(Nes Ammim in the Western Galilee)
Etti Amram, Director of the Givat Haviva Art Center & Peace Gallery meets with guests Rev. Frans van der Sar and his wife Rev. Annemarie van Andel from Nes Ammim during their recent visit to Givat Haviva- and left: chatting with Haggai Halevi in the ceramics workshop of the Art Centre
Driving passed the Givat Haviva Wadi Ara campus one day, Rev. Frans van der Sar decided to pop in and see what went on over the other side of the gates.
Luckily he was able to meet spontaneously with Hilit Ben-Zvi, Director of the International Department, Ro'ee Peled, co-director of the Face to Face Jewish-Arab encounter program and also Dudu Amitai, Director of Yad Yaari who also doubles up as Givat Haviva's spokesperson.
Impressed by what he heard and saw Rev. van der Sar decided he should make another visit and to also bring his wife along. Both Frans van der Sar and his wife Annemarie – who hail from Holland - are pastors and since February 2009 work at the Christian Community of Nes Ammim in Western Galilee. Annemarie is the community pastor and Frans the coordinator of the Nes Ammim dialogue program (inaugurated in 2008).
"We are trying to support dialogue between Jews and Arabs and interfaith dialogue between Jews, Christians and Muslims in Israel. Nes Ammim also offers their facilities (guest house, youth hostel, conference rooms) to dialogue organizations or to regional initiatives for dialogue, subsidizing accommodation costs according to the resources of those who make the request," explained Frans to Lydia Aisenberg of the International Department during their recent visit to the campus and later on an in-depth guided tour of the Wadi Ara region, Dotan Valley and Amir mountain range as well as visit to Barta'a village.
"I popped in to Givat Haviva because I knew of course of its long engagement in dialogue between Jews and Arabs and I was curious to see for myself. Coming from a small dialogue centre, I hadn't thought of the fact that in relation to an organization of the scale of Givat Haviva it would have been better to make a telephone call beforehand! I was really grateful for the friendly and helpful reception I got anyway last time I came," he said with a smile.
When Lydia told Frans that in the past there had been quite a close relationship between Givat Haviva and Nes Ammim he commented that he hoped and would welcome renewed ties and would be glad to support Givat Haviva in any way possible.
During the second visit, and accompanied with Annemarie, the pastors were taken around the Arts Centre and Peace Gallery by Lydia and Director Etti Amram, the latter also explaining about the present exhibition of photographic work of Jewish and Arab women who recently completed the Through Others Eyes program. They also managed to speak with Haggai Halevi, Executive Director of Givat Haviva, who had popped in to see the exhibition – opened only the previous day – himself.
Calling in at the Peace Library, Frans and Annemarie were welcomed by Samira Mahameed the director of the library complex comprising a lending library, reference library and one of the largest – if not the largest – collection of Arabic language newspapers in the country.
Samira Mahameed, Director of the Sarah and Yaacov Eshel Peace Library opening a batch of yesteryear's news in the Arabic language and left: the fraying newspapers – the whole collection these days having been digitized and available on the Internet.
Glancing through a Palestinian Arabic language newspaper circa 1936 the visitors were intrigued by political cartoons of that period and Samira translated some of the material. They also met briefly with Anhar Masarweh of the Jewish-Arab Center for Peace (who happens to be Samira's sister) who is responsible for a number of programs for teachers from the Arab sector and a number of joint projects with the Al-Qassami College in the nearby Muslim city of Baka-al-Gharbiya.
For their tour of the Wadi Ara region the couple were joined by Matthew Keston, a British student who recently graduated the MASA-Givat Haviva Intensive Arabic Semester program. When his peers undertook such a tour Matthew had been unable to do so and when offered the chance to join the couple from Holland he jumped at the chance.
During the tour Matthew explained to Frans and Annemarie what the 5-month course had entailed and they were delighted to hear in particular about the work done in the local Arabic community by Matthew and his fellow students during the semester and of the many topics covered in the program.
The couple promised to tell others about the opportunity to learn Arabic and participate in what they said they understood to be a very unique program that had been developed by the International Department.
Matthew Keston standing by the security fence (the Palestinian West Bank village of Anin behind him on the other side) during the tour with the Dutch visitors.
Matthew will shortly be returning to Britain to take up the position of fieldworker for the UK Union of Jewish Students, responsible for contact with Jewish students in the Midlands region of England
A few days after their visit to Givat Haviva, Frans and Annemarie emailed:
"This was a very special day for us and we are very grateful for the opportunity given us to tour this area with you. You have such a profound and intense story to tell. We will certainly organize some trips with volunteers to Givat Haviva in the future, especially the ones who are with us for a short while and who would otherwise have no opportunity for some experience of West Bank realities.
We will try to come again to Givat Haviva in a few weeks time and bring some of our volunteers to visit the Holocaust Museum and are looking forward to seeing you all again then.
Best regards,
Frans and Annemarie
Photos & Text: Lydia Aisenberg
June, 2010
