June / July Newsletter
Tuesday, 11th November 2008
Human Rights Awards Dinner
Last year more than 270 people attended the awards dinner and nearly £200000 was raised to support the human and civil rights work of the New Israel Fund which, for more than 25 years, has been the leader in strengthening Israel’s democracy and promoting freedom, justice and equality for all Israel's citizens.
Again, in the light of so many inspiring achievements in the field of human and civil rights in Israel, the New Israel Fund will recognise the people behind them.
Save the Date: Tuesday, 11th November 2008
New Israel Fund Rallies in Support of Hundreds of Israelis Who Have Their Orthodox Conversions Annulled
U.S. born Susan Weiss champions the victims of the Rabbinical Courts.
Attorney Susan Weiss has appealed to Israel’s Supreme Court on behalf of 15 petitioners against last month’s decision by the Rabbinical Court of Appeals to nullify thousands of Orthodox conversions performed by the Israeli government’s Conversion Authority.
Weiss, the Founder and Executive Director of New Israel Fund grantee Center for Women’s Justice, represents the Danish-born Israeli woman and her three children, whose divorce trial began the entire controversy. Weiss also represents in the petition a range of other women’s organisations including NIF grantee Ne’menai Torah V’Avoda, which promotes democratic values in the Orthodox community.
Ironically, this instance began with an uncontested divorce hearing in the Ashdod Rabbinical Court last year. The couple had agreed to divorce terms in advance. Yet the religious court judge who presided, Dayan Avraham Attia, ruled that the woman was not Jewish because her conversion in 1993 was invalid, and therefore she had never married in the first place and did not need a divorce.
The matter came to the Rabbinical Court of Appeals, which not only upheld the decision by the Ashdod Rabbinical Court, but annulled the thousands of conversions carried out by Rabbi Druckman’s Conversion Authority. At the heart of the dispute is the rigorous attitude towards conversion held by the Rabbinical Court of Appeals, which is controlled by ultra-Orthodox rabbis, and the less strict approach of the Zionist national Orthodox movement. The latter espouses flexibility, especially following mass immigration from the former Soviet Union when so many newcomers are not halachically Jewish.
In the wake of this split between the ultra-Orthodox and Zionist national Orthodox movement, NIF has provided Ne’menai Torah V’Avoda with emergency funding to organise a conference next month on the concept of Alternative Rabbinical Courts, which now have the support of much of the Zionist national Orthodox establishment. The conference will be attended by many liberal Orthodox organisations supported by NIF, which will continue to assist in combating the violation of basic rights caused through this harsh ruling by the Rabbinical Court of Appeals.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister’s Office has fired Rabbi Druckman in what is seen as a cynical ploy by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to gain support from the ultra-Orthodox political parties. On the other hand, Justice Minister Prof. Daniel Friedmann has initiated proceedings to oust Rabbi Moshe Sherman, Head of the Rabbinical Court of Appeals.
New Israel Fund Family Protests New Testament Book Burning
A major demonstration was held in Or Yehuda near Tel Aviv to protest against the burning of New Testament books in May. The protest was organised by New Israel Fund grantee BINA: Center for Jewish Identity and Hebrew Culture together with NIF.
Following the demonstration, which received media publicity and aroused public debate, Or Yehuda Deputy Mayor Oz Aharon, who took part in the book burning, apologised for his actions. Israel's Foreign Ministry also condemned the action.
"Do not burn those who think differently" reads the banner
in the foreground at the demonstration against the New Testament book burning.
Among the speakers at the protest rally outside the Or Yehuda municipality were NIF Israel Director Eliezer Ya’ari and ultra-Orthodox feminist leader Dr. Zvia Greenfeld who said, "We should be the first people to embrace those who are searching for God."
Yair Lapid, Israel’s most popular talk show host, addressed this issue in his weekly column in Yediot Ahronot in an article entitled “Jews Don’t Burn Books.” While writing in Y-Net, Dr. Eran Lerman, Executive Director of the American Jewish Committee’s Israel and Middle East Office, said that the book burning “Mocked basic Jewish values and can also harm Israel’s status in Washington D.C.”
SHATIL'S Mixed Cities Project Calls for greater Co-operation Between Goverment and Community
More than 120 activists, neighbourhood residents, lawyers, professionals and government representatives gathered on 4th June in Ramle to mark five years of SHATIL’s Mixed Cities Project and to reflect on the activity, achievements, challenges and lessons derived from its work.
The joining together of these forces at the Leading Change in the Mixed Cities conference is a reflection of the success of SHATIL’s effort to empower minority communities in the mixed cities of Ramle, Lod, Acre and Jaffa and to effect changes in discriminatory policies.
Dr. Sarah Ozacky-Lazar, New Israel Fund Board and SHATIL Committee member and Fellow of the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, and Gianmatteo Arena, head of the Operations Section of the European Commission’s Delegation to the State of Israel, greeted the attendees. Arena described SHATIL’s Mixed Cities Project as “extraordinary” in its aspirations and contribution.
Three panels featuring residents and professionals brought to light the successes and challenges of the Project during the past five years in promoting alternative planning for the development and revitalisation of the mixed cities. They addressed the issues challenging Arab residents and their neighbourhoods in these cities: preservation and renovation; demolitions and evictions; and the state’s recognition and incorporation of neighbourhoods into state plans.
