July Newsletter

All Change, Please! Moving forward to a land of equality and justice". A talk with Alice Shalvi

"A Beacon of light unto All Other Nations"– a common phrase that we hear often when Jewish people throughout the world refer to Israel. But to what extent is this reality? And what is meant by Equality and Social Justice?

When: Monday 17th July 2006
Where: New North London Synagogue, 80 East End Road, London N3 2SY
Time: Doors open at 7:40 pm
Talk starts at 8:00pm
Cost: £5 (Free for Students)

To reserve your place, please call 020 77242266 or email idit@uknif.org

ALICE SHALVI, formerly Professor of English Literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, pioneered the Women's Rights Movement in Israel.

As a leading religious woman, Professor Shalvi made her name in the Orthodox community as Principal of Pelech, a unique progressive high school for religious girls, located in Jerusalem.

In August 1997 she was appointed rector (academic head) of the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies, Jerusalem.

Alice Shalvi served from 1984 to 2000 as the founding Chairwoman of the Israel Women's Network, an organisation dedicated to advancing the status of women in Israel.

In 1978 her activities won her the President's Award for outstanding contribution to the quality of life in Israel. In 1989, she received the Emil Grunzweig Prize, awarded by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, and in 1991 she was awarded the Rothfield Prize by the International Centre for Peace in the Middle East.

Alice Shalvi broadcasts on Israel Radio, has frequently appeared on television, and lectures on social, education and women's issues both in Israel and abroad.

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

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News

Supreme Court Orders Portion of Fence to Be Dismantled: Defence Minister Orders Thorough Review of Its Route

Israel's Supreme Court has ordered the government to dismantle eight kilometres of the Security Fence near the West Bank Jewish settlement of Tzofin. The petition was submitted by New Israel Fund grantee Hamoked: Centre for Defence of the Individual together with the mayors of the nearby Palestinian villages of Azun and Nebi Elias.

The Justices reached their verdict after being shown documentation that proved that the route of the Fence was plotted so that Tzofin, east of Kfar Saba, would have land to expand and build an industrial zone. The plans, which were discovered by New Israel Fund grantee Bimkom: Planners for Planning Rights, persuaded the justices to reverse their decision to reject the original petition in 2002. The justices were also highly critical of the Israeli government for concealing information during the first hearing of the case.

Following the verdict, Defence Minister Amir Peretz ordered his director-general Kobi Toren to carry out a thorough review of the Fence's route. In particular, he wants his legal team to report on any other cases like Tzofin where the planned expansion of settlements dictates the route of the Fence. Peretz also reportedly wants to reduce the number of Jerusalem Arabs who will be left east of the Fence.

New Israel Fund was one of the first Israeli organisations to recognise the humanitarian hardships caused by the Fence and this is the third major decision by the Supreme Court against the route of the Fence, following petitions by New Israel Fund grantees. Last year the justices ordered the government to dismantle 13 kilometres of the Fence further to the north near Alfei Menashe, and in 2004 the Court ordered the re-routing of 30 kilometres of the Fence northwest of Jerusalem.

New Israel Fund grantee B'Tselem, The Israeli Information Centre for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories said that together with Bimkom they have documentation proving that the route of the Fence is dictated by future expansion of Jewish settlements in 11 other cases. Last week's Supreme Court ruling provides a promising precedent for these cases.

Facts & Figures About the Fence:

• The planned length of the Fence is 760 kilometres, of which 297km has been completed and 201km are under construction.
• In total, 109 kilometres of the Fence's route are currently being disputed by legal proceedings, including 48 Supreme Court petitions.
• Since New Israel Fund's campaign began, the government has reduced the amount of informally annexed West Bank land from 18% to 9%.
  
  

Top Marks for New Israel Fund Civics School Programme

During its first full school year of operations, New Israel Fund's Active Citizenship Programme has trained 70 educators who are teaching more than 2,000 students in eight schools in Sderot. As the home to large numbers of immigrants from North Africa , Ethiopia and the Russian Caucasus, Sderot is one of Israel 's poorest cities and suffers from daily barrages of Palestinian missiles from neighbouring Gaza . Thus, Sderot provides a good test case for the programme.

The Active Citizenship Programme is operating in all 10 Sderot schools – six elementary schools and two junior and two senior high schools, including three Orthodox schools. The programme aims to demonstrate that a significant impact can be made on children's moral and civic development by teaching a core curriculum, especially when learning is supplemented by community service projects selected and carried out by the children themselves.

