Comings and Goings of January, 2010

 

    

Mevot Ir'ron high-school pupils at the Katzir observation point overlooking East Barta'a in the West Bank and (right) speaking with Hasan Manasra, a businessman from Hebron who runs a carpet shop in West Barta'a.

 

JANUARY - out with the old, 2009, and in with the new, 2010. 

And what a month this has been.  From the weather point of view we seem to have had a taste of all four seasons rolled in to one month with exceptionally hot days to days of heavy rain and ferocious storms, the temperature gauge pointing to zero at night, and swinging back again to warmer weather.

Wild flowers have reared their beautiful brightly colored heads in their thousands, creating blankets of blazing color in many areas, especially here in Wadi Ara.

MEVOT IR'RON HIGH SCHOOL - On one of the coldest and wettest days of the month, 30 students from Mevot Ir'ron and three members of the teaching staff, undertook a day seminar with International Department staffer Lydia Aisenberg.

During the course of the day the teens dealt with the topics of stereotypes of people and places, learned a great deal about the area they physically live and go to school in and had the opportunity to visit corners of the Wadi Ara neighborhood they had never been to before, although could possibly see them from their own homes or classrooms.

Dealing with the Green Line, security fence, who is an Israeli Arab and who is a Palestinian, Areas A, B and C of the West Bank, were just some of the subjects discussed during the course of the seminar.

During a visit to the village of Barta'a the students had the opportunity to talk with Hasan Manasra, a businessman from Hebron who runs a carpet shop in West Barta'a but rents a room in East Barta'a (which is under the control of the Palestinian Authority) to stay over in the area.

The Mevot Ir'ron students discussed with Mr. Manasra the difficulties of movement from Israel to the Palestinian areas in the West Bank and what the security fence meant for someone like himself.

The students are due to run workshops on these topics for the younger pupils in their high-school during the coming semester and the International Department feel honored to have been asked to be a part of this very important project.

 

   

 

INTERFAITH GROUP from AMERICA – a group of students visiting Israel and whose itinerary organized by Naomi Heim Cultural & Educational Projects, visited the campus and met with Wajee from the village of Arara in Wadi Ara.

 Wajee is the director of the 'Forum for Advancement' – an organization he founded to advance democracy and empowerment of women in Wadi Ara and who also directs a number of volunteer projects in his community.

AUSTRALIAN UNION OF JEWISH STUDENTS 

A group of 15 students from all over Australia participating in a 10-day leadership course in Israel through tour operators Israel Experience met with lawyer Amir Gara from Baka el-Gharbiya and Givat Haviva educator Inon Tagner, who also took them on a tour of the region.

The students are on a program that incorporated visiting Washington where they met politicians and activists, and also in Amsterdam, prior to their coming to Israel and hopefully will be engaging in advocacy for Israel when they return to their universities in Australia at the end of the program.

The second INTENSIVE ARABIC SEMESTER, a joint 5-month program of MASA & GIVAT HAVIVA INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT PROGRAM began mid-January and we are happy to welcome 9 students (4 from Britain and 5 from North America) who will spend the next five months on this innovative and exciting project.

 

INTENSIVE ARABIC SEMESTER students at the Givat Haviva campus

 

So, that was the month that was!

With intensive marketing underway for the third semester of the Intensive Arabic Semester due to start in July, visiting tour operators and organizations dealing with study groups from abroad to encourage them to have Givat Haviva on their itinerary, members of the International Department staff are busy and hopeful for a successful year of interacting with youth and adults from abroad and also from Israel.

 

          

 

SHALOM & L'HITRAOT.    Hilit Ben Zvi, Uri Barel & Lydia Aisenberg