New Israel Fund

October Newsletter.

Israel is everyone's playing field

Betar Jerusalem and Maccabi Tel Aviv line up before the game to assert that "Israel Is Everyone's Playing Field"

Israel's 2006/07 soccer season kicked off a week late due to the war with pre-match anti-racism events organised by New Israel Fund and the Israel Football Association. Large banners at the stadiums declared that "Israel is Everyone's Playing Field," echoing the ads placed by New Israel Fund in the Arabic and Hebrew press during the war that "Israel is Everyone's Home."

In pre-match ceremonies televised live, the captains of Israel 's leading clubs declared: "In these difficult times following fighting and tension - it is hoped that soccer can help generate a new spirit promoting fairness and mutual respect beyond the stadium. The playing field brings people together, and is a place for cooperation and mutual respect and where a person is judged by their abilities regardless of their origins, the color of their skin or religion."

Since its inception in 2004, New Israel Fund's New Voice in the Stadium has placed the topic of racist chants, such as "Death to Arabs," at soccer matches at the top of the public agenda. New legislation in 2005 specifically outlawed such behavior and there have been many arrests and convictions.

Re-establishing Trust: Jewish and Arab Children Come Together to Put the War Behind Them

Israeli children enjoy a day of fun before returning to school

Tamir Akran, one of 1.5 million Israeli children who returned to school this week, was glad that the summer vacation was about to end. The 13-year-old from Hatzor Hagalil in the Upper Galilee had to spend most of the war with relatives in the south after severe anxiety caused by falling missiles gave him acute stomach problems. "I still get cramps when I hear a sudden loud noise," he said, splashing in the water near a group of Arab children from Nazareth. "To be honest, I'm looking forward to going back to school. The return to routine will be comforting."

The joyful screams of 1,700 Jewish and Arab children playing in a water park near Bet Shean in the late August sunshine would not have been heard several weeks earlier. The region was within range of Hezbollah missiles, meaning that communities that had been cautiously learning to live together in recent years put organised coexistence activities on hold.

This was the third such "fun day" organised over the past two weeks and co-funded by New Israel Fund and the Abraham Fund Initiatives.

Near Tamir, 11-year-old Fathiya Atamni, an Arab girl from near Nazareth, said she too was eager to get back to school. "It has been a miserable summer," she said. "We had no shelters in our town and had nowhere to go when the sirens sounded. It was very scary."

These fun days were part of a series of activities undertaken in partnership between New Israel Fund and the Abraham Fund Initiatives to reestablish trust between Israel's Jews and Arabs and rebuild mutual respect in the northern region. In addition, while many of the Jewish children had been hosted outside the war zone, the Arab children had spent most of the conflict confined to their homes, so the "fun day" was also a chance to enjoy the outdoors.

"Activities like these have a greater impact than you might think," explained Razi Ujidad, Supervisor of Sports in Arabs schools in the Northern Region for the Ministry of Education. "The kids realise when they see each other playing in the water and having a good time and calling out in Hebrew and Arabic that the other community is very much the same as they are."

Poverty Reaches Record Heights

At the end of August, Israel's National Insurance Institute (NII), the government agency responsible for social support payments, pensions and child allowances, issued its report for 2005. The findings were alarming. Despite economic growth of 5.2% in 2005, the number of poor Israelis continued to rise.

The number of Israelis living below the poverty line increased from 1.53 million in 2004 to 1.63 million in 2005.
24.7% of Israelis are now living below the poverty line.
35.2% of Israeli children were living below the poverty line at the end of 2005 compared to 33.2% in 2004.
Over this period, the percentage of Israeli Arabs living below the poverty line increased from 49.9% to 52.1%.

The challenge now confronting the New Israel Fund family is to ensure that those living below the poverty line are not asked to foot the bill for the war in Lebanon, as the Israeli government considers massive cuts to public spending.

Women's Voices and a Presidential Process

Protestors outside the Presidential Residence in Jerusalem last week

New Israel Fund grantee Association of Rape Crisis Centres in Israel (ARCCI) has called upon President Moshe Katsav to suspend himself from office pending the outcome of the criminal investigation against him for alleged rape and sexual harassment of female co-workers. Last week, ARCCI held a protest vigil outside the Presidential Residence in Jerusalem that was widely covered by the Israeli media.

“The criminal investigation precludes President Katsav from fulfilling his presidential duties,” explains Naomi Schneiderman of ARCCI, “in so far as he is not only a representative of the people but also a role model.”