The Programme was initiated and is being implemented by New Israel Fund with the Israel Venture Network (IVN), a philanthropic partnership of Israeli and North American high-tech entrepreneurs, and in partnership with the Ministry of Education. Teacher training began in February 2005 and the teachers began applying the principles of the programme in Sderot's schools two months later.

Civics is rarely taught in Israeli elementary schools, nor is it taught routinely in teacher-training programmes. For younger children the programme introduces concepts such as non-violent resolutions of disagreements and listening to others, while for older students the curriculum focuses on tolerance, pluralism and the rights and responsibility of citizenship in a democracy. The project trains teachers to use innovative teaching techniques to motivate and involve students in their lessons.

The pilot programme, which has generated enormous interest in Sderot, will be introduced in September in two Galilee locations - the Bedouin town of Tuba Zangariya and Kiryat Shmona -- and possibly elsewhere in the Negev, in Ofakim and/or Arad.

Sderot students have put their studies to creative use. One group of students decided to rehabilitate a small park in a run-down neighbourhood. They brought their parents to volunteer, obtained the support of local businesses and persuaded the Jewish National Fund to donate trees. Through its intensive advocacy efforts, the programme has also been exerted influence on Ministry of Education policy. The Ministry is developing a civics course that will be compulsory in teacher training programmes and is increasing civics requirements for high school graduates.

Myriam Darmoni-Sharvit, Director of the Active Citizenship Programme, has been appointed to the Ministry of Education's Civics Curriculum Committee, and is promoting a plan to integrate the subject into the country's core curriculum for all schools. The Active Citizenship Programme's goal of persuading the Ministry of Education to fund citizenship as an integral part of the core curriculum throughout the country's education system may thus be within reach.

Polygamy Poisons Bedouin Society
Yaffa London-Ya'ari Scholar Plans Movie Entitled "The Second Wife."

Kamla Abu Zeila sees polygamy as a tragedy for Bedouin society.

Although Kamla Abu Zeila is covered from top to toe in flowing Bedouin garb, her eyes shine with a playful glint and there is an unexpected flirtatiousness in her manner as she asserts. "My husband would not dare marry a second wife."

She does not say it but her self-confidence clearly implies – I give him everything he needs. Steeliness enters her voice as she adds. "Before we got married I told him that if he ever took a second wife I would leave him. That's not easy for a woman in Bedouin society. But he knows I'm not bluffing."

In Rahat, the Negev Bedouin settlement where Abu Zeila lives, the threat of polygamy is very real. "No scientific survey has been undertaken," she explained to New Israel Fund, "but certainly over half of the men in Rahat have more than one wife."

Polygamy is illegal in Israel , but the authorities generally do not enforce the law in the Bedouin community. Partially due to polygamy, the Bedouin have the highest birthrate in Israel , which contributes to the community's high levels of poverty and deprivation.

Abu Zeila, 30, is the 2006 recipient of the Yaffa London-Ya'ari Scholarship. The Scholarship Endowment Fund in Memory of Yaffa London-Ya'ari, who helped establish and lead social services in Israel's formative years, was set up by her three sons – Eliezer (New Israel Fund's Executive Director in Israel), Yossi and Arik - together with New Israel Fund supporter Agnes Varis of New York City. The Fund is managed by New Israel Fund and strives to empower grassroots women leaders in disadvantaged communities.

Abu Zeila, who has already produced a movie about illiteracy in Bedouin society, plans using the scholarship to produce a movie entitled "The Second Wife," focusing on polygamy and the way in which it poisons Bedouin society.

"Some of the men who take a second wife are university educated men," she said. "In fact if you are wealthier, it is easier to take a second and even a third or fourth wife. I suppose the idea of having more than one woman sounds very attractive to some men. But it is a tragedy for the first wife and her children and usually the second wife and eventually the man himself suffers too. There is a terrible jealous struggle between the wives and the children of the woman out-of-favour become neglected and can end up living a life of deprivation and crime. I have seen the tragedy unfold so many times."

Several years ago Abu Zeila and a group of friends founded New Israel Fund grantee Tsaad Kadima (A Step Forward) – for the Promotion of Education and Society in the Negev. The organisation believes in female empowerment through education and that despite its problems, the Negev Bedouin community can evolve into a more a just society in terms of sexual equality. Her first movie told the story of an illiterate Bedouin woman who is unable to help her son in first grade learn to read and write. But helped by her friends she manages to learn to read and write and is then able to assist her son.

Suad Abu-Ajaj, 39, a mother of nine from the Bedouin settlement of Kesafiya in the Negev , was recently devastated when her husband married a second wife. View her story on a recent episode of Against All Odds.

The four recipients of the Yaffa London-Ya'ari Scholarships
in Jerusalem last week with the Ya'ari family.

