Givat Haviva Seminar Day

Today the group traveled to the Givat Haviva Seminar Center which is located Northeast of Hadera. Givat Haviva is an organization that, "...aims to build an inclusive, socially cohesive society in Israel by engaging divided communities in collective action towards the advancement of a sustainable, thriving Israeli democracy based on mutual responsibility, civic equality and a shared vision of the future." One of the main ways they do this is by running seminars, like they did for our chanichim  today, that challenge their views of the Arab-Israeli conflict from multiple angles.

When they arrived, each bus was designated their own madrichim (guides) that led a lecture about the conflict. The lecture differed from what the MBIers had previously experienced on our program. This time, the madrichim spoke about the history through different stories of individual experiences from both sides. Most of the narratives shared with the group were from those who live in the neighboring villages. It's important to understand because the seminar center is located right near the green line border, separating Israel from the West Bank where historically tensions have been high.

Then, all of MBI then came together for a lecture from an Amir, an Arab-Israeli. He told the group about his experience as an Arab Israeli. He focused on the discrimination in regards to the amount of public funding there is for Arab schools in Israel and the discrimination he faces in the job market. He told MBI that while he is proud of his Israeli citizenship, he identifies as a Palestinian.

They then left the building and went to an area that overlooks the Palestinian village of Barta'a. What is especially compelling about the village is that the green line border runs right through the town. To make things more complicated, the separation barrier that separates Israel from the West Bank runs behind the village placing the village within Israel. The Palestinian Authority still has governmental control over the village, but doesn't have much access to it physically because of the wall. This makes running the city extremely difficult for the Palestinians. The consensus among the chanichim was that it was interesting to see how the conflict and borders actually affects peoples lives. This seminar gave them many examples of this on both sides.

After their visit they were split by kvutzot and left for the kibbutzim where they will stay for the next three days. There will be two kvutzot on each of the following Kibbutzim: Deganya Bet, Ashdot Ya'akov, Sha'ar Hagolan. I will be sending out an email following this post with a document attached that shows who is in each kvutza and where they are staying the next three days.

When they arrived at the kibbutzim they all went to the pool and later had a peulah where they processed what they had learned today. They finished the day by reading a speech given by Yitzhak Rabin to Hanoar Haoved (the movement he was a part of growing up) about the importance for the youth to push for peace.

Their lecture from Amir.

On the green line tour.

Bus 3 got to pose with a couple taking wedding photos along the way.