January, 2015 | The Jerusalem Intercultural Center

Urban Park in the Wadi – Engaging Diverse Populations in Planning Processes in Kiryat Hayovel

Today, Kiryat Hayovel is a neighborhood of contrasts. There are poor residents of North African descent, who were settled in the neighborhood in the 1950’s and 60’s in the tent camp (ma’abarah) and hurriedly-constructed asbestos huts. There are the young, academically-educated professional families who have been moving in, in search of affordable housing not far from the city center. There are the well-to-do who live in large, detached houses with magnificent views of the Jerusalem Hills. There are newer, struggling immigrants, who joined the many of the veteran immigrants in large Eastern European-style tenement housing. They are secular, traditional, religious, and ultra-Orthodox.

How can they come together to plan a neighborhood park?

And this wasn’t just any park. The idea was to discuss future planning for what is coined the “Asbestonim Wadi,” after the asbestos buildings that were used to house new immigrants, which that used to line the valley. The valley, which runs between the Kiryat Hayovel and Kiryat Menachem neighborhoods, today includes a large, worn-down play area, a community garden, a community theater initiative, as well as a large area that is undeveloped altogether.

Valley today, one of the last of the original buildings

In fact, they can, and they did. As part of our Deliberative Democracy in the neighborhoods program, supported by the UJA-Federation of New York, we facilitated a fascinating process of participatory democracy in the community, in cooperation with the community council staffs of both Kiryat Hayovel and Kiryat Menachem, municipal planning professionals and the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design. The process included some 150 residents, of all ages, from all backgrounds. In a series of 10 meetings, participants received an overview of the history of the valley; they learned different principles of design and planning in outdoor venues; they mapped the area with aerial photographs, and gave suggestions and opinions on how the valley was to be planned and the roles it will play in residents lives. After each lecture there was a discussion on how the principles learned in the lecture can apply to the valley.

Study and discussion meeting

“There was a crazy amount of positive energy at these meetings,” noted our Tal Kligman, who led the process for the JICC. “Everyone, from all walks of life, had ideas, and everyone wanted to contribute. When we planned the meetings, we expected to have 20 -30 residents at each of one. Instead 50 – 60 residents showed up each time!”

The participants enthusiasm spread to engage not only adults in the area, but the children as well. Teachers from the Guatemala Elementary School in Kiryat Menachem built a 3-lesson curriculum that asked the children what they wanted to see in the valley, and are also being taken into consideration in the planning.

Touring the Wadi

The study and planning sessions have finished, so what’s the next stage? The Bezalel students built a model based on the principles agreed upon in the meetings, and feedback was received from the residents. The results of this process have now been passed on to the professional planners. We can’t wait to see how this turns out.

The Bezalel model

Naomi Roff2015-05-16T19:27:21+00:00January 25th, 2015|Blog, Deliberative Democracy, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Jewish Religious Denominations, Kiryat Yovel|

Emergency Readiness Networks and MiniActive – Working Together in a Major Storm to Save Lives

Beginning of January 2015, the whole city of Jerusalem braced for what was touted to be a repeat of the Great Storm of 2013 – heavy snow pileups, cold temperatures, strong winds, the works. While pictures of snow in Jerusalem are beautiful, dealing with the effects of such weather, can be disastrous. And for Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem – where infrastructure is weak and housing is crowded to begin with, where services are inaccessible in Arabic, where bureaucratic and other restrictions often prevent Israeli emergency services and service providers from responding in real time – the effects of a severe snow storm can be disastrous even more, and potentially fatal. It is for this reason that the Emergency Readiness Networks (ERNs) were first formed in 2012. In the storm of December 2013, they, together with our MiniActive network of women volunteers, acted tirelessly and valiantly around the clock to help residents weather the storm. This year, with a network of ERNs in 10 neighborhoods throughout Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, they again joined forces with MiniActive to help ensure residents’ safety and enable them to get through the storm.

Preparing for the Storm

Utilizing lessons learned from last year, the ERN’s worked in impressive coordination with the MiniActive network. The ERN’s ensured that the roads were safe and clear, fires were being fought, residents rescued, and ambulances transported the sick to hospitals. The MiniActive network helped tens of thousands in their support and organization. They led drives for blankets, heaters, and food, which the ERN members distributed to the old, sick and needy. They coordinated complaints to the electric company for power outages, the water company for flooding, and to other service providers as needed.

As with any emergency preparation, the real work did not begin on January 6, when the rain and gale-force winds started. In the week beforehand ERN heads in Jerusalem underwent refresher exercises, where they reviewed the various protocols. They were then sent to renew contact with the various professionals, owners of the bulldozers, 4×4’s and other heavy equipment, take stock of shovels, hoes, salt, and more. Also, a special emergency grant from the Jerusalem Foundation enabled the MiniActive network to distribute over 200 warm blankets to needy households. The MiniActive Facebook page also served as a massive bulletin board, posting guidelines from the ERNs, emergency numbers, and helpful information produced by the municipality.

Taking Stock

Thus, when the storm hit on January 6-7, everyone was ready, or as ready as they could be. Snow plows worked in the north of the city, clearing the road from Shuafat to the Qalandia crossing as soon as there was snow on the road. At the same time, crews in Silwan, Ras el-Amud and Umm Tuba were distributing heaters and blankets to needy residents. When houses in A-Tur and Issawiya were flooded, the families were evacuated, the problems were reported, and the families received help in relocating until the problems were fixed.

Burnt house

Unfortunately, there were a number of extreme incidents – house fires in the Shuafat Refugee Camp and other places, and a house that partially collapsed in the Old City. But the ERNs worked tirelessly to ensure the residents’ safety, and MiniActive was active in collecting money and furniture and a range of household items to help the families get back on their feet as quickly as possible.

