March Newsletter
Breaking News
Reports that Israel’s new Minister of Justice Daniel Friedmann wants to limit the powers of the country’s Supreme Court have raised concerns about the erosion of Israel’s democratic institutions. As an immediate response, NIF flagship grantee Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) sent a letter to Minister Friedmann imploring him not to cripple the powers of the court. The letter concluded that his proposals “send a message supporting all those calling for the courts… to be weakened. Do not “deal a mortal blow to the defence of human rights in Israel.” The NIF family is considering appropriate strong advocacy measures in opposing this threat to Israeli democracy.
News
Ellen Goldberg joins New Israel Fund UK as Executive Director
New Israel Fund UK is delighted to announce the appointment of Ellen Goldberg to the role of Executive Director. She succeeds Alan Bolchover who stepped down at the end of 2006.
Formerly Associate Director of New Israel Fund Israel, Ellen was responsible for Resource Development and International Relations in Israel, and directed several field programs in active citizenship education, the environment, and social entrepreneurship. She brings with her a wealth of experience and understanding of both the Israeli and UK scenes, having acted as a key contact with our grantees and colleagues in Israel over the years.
She has been with New Israel Fund Israel since 2001, and prior to that has held senior positions with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee in Israel. She has worked in government in both Israel and the US, completed public health studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and holds both a Bachelor's degree and Master’s in public administration from Harvard University.
Mark Goldberg, UK Chairman said: “This is a coup for NIF UK. We are extremely fortunate to attract an Executive Director of such experience and accomplishment to help move us forward in the next phase of our development. Ellen already enjoys wide respect amongst those who know her in the UK, and I’m sure this move will commend itself to all our supporters and stakeholders. It will certainly enhance our strategy of working even more closely with our grantees and programmes in Israel, of which the Kick out Racism in Football is one example.”
Eliezer Yaari, New Israel Fund Executive Director in Israel, said: “I am sorry to see Ellen leave Israel. She has contributed so much to our operation here over the years that her leaving will create a major gap. However, I am delighted that she has decided to stay within the NIF family in London, where her presence will do much to strengthen NIF both in the UK and internationally.”
Ellen, who took up her post in mid February, commented: “As an Israeli, I’m anxious to help the British community learn more about Israel’s third sector, specifically the grassroots and professional non-profit organizations that are supported by the New Israel Fund. Guided by Jewish and universal values, they work hard to promote equality and justice for all Israelis. These are Israelis from all walks of life who became active in order to help themselves or to help others. I’m here to bring more people into this partnership with our Israeli colleagues.”
Darfur Refugees Are Released From Prison
Two Darfur refugees stand beneath the Menorah
outside of Israel’s Knesset.
Ali* is one of more than 300 Sudanese refugees who have reached Israel from the war-torn region of Darfur. The 31- year- old African is one of 90 refugees who have been released from Israeli prisons since December thanks to NIF grantee Kav LaOved Workers’ Hotline. He is now working at the swimming pool at Kibbutz Maaleh Hahamisha near Jerusalem.
Ali recalls with horror the day that he hid when government-backed militiamen massacred his family. “Altogether 31 members of my immediate family were killed that day,” says Ali. “I fled north to Egypt but suffered terrible discrimination there and so I made my way through the Sinai to Israel.”
Ali, like all Sudanese refugees, was arrested for entering Israel illegally, and was also seen as a security threat because Sudan is a Muslim country without diplomatic relations with Israel.
By a most remarkable coincidence, Ali discovered several months ago that he is not alone in the world. His younger brother Munir, 26, reached Israel last year but remains imprisoned. Earlier this month, Ali was able to visit his brother in prison for the first time, following the intervention of the Knesset Lobby for Darfur Refugees, which was established by Workers Hotline.
“The fact that I have family has given me renewed hope,” says Ali sitting in his bare kibbutz room.
“We have so far obtained the release of 90 of the more than 300 Darfur refugees in Israel,” explains Sigal Rozen, Coordinator of Public Activities for Workers’ Hotline. “We hope to have them all released in the coming months.