During the “Preservation and Restoration of City Centers in the Mixed Cities” panel, architect Doron Druckman, the Interior Ministry’s Director of Planning, and chair of the National Preservation Team, praised the Mixed Cities Project as providing “threads of hope” for its initiatives in cultivating local leaders, who he said were a vital partner with the planning authorities in creating new frameworks for change. Other panels focused on unrecognised neighbourhoods and home demolitions and evictions in Israel’s mixed cities.
Leading Change in the Mixed Cities conference
Architect Buthayna Dabit, head of SHATIL’s Mixed Cities Project, said: “The city centres are like a living organism. If we harm them, it’s akin to harming the heart of the organism. We hope this conference will inspire the continued building of models to promote the planning and housing rights in the Arab neighbourhoods and to true cooperation and respectful and respectable neighbourly relations between the Jewish and Arab populations in the mixed cities. This is a necessary condition for the social and economic advancement of the people living in Israel’s mixed cities.”
SHATIL initiated the Mixed Cities Project five years ago with the support of the European Commission in response to long term neglect and discrimination leading to growing distress. Home demolitions and evictions of Arab citizens in the cities of Ramle, Lod, Acre and Jaffa were rising sharply and residents had no voice in policies determining their lives. The Mixed Cities staff works to bring about a paradigm shift among local residents, decision makers and the general public in order to promote a new reality of equality in housing, infrastructure and planning as well as social justice for Arab residents of Israel’s mixed cities. The Project’s Arab and Jewish staff does this by activating residents, strengthening local civil society, raising awareness and creating, commissioning and promoting alternatives to discriminatory planning and building policies and practices.
Green Light For Jerusalem Park Instes Of Real Estate Development
The Jerusalem District Planning and Construction Committee has approved plans to preserve the city's Gazelle Valley as a leisure and recreation parkland. The plans were drawn up by local residents and the Society for Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI), which is supported by New Israel Fund through the Green Environment Fund (GEF).
The new park in the heart of the city covers 26 hectares (64 acres) and contains a herd of 17 gazelles that will be fenced off in about a quarter of the valley. The remaining area, currently agricultural land, will be transformed into parkland for the recreation of local residents and visitors to the city.
Gazelle Valley is located to the west of the city centre near Katamonim. The land was traditionally farmed by nearby kibbutzim, but in the 1990s the Jerusalem Municipality agreed to let real estate companies plan housing and commercial developments for the area. A vigorous battle was fought by local environmental groups supported by NIF to preserve the valley as an open space. In 2001 the development plans were dropped, though some commercial developments remained.
Capital + Concrete = Catastrophe reads the banner of a
girl protesting in Gazelle Valley during the successful 2001 campaign.
By proposing the alternative parkland plan, which was supported by the Jerusalem Municipality, the Jerusalem District Planning and Construction Committee has now agreed to fully scrap the commercial developments.
"This will be the first urban nature park of its kind in Israel," explains SPNI landscape architect Yael Hammerman. ”People will be able to observe nature without infringing on it."
The victory in Gazelle Valley is a second important triumph for the NIF family in the Jerusalem region. Last year the government scrapped plans to build 20,000 homes in four new neighbourhoods on the open hillsides west of the city, following protests from the Coalition for the Preservation of the Jerusalem Hills, which is also funded by NIF through the Green Environment Fund.
Message From Ellen Goldberg, New Israel Fund Executive Director
I just got back from Jerusalem, where I attended our international New Israel Fund Board meeting, went on a two-day study tour to visit some of our programmes, and met with internal staff and NIF lay leaders from the US, Canada, Switzerland and Israel. It was so good to be home for a few days in the Middle Eastern sun and Jerusalem’s evening breezes - even the dust felt good.
On our study tour, we had a study session with Mimizrach Shemesh
which teaches Jewish texts to develop a traditional Jewish identity while promoting social justice. Later we met young Ethiopian-Israelis and veteran Israelis working in the town of Gedera to promote a strong sense of Israeli identity, strengthening the family unit and appreciation of the Ethiopian Jewish cultural background. We topped off the day with dinner in an Ethiopian home, eating traditional injera (a pancake made from fermented dough) with a spicy vegetarian stew. A picture of one of our host’s children, an Israeli paratrooper, hung on the wall.
The next day we visited Ramle to see the progress made on housing and planning in the poor Arab neighbourhoods of the city. Already, urban plans and papers have been drawn up by the local activists with support from NIF/Shatil, in negotiation with the local municipality. Later the tour continued north to Nazareth to discuss New Israel Fund's joint living work with Jewish and Arab citizens, and to meet with national Arab leaders about the challenges for achieving equality in Arab education.
The evening included a celebration of the 15th anniversary of "Women Against Violence", a long-time grantee of NIF that is working to prevent violence against women and provide a range of services to its victims within the Arab population.
We finished on Friday morning with an experiential workshop from NIF/Shatil's Conflict Transformation and Management Centre, acquiring tools for preventing conflict situations from escalating into violence. The simulation was modelled after a real-life situation in Israel that prevented a self-professed racist politician from being appointed to head a major government authority.
All of these programmes are supported by New Israel Fund, with contributions from the UK, Europe, North America, and Israel, helping the Israeli people to solve social problems and bring about true equality.
I’ve returned, rejuvenated and inspired by remarkable work being carried out by NIF and Shatil staff and by dedicated Israeli activists from all sectors of society, turning the words of Israel’s Declaration of Independence into reality across Israel.
