January June 2011

Dear supporters, partners and friends, We are glad to present to you our annual newsletter for the activity year 2010-2011.This newsletter highlights six Sadaka-Reut activities in 2011 that represent the variety and the essence of Sadaka Reuts work in the community. We hope youll enjoy reading this. For more details on all our program activities, please visit our website: http://reutsadaka.org Best regards from Jaffa, Hana Amoury Executive Director, Sadaka-Reut General Director Sadaka Reut

Youth Seminar on Racism in Neve Shalom Wahat al-Salam

"A joint Jewish-Arab encounter is not something to be taken for granted in the reality we live in, that is why we dealt with the topics seriously and responsibly this created a productive environment and led to interesting debates" Shiri, SadakaReut Volunteer A successful Sadaka-Reut youth seminar, attended by 45 Palestinian and Jewish participants between the ages of 15-18, was held on the 21st and 22nd of January in the village of Neve Shalom - Wahat al Salam. This seminar focused on the current wave of racism in Israel teaching youth to recognize, address and conquer the negative impact of racism in Israel today. During the seminar, participants were shown an educational telenovela called Switch, produced by the Center for Educational Technology (CET), about young Arab and Jewish boys who switch identities and experience each other's lives, dilemmas and choices. After the screening, a thorough debriefing session was held, encouraging the youth to share their personal reactions, feelings and experiences. The seminar also included icebreaker activities, group building exercises, and time for personal interaction. Since this was the first seminar held during this activity year, it was important for the youth to get to know each other, feel comfortable with each other and work on building the beginnings of positive, productive group dynamics.

Seminars such as these play a vital role in achieving Sadaka-Reuts goal of educating and empowering Jewish and Palestinian Israeli youth to promote a shared society as they provide youth with the knowledge, tools and motivation to actively and jointly pursue social change in their communities.

Building Connections and Understanding in Kfar Shalem

Our Kfar Shalem exhibit helped us to change how we thought of and saw our neighborhood, we are now proud to be part of Kfar Shalem, when before doing this exhibition we were ashamed to say we were from here. Chen, SadakaReut participant On March 31, Sadaka-Reut held an important enrichment activity in the neighborhood of Kfar Shalem, which is located in the south east of Tel-Aviv, aimed at demonstrating the critical link between historical events and current injustices, in this neighborhood and the many others like it. The activity started with a tour of the Kfar Shalem area with Aharon Madauel, a member of the City Council and a resident of the neighborhood, and Dudi Balasi, a resident who led a struggle in 2009 against the demolition of his house. They explained the history of the neighborhood and the many challenges it has faced. Kfar Shalem was constructed on the remains of the Palestinian village Salameh which was cleared off of its Palestinian residents during the 1948 war and was later on populated with Mizrachi Jews who immigrated to Israel in the 1950s. One of the main issues the neighborhood has struggled with is the threat of evacuation of its residents for the benefit of real estate companies and new richer residents. After this tour, the youth went to the Beit Barbour Community Center and played games led by the local youth group, an important bonding activity for the diverse group of youth participants.

In addition, the members of Kfar Shalems youth group made a presentation about their neighborhood through aphoto exhibition they have created. It was important to them to share this with Sadaka-Reut's youth groups from other cities. Through this enrichment activity the youth from Kfar Shalem, Lod and Jaffa were able to gain a unique understanding of each others reality and recognize the similar threat of evacuation to residents in all three areas. The Palestinian Youth from Jaffa and Lod were particularly surprised that such a cruel policy is implemented by the local and national authorities against the Jewish residents of Kfar Shalem. This activity helped them see the bigger picture of Israel today and realize that different groups are oppressed in similar ways. As one Palestinian participant commented: I never realized that Jewish people could face the same problems that we also deal with everyday. Enrichment activities such as this thus serve multiple goalseducating Jewish and Palestinian youth about the history of this place and the connection between past injustices and current struggles, empowering the youth to feel proud of their home towns and of their achievements and fostering important bonds of friendship and camaraderie amongst youth participants from diverse cities throughout Israel.

Examining History in the Old City of Jaffa

"When we started hunting for the treasure I realize the city of Jaffa is the real treasure" Hazem, Sadaka Reut participant On April 13th, Sadaka Reut held a regional activity in Jaffa for Sadaka-Reut youth groups from around Israel, including the cities of Musmus, Netanya, Lod, Qalansawe, Bat Yam, Tira and Jaffa. This regional activity was designed to expose the youth to the complexity of the story of Jaffa, which is on the one hand very unique but on the other hand represents the Israeli-Palestinian conflict so well. In the past, Jaffa was an important Palestinian city with rich cultural, economic and political life. After the war of 1948 the majority of its Palestinian residents were expelled and it became a neglected marginalized mixed city, formally defined as a neighborhood in Tel-Aviv. Both the Jewish and Palestinian residents suffer from maltreatment from the authorities in education, infrastructure, employment and other fields. Today Jaffa suffers a crucial housing problem for its remaining Palestinian residents who are driven out of it by economical forces and policy makers, mainly through gentrification extensive process. To start the day, the youth visited the Jaffa Salon for Palestinian Art, a gallery in the old Jaffa Port that exhibits and sells works of more than 30 Palestinian artists from Israel and the Occupied Territories in the West Bank and Gaza.