Collecting blankets

Efficient, Coordinated Work Result of Extended Preparation

The ERNs were able to act so quickly and efficiently because they had undergone extensive training and drilling, months beforehand. In 2013 we supervised a ‘Training the Trainers’ course, operated by the Palestinian organization “the Jerusalem Emergency Readiness Teams”, that enabled graduates to initiate ERNs in their own neighborhoods. The 8 new ERNs, which were formed and trained throughout 2014, are the result of this course. They include:

15 participants from the Shuafat refugee camp, who were trained from 30/9 until 30/12/2013
22 participants from Kufr Aqeb, who were trained from 15/10/2013 to 28/01/2014
19 participants from Isawiyya, who were trained from 26/10/2013 to 15/02/2014
14 participants from Sheikh Sa’ad, who were trained from 1/3/2014 until 27/04/2014
14 participants from Wadi Al-Joz, who were trained from 12/4/2014 until 20/07/2014
17 participants from Shuafat, who were trained from 10/9/2014 until 11/12/2014
17 participants from Umm Tuba, who finished training at the end of 2014
14 participants from Bet Hanina, who will finish the training on February 5, 2015

They joined the veteran Network in Sur Baher, which was originally founded in 2012 and the Jabel El-Mukaber Network, which was founded in 2013.

Fire and ambulance helping the family whose house collapsed in the Old City

The establishment of an ERN requires a detailed planning process. First, appropriate team members are recruited, and the exact physical boundaries of the ERN are defined. The next step is to map the various aspects of action: what type of potential emergencies they will be prepared to respond to; what types of special conditions exist in that neighborhood (geographical terrain, roads, roadblocks, population overcrowding, structural weaknesses, etc.); what types of resources exist in the neighborhood – professionals, equipment, facilities, etc. Action plans are then defined, including establishing which emergency providers are to respond to which scenarios, and how they can be reached. The organizational structure of the ERN must also be defined and responsibilities distributed – a volunteer coordinator is chosen, as are a logistics team, a team that maintains contact with Israeli service providers, a social worker team, medical team, evacuation team and more, and the responsibilities of each person on the team are determined. The last and final step are simulations of emergency situations to ensure that the process works smoothly.

Clearing snow and ice in Issawiya

Taking Emergency Readiness – and Community Solidarity-Building – to the Next Step

We have come a long way, but much remains to be done. ERNs have been established in less than half of the Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem. Existing teams must be further cultivated to maintain and improve their efficiency. In addition, the plan is to further develop existing teams, so that current members themselves become team leaders, with each person in charge of a separate aspect, such as communication, facilities, equipment, the needy, and team leaders must recruit and train those teams. A detailed facilities mapping has also yet to be performed in the neighborhoods. This mapping will include the locations of different facilities, such as mosques, schools, doctors’ offices, bakeries; their contact information and how they can be used in an emergency.

Food for distribution in Issawiya

The ERNs and MiniActive have shown us once again that responding to emergencies is not just about repairing electricity and draining flooding. Both projects aim to create teams and networks that build community as well. People with different areas of expertise from medicine, social work, electricity to bulldozer operator – all work together to help their neighbors and their neighborhood.

We would like to thank Jerusalem Foundation for its continued support of this project, and the Daimler AG, which supports the project via the Jerusalem Foundation. And of course, this project would be nowhere without the training and on-site coordination of the “Jerusalem Emergency Readiness Teams” organization, and the volunteers from the ERNs and MiniActive.

Plowing snow

Naomi Roff2016-04-28T15:42:42+00:00January 22nd, 2015|Blog, Effective Activism, Emergency Readiness Networks, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Palestinians/Arabs|

Using Deliberative Democracy to Solve Problems in Har Homa

Within the framework of our Deliberative Democracy program, supported by the UJA-Federation of New York, since September we have been facilitating a problem-solving process, together with the merchants, municipal officials and community professionals in the neighborhood of Har Homa. Har Homa is a relatively new neighborhood in southern Jerusalem, and as its name suggests, it, and its commercial center, is built on rather hilly terrain. In an opening meeting we held in September, merchants complained of a number of different issues, such as: lack of parking which causes people to park illegally and block passageways; empty tree beds which have become a safety hazard; lack of shade; problems of litter, when much is blown around by the wind; treatment by municipal inspectors; and a feeling of disconnect between the various municipal bodies in contact with the merchants.

Meeting with merchants, residents, community and municipal officials

Our first line of business was to define steps toward possible solutions. On the short term, the merchants formed a merchants association and promised to keep the area clean, and the municipality promised to give tickets only for severe infringements. We then arranged for a number of meetings to come to the best long-term solutions – meetings about traffic patterns, with the municipal department of business development, sanitation and municipal enforcement, with city and neighborhood planners to revise planning of the area, and a meeting with the community center, about possible events that could be held in the commercial center to support the local merchants.

As a result of the meetings, the municipality planted trees in the tree beds, the merchants association hired a cleaner to keep the entire area clean. The merchants are in direct contact with the municipality’s regional supervisor, who is assisting them in their contacts with the municipality. A transportation engineer is re-evaluating the parking, traffic flow and public transportation in the area, in hopes that budgets will be allocated to the project soon. Everyone is more satisfied than before about the situation, and capacity has been built such that direct communication takes place between the merchants and the various bodies, without need for our intervention.

Naomi Roff2015-01-23T13:20:01+00:00January 12th, 2015|Blog, Deliberative Democracy, Identity Groups and Conflicts|