Rozen recounts that last July Workers’ Hotline, together with the Refugees Rights Clinic of Tel Aviv University, won a successful Supreme Court order, last July in which the Justices instructed the Defense Minister to appoint a special advisor to consider individually the case of each refugee.
“But it took five months of red tape until the special advisor had a budget to begin his work,” laments Rozen. “However, we are greatly encouraged by the fact that the advisor has released every refugee whose case he has considered so far.”
One major obstacle is that Workers’ Hotline cannot apply for the release of a refugee until a home is found for him. Israel’s kibbutzim and moshavim (farming cooperatives) have answered the humanitarian call and many locations, such as Maaleh Hahamisha, have agreed to take in the refugees.
“But under the terms of their release,” notes Rozen, “the refugees are in custody on the kibbutz or moshav. They can only leave the confines of the kibbutz accompanied by a kibbutz member at all times or a government -appointed escort.”
Working with a government tribunal, Workers Hotline has managed to take the process a stage further and the first six refugees have now received “asylum seeker status,” which allows them to move around freely and work legally in Israel. At the same time, the Knesset Lobby for Darfur Refugees has pledged to introduce new legislation, which would ensure political asylum for the refugees.
When Ali recently visited Israel’s parliament to lobby for the release of his fellow asylum seekers, many of the Knesset members were in tears when he told of his experiences. Most moved of all was MK Sara Marom Shalev of the Pensioners party who is a Holocaust survivor.
* At the request of the UN Commission for Refugees fictional names have been used.
“Citizens on the Front Lines”: SHATIL Presents Report on Home Front Failures during the Second Lebanon War
North Star Forum panelists report to the Press: “Citizens on the Front Lines”, (l-r) Naomi Chazan, Maj. Gen. (R) Uzi Dayan, Aida Touma Sliman, Michael Bavly.
Major Israeli news outlets led their broadcasts last week with SHATIL’s report, “Citizens on the Front Lines,” which summarizes government failures to protect its citizens during the second Lebanon War last summer.
At the North Star Forum press conference held last week in Haifa, Forum panelist Major General (reserves) Uzi Dayan told journalists, “There were three major failings in the Second Lebanon War: catastrophic decisions on the governmental level, strategic failure on the military level and the State’s abandonment of the home front.”. The press conference and the report was featured on evening television news shows and in the Hebrew, Arabic and Russian press.
The North Star Forum, coordinated by SHATIL,is a broad-based coalition of 50 organisations that promotes the needs of Northern Israel's War victims.
The “Citizens on the Front Lines” report is based on 200 testimonies in Hebrew, Arabic, Russian and Amharic gathered from residents during four public hearings held throughout Northern Israel between Nov. 2006-Jan. 2007. “This report is the only one that looks at the War from the point of view of the citizens’ experiences,” said SHATIL’s Avi Dabush, North Star Forum coordinator.
The report cites four areas of failure during the War: government functioning, civil defense facilities, information flow and discrimination.
• Most government offices closed with the outbreak of the War with no explanation given or alternative service channels announced.
• Many citizens reported frustrating and unsuccessful attempts to contact government or municipal offices.
• Even after the rocket fire ended, many citizens received no assistance for physical and emotional injuries or for property damage.
• Some shelters remained locked for the entire duration of the War. Shelters that were open had a range of problems that included little-to-no air circulation, a lack of running water and sewage facilities and inadequate access for the disabled and elderly.
• The supply of food and medication to shelters was irregular – and sometimes they never arrived.
Furthermore, there were no guidelines set up for evacuations and when citizens were evacuated it was catch-as-catch-can, as Professor and NIF Board Member Naomi Chazan pointed out at the press conference; in some instances, the families of municipal workers were evacuated first. “The whole process was reckless and discriminatory by definition,” Chazan said.
In addition, according to the report, information for residents about what to do during emergencies was lacking, in particular at the outbreak of the War. People seeking help did not know where to turn and were unaware of their rights in emergency situations. When instructions and updated information were provided, they were useless to those who needed them most: Arab citizens (who suffered 45% of the damage and injury) and new immigrants, who were unfamiliar with and confused by states of emergency. Arabic translations of emergency instructions only began during the third week of the War and Russian and Amharic broadcasts were infrequent and problematic.
