September Newsletter
Tuesday, 2nd December 2008
Human Rights Awards Dinner
Last year more than 270 people attended the awards dinner and nearly £200 000 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 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.
For further details Click Here or contact Amit Handelsman on 020 7724 2266 or amit@uknif.org
More Classrooms for Israeli Arab Schools
The plan follows the 2007 protests by NIF grantee Follow-Up Committee for Arab Education, which seeks an equitable allocation of educational resources in Israel.
“We approached the Education Ministry last year,” recalls Atef Moadi, Executive Director of the Follow-Up Committee for Arab Education, “and told them that there is a chronic lack of classrooms in the Arab sector and that the 430,000 Arab students in Israeli schools need 40 percent more classrooms. The response was very positive.”
The Education Ministry set up a committee to examine the situation and consequently has allocated NIS1.1 billion for the construction of these classrooms over the next four years. The Education Ministry also accepted the Follow-Up Committee’s recommendations regarding the declining status of Arabic in Israeli Arab schools and various measures to strengthen the status of Arabic will be introduced.
“There is a lot of good will in the Education Ministry,” observes Moadi. “Our role now is to ensure that they make good on their promises.”
Government Moves Route of Separation Fence Near Ma’ale Adumim
Some 1,000 acres of Palestinian land in the West Bank, which would have been placed on the Israeli side of the Fence, would have been inaccessible to Palestinian villagers.
The government made this decision in the wake of a Supreme Court petition by the Palestinian residents of Abu Dis and Suahra e-Sharkiya. The residents of these East Jerusalem neighbourhoods, which are outside of the Security Fence, were assisted by veteran New Israel Fund grantee Bimkom - Planners for Planning Rights, whose architects and town planners wrote an expert opinion for the petition on the planning aspects of the Fence’s route.
NIF grantee The Council for Peace and Security, which seeks to end the occupation of Palestinian land while safeguarding Israel's security, was also able to prove that the initial planned route was not optimal from the point of view of Israeli security.
Shlomo Lecker, the Jerusalem Attorney who submitted the petition on behalf of the Palestinian residents, will not withdraw the case from the Supreme Court because the claim covers an additional 1,500 acres of farming land, which will be separated by the Fence from Palestinian villagers.
This decision is the latest in a string of victories by NIF grantees regarding re-routing the Security Fence in areas where Palestinian human rights are violated without enhancing Israeli security. These efforts are supported within the framework of NIF's Peace and Human Rights Programme, which funds efforts to achieve justice, protection of human rights and ultimately peace and reconciliation between Jews and Palestinians.
New Israel Fund Grantee Represents Jewish Woman Fired for Refusing to Work on Shabbat
Veteran New Israel Fund grantee Israel Religious Action Center of the Movement for Progressive (Reform) Judaism (IRAC) has taken up her cause and is demanding $26,000 in compensation and damages for the 25 year-old dismissed employee.
In 2007 Tzuberi began working at Holmes Place in Tel Aviv’s Azrielli Center. Several months after that her father died and she became religiously observant. By Israeli law employees are entitled not to work on their Sabbath and Holmes Place allowed her to stop working on Saturdays. But after her year of mourning was completed Holmes Place informed Tzuberi that she must resume working on Shabbatot. She told them several times that she could not comply and after several warnings was fired.
“I don’t understand how in the Jewish State, Jews are compelled to work on Shabbat,” said Tzuberi.
Yonit Shlain Ben-Or, an attorney in IRAC’s Legal Department who is representing Tzuberi, said. “The struggle for full religious freedom in Israel must include protecting the right of a person not to work on their day of rest and to spend their Sabbath in accordance with their world outlook and beliefs. The fact that Shimrit approached the Reform movement proves that the struggle for religious freedom benefits all social sectors in Israel - religious and secular alike."
IRAC expects an out of court settlement because the right of Israelis of all religions not to work on their Sabbath is enshrined in law. “But if necessary we will pursue the matter in the Tel Aviv Labour Court,” she said.
IRAC's support for Tzuberi is funded within the framework of NIF's Campaign for Religious Freedom, which uses advocacy and litigation to ensure that all expressions of Judaism enjoy cultural and legal legitimacy.
Miriam Yosef – From Abused Wife to Domestic Violence Activist
In the refugee camps, she watched her close friend, Tezeta, perish from malnutrition. Although she made it to Israel, young Miriam was separated from her parents for nine long and lonely years.
“As children, we had to see things we shouldn’t have seen,” says Miriam. She went on to feel things no woman should have to feel: she married a man who abused her. “When I look back, I think, how did I cope?” Miriam asks. “It’s a miracle. I tell my kids, it’s possible to overcome every obstacle that we meet on our path. I’ve always had to fight and I survived. And now I fight for others.”