With 10 rape crisis centres and hotlines in Hebrew, Arabic and Amharic, ARCCI has led the campaign in Israel to reduce the incidence of sexual violence, improve services for survivors of assault, and promote legislation to protect victims.

Pressure is mounting on President Katsav to at least temporarily suspend himself before the swearing-in ceremony of the new President of Israel’s Supreme Court on Thursday, when Justice Dorit Beinish will become the first woman to hold this position. If this happens, then Dalia Itzik, the first female Knesset Speaker who also serves as Vice President, will swear in Justice Beinisch.

Meanwhile, next week, a coalition promoting women's rights, which includes organisations from the New Israel Fund family such as Itach – Women Lawyers for Social Justice and Kol Ha'Isha, will launch a public campaign entitled "A Woman President for Israel" that will call on the 120 members of Knesset to choose a woman as President Katsav's successor.

Influencing the Environment

According to the Marker, Sigal Yaniv-Feller brings "an enthusiastic approach and commitment towards local environmental initiatives."

The Marker, Israel´s equivalent of the Wall Street Journal, has named Sigal Yaniv Feller, CEO of the Green Environment Fund (GEF), one of the country´s 10 most influential people on environmental matters. The Green Environment Fund (GEF) is a joint venture of New Israel Fund and other major foundations, with a budget of $1.2 million per annum.

Major achievements of GEF over the past year include:

Implementation of the Representation Law forcing all municipalities to appoint an environmental committee.
The scrapping of building plans for the former Hiriya garbage dump at the eastern entrance to Tel Aviv and the decision to develop the area as the Ayalon Park.
The rejection of a development plan of marinas and hotels in Haifa which would have ruined the country’s best surfing beach.
The passage of the Clean Air Act through its first reading in the Knesset.
Drafting of the “Polluters Must Pay” Act, which will be introduced into the Knesset in the coming months.

Wisconsin Plan to Undergo Major Changes

Nazareth residents protest the Wisconsin Plan

Israel’s social change movement won a major victory in the fight against the Mehalev welfare-to-work programme, which is also known as the Wisconsin Plan. Last week, Minister of Industry, Trade and Labour Eli Yishai announced his acceptance of a ministerial committee’s recommendations to overhaul the programme and to give automatic exemptions to single mothers with children under 12 and those nearing retirement age.

The two-year Mehalev pilot project was designed for 14,000 unemployed participants in Jerusalem, Nazareth, Hadera and Ashkelon. In response, and within the framework of its efforts to protect disadvantaged communities, the New Israel Fund family has spearheaded the campaign to change the Wisconsin Plan. In August 2005, the initial emergency funding was given to New Israel Fund grantees Commitment for Peace and Social Justice (Mehuyavut) and Community Advocacy – Genesis Israel to monitor the programme through Wisconsin Watch.

New Israel Fund's initiative played an important role in exposing the fundamental flaw in the programme: the private companies running Mehalev were paid the same bonus regardless of whether they found participants jobs or dropped them from the employment rehabilitation courses, which meant they lost their social support benefits. Wisconsin Watch handled hundreds of cases in which Russian-speaking immigrants and Arabs lost benefits because they could not comprehend Hebrew-only training materials or job interviews in Hebrew, or single mothers were unable to work evening shifts because of their responsibilities at home.

In addition to about 25% of the current participants in Mehalev who will now be exempt from the programme, others can appeal to a newly-formed independent committee of social workers who will decide their eligibility.

The Minister’s decision was an excellent gift for the High Holy Days and month of Ramadan for hundreds of disadvantaged Jewish and Arab families whose social security benefits were threatened or stopped by the Wisconsin Plan.

Message from Alan Bolchover, New Israel Fund UK Chief Executive

Let me start by wishing all our Jewish supporters and friends a very sweet and happy New Year. We hope that the New Year will fulfil your personal wishes and aspirations. And, we hope that this year Israel will see significant progress in achieving peace with its neighbours and in improving the social welfare of all its citizens.

At this time of year we reflect on the year gone by and the last twelve months for Israel has been pretty miserable. We often find ourselves casting about for someone to blame – the aggression of Israel's enemies, the UN, the media. It’s easy to blame every one you can think of and become filled with rage. But unfortunately blame will not strengthen Israel's schools. Blame will not help to heal the divides that exist in Israel. Blame will not reduce poverty, house the homeless, or feed the hungry.

Yom Kippur is a time where we can try and change our hearts. It is a time when we cleanse ourselves of such feelings so we can start the New Year with a new sense of purpose. Progress will be slow but we must focus on resolving these issues and tackling the fault lines in Israeli society, rather than be the ones that exacerbate them.

As always, we thank you for your support.