 training courses held for participants:

- Training on the topic of International Law focusing on the case of Gaza (3 sessions).- Training on photography as a documentation tool for social and political struggles (4 sessions).


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- Training on critical education in preparation for their work in local schools.

Action Program:

Work with youth within Sadaka Reut and in other local frameworks:- The participants facilitate workshops on themes such as photography and communication in a

high school in the city of Bat Yam. In Bat Yam the participants also work with two groups of kidsat risk. One groups works with art and the other works with Theater of the Oppressed.- Participants tutor youngsters in a learning centre in Jaffa twice a week.

- Participants volunteer as facilitators assistants in Building a Culture and Markaz youthgroups and outreach workshops in schools- Participants help organize enrichment activities and weekend seminars in the above mentioned

projects.

Volunteering in other civil society NGOs:

The coordinators helped the participants in choosing their internship within other NGOs. Theselection process took into account the participants needs and the level of identification with the

respective NGOs work. Throughout the year participants have been working in their placementsonce a week.

Some examples of placements are as follows:

- Zochrot, Danielle agreed to set up the website materials during the first month of hervolunteering, and later on, she will resume research she began during high school on the refugees

of Ashdod.- Physicians for Human Rights, Samer insisted on working face to face with people and joinedthe clinic volunteers crew.

- Roei wanted to work directly with youth, and since none of the organizations he met withoffered a position with youth, he was asked to initiate a project of his own and offer it to relevant

organizations. He is now running a cinema group in the Lewinsky Library, projecting outdoormovies for the youth in the garden.

Initiating Campaigns and Participating in Social and Political Struggles:

The outreach campaigns initiated by the participants were as

follows:

- An Internet campaign titled: Against Discrimination inEducation. The participants produced a petition of youth callingfor equal distribution of resources and equity for the Arabeducational system. In order to encourage youth to sign the

petition the group is producing a short film that presents

interviews of youth within their schools.- An exhibition about mixed cities was created: the participants

took digital photos while touring in Akko, Lud, Jaffa, Haifa. Theexhibition was published on the official blog of the project and

was distributed to hundreds of users.

- The participants took an active role in the struggle against housedemolitions in Lud, they initiated a donation campaign for the 7families that lost their houses in the latest aggressive demolition.


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Other activities:

This program is very dynamic that leaves a lot of room to be molded by the participants

themselves. For example one of the participants struggled with his sexual identity and the support

the program created gave him the security and confidence to come out of the closet. Afterdoing so, the facilitators encouraged him to initiate a seminar on sexual preference by bringing inorganizations that deal with this topic in their work.

New initiatives by the participants are happening often as once a month there is a seminar that isinitiated by the participants on what they love.

Changes and conclusion

The Community in Action program is an intensive program with many different aspects. Due to

its complex and multifaceted nature, the dynamics between the participants is very central to itssuccess. This program has been based on the individuals that are participating in it, who this year

need a lot of personal attention and direction. A lot of time was spent working on dynamics andmaking sure that all of the participants have a place within the group. While most of the activities

planned were successful, in February two of the participants left the group. The main reasons they

decided to leave the program was that they did not receive enough support from their homeenvironment to be in the program. They both had a lot of pressures outside the group and werenot successful in organizing their schedules to make the group a priority. Since the participants

are living outside their homes for the first time, there is added pressure to get along and form anew living situation with other participants. In response to these events there were some changes

to the programming that occurred. After these events, we decided to put the educational activities

on hold for two weeks and work solely on group dynamics. This was very helpful as we also hada new participant that decided to join the group. This new atmosphere has set a positive tone for

the second half of the activity year, as we are moving closer to final projects.

Furthermore, based on the personality of the group, the facilitators decided to thaw the ice and

rebuild the group, with more creative techniques than had been implemented before. While therewas a lot of discussion and regrouping after the events of the first half of the year, it was alsodecided that using art, movies, new media and other mediums would cause the group to open upmore quickly and effectively.

This years group was particularly unique and because of this the facilitators decided to divide

their time differently than in previous years. Because the group needs more personal direction, thetwo leaders split their responsibilities based on what they were good at, rather than every decision

being made by the consultation and contemplation of both facilitators.

In addition to the upheaval that happened at the beginning of the year, this year we decided toopen a new part-time program for participants. This was based on last years assessment that aless intensive track would better serve the needs of some of the participants. Many young adultsat this age are working or preparing to go to university. This part-time program allows them to

be apart of the program, while still giving them the time for other commitments. One of thecurrent participants decided to switch to the part-time program due to personal needs.

Future Plans

During the second half of the activity year the Community in Action program plans to hold asummer program for the youth in other Sadaka Reut programs.


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One of the goals for the next six months is to be more creative with the programming. We have

begun to turn to the participants more often and ask them what they are interested in researching.

Through initiating more personal projects we have found that participants are more interested inthe subject matter and take more from the activities, projects and presentations made. In addition,through these personal initiatives participants become more active in the group and work harder

to foster a more positive group

dynamic and environment.In addition, we aim to help the

participants start a graduates programfor Community and Action graduates.This program will be designed by

current participants and will come intoeffect next activity year.