War severely impacted Israel’s most vulnerable populations
The War severely impacted Israel’s most vulnerable populations such as the elderly, handicapped, Arabs, immigrants, women, children and the poor, according to Aida Touma Sliman, Director of Nazareth’s Women Against Violence. There was a shortage of shelters and alarm systems in every Arab town. In some towns such as Hazor, new immigrants had to struggle for an equal share of food and other assistance. The property tax authority chose to apply different compensation scales for different locations and residents.
"The War brought into sharp focus serious societal problems stemming from the lack of social and economic justice,” stated Naomi Chazan. “We are witness to the lost generation of the state of Israel.”
Environmental Achievements in the Midst of Tu B’Shvat
Saving the Jerusalem Hills
Israel’s Greens protested last week the
destruction of the Jerusalem Hills.
As reported in December, plans to build 20,000 new homes in the hills west of Jerusalem were frozen by the city’s municipality following a four- year campaign by the Coalition for the Preservation of the Jerusalem Hills, which is funded by NIF through the Green Environment Fund (GEF). Last week, the plan was firmly rejected, when the government’s National Planning and Construction Council voted 24-3 against it. In Ha’aretz, Zafrir Rinat’s writes, “The victory in the fight against the Safdie Plan is one of the greatest successes in the history of the environmental movement in Israel.”
Government Recognizing More Negev Bedouin Villages
One of the new schools recently opened
in a former unrecognized Bedouin village
Next month, the Israeli government will lay the foundation stone for an elementary school in the Negev Bedouin village of Bir Hadaj, while last week work began on infrastructure to provide running water for Dirjat, another Bedouin village.
Dirjat and Bir Hadaj are among nine Bedouin villages that have been recognized by the Israeli government since 2004 and they now form part of the Abu Basma Regional Council. For the past two years, NIF and the Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) have supported the villages as part of the Abu Basma Project.
“Two more villages are about to be recognized by the government in the coming months,” explained Dr. Thabet Abu Ras, Executive Director of the Project. “Although this will mean that only a quarter of the villages are recognized, these settlements house 35,000, or almost half, of the 75,000 residents currently residing in unrecognized villages.” And Dr. Abu Ras, who was Director of SHATIL’s Beersheva office before establishing the Abu Basma Project, is confident that agreed solutions will be found for the remaining villages.
“Gaining government recognition is only the first step in the campaign to integrate the Negev Bedouin into Israeli society,” stresses Dr. Abu Ras. “We then have to struggle to provide all the basic services that other citizens take for granted – electricity, water and sewage, schools and health clinics.”
With this in mind, the Abu Basma Project strengthens the community leadership of the local committees and coordinates activities among the government, NGOs and the Bedouin communities. The objective is to ensure that the communities are involved in decisions and that community and social services are developed to fit their needs.
Dr. Abu Ras reports that three schools have already been built to serve previously unrecognized villages – a high school in Abu Granat and elementary schools in Kasr Sar and Tarabin, and other utilities and services are in the pipeline.
“We have come a long way over the past three years,” remarks Dr. Abu Ras. “But there is still so far to go.”
More Buses in Arab Towns Will Enhance Women’s Employment Opportunities
Only 30 percent of Israeli Arab women aged 25-44 have jobs compared to 80 percent of Israeli Jewish women. A survey by NIF grantee Kayan (“Being”): The Feminist Organization for Women in Arab Society has identified a lack of public transportation serving Arab towns as one of the major factors preventing more Arab women from going out to work.
Last year, Kayan successfully introduced a bus service to the Galilee village of Maghar after the town’s women cited a lack of public transportation as a major reason keeping them tied to the home. Now a Kayan survey has found that the same situation exists throughout the Israeli Arab sector. For example, Umm al-Fahm, a city of 40,000 spread over a large hilly area, has no internal bus service and most Arab families can only afford one car, which is used by the husband. Lack of buses also prevents women from reaching health clinics, schools and other important locations.
“After the successful introduction of buses in Maghar,” explains Taghrad Al-Ahmed, the head of Kayan’s Mobility Project. “we now intend on starting bus services in Daliat Al Carmel, Isfiya, Tira and Taibe.”