This gallery stands as a unique project in the scene of Jaffa since it is the only gallery presenting Palestinian art in Jaffa, which has become a center for Jewish artists that live and create in Jaffa. The youth were introduced to the different art displays and participated in a workshop with the artist Nihad Dabit, who taught them how to use iron wire to sculpt works of art. After lunch at the Jaffa Slope Park, the youth participated in a treasure hunt game that led them to important historical and current monuments and centers among them the Clock Tower, the Arab-Hebrew Theater, Jerusalem Blvd, Physicians for Human Rights offices, Andromeda luxury housing project, the sea mosque, the old city of Jaffa and Ha'Shnayim public Garden. At each stop, the youth had to accomplish a mission to win the hint for the next stop. In addition, during the day, a competition was held between the youth who were asked to design the Sadaka Reut T-shirt for this year. More than 20 designs were published later in Facebook and the design that received more votes was printed on T-shirt. The focus on art in this activity created a positive dynamics and allowed the youth an alternative medium for communicating and expressing ones self, especially those among the youth who are shyer and less verbal. Regional activities like this are critical to connecting Sadaka-Reut participants from around Israel, thereby creating a nation-wide network of Jewish and Palestinian youth committed to pursuing the vision of a shared society through bi-national partnership and joint activism.

Self Expression through Photography Exhibition

"The youth photographers help us see the hidden gems of their city through this exhibition. They shed light on places/people we might see every day but never truly notice - Yanai, art teacher commenting on Sadaka Reuts youth groups' exhibition. Recently, Sadaka Reut formed a photography group from the Municipal High School Ironi Zain in Jaffa in which 8 Palestinian and Jewish 15 year-old students studied with two trained facilitators, Raafat and Dana, both professional photographers experienced in instructing bi-national dialogue groups. The photo exhibition project focused on assisting the youth in developing their personal language and unique selfexpression through photography. The instruction focused on raising issues related to the daily lives of the youth, which were then used as a basis for learning narrative building techniques through their personal stories utilizing writing and photography as a medium. The group also worked outside the school and incorporated outdoor photography, tours in the city and personal work of the participants between the group meetings as part of the program curriculum. The photo exhibition was presented at the schools art class and for the opening the school organized a big event, in which 100 of the participants classmates were gathered and each participant presented his/her work.

The schools arts teacher commented on the exhibition and compared the presented photographs to famous artistic photographs, explaining to the audience the different possible angles for taking photos and their affect on emphasizing the photos message and how playing with light and darkness for hiding and revealing small details also affects the message the artist wishes to spread. Upon completion of the exhibition several participants expressed that the exhibition had both increased their will to continue living in Jaffa as adults and also made them more aware of the challenges life in Jaffa holds for them and for their future.

Addressing Racism and Stereotypes in Bat Yam

Throughout this activity year from December 2010 until June 2011, Community in Action volunteers led an innovative program for 9th grade students (14 year-old) in Ramot high school in the disadvantaged city of Bat Yam. This program utilized various innovative mediums such as advertising, newspapers and comic strips to help the youth participants address, identify and overcome the phenomenon of stereotyping and racism in Israeli society today and specifically in their own school. During a series of meetings, Community in Action volunteers led youth participants joint dialogue sessions and artistic activities designed to provide the youth an opportunity to voice their opinion and address issues central to their daily lives. Dialogue sessions covered topics of immediate relevance to the youth participants such as What do we mean when we use the term arse (a derogatory term typically used to describe an individual who is loud, offensive, uncivilized with a criminal behavior tendency). The youth discussed the use of the term and realized that the term is not really used to describe someones behavior, rather it is a derogatory term directed only at a specific ethnic group Mizrachi Jews who are considered to have a primitive culture by the hegemonic Ashkenazi culture.

Artistic activities included, for example, an activity wherein youth participants designed advertisements for their ideal school where racism would not result in daily confrontations and schools in poorer neighborhoods would have the educational tools and resources necessary to provide a good education. Students also examined various newspaper articles, identifying the presence of stereotypes and biased opinions in this supposedly unbiased medium. Students then designed their own comic strips telling their unique life stories and emphasizing their positive visions for the future. This activity serves as an important example of Sadaka-Reuts work in emphasizing critical education-providing youth with the ability to examine their reality, and later on their history, with a critical view and with the tools to design their desired change.

International Campaign for Social Change Activism

"This campaign enabled us to bring Sadaka Reut's message to an international audience and meet wonderful people from all over the world committed to social justice and creating a better world" Samer Asakli, Sadaka Reut FVolunteer During the month of May, the French social justice organization Secours Catholique invited Sadaka Reut to send delegates to their international conference and workshop for international social justice organizations. The purpose of the conference was to promote the international exchange of ideas, resources and activists in the field of social change and so represented a critical opportunity for Sadaka-Reut to learn from and network with other dedicated activists in the field of social justice as well as to spread the Sadaka Reut message of bi-national partnership and activism towards the vision of a shared, just society. Two representatives of Sadaka-Reut, Yotam Israeli and Samer Asakli, traveled to France for two weeks to participate in the campaign. They travelled to Paris, Marseilles, and Aix en Provence, even meeting with the Arch Bishop of Marseilles, to work with and learn from other social action and interfaith NGO' s in France, gaining insight into the unique circumstances and challenges in each geographic area and learning important new tools and practices that Sadaka-Reut could utilize in its initiatives in Israel. International exchanges such as this are highly appreciated as they serve as an opportunity to promote and publicize the Sadaka-Reut message to international audiences, provide important educational lessons and the promotion of best practices in the implementation of the Sadaka Reut pedagogical model, enable international networking opportunities and teach Sadaka Reut activists to learn from and identify with the diverse social and political issues that social action NGO's around the world are tackling today.