Dr. Dieter Schiffmann, Director of Landeszentrale fur politische Bildung Rheinland-Pfalz (left) admires the Givat Haviva shirt of a fellow group member and listening to Dr. Graciela Ben-Dror of Moreshet
On the last afternoon of a two week visit to the region during which they met with Israeli and Palestinian politicians, educators and civic leaders, twenty-two folks from Rheinland-Pfalz spent some hours at Givat Haviva and also participated in a short tour around the Wadi Ara region.
For many years Rheinland-Pfalz have been ardent supporters of the activities of Givat Haviva and over a long period many groups paid visits during their fact finding tours of Israel and the Palestinian areas.
The recent group were welcomed and shown around the campus by International Department staff member Lydia Aisenberg before meeting with Dr. Graciela Ben-Dror, Director of Moreshet, the Mordechai Anielewicz Holocaust Study and Research Center. Dr. Ben-Dror showed the visitors from Rheinland-Pfalz around the recently opened exhibition hall depicting life in a Jewish town in Poland before the Holocaust and another focusing on the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
Following the visit to Moreshet and taking a look at the Hashomer Hatzair exhibition in the Yad Yaari Center, they met with FACE TO FACE project director, Roi Peled and Kerri Sharron a British student who recently graduated the 5 month MASA-Givat Haviva Intensive Arabic Semester. Roi explained about the Jewish-Arab youth encounters and of their work with the high-schools whilst Kerrie shared with the visitors some of the highlights of her Arabic Semester studies and of her being immersed in both Jewish and Arab culture during this period of time that she and her peers lived at Kibbutz Barkai and undertook teaching English in the neighboring Arab Muslim community of Arara in Wadi Ara.
Givat Haviva spokesperson and Director of the Yad Yaari Research and Documentation Center, together with Professor Eli Tzur of Yad Yaari, also welcomed the group in the name of Givat Haviva and quickly found common ground with the group members when discussing the objectives of their center on campus.
The Givat Haviva visit culminated with a short journey to the Katzir observation point in the Amir mountain range for an overview of the Wadi Ara region where the guests were able to see a large portion of the West Bank down below - and across the State of Israel to the coastline from this impressive vantage point.
Dr. Dieter Schiffmann, Director of Landeszentrale fur politische Bildung Rheinland-Pfalz summarized the visit to Givat Haviva as being of great interest and adding more areas for debate during their intended summary that evening in Tel Aviv – a few hours before flying back to Germany.
David Amitai and Professor Eli Tzur address the group in the Hashomer Hatzair exhibition hall and center: visiting the Moreshet exhibition hall.
Photos & text: Lydia Aisenberg
