March, 2019 | The Jerusalem Intercultural Center

Atta’a – Facebook Video on New Location of East Jerusalem Branch of National Insurance Institute Goes Nearly Viral

Atta’a is here to give Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem the information they need to help them in their everyday lives. One of the simplest, but most useful – and most popular – ways to do this is through short videos.

This video, for example, showed how to go to the Municipality.

And the newest video, below, shows how to get to the National Insurance Institute’s new offices in East Jerusalem. The National Insurance Institute is an important national welfare agency, and many residents are eligible for benefits and payments.

Daud at the National Insurance Institute East Jerusalem branch

Here’s the video from the Facebook page. Thus far, we know that some 30,000 people have seen the video, and it’s been ‘shared’ 90 times!!!

Many thanks to the Leichtag Foundation and the Jerusalem Foundation for their continued support of Atta’a.

Naomi Roff2019-04-06T05:55:52+00:00March 31st, 2019|Attaa, Blog, Palestinians/Arabs|

0202 – Supplementing News to Israel’s Main News Outlets

We’ve mentioned here and here how 0202 – Points of View from Jerusalem has become a significant news source for many – including major Israeli journalists.

Yesterday it happened again. This story told about the Israeli police shutting down a party to commemorate Arab women’s day. In the middle of the Internet page, we see none other than 0202:

Haaretz0202March2019

Keep it going 0202!

Naomi Roff2019-04-06T05:57:58+00:00March 24th, 2019|Blog, Promoting Tolerance in Jerusalem|

Happy International Women (Activists) Day!

Friday, March 8 was International Women’s Day. In honor of this day, the local Jerusalem newspaper, Yediot Yerushalayim, ran an article (in Hebrew), listing the “35 Most Influential Women who Changed Jerusalem in the Past Year.”

Among those listed – our own Michal Sherez Shilor, Director of Multicultural Activism. 0202 translated her section in this Facebook post in English:

“At a certain point I understood that I live in a certain Jerusalem, and I don’t even know what goes on with my neighbors that live in a different Jerusalem. That’s why I founded the 0202 non-profit foundation, which provides access to points of view from East, West and Haredi Jerusalem to each other, in Arabic and Hebrew, through Facebook, guided tours, meetings etc’ – with no specific interpretation of events or biased filtering of facts.

“Just like that, simply by seeing the other side. Incidentally, today we are celebrating our 4th year on air and this year we launched a new program for activities in Arabic and citizenship classes, using current affairs in Jerusalem. The foundation’s staff includes 45 people – Jews, Arabs, Haredi, ex-Haredi and secular – in short, a mini-Jerusalem.

[…] “Jerusalem is the world’s capital of tolerance. There are already many residents who promote tolerance and multi-culturalism in our city. We now need for people from within and from outside the city to see and know about this initiative, so that they can proudly say that there are many cultures and public spheres of common good in Jerusalem. We now need to spread the message for it to be heard above all the city’s rooftops, all over the country, and be seen by all eyes watching Zion.”

The full interview with Michal, and the other 34 women who were chosen, can be found here.

We work with many of the others listed as well. All the women were asked, what’s it like to be a woman in Jerusalem?

Fay Sukenik, with whom we work on a number of issues, including involvement in the Haredi community, said:

“It’s being in the heart of action, in the heart of the conflict. To be in a fertile place of social entrepreneurs and cooperation between sectors. A city with conflicts is a challenging city that enables action and growth. We don’t need to be afraid of it…To live in Jerusalem means to live in a place where anything can happen, if you only believe and work hard toward that goal.”

Efrat Givaty, who works with us on The Little Prince – Cleaning Up Jerusalem Together, said:

To dream and to do the impossible in a city full of possibilities.

Aliza Meir-Epstein, who we work with on the Good Neighbors project in Abu Tor, said:

Jerusalem women have a critical role in designing the city, which directly impacts the face of the entire nation. Jerusalem is a microcosm of the State of Israel. Many of the country’s central issues are concentrated here and receive a louder and more extreme flavor here. It is in our hands to influence the discourse, the approach and to find innovative and creative solutions.

Ariel Markose, with whom we work on the Jerusalem Model, said:

It means to exist with many identities, and each one is a world in and of itself. I think it’s not only among women – to be a Jerusalemite means to have a number of layers. A woman in Jerusalem is a complex thing, because everything in your life is associated with a part of your Jerusalem-ness. Your neighborhood, your religion, your political identity, your work, your volunteering. The very fact that you live in Jerusalem expresses your choices, because no one is in Jerusalem by chance. So to be a woman in Jerusalem is to be very nuanced, which is fascinating and part of the richness I feel in my life in this city.

And there were many more. Here’s a link to the Internet version of the article, in Hebrew.

Article first page

Here’s the Facebook post in Hebrew from the Jerusalem Tolerance Facebook page:

Congratulations to all those listed, and keep up the good work!

Naomi Roff2020-06-18T04:39:27+00:00March 18th, 2019|Blog, Effective Activism, Promoting Tolerance in Jerusalem|

Little Prince – Learning from Success

Part of learning about how to make Jerusalem a clean city is also learning about what works. One of the goals set out in the Little Prince’s one-year anniversary celebration last July was to learn from other successes. And Rishon Lezion is ranked the cleanest city in Israel according to national indicators.

Jerusalem residents and city officials learning from Rishon Lezion

So we went to Rishon Lezion to learn what they do well.

