Anette Klasing (front row, left) and colleagues from Bremen, Germany
A visit to Givat Haviva appears high on the list of things to do when in Israel for German conflict resolution educator Anette Klasing. Anette, who hails from Bremen, will shortly be rounding off 2 years of work at the Lutheran Church International Centre in Bethlehem. She has been on loan to the Bethlehem centre from LidiceHaus in Bremen where she is a permanent member of staff. Anette's first visit to Givat Haviva was 10 years ago when she participated in a study tour of Israel with Arbeitskreis deutscher Bildungsstattan, headquartered in Berlin. Since that first seminar of 2 weeks duration Anette has returned to Givat Haviva with groups of fellow educators on numerous occasions as well as during private visits to Israel. Recently Anette organized the Israel-Palestinian areas visit of a number of Bremen educators and trade unionists and naturally brought them to Givat Haviva before touring the Wadi Ara, Katzir and Shaked areas. "During our evaluation at the end of their stay, the group commented that this part of their visit to Israel was an important contribution and experience, especially after spending some days in Bethlehem and Jerusalem they felt they really needed to 'see and hear the voices of Israel,'" said Anette. "Traveling the area between the Israeli side of the security fence and the Green Line, the participants really appreciated the opportunity they were getting of seeing for themselves the difficult realities faced by those living there – and particularly with the rich background of information given by our Givat Haviva guide," explained Anette, who specializes in youth work and leadership skills. The relationship between Givat Haviva and LidiceHaus led to staff experienced in conflict resolution in Israel being invited to lead workshops in Bremen on a number of occasions and personal friendships developed as well as respect and appreciation for the each others professionalism. Givat Haviva is also involved in establishing an internet portal with Bremen youth and hopefully will continue to be involved in future workshops for groups of German immigrants attending seminars at LidiceHaus. "I cannot stress the importance of the need, especially these days, for the continuation of Givat Haviva's projects fostering understanding, tolerance and co-existence," commented Anette, who spent her first year in Bethlehem developing concepts for youth leadership training and organising an international conference in the city. The conference, entitled 'Shaping Communities in Times of Crisis,' was held in November 2005. A film by Wafa Jamil 'Roots' documents the conference attended by 100 key change agents from 22 countries – theologians, sociologists, pastors, artists, journalists and philosophers – who wrestled with the topics of land, peoples and identities from local and global perspectives. "The film explores the issues of the conference through the lenses of two of the participants, a young Iraqi-American woman artist whose family roots are Palestinian," explained Anette. "This young woman's parents are refugees from Jaffa, her grandparents came from Budrus, whilst the other main character is a black South African male theologian. The film tells their stories and the 'stories' of the conference through their meeting in Bethlehem to discuss the sensitive topics of land, peoples and identities in the Holy Land," said Anette, who has also been involved for a number of years in on-going meetings between German, Palestinian, Jewish and Israeli Arab women who sometimes met in Israel and the Palestinian areas and at other times in Germany.
