Sadaka Reut

Arab-Jewish Youth Partnership

Half Year Report September 1, 2010- February 28, 2011

Table of Contents
Introduction Building a Culture of Peace
Changes in the Environment Planned and Implemented Activities in 2010-2011 Changes and Conclusions Future Plans

3 4 4 5 8 10 11 11 12 16 17 18 18 19 22 22 24 25

Markaz
Changes in the Environment Planned and Implemented Activities in 2010-2011 Changes and Conclusions Future Plans

Community in Action
Changes in the Environment Planned and Implemented Activities in 2010-2011 Changes and Conclusions Future Plans Encounter groups university students Bi-national framework for SR graduates

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

Introduction a word from our General Director

Dear 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 and uprisings 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, people have 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 the other 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 Israels policies 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 by the 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 thoughts and demands. We were also thrilled by the opportunities new social networks provided the people. Very often educators 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 of power 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 were oppressed and who was profiting from the situation. This led them eventually to refuse to accept this 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 to come does not help to bring it. They understood that knowing your rights and believing you deserve a better life is not enough. The pivotal factor is activating a struggle and becoming directly involved in bringing the change. On the educational level of Sadaka Reut, these events strengthen our belief in our educational approach, which has been developed as a combination of building awareness, encouraging youth to 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 good enough. With solidarity and love, Hana Amoury

Building a Culture of Peace:

Changes in the Environment
During 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 uprising of the people of Egypt, Tunisia and the rest of the Arab world. The inspiring images of young demonstrators leading the public towards liberation and freedom had affected our work on different levels. It made our youth, especially Arab youth, proud of themselves. 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 lasting dictatorships 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 many times 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 and identity. Since working to develop and deepen identity is a major part of our work, we added all these 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 inner society 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 a deadly weapon by youngsters is terribly worrying for local communities and it indicates the maltreatment 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 it was described as a neglected and wretched place. This image portrayed in the media upset the residents 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 distinctly affected 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 Musmus and 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

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 to live near their families.

Planned and Implemented Activities in 2010-2011

1 Planned activities Promotion and MarketingBuilding cooperation with educational frameworks Implemented activities Netanya- Dora (community center), Techernihovsky Junior High School, Shai Agnon School. Tira - Beit Tomashin and Amal School Qalansawa- Community Center Jiser al-Zarka- we were not able to establish any connection in the village besides with the facilitator Musmus- Al-Ram Association Rosh Haayen- meeting and connections built with the municipality. Workshops in Netanya- Techernihovsky (4 classes, 120 kids) Reasons for deviation

OutreachImplementation of workshops in educational frameworks (recruitment program)

Youth Groups Opening of local groups in Arab and Jewish villages Planned: -12 groups (5 Jewish groups and 6 Palestinian and 1 nation-wide binational)

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 coming months: Netanya Tsharnihovsky (group will be opened in March)

Shai Agnon- workshop was not implemented because the needs of the school did not align with the vision of Sadaka Reut. * find a more detailed explanation below in Changes and Conclusions Rosh Haayen- cooperation didnt come to fruition this year. Groups that we couldnt open: Jiser al-Zarka 2nd year we couldnt open this group because the connection with the community was only with the facilitator, who is a local resident and the connection with him was lost on September 2010. *Discussed further in Changes and Conclusions Taybeh 3rd year- Sadaka Reut wanted this group to be project oriented, but didnt find a suitable person to facilitate this kind of more complex project. *Discussed further in the Changes and Conclusions

Rosh HaayenFacilitator of planned group decided to study abroad. Also, the connection we fostered with the municipality was not strong enough to establish a group. *Discussed further in Changes and Conclusions Netanya theater groupThis group did not come to fruition due to lack of commitment on behalf of the youth. This usually happens because youth sign up in late spring and groups do not start until early fall, this gap in time is detrimental to commitment. 4 Local weekly meetings This section provides a brief description of the main topics groups have been dealing with

Netanya, Dora- This group focuses on the topics of discrimination, racism, and social cohesion. They also work with Theater of the Oppressed. Musmus- During the first part of the year the group dealt with local social issues such as problems in their village, women in Arab society, education, educational problems in Palestinian society and family issues. The second part of the year focused on political issues such as, identity, the Nakba, inequality, discrimination and the conflict. The final part of the year will deal with the importance of volunteering and contributing to their community, and local NGOs. They also volunteered on International Womens day in the village. Qalansawa- This group focuses

Enrichment Activities - 4 activities will be held. One in October, January, March and May.