We went with a group of Municipality officials – both elected and professional – including David Zohar, a city council representative from the Haredi Degel Hatorah party.

We discussed the actions that the Rishon Lezion municipality takes in order to keep its streets clean – the amount of resources it dedicates to the field, the number of sanitation works, the number of overseers, the level of enforcement, (They give out 4,600 tickets each year, just to people who don’t clean up after their dogs!) – all of which are significant, and significantly higher per capita than many cities in Israel, including in Jerusalem. There is a great deal of planning and strategic thinking, both within municipal departments and in cross-department cooperation. Residents are also considered full partners in the effort to keep Rishon Lezion clean. As a result of hard work and careful planning and cooperative work, the Director of Rishon Lezion’s Environment Division has been able to instill a sense of pride among sanitation workers, which is rare for that municipal branch. There is even a mechanism for measurement and reward for outstanding workers.

It was fascinating and inspiring. Next step – Jerusalem!

Here’s what the Playback Theater had to say (at the Trash Party we had recently) about the comparison between Jerusalem and Rishon Lezion (Hebrew):

Many thanks to the Rayne Foundation for their support of the Little Prince. And to the Jerusalem Foundation for its support of activism throughout Jerusalem.

Naomi Roff2019-03-09T07:49:01+00:00March 15th, 2019|Blog, Effective Activism, The Little Prince - Cleaning Jerusalem Together|

Trash Party! Celebrating Clean Targets in Jerusalem

Congratulations Little Prince! As a result of all its hard work, the new city administration has chosen a Clean City as a main, central objective! This means that all Department Directors are now busy writing work plans on how to implement Clean City programming in their departments – from sanitation to city beautification, enforcement to education, welfare to culture, public buildings, and more. In addition, the Municipality has received an additional 52 million NIS to the Clean City budget, and Mayor Lion is addressing the target of a Clean City from a range of angles – not only garbage collection, but also public gardens, courtyards, enforcement, supervision, education and awareness-raising, improving infrastructure, improving procedures, and more.

Celebrating Clean Targets in Jerusalem

We had to celebrate that accomplishment. So on February 4, we rented a party room at the Inbal Hotel, with a rich variety of refreshments. Activists from the Arab, Haredi and ‘general’ Jewish sectors spoke about their experiences thus far, and their visions for the future. We also invited the Playback Theater, which gave a fantastic performance! Who knew trash could be so funny?

Here’s a taste of the performance (Hebrew):

Many thanks to the Rayne Foundation for its support of the Little Prince. And to the Jerusalem Foundation for its support for encouraging activism in Jerusalem.

Naomi Roff2019-03-09T07:31:06+00:00March 8th, 2019|Blog, Effective Activism, The Little Prince - Cleaning Jerusalem Together|

Saying Thank You to Window to Mount Zion

We’ve been working with the Benedictine monks at the Dormition Abbey, as part of the Window to Mount Zion project, since the project’s inception.

Father Daniel, telling the Dormition Abbey’s story

On Thursday, February 21, they wanted to say thank you.

View from the Dormition Abbey’s tower

They invited project volunteers for cake, coffee, and a tour of the Dormition Abbey. Led by Father Daniel, who is in charge of relationships with the Israeli community, the 20 participants enjoyed stories from within the Abbey – about the monks’ daily lives, about the artwork that adorns the walls and halls. Father Daniel also told of his experiences as a Polish monk in a German monastery. We also enjoyed the view from the top of the Abbey’s tower.

Telling about the artwork and daily life

It was important for the monks to express their thanks to the hard-won feeling of cooperation and teamwork among volunteers and Mount Zion residents that enables all groups and religions to share Mount Zion in peace.

Views of David's Tomb, from the Dormition Abbey tower

View of courtyard in David’s Tomb complex, from the Dormition Abbey tower

Thank you Father Daniel – and the rest of the Dormition Abbey community – for opening your home up to us. It was a fascinating visit! Thanks also to all our partners on Mount Zion – it’s amazing to look back and see how far we’ve come!

Naomi Roff2019-03-11T07:36:48+00:00March 3rd, 2019|Blog, Mount Zion|

Atta’a – Success with a Little Help from Our Friends

The Atta’a Assistance Center for the Rights of East Jerusalem Residents has a variety of activities that aim to advance rights realization – from one-on-one assistance, awareness-raising lectures, help online. One of its main channels in recent years has been making the wealth of information accessible to East Jerusalem residents – especially online – via the Internet and social media.

Sometimes it just takes one Facebook post to reach the huge impact you were looking for.

From the Atta’a Facebook page

We were asked by the National Insurance Institute (NII) to write a post about the new location of the East Jerusalem branch of the NII. On the one hand, it was a simple post, basically “The National Insurance Institute has announced that the public will be received at its new branch. The new building is located on the 16 bus line (Highway 1), next to the Sheikh Jarrah medical center. You can reach it via the light rail.”

On the other hand, this information is so important to the 350,000 Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem who need to contact the NII. They posted it on their Facebook page, and over 13,000 (!) people viewed that post on their Facebook page alone! They also posted to other popular East Jerusalem Facebook pages, where even more residents saw it.

Here’s the original post in Arabic:

It’s always great to see when Atta’a’s activities have an impact. You can read more about that impact here.

Many thanks to the Leichtag and Jerusalem Foundations for their support of Atta’a.

Naomi Roff2019-03-22T20:07:21+00:00March 3rd, 2019|Attaa, Blog, Palestinians/Arabs|

Monthly Archives: March 2019