March 2024
Dear Friends,
The end of the month of Ramadan has arrived, Easter has passed, and Passover is just ahead. Fortunately, the grim forecasts for a month of tension with an outbreak of violence within Israel have proven wrong. Once again, we see that this period laden with pain and violence has not brought Israeli civil society – Jews and Arabs – to incitement of violence within. The attempts to plant more hate and violence among us has failed.
Alongside the quiet that has been maintained, the government coalition continues to try to silence Arab society and damage its branch of the public education system. This past month, the coalition attempted to force security forces to track Arab educators, despite claims by the system itself that this is a mistake and that there is no need for such actions. We see that the real goal, as you will read in the following report, is to deter, scare, and silence Arab educators in Israel, and to prevent their ability, limited though it is already, to respond as educators to the events of October 7 and the war in Gaza.
Despite a sad month of Ramadan, and the holidays ahead in the shadows of the war, we continue to initiate and conduct many activities involving encounters between Jews and Arabs. Givat Haviva, and Headquarters of The Guards of the Wadi Ara Partnership have led regional, social activities for the purpose of bringing the residents of this mixed region together, and to bring a bit of the spirit of Ramadan into the public space: distributing dates and Hamantaschen, conducting tours, and events for Ramadan Nights. These were just a few of the programs. At Givat Haviva, we hope that by the time we send our next report, all the hostages will be returned home, and we will reach the much awaited ceasefire.
Michal Sella, CEO, Givat Haviva
מיכל סלע, מנכ”לית גבעת חביבה
ميخال سيلع، المديرة العامة لچڤعات حبيبة
Reed the full newletter of March 2024 Here
August 2023
- Givat Haviva newsletter