Weekend youth seminars -2 seminars in January and in April Initiation and implementation of public outreach actions

on the topics of identity, human and civil rights, womens rights and strengthening the volunteering spirit in community. Tira- This advanced group volunteers in different NGOs around their city and they meet once a month to debrief. After two years these kids have taken action in their community through the Sadaka Reut framework. Human Rights Day in Netanya, December 2010. During this day there was a lecture given by the ACRI educational department, followed by a two hour activity session and ending the day with short plays that presented personal stories about violations of human or civil rights. Palestinian NGO tour in Musmus and Um elFahem , February 201. This tour featured a visit to the Al-Ram Association. Youth learned about their projects and then they visited the Um elFahem Art Gallery, which features Palestinian art, and met with curator. No seminars for this project

Planned activities in the next half year: April 2011 - Tour in Jaffa, meeting activists May 2011 - activity in Lud June 2011 - end of the year activity

Not enough budgeting for an overnight seminar. * Discussed further in Changes and Conclusions

Most groups are in the process still of planning what their outreach action will be. Only a few of the groups half way through the activity year have already decided on a specific topic. The group in Netanya, Dora, is planning to present a theater play for their outreach action. In Musmus the group has two possible ideas for outreach projects. The first is to organize and collect donations of toys for Palestinian kids who are hospitalized in Israeli hospitals. Also, they have thought of organizing a day to

Facilitator Coordination Coordination of the work of facilitators Planned: - Team seminar in Sep-Oct - 8 meetings during the year

discuss social and political issues in their schools to raise awareness of their peers. There were 5 facilitator meetings in which the group prepared for activities, discussed the substance of activities, built the timetable for the rest of the year, and debriefed/shared what happened in the groups.

Due to budgetary reasons there was no team seminar held. *More details in the Changes and Conclusion section

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 be expanded upon below, as to how they changed our course of action or the activity plans, for further 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 in order 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 of social 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, rather than working through the schools and starting smaller scale workshops. This is because it is much harder to bring in kids from the center region of the country as they are much busier and tend to have 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 formal frameworks within the Markaz program. Within this program there were some frameworks in which we had less success. In order for our modular method to be best effective, each environment that we make a connection with is approached in its own unique way, and the needs of the specific community are what shapes our cooperation with them. We had previously formed connections with the Shai Agnon School in Netanya and planed a workshop with most of the students in the school. This

workshop was not implemented because the needs of the school did not align with the vision of Sadaka Reut. The director of the school wanted to have an intensive workshop for the entire school 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 the needs 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 students to 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 work over 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, but also give the kids an excuse to ditch and leave school for the day. This all leads to the fact that these 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 our activities 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 the community was only with the facilitator, who is a local resident. This individual connection did not 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 more formal frameworks or a more extensive reach into the community, the potential for success is low. 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 in Tira. 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, youth are already advanced and need a new framework for involvement, as they are ready for action. It was 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 first years of the program gave them a base to prepare and tools to use now that they are more actively

involved in making change. Their meetings with their facilitator once a mount serve to ground their 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 more day 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 the traditional Jewish communities we have worked with, we have also experienced problems with youth that could not participate in our weekend seminars due to traveling and other restrictions that are forbidden by religion on this weekend day.

Future Plans
During 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 in process work on their final projects and create some kind of product that they are proud of. This is 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 Sadaka Reut 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 are very 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 the end 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 April is 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 order to develop and sharpen their work with the youth and further strengthen a community of facilitators.

The Markaz:
Changes in the Environment
Half 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 the city. After temporary housing was set up, in March 2011this temporary housing was demolished as 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 and around 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 settlers movement 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 youth groups have worked to support the rights of Jaffa residents in this outburst 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 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. The demonstration 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 with Arab 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 with identity and democracy.

