Shatil responded to the violent Acco riots in October 2008 with a new initiative: an Acco-based Arab-Jewish Civil Leadership Task Force. Zohir Bahalul, the popular and highly respected sports commentator, partnering with Shatil’s Conflict Transformation and Management Center (CTMC), has successfully mobilized a working group of 15-20 Arab and Jewish community leaders, influential in all spheres of Acco life. The men and women meet in jointly facilitated workshops, designing practical action programs to advance shared living and prevent future violence. Expert CTMC facilitators help participants acquire the practical tools needed to implement their plans.

Toward a Shared Society is a new Shatil perspective on an old story. If Jewish and Arab citizens are to live in a shared society, Israel needs a stronger, more active mechanism than the tepid promotion of coexistence and inter-ethnic tolerance. Shatil is working to establish a society in which all groups feel a sense of belonging and shared ownership – facilitating Arab-Jewish dialogue and joint action to address the root causes of conflict, alleviate tensions and develop interim and long-term solutions.

Shatil’s strategic tools and methodologies for creating and strengthening shared-society processes include:

• Formation and capacity-building of Arab-Jewish leadership groups to effect change;
• Consulting and training of activists and organizations in the use of constructive tactics;
• ‘Workplace Dialogue’ – the facilitation of Arab-Jewish dialogue groups in institutions, enterprises and organizations to advance equality in workplace policies and practices. An example of this mediated intervention is our successful on-going program with the professional and administrative staff at the multicultural Safed College.
• Leadership training for creating new visions and the practical skills to mobilize and implement them.

Nurturing the Jewish-Arab Dialogue Initiative

Left to right: Dr Ilan Sabban, Dr. Yousef Jabareen (both Professors of Law at Haifa University) and Prof. Mordechai Kremnitzer (Vice President for Research on Democracy at the Israeli Democracy Institute) at the Jewish-Palestinian Dialogue Group retreat in Italy

Extensive discrimination, the widening gap between Arab and Jewish citizens, and the publication of the “Future Vision Documents” outlining the future status of the Arab minority have underscored the urgent need for a leadership cadre able to deal with the core issues of Jewish-Arab relations in Israel.  Shatil and the Future Vision Project are convening Jewish and Arab intellectual, social, religious, media, business and political leaders, to take part in focused and dignified dialogue about the shared future of Arabs and Jews in Israel, inter-group equality, and a shared civic space in Israel. ___________________________________________

Cultivating a positive dynamic for Mixed Cities

Nowhere is the need for a new vision of a shared society greater than in Israel’s Mixed Cities.  In its first phase, this Shatil project acted at the local level, empowering Arab residents to participate in planning and building processes; now it has shifted to a national-level strategic partnership with members of academia and NGOs, including ACRI (the Association for Civil Rights in Israel) and Bimkom (Planners for Planning Rights). The goal of the partnership is the advancement of policy and legislative change with regard to planning, building and housing issues that affect Arab and Jewish communities, e.g. affordable housing and viable solutions for residents threatened with eviction or the demolition of their homes. Shatil wants to help Israel’s Mixed Cities become vibrant urban centers that allocate resources fairly among all their communities.

Promoting Tolerance and Democracy in the FSU Community

The Online Media Training Seminar for citizens from the Former Soviet Union (FSU) is one of Shatil’s many training courses geared towards promoting democracy and activism in Israeli society. In the 2011 pilot year, 15 motivated and capable Russian-speaking participants learned how to address pressing issues related to tolerance and human rights, among other subjects, in the 8 bi-weekly sessions. These topics are rarely discussed in Russian-Israeli society, which is widely considered to be a political “spoiler” or “veto” group toward peace based on its conservative leanings, so educating the participants in this matter is especially important. 14 blogs have developed as a result of this training, all of which have enhanced tools and capabilities to open a vigorous public discourse among young Russian-Israelis on tolerance, democracy, and social justice. Because of the success of the first year, Shatil will run a second round next year with two groups—one in the Center of Israel and one in the North of Israel.