"Givat Haviva is preserving Zionist & Jewish history while simultaneously reaching out to Palestinians," Wrote Oberlin student David Fisher.
David Fisher in the Givat Haviva Peace Library forecourt
During a four week study visit to Israel, David Fisher – a Bostonian studying in Ohio – requested to visit the Givat Haviva campus as recommended by one of his college professors.
In his own words David is attempting to "weave together threads of Jewish ethics, environmental education, sustainable development and conflict resolution."
Visiting Givat Haviva just a few days prior to his return to America, David mentioned that the bulk of his work to date had been "interviewing people from diverse backgrounds and collecting differing points of view on how individuals fit into the conflict and prospects for reaching peace."
Fortunately David was able to join the Givat Haviva-MASA Intensive Arabic Semester students for a half-day tour of the Wadi Ara region that also included a visit to a checkpoint in the security fence and where he and the IAS students were met by and received an in-depth explanation from the security officer in charge, as well as traveling through the Dotan Valley and along the Amir mountain region.
David also visited the Givat Haviva Art Centre, spoke with Israeli students undertaking an academic year of Arabic and Middle East studies, visited the Hashomer Hatzair museum and heard from International Department director Hilit Ben-Zvi of programs offered to groups from overseas and a deeper explanation with regard the Intensive Arabic Semester program.
David also met with Yonat Rotbein the Director of Education for Moreshet, the Mordechai Anielevich Memorial Holocaust Study and Research Center at Givat Haviva. Yonat presented the Oberlin student with a number of Moreshet publications who said that after reading himself he would hand them in to the Oberlin College library.
Upon his return to America, David emailed:
"I really enjoyed getting to know Givat Haviva and learning about the Hashomer Hatzair movement. I am planning to pull the movement's ideology into the book I am writing – which will culminate in a fascinating senior project.
"Givat Haviva strikes a beautiful balance, preserving Zionist and Jewish history while simultaneously reaching out to Palestinians with hopes of mutual understanding. I visited a checkpoint, crossed the Green Line, met Holocaust historians, and saw a fantastic museum chronicling the history of the Hashomer Hatzair movement.
"The efforts here are critical to recording Israel's past, and to securing our shared future. L'hitraot, David."
Another heartening email from David just received tells of his progress in a number of areas at Oberlin but of particular interest the fact that the college has appointed him liaison between Oberlin and organizations in Israel.
"My semester has been very busy, but I am working for Oberlin as a student employee, maintaining and building contacts with individuals and institutions throughout Israel. They have me working on Thursday evenings, so I am using this time to catch up on emails from the wonderful people I met. This doesn't mean that Oberlin college faculty will necessarily be getting in touch with you; rather, I am serving as a resource to share information about environmental and peace-related work that you and others are doing in Israel. As you said, there are definitely never enough hours in the day, so I am glad to have 3 hours set aside for this work every Thursday night!
Before I forget to mention it: I have an appointment with the Director of Collections at Oberlin's library this Monday, in order to donate two of the five books that Moreshet kindly sent me home with. I have written a short inscription in the covers, explaining where they are from, in hope that future researchers will be inspired to learn more about Givat Haviva's work.
David."
Photos & Text: Lydia Aisenberg
February, 2010