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 capture them 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, the atmosphere it has created has influenced our youth and our work. We encourage our youth to think critically and support social justice in our society.

Planned and Implemented Activities in 2010-2011

1 Planned activities Promotion and MarketingBuilding cooperation with educational frameworks Implemented activities Jaffa- The Orthodox School, Terra Santa School, Makif School, Beit Cherner (community center), Womens Center (Jaffa municipality), Ironi Z School, contact with the Jewish Scouts, Beit Dror (community center for youth at risk). Tel Aviv- Gymnasia Herzeliya School, Teacher training course through the municipality, Shevah Mofet High School, Ironi D High School, contact with education department at municipality to plan their sponsoring of activities, Beit Barbour (community center in Kfar Shalem). Lod- Neve Yerek Junior High School, St. George School, meeting with head of education department in municipality. Ramle- attempts to establish connection with education department in municipality. Bat Yam- Ramat Yosef School, Ramot School, cooperation with deputy mayor, meetings with ministry of education local officials, meetings with informal education coordinator, teachers training courses Workshops and work in schools implemented: Jaffa - The Orthodox Schoolpresentation of Sadaka Reut in front of students, in the process of organizing further activities. Terra Santa- 2 groups, 14 kids in each, 10 meetings held for Reasons for deviation

OutreachImplementation of workshops in educational frameworks (recruitment program)

The outreach project at the Womens Center in Jaffa was not implemented because of the social workers strike, however it is just planned to be delayed until after the strike.

Youth Groups Opening of local groups in Arab and Jewish villages - 8 groups: 4 Jewish groups and 4 Palestinian

each group. *Further explanation in Changes and Conclusions Makif- full day of workshops planned for May about belonging and responsibility Tel Aviv - Gymnasiapresented exhibition of last years groups called My Point of View. Beit Barbourpresented 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- 6 workshops were held in 9th grade sociology class on the topic of the conflict *More on this workshop below the table. Ramot- 2 groups directed by participants of the Community in Action program. *More on this activity below the table 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, weekly meetings. *Details on this in Changes 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 were opened and therefore more work was done in schools. *See Changes and Conclusions for more Groups that we couldnt open: Bat Yam 2rd year, theater group. *Explanation in Changes and Conclusions Jaffa-Bat Yam 3rd year. *Explanation in Changes and Conclusions.

Local weekly meeting topics

Lud- The main topic this group is dealing with is displaced refugees and demolished villages. This was decided in response to the fact that more than half of the participants are from internally displaced families, including the facilitator of the group.

Enrichment Activities- 4 activities will be held in October, January, March and May

Bat Yam- photography group. They focus on topics such as identity and the personal connection they have to their city. Kfar Shalem- photography group. Last year they focused on the topic of their neighborhood. This year they have widened their scope to discuss, analyze and learn about the larger citys fabric and about the socioeconomic gaps that exist 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 Changes and Conclusions December 2010- Human Rights Day in Netanya. During this day there was a lecture given by the ACRI educational department, followed by a two hour activity session. The day was ended with a presentation of short plays that featured personal stories about violations of human or civil rights.

Planned activities: Late March 2011 - Tour in Kfar Shalem and meeting activists for housing rights April 2011 - Tour in Jaffa, meeting activists May 2011 activity in Lud June 2011 end of the year activity

Weekend youth seminars - November and February

Initiation and implementation of

Neve Shalom- Youth Seminar The second seminar will not on the 21-22 of January, 45 happen due to financial kids. This seminar dealt with difficulties. the current wave of racism in Israel. The kids watched a series called Switch, which is a telenovelle made for youth (from the center for educational technology CET), about Arab and Jewish youth who switch identities and experience each other lives, dilemmas and choices. A debriefing of this movie was done after. The seminar included breaking the ice and fun activities, group building, a lot of getting to know each other. This is because it is the first seminar of the year. Most of the groups are still working to formulate their final outreach actions,

public outreach actions

as this is report is written only half way through the activity year. Examples: Lud- The kids are working on a map of the demolished villages where they originally came from in order to present to their schools, families and friends and to other schools in Lud. Jaffa, Ironi Z - This group will present their exhibition on April 4th 2011 in front of their school principal and parents. Bat Yam This group wants to prepare collage of the city of Bat Yam focusing on residents feelings towards the city. Kfar Shalem - are working on a collage for their exhibition. There were 5 facilitator meetings in which the group prepared for activities, discussed the substance of activities, built the timetable for the rest of the year, and debriefed/shared what happened in the groups. Due to budgetary reasons there was no team seminar held.