On top of the all the work that is beingdone within this years group,facilitators being in the spring torecruit new participants for next years

group. This year we have decided totry a new recruitment technique.Instead of interviewing each

participant and making decisions based on this interview, we are planning to implement aworkshop of 8 meetings from which we will build the group for next year. Through these

workshops we will be able to observe group dynamics, personalities and get an idea of whatpotential participants are interested in. We plan to hold this workshop from May till August, and

when it is finished facilitators will decide who will participate in next years Community in Action

Program.

The new vision for next years program was realized after an intensive project review thatincluded 5 intensive meetings and a lengthy process of deciding on the new model we want to

plan on using. We examined the difficulties of the current program and how we are able toovercome. For next year we have decided not to implement a common living situation, which isvery expensive and comes with many difficulties. Rather, we have decided to focus on

developing the professional side of the program. It took a lot of time, energy and money to work

on all the personal difficulties of the participants in the common living situation. Through thisnew model we also hope to appeal to many more people than before. Many times young adultschose not to participate in this program because they come from more traditional backgroundwhere it is less accepted to leave ones home at this age. This new plan will give a chance for a

multitude of new faces to get involved. Also we have decided that we will give preference toyoung adults from the Jaffa community, as we want to begin to focus on bringing in and

involving our local community more. The focusing of our goals for next years program willallow for a more effective program. We have realized that when the goals of the program are too

wide, it is much harder to achieve them. With this more focused program, we can spend moreenergy, time and effort on our work and the participants themselves, rather than the logistics of

the program.


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Encounter groups for Arab and Jewish university students

This encounter or dialogue group was opened in response to the request of students. OneJewish and one Palestinian student, both 2nd year medicine students, asked for our help in creatinga constructive dialogue between their classmates. We decided to incorporate it into theCommunity in Action Program, as all of the participants in this program are young adults. In theiropinion, there was no real relationship or bond between Palestinians and Jewish students, even

though they had studied in the same classroom for over a year and were expected to complete

their medicine studies together for 6 more years. They believed that there was an unspokentension that everyone felt but no one brought up. The group consisted of 16 students, balancednationally. The plan was to conduct 6 facilitated workshops and then design an action plan for the

group to implement in the future.

Challenges:

- On of the most difficult challenges was that the students have a very busy schedule and itwas difficult to organize an extra curricular activity that they all could participate in. Thestudents showed flexibility and interest in holding the sessions and this combined with

the facilitators flexibility enabled the meetings.- It was difficult to find 2 volunteering facilitators: there were several facilitators that

expressed interest in volunteering but with most it was almost impossible to find a free

time slot that fit with the students schedule. At last, 2 Sadaka Reut staff membersfacilitated the workshops voluntarily.

- The students were very careful not to bring up sensitive issues into the discussion in orderto protect the group and the positive atmosphere. We then decided as facilitators to bringthe controversial topics on our own. We did this by projecting the movie Arnas

Children, which deals with the re-occupation of the Jenin refugee camp and tells the

story of young kids that grew up to be armed fighters, who are considered terrorists in theeyes of the Israeli public. Our philosophy on real partnership requires dealing with

difficult issues, on top of all the similarities and agreements we have.

Changes and Conclusions:This program has already had an influence on the faculty of medicine at the University. We havenoticed that many of the participants classmates that are not participants in this program have

become familiar with the project and are interested in what happens in the workshops. This shows

that the existence of this activity has a wide effect in this faculty.

Another noticeable development is that 2 of the participants have arranged a meeting with facultymembers and professors to propose to incorporate this dialogue into their formal studies program.

In addition, students from another class (1st year medicine) asked to meet with us to discuss thepossibility of opening a similar activity for their year.

Future Plans

As a result of an expressed need, a new dialogue group will be opened 2 nd Semester for freshmanstudents, and during the next academic year the process will continue.

This is a very important project as there is a growing segregation that exists in universities

between the Jewish and Arab communities. During the last month there was an incident at


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Safad/Tsfat College where 2 Arab students cars were burned. This shows the intolerance thatmany university students have to minorities. Programs like this are vital in Israeli universities andwe plan to continue to develop out work.

Bi-national framework for Sadaka Reuts graduates

As we see ourselves as a movement of activists and not only as an educational

organization, we have identified that our graduates and activists have a need to discuss

political and social issues in the binational and cooperative environment of Sadaka Reut.Since our graduates are spread all over the country, each living his/her life, we have

recognized that the majority of them are involved in political or social activism in theircurrent community. However, very seldom do they have a suitable framework to discuss,

analyze and process their ongoing involvement in local and national social and political

activism. In response to this need, we have decided to establish an open framework in

which all of our activists and graduates are invited to meet, discuss and share their

experiences and thoughts.

So far we have succeeded in holding 2 meetings. The first meeting was held in December

and the second held in February. Both meetings dealt with the concept of binationalism

and what this means in their daily lives. It was important to also discuss the meanings and

background of nationalism in both the Jewish and Palestinian communities. There is a

clear difference between the two communities and how they have expressed nationalism.Jewish nationalism has found its answer in the current formation of the state of Israel,

while Palestinian nationalism has not been afforded its right to be realized. To emphasizehow different nationalism is in these two communities, we can already see that among

Jewish activists there is already discussion of post nationalism and new formations of

what we call the Jewish state. While the Palestinian community still struggles on a daily

basis to receive the most basic recognition of their right to be a nationality, as we can

see that even within Israel the Palestinians are not formally considered a nationalminority.

For this program, there are 2 or 3 future meetings in planning in order to discuss the

recent uprising in the Arab world.

half year report final112

Documents