Givat Haviva Voice

 Text and photos: Lydia Aisenberg “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,” German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier told hundreds of Israeli Jewish and Arab educators, Israeli teens, overseas students and local Jewish and Arab dignitaries during a visit to the doyen peace education campus in Wadi Ara. “My wife and I have been really touched meeting old friends again here in Israel but also in the making of new ones as we are experiencing such a warm and friendly an atmosphere such as here today in Givat Haviva, and for that we thank you,” said President Steinmeier toward the end of a 2 hour visit to the 1949 founded organization which he described as being “an isle of hope.” “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...

"Refugee" by Ahmad Canaan from the exhibit "Hamsin – 50" opening Saturday, May 20 in the Givat Haviva  Collaborative Art Center The day of the “Nakba” – the “catastrophe” – is the day the Palestinian people commemorates the tragedy that befell them in 1948, when between 700,000 and 1,000,000 Palestinians became refugees in the West Bank, Gaza, Arab states, and other places around the world, and many others became “internal refugees,” uprooted from their homes, who came to live elsewhere in Israel. The Nakba is an open wound that burns and throbs in Palestinian collective memory. For twenty percent of the citizens of our country, Israel, Nakba Day symbolizes their national trauma of expulsion and destruction, and the personal and family trauma of losing relatives, homes, land, trees and flowers – a loss that has accompanied their families and people since 1948. In order for us to be able to have a shared life here, we must heal the rifts and accept o...

 Text and photos: Lydia Aisenberg “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,” German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier told hundreds of Israeli Jewish and Arab educators, Israeli teens, overseas students and local Jewish and Arab dignitaries during a visit to the doyen peace education campus in Wadi Ara. “My wife and I have been really touched meeting old friends again here in Israel but also in the making of new ones as we are experiencing such a warm and friendly an atmosphere such as here today in Givat Haviva, and for that we thank you,” said President Steinmeier toward the end of a 2 hour visit to the 1949 founded organization which he described as being “an isle of hope.” “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...