IRAC Petitions Supreme Court on Gender-Segregated Bus Lines
Israeli women have had enough of the daily humiliation and even physical assault inflicted on them on the country’s gender-separated bus lines. These lines, where women are compelled to sit at the back of the bus, have been called Taliban buses. Shulamit Tzitron, an ultra-orthodox woman from Bnei Brak near Tel Aviv described her humiliating experiences on buses and concludes “there is no religious or logical basis for this in Iran let alone Israel.”
Veteran NIF grantee Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC) of the Movement for Progressive Judaism in Israel (Reform) has petitioned Israel’s Supreme Court against this practice on behalf of five women including Naomi Ragen, the orthodox American-born novelist. The only bus line linking central Jerusalem to the neighborhood in which Ragen lives is segregated, and the novelist has suffered abuse and physical intimidation for sitting at the front of the bus and explaining to passengers that there is no Jewish law forbidding her from sitting wherever she wants.
Orly Erez Lachovsky of IRAC’s Legal Department, the attorney who filed the petition, told NIF News that there is no legislation on this topic and that under voluntary arrangements with the bus companies some 30 to 40 lines are gender- segregated.
“We want choice and not coercion,” Erez Lachovsky explained. “Women have the right to travel on gender-segregated buses if they want. But those buses must be clearly marked so that a woman has the choice not to board the bus and an unsegregated bus must travel the same route.”
IRAC has been monitoring the situation for some time and has collected evdience from women who were physically assaulted for not sitting at the back of the bus. IRAC has also asked the Supreme Court to issue an interim order prohibiting the establishment of additional segregated lines while the case is being considered.
Jewish GDP Three Times Arab GDP
New figures released last week by NIF grantee Arab Center for Alternative Planning reveal that the economic gap between Israel’s Jews and Arabs is wider than previously thought. Research conducted by the organisation’s economists showed that the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) per capita in Israel’s Jewish sector is $19,150 while in the Arab sector it is only $6,750. The study also showed that while the UN ranks Israel as the 22nd most developed country in the world, Israeli Arabs would be ranked in 66th place.
Racism Rules Among Israeli Schoolchildren
In the summer following the Lebanon War, NIF funded
summer camps which brought together thousands of Jewish
and Arab children in northern Israel.
New research by Haifa University uncovered deep-rooted racist views held by Israeli schoolchildren, Jewish and Arab. 800 children in 11 schools were surveyed and researchers found that 75 percent of these Jewish students said that Arabs were “uncivilized” and 74 percent considered them “unclean.” The poll also surveyed 800 Israeli Arab schoolchildren and the results were not much more encouraging. Forty percent thought Jews were “uncivilized” and 57 percent thought Jews “unclean.”
Assisting Israel’s Arab Sector: NIF’s Initiatives
When U.S. Ambassador Richard Jones visited NIF Israel’s offices in Jerusalem earlier this month, he was impressed to hear that 33-35 percent of NIF’s budget and 40 percent of SHATIL’s budget are allocated to assisting Israel’s Arab sector. “I think there is a crying need for such assistance,” he said.
Here are just a few examples of the very many initiatives of the NIF family.
• Religious Racism: Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC) of the Movement for Progressive Judaism (Reform) in Israel initiates criminal proceedings against Internet sites and media that contain racist statements, prosecutes prominent rabbis who preach against Arabs, and persuades the government to stop funding racist religious organisations. Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, Chief Rabbi of Safed, was recently indicted after IRAC reported press interviews in which he said it was against Jewish law to rent homes to Arabs.
• Mixed Cities: SHATIL helps the Arab residents of Israel’s mixed cities – Lod, Ramla, Jaffa, Haifa and Akko – move towards greater parity with their Jewish neighbors. In the Arab neighborhoods of Ramla, the project has recently prevented the demolition of dozens of homes and a playground.
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Economic Empowerment: NIF grantees such as Sidreh and Laqiya: Association for the Improvement of the Status of Women, and SHATIL’s Bedouin Women’s Empowerment Project and Economic Empowerment for Women run courses specifically designed to teach Arab women how to earn a livelihood -- often based on traditional skills such as embroidery and carpet making.