Facilitator Coordination Coordination of group facilitators Planned: - Team seminar in Sep-Oct - 8 meetings during the year

In addition to the brief descriptions of our activities above, many of these workshops/groups work for months together and touch on many different topics. The workshops in Ramat Yosef and Ramot were very successful and their contents are expanded on below. Ramat Yosef: This workshop group discussed 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 of Israel, which created lots of interesting discussions. During the final meeting, Mariam, a Palestinian citizen of Israel, came to talk about her experience and point of view in front of the Jewish youth that have never met Palestinians before.

Ramot: One group focused on theater and the other on art. This programs goal was to enrich the formal curriculum the youth receive. The theater group plans to present play at the end of the activity 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 more social awareness. For their final project they have decided to make comic strips on the topic of stereotypes in their community. This will be presented to the school on their wall at the end of the year.

Changes and Conclusions

This year in the Markaz program we have put a focus on developing our connections in more formal 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 we have 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 organizations and community centers. We have designated extra efforts to form connections in the cities of Jaffa and Bat Yam. With this new focus we decided that longer term workshops are more effective. The format for these workshops maximizes the youths ability to earn from this learning 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 world and then be presented in other schools and youth forums. This causes the youth to feel ownership over what they learned and 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 format we 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 meeting group. 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 was not opened. However, after the 3rd year 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 they have put into this tour is based on their learning from previous years of working as a group. Many of 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 the tour. 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 of kids and only 3 wanted to continue on from last year. We made some attempts of bringing in new kids 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.

One of the new successes we had so far this activity year is the workshop we opened in the binational school in Jaffa called Ironi Z. It as been a struggle to initiate projects in this specific school 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 well known 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 school that 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 this workshop we have created a more solid connection to the school and will be able to recruit more kids 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, we consider 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, we constantly work to facilitate between our staff and facilitators. It is important to always reevaluate how 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 and more fruitful communication between our staff and facilitators. There have been two suggestions that 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 frequently enough, 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 work with youth on these difficult topics.

Future Plans
There 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 stronger connections for the year to come in Ramle.

Community in Action:
Changes in the Environment
A lot of the activities that are planned in the Community in Action program are based on what happens locally to the residents of the communities we work in. While the educational content of this 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 what they feel effects their lives. One of the events that delayed some of the workshops planned was with 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 we encourage from an intensive group like the Community in Action participants. While some of the regular educational activities were interrupted, participants activated themselves and got involved. Half 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 the city. After temporary housing was set up, in March 2011this temporary housing was demolished as 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 and around the city but has mobilized our young leaders to get involved in many events and protests held in Lud. The participants in the Community in Action program mobilized to get directly involved in protests against these demolitions and have worked to be involved in the long term struggle in this city.

In addition, there have been an increasing number of incidents on behalf of the new settlers movement 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 community in action participants have worked to support the rights of Jaffa residents in this outburst 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 and reaction to these events.

