September 3, 2007

Yael Maizel, NIF Social Justice Fellow, remarked that her participation in SHATIL's Jewish-Arab Dialogue Group was one of the best experiences of her yearlong fellowship. "The most powerful part was hearing people's stories. Dialogue is the best way to find common ground. I began to understand the issues on a human level. When you hear how the conflict touched people's lives personally, it is hard not to identify with them."

The group was part of the Haifa as a Model City for Joint Living Project, which aims to create a model that will establish the principles for joint living and recommend practical steps for implementing changes. The project concept is to transform Haifa into a city for joint living based on partnerships in which national identities and needs are respected, and a mutual sense of ownership of life in Haifa is achieved. Getting representatives of organizations and activists involved in the project was the impetus for the dialogue group.

Participants at the Arab Jewish Dialogue

The Jewish-Arab Dialogue Group is comprised of a diverse spectrum of social change activists who work in the areas of environment, education reform, advancing the status of women and using theatre as a tool for social change. They are Israeli and foreign-born Jews, Muslims, Christians and Druze Arabs from all socio-economic spectrums and from all over the city of Haifa. From guest lecturers, the group learned how language is an integral part of a person's identity, about the Arab community in Haifa before 1948 and how out of 70,000 Arab residents of Haifa, only 10% remained after the War of Independence.

Mostly, however, the group concentrated on telling and listening to each other's stories, learning to respect each other's differences and even finding ways to joke about the problems. Over the 12 weeks of meetings, a close-knit group emerged that are now ready to take on activities that will help create public discourse around issues of joint living in Haifa. The first activity will be a community meeting that will include a photography exhibit of Haifa, facilitated meetings of Arabs and Jews from the Hadar neighborhood and some musical interludes. "The group is a work in progress," says Michael Bavly, a lawyer who specializes in human rights and is participating in the group. "It has managed to survive the frictions originating in the conflict and has been a source of optimism in my life".