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Equality and Human Dignity: Sikkuy – The Association for the Advancement of Civic Equality in Israel develops and implements projects to advance civic equality between Arab and Jewish citizens of Israel in government budgets, resource allocation, hiring policy and land usage. Sikkuy has set up the Jewish-Arab Mayors Forum to advance cooperation between Jewish and Arab municipalities in northern Israel.
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Kick It Out: NIF placed and keeps the racist behavior of football fans high on the public agenda through its New Voice in the Stadium campaign. The campaign helps enforce new legislation outlawing abhorrent crowd chants such as “Death to Arabs,” and is initiating public education projects to combat racism among young fans. Since the campaign began racist behavior by football fans has decreased significantly. (See more on KIO below and how you can get directly involved in the campaign.)
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Sharing Environmental Concerns: Citizens for the Environment in the Galilee (CFE) an organization with Jewish and Arab board members and staff, brings together Jews and Arabs to protect the quality of the region’s air, water and landscape. They work together to fight the contamination of the region’s water and to expose obvious as well as hidden industrial pollution throughout the Galilee.
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Post War Dialogue: Mahapach: Education, Housing and Livelihood organizes student volunteers to operate educational and community programs in both Arab and Jewish low-income neighborhoods. In the wake of last summer’s Lebanon War, Mahapach has brought together groups of Jewish and Arab youth to discuss their different perceptions about the war.
Upcoming Events
Kicking Racism Out of Israeli Football
Join New Israel Fund trip to Israel to watch the Israel vs England game, in association with the English FA and Israeli FA.
The New Israel Fund trip is something special: offering an unforgettable weekend of football. Our partnership with both the Israeli Football Association and the English Football Association allows us access to players and former players, journalists and pundits that we will be offering to you in March. It promises to be a special weekend - a celebration of our commitment to football and to Israel - all in support of Israel's Kick Racism Out of Football Campaign.
Activities will run from lunchtime of Friday 23rd March to the afternoon of Sunday 25th of March. The game is on Saturday evening after Shabbat.
We have VERY LIMITED tickets left. For more information please contact Dan Berelowitz at the NIF office on 020 7724 2266 or email dan@uknif.org
Message from Ellen Goldberg, New Israel Fund UK Executive Director
This newsletter is my first “public appearance” for the New Israel Fund UK, so I would like to open it by telling you how excited I am to have taken over the helm here after nearly 6 years as Associate Director of NIF in Israel. I’d also like to thank my predecessor, Alan Bolchover, and the Board and staff, for positioning NIF as an active and respected participant in UK Jewish communal life, as well as in the human rights community in the UK.
Having spent all of my adult life in Israel, I feel this is a wonderful opportunity for me to bring Israeli life closer to our constituents in the UK, and vice versa.
For example, what some people outside of Israel probably don’t think about, is that despite all the urgent political issues, concerns and craving for peace and better relations with our neighbors, Israelis live their lives on a day-to-day basis just like other people around the world. They worry about everyday matters of livelihood, their family’s health and safety, the quality of their children’s education, and they think about their local communities and how their government is functioning.
But Israel is still different. The social and economic gaps between rich and poor, Jews and Arabs, immigrants and native Israelis are some of the widest gaps in the western world. Some of these gaps stem from the burgeoning high-tech economy that has created a wealthy echelon that rivals many around the world, but has left hundreds of thousands of Israelis behind. Some other gaps are the result of discrimination that even the governments of Israel have admitted exists, whether due to unfair treatment under the law or poor enforcement of existing laws.
The New Israel Fund works with members of Israeli civil society to strengthen their abilities to advocate for the rights of all Israelis, to improve the quality of their lives, and to promote equality, so that the determining factor in the range of available opportunities is not based on one’s religion, race, or other personal trait.
My staff and I invite you to join us in this partnership with people around the world and in Israel, to close these gaps and build a better future for all Israelis. I’m thrilled to be here in the UK, and look forward to meeting and working with many of you!
Thank you for your continued support.