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 a separate chapter

Planned and Implemented Activities in 2010-2011

1 Planned activities Recruitments and selection of participants for intensive volunteering program Feb - May 2010 Implemented activities Reasons for deviation

14 interviews were conducted and 8 participants were chosen

Beginning of year training programs Objectives seminar Training in campaign building Building a work plan

Enrichment program - Once a week (lectures, workshops, conferences and tours)

The group met 4 times a week for allday intensive seminars during the month of September. This included workshops that served to build group dynamics and trust. In addition, the group built personal and joint expectations from the program and a mutual vision of how they see their year together. On top of the more personal side of these seminars, the group was also familiarized with Jaffa during group trips and seminars in the community - 5 tours in mixed cities and meetings with source people * More explained below this table

Training program Training in conflict group facilitation Enrichment trainings: Psychometry, spoken Arabic

3 training courses on different social, local and international topics, each course had 3-5 sessions. * More explained below this table

Training in campaign production Training in other social change skills Action program Work with youth within Sadaka Reut and in other local frameworks Volunteering in other civil society NGOs Initiating Campaigns and participating in social and political struggles

- Participants volunteer in the following NGOs: Zochrot, Physicians for Human Rights, women coalition for peace, the social television, the library at Lewinski garden, Gisha. - Participants volunteer as facilitators assistants in Building a Culture and Markaz youth groups and outreach workshops in schools - Participants helped organizing enrichment activities and weekend seminar in the above mentioned projects. - implementation of 2 outreach campaigns - 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 from activestills. 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 how divided mixed cities are, as they visited the segregated neighborhoods and learned about the formal and informal educational systems. After the tour they wrote down their impressions and uploaded 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 Tarabut and 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).

- 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 kids at 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 youth groups 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. The selection 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 placements once a week. Some examples of placements are as follows: - Zochrot, Danielle agreed to set up the website materials during the first month of her volunteering, 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 joined the clinic volunteers crew. - Roei wanted to work directly with youth, and since none of the organizations he met with offered 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 outdoor movies 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 in Education. The participants produced a petition of youth calling for equal distribution of resources and equity for the Arab educational 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. The exhibition 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 house demolitions in Lud, they initiated a donation campaign for the 7 families that lost their houses in the latest aggressive demolition.

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. After doing so, the facilitators encouraged him to initiate a seminar on sexual preference by bringing in organizations 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 is initiated 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 its success. 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 and making 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 home environment to be in the program. They both had a lot of pressures outside the group and were not 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 a new 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 had a 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 there was a lot of discussion and regrouping after the events of the first half of the year, it was also decided that using art, movies, new media and other mediums would cause the group to open up more 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, the two 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 to open a new part-time program for participants. This was based on last years assessment that a less intensive track would better serve the needs of some of the participants. Many young adults at 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 the current 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 a summer program for the youth in other Sadaka Reut programs.

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 in the 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 program for Community and Action graduates. This program will be designed by current participants and will come into effect next activity year. On top of the all the work that is being done within this years group, facilitators being in the spring to recruit new participants for next years group. This year we have decided to try a new recruitment technique. Instead of interviewing each participant and making decisions based on this interview, we are planning to implement a workshop 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 what potential 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 that included 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 to overcome. For next year we have decided not to implement a common living situation, which is very 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 this new model we also hope to appeal to many more people than before. Many times young adults chose not to participate in this program because they come from more traditional background where 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 to young 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 will allow 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 more energy, time and effort on our work and the participants themselves, rather than the logistics of the program.

Encounter groups for Arab and Jewish university students

This encounter or dialogue group was opened in response to the request of students. One Jewish and one Palestinian student, both 2nd year medicine students, asked for our help in creating a constructive dialogue between their classmates. We decided to incorporate it into the Community in Action Program, as all of the participants in this program are young adults. In their opinion, 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 unspoken tension that everyone felt but no one brought up. The group consisted of 16 students, balanced nationally. 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 it was difficult to organize an extra curricular activity that they all could participate in. The students 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 members facilitated the workshops voluntarily. The students were very careful not to bring up sensitive issues into the discussion in order to protect the group and the positive atmosphere. We then decided as facilitators to bring the 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 the eyes 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 have noticed 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 faculty members 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 the possibility of opening a similar activity for their year.

Future Plans
As a result of an expressed need, a new dialogue group will be opened 2nd Semester for freshman students, 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

Safad/Tsfat College where 2 Arab students cars were burned. This shows the intolerance that many university students have to minorities. Programs like this are vital in Israeli universities and we 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 their current 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 emphasize how 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 national minority. For this program, there are 2 or 3 future meetings in planning in order to discuss the recent uprising in the Arab world.