This year the Scholarship Endowment Fund in Memory of Yaffa London -Ya'ari awarded three other scholarships to:

• Michal Cohen: a 45-year-old mother of four, including a severely handicapped son, from Beer Sheva. After 15 years as a social change activist with several New Israel Fund grantees, she wants to study Social Work and Behavioural Science at university.
• Leilah Abed Rabu: a blind Jerusalem Arab who will now be able to complete her Ph.D. at the Hebrew University . She is specialising in rulings by Islamic Sharia law courts in Israel on family issues, and wants to raise awareness about the rights of Arab women.
• Malkah Yasou: Brought to Israel as a baby from Ethiopia during Operation Moses in 1984, she is a teacher-training student at Jerusalem 's David Yellin College . The scholarship will enable her to complete her studies.
  
  

Government to Enforce Overtime Payments

Employers may now be fined for not paying their workers overtime if they undertake shifts that are longer than eight hours. The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labour recently announced that it will enforce a 50-year-old law allowing the imposition of fines and prison sentences on employers who fail to pay overtime following a campaign by New Israel Fund grantee Workers Hotline - Kav LaOved.

Earlier this year, Workers Hotline submitted a petition to Israel 's Supreme Court demanding that the Ministry enforce the existing legislation. Over the years Workers Hotline has received dozens of complaints from workers whose employers have refused to pay them for overtime.

"I hope that the Ministry will be able to handle the flood of complaints it will receive in light of the fact that the majority of employers do not pay overtime," said Workers Hotline legal counsel Eran Golan.

Incoming Minister of Industry, Trade and Labour Eli Yishai of Shas has said that he intends to hire extra inspectors to enforce these laws.

Against All Odds: Empowering Students With Learning Disabilities

Guy Finkelstein on Against All Odds

The 11 th instalment of the documentary series Against All Odds tells the story of Guy Finkelstein, who suffers from severe learning disabilities and has dedicated his life to those suffering similar problems. Finkelstein is CEO of LESHEM, which, with assistance from SHATIL, advocates for the 15% of Israelis with learning disabilities.

View the programme with English subtitles.

Against All Odds: Promoting Coexistence through Football

Beni Bomegin (left) interviewed by Yael Dan

The 12th programme in the Against All Odds series, Beni Bomegin discusses the central role that soccer plays in his own life and that of Israeli society. For many years, Bomegin has coached soccer teams in the Negev that integrate Bedouin and Jewish players. "Soccer is one of the most effective ways of bringing Arabs and Jews together," he says. Since 2003, he has been one of New Israel Fund's 50 volunteer observers who each week report on the racist behaviour of Israeli soccer fans, which reflects racist attitudes throughout society. The weekly index, published in the Israeli media, has put the topic high on the public agenda.

The programme was aired as New Israel Fund's New Voice in the Stadium campaign completed its third season. Over the past year, observers have reported an 11% decrease in racist and violent incidents, while the number of arrests and convictions of fans calling out racist chants such as "Death to Arabs" has increased dramatically following new Knesset legislation outlawing racist behaviour at matches. New Israel Fund was consulted on the formulation of this legislation.

View the programme with English subtitles.

One might think that Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert would have more pressing issues on his agenda but he made the headlines this month by commenting on a row about the World Cup being shown on a pay-per-view channel rather than on terrestrial channels. Olmert said he has not yet subscribed to the channel as he is waiting for the price to drop. It struck a common chord with the public.

Apart from 12 games, including the opening match and some from the later stages, which will be shown on public channels, the rest of the action from Germany is being broadcast for an extra charge. The package was priced at about £150 each. But the Israeli public refused to buy in and boycotted the channel, resulting in the cost being cut to £50. Even at £50, most people have kept up the boycott.

This is a disgrace. The whole essence of the World Cup is that every person in the world gets to watch it, regardless of wealth. In Israel , where we know around 20-30% of the population live under the poverty line, this small example shows where the values of a market economy can turn desperately wrong. Of course lots of pubs and bars have got it – but that's not ideal for the kids. So Israel 's children should sign up on a pen pal scheme with someone in the world who can watch the world's greatest sporting contest on TV – from a child who lives in a village in Togo , perhaps? They could ask anyone in Saudi of course, but, well, you know how it is…

The good news is that the people won't stand for it. Online petitions have since been launched, politicians have been quick to comment on the issue, and a parliamentary committee has tried to find alternative solutions. Rival media groups are publishing ways to watch the tournament for free, including links to pirate websites, how to crack the satellite code or receive the transmission from Jordan.

So maybe we are on a roll? Does anyone know any other issues that need sorting in Israel?