Like many abused women, Miriam stayed in a bad marriage for years. “But now that’s behind me,” she says with finality. Miriam was helped by women’s organisations and she found herself wanting to give back.
Along with other Ethiopian women activists and potential activists, Miriam attended Ethiopian women’s empowerment workshops led by SHATIL. “With SHATIL’s help, we tried to advance women’s issues like rights, occupation, parenting,” says Miriam. “Until the day one of our friends was killed by her husband. That’s when we decided the issue we have to work on is family violence and we founded Yachdav - for the Prevention of Violence in the Ethiopian Family, a coalition of women activists from the Ethiopian community.
With SHATIL’s support, we have advanced many processes. Shatil gives us guidance, consulting and a coordinator. It gives us knowledge and tools: How do we influence the decision makers? How do we express problems to Knesset members?”
Today, Miriam is one of the Coalition’s most active members and participates in its advocacy subgroup which has succeeded in getting the issue on the government’s agenda. The Coalition has also succeeded in raising awareness of the problem in the Ethiopian and general communities and has gotten the government and other bodies to allocate resources to solving the problem at its roots. Miriam has three daughters, ages 11, 12 and 16. She is a social worker at the Centre for the Prevention of Family Violence in Haifa and leads parenting groups.
“SHATIL,” she says, “gives us the belief in our own ability to make change.”
Five on Wheels – Cross Country Wheelchair Trek Demands Help for Disabled
Each day, another dozen or so disabled people joined them for the day. The 10-day journey was organised to raise public awareness about the distress of Israel’s disabled population - especially those living in the periphery who see themselves as doubly disabled - and to strengthen the case of disabled protesters who have been camped out in front of the Welfare Ministry for the past two months. These protesters aim to spur the government to acknowledge their situation, hear their demands and give them urgently needed assistance.
SHATIL guided the campaign with other assistance provided by the Kibbutz Movement, the Hashomer Hatza’ir youth movement and the Association of Polio Victims in Israel. The SHATIL Galil office arranged a rotation through which the activists had constant accompaniment by a SHATIL staffer.
The SHATIL-advised protesters in Jerusalem, which the wheelchair contingent joined when they arrived in Jerusalem on 13th August, are demanding:
- The provision of caregivers: While a person with severe disabilities receives NIS 2,200 ($617) per month from the government for special services, he or she must pay NIS 3850 ($1,080) minimum wage plus benefits to a caregiver. The disabled are demanding that the government halt this allowance and take responsibility for providing the caregivers, as is the case in most American states.
- Updating of mobility allowance: The government allowance to the disabled who need a car in order to leave the house is NIS 2,150 ($535) while the actual cost of maintaining such a car is approximately NIS 3,500 ($982.) As a result, many disabled people are confined to their homes.
- Raising the general disability allowance which is NIS 2,200 ($614.)
- Government assistance to the disabled in the periphery to obtain medical services in the centre of the country, which cannot be obtained in their areas.
“We succeeded in travelling in our wheelchairs 350 kms during the hottest days of summer, and attained our goal of reaching Jerusalem,” said Albert Maimoni, a 52-year-old father of four from Kiryat Shmona. Maimoni worked as a chef until eight years ago, when he contracted a bone disease. “This campaign gave us back our self-respect.”
Representatives of the disabled have since met with the Minister of Welfare and the director of the Social Security administration, a meeting that resulted in progress in their ongoing negotiations.
Message From Ellen Goldberg, New Israel Fund Executive Director
In our Rosh Hashanah Appeal mailing, you will read (or have already read) about Israelis struggling to make ends meet financially - poverty, homelessness, low wages and other social problems. But we have also written about those activists and organisations who are helping to find solutions to these problems, not just for today and tomorrow, but for next week and next year.
That’s what distinguishes New Israel Fund’s work from that of other funders. We do support some organisations that provide immediate assistance to those in need, but we focus on working with organisations and/or the government and other entities to find long-term solutions that help people improve their circumstances and break their cycle of poverty or need.
Although we all are also facing higher prices and increased demands on our incomes, please be as generous as you can. Every gift will make a difference for Israelis in need.
By giving to New Israel Fund, you make your donation work harder and longer by strengthening the hands of the needy so that they are no longer dependent upon others. And if you gift aid your donations, we receive an additional 28% that is put to work as well!
May the new year be fulfilling, productive, fun, and full of good health and happiness for you and your families, and may we at New Israel Fund use your contributions wisely and with great success for those we strive to help.
Shana Tova!
