Naomi Roff | The Jerusalem Intercultural Center

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The People are the Story – Katamon-Moshavot Tolerance Group Meets in the Public Sphere

The people are story…..

That’s the main principle behind our work to promote tolerance throughout Jerusalem. Beyond preventing acts of verbal and physical violence against the ‘other,’ in our view tolerance can be displayed not only towards those very different from you (Arabs, Haredim, etc.), but those closest to you in physical proximity – your neighbors. And the first step is to get to know those neighbors as people, not only the way we tag them.

Last year our Katamon-Moshavot Tolerance Group, Neighborhood Stories, met a number of times to share neighbors’ stories. This past Saturday (24th of September), they kicked off the activity year with a charming meeting outdoors, on the Jerusalem Railway Park.

The People are the Story at the Reading Corner

Tamar, one of the organizers of the meeting, described how it went:

“Wow! What a meeting of Neighborhood Stories we had on Shabbat afternoon at the Moshava Reading Corner! Geto told about his aliyah to Israel with his mother from southern Ethiopia and shared the pain of this adolescence, Rami from Beit Safafa shared how he found himself both as a professional soccer player in the Palestinian league and a firefighter in the Israeli system, on his way to becoming a social worker. Eliezer Ben Yehuda (the grandson) told about his childhood in Katamon in a 4-room apartment with a Christian family and a Muslim family in a common kitchen….and more and more. And to think that this was a spontaneous meeting on the grass, neighbors passing by and sharing their stories and many more stopping and listening. Many thanks to you all!”

Here’s the Facebook post in Hebrew:

Many thanks to the UJA-Federation of New York and the Jerusalem Foundation for their support of this project.

Naomi Roff2016-10-13T11:19:42+00:00September 30th, 2016|Blog, Effective Activism, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Jewish Religious Denominations, New Immigrants, Promoting Tolerance in Jerusalem|

Nutrition and Exercise – Integral Parts of Healthy Living Course through MiniActive

Nutrition and exercise run hand in hand in healthy living. This is what some 50 Palestinian women are learning in a 4-month course in nutrition and healthy living, developed by MiniActive. In addition to lectures on nutrition, and important part of the course is showing the importance of physical activity.

Getting ready to improve health

As part of this element, some of the participants took part in an exercise session on the soccer pitch at the Abna al-Quds Community Center last week.

Ready, set, go!

Way to go!

Here’s the Facebook post in Arabic.

Naomi Roff2016-10-07T13:16:21+00:00September 26th, 2016|Blog, Effective Activism, Identity Groups and Conflicts, MiniActive, Palestinians/Arabs|

Bon anniversaire, Santé Israël! Happy Birthday Santé Israël!

Bon anniversaire, Santé Israël!

Happy first birthday, Santé Israël!

Just one year ago on September 1, 2015, Sante Israel, www.sante.org.il, which we developed in partnership with the Pharmadom Foundation and the Rashi Foundation, and the first web site that makes Israel’s health care system accessible to French speakers, went live. The site is a treasure trove of information about all aspects of the Israeli health care system, and enables French speakers to more easily navigate the system.

The Sante Israel web site

Over the year some 10,000 people visited the site, most from Israel but also 2,000 from France. The most popular page on the site was and continues to be the database of French-speaking professionals and clinics in different fields in Israel. Other popular pages include contact numbers, the page that directs you to the nearest clinic or hospital via the Waze mobile app, the page that tells you what your favorite medication is called in Israel, and more. And if you had any questions that weren’t on the site, you can ask the Director of Santé Israël, Marie Avigad, and she answered every query very quickly.

This past year Santé Israël did not stay behind the screen, and went out into the community to continue to make Israel’s health care system more accessible to French speakers.

Discussing health under the stars in Baka’a

They held a number of community meetings throughout Jerusalem, in areas such as Bayit Vegan, Baka’a and Har Homa, which have sizable Francophone communities.

Sante in Har Homa

They developed a Facebook page, which provides updates on a variety of health-related issues, as well as news of the Santé Israël community. They spread the word about new Israeli inventions relating to health care:

New developments by the different HMO’s

As well as health warnings and updates from the Ministry of Health (such as recent salmonella warnings and other potential health hazards).

They participated in the Jerusalem as a Culturally Competent City Conference that was held in cooperation with the Jerusalem Foundation on May 17, 2016.

Sante Israel together with other health care organizations at the Cultural Competency conference

And they participated in the “Olimpiada” Aliyah information fair for French-speaking new immigrants, which was held at Sacher Park in the middle of town and was organized by Qualita .

“The first site to respond in French to your questions about the Israeli health care system”

In addition, Santé Israël just began a partnership with AMI Israel, which helps French-speaking Olim in Israel. And Santé Israël has its own page on the AMI Israel web site. Here’s the Facebook post from Santé Israël:

So Mazal Tov to Santé Israël! May you have many more happy birthdays.

Naomi Roff2016-10-07T13:04:48+00:00September 20th, 2016|Blog, Cultural Competence, Cultural Competence in Health Services, Identity Groups and Conflicts, New Immigrants, Santé Israël - French internet platform on the Israeli healthcare system|

From Zion Square to Tolerance Square – And the Winner Is…..

The journey has been a long one. From the summer of 2014, with its mass, violent demonstrations and individual demonstrations of violence, in Zion Square, like we described in this blog post.

To the summer of 2016, with its mass demonstrations of support and dialogue, like we described in this blog post.

Speaking in the Square July 21

In March, we reported here that, as a result of these processes, of which we, and our partners in action including Speaking in the Square have been a part, the Jerusalem Municipality decided to refurbish and re-design Zion Square. And the criteria in the competition included design elements intended to increase dialogue and encourage tolerance.

Last week, the winners of the competition were announced! Here’s the way it’s supposed to look when it’s finished. The photo is from Ha’aretz.

The New Zion Square: “An Urban Forest that Invites People In”

You can read about the winners and the runners up in the Hebrew article in the Ha’aretz daily here.

Speaking in the Square, which we have been mentoring since its establishment in 2014 and which has had a major role in transforming the nature of Zion Square, responded with this post:

“This week we received the very good news about the new design for Zion Square. The understanding that Zion Square is part of the beating heart of Jerusalem and what happens there reflects and in many ways influences what goes on in the city (especially with regards to its youth), makes us very happy. Zion Square can be a center for hate, and in the last two years it has proven that it can also be a center for tolerance. In preparing for the design competition, the organizers asked us for our input – tolerance organizations and initiatives in the Square put together a position paper on the role of the Square and the desired use of public space. We are happy to see that the winning architectural plan indeed reflects the spirit of this paper. We believe that Zion Square, the city square, needs to be a place for sitting and for discussion, and not for violence. A place for human interaction and not for hostility, and the new design will indeed enable this. We wish the architects and the Jerusalem Municipality much success, and hope to see this project come to fruition as soon as possible.”

The original post in Hebrew:

Below is a second article from Ynet. May the new square continue to encourage tolerance and dialogue like its design.

Ynet article page 1

Ynet article page 2

Naomi Roff2019-11-16T12:18:20+00:00September 18th, 2016|Blog, Effective Activism, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Promoting Tolerance in Jerusalem|

MiniActive – New Course on Nutrition Opens at the Abna al-Quds Community Center

We’ve reported many of the MiniActive successes on our blog here. The blog also includes descriptions of a wide variety of classes that participants can take part in, as a way to improve their everyday lives as well as build community. Last week, on September 5, we began a new course on proper nutrition at the Abna al-Quds Community Center in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City.

Going over the nutrition pyramid

The course was developed out of a need in the field, due to a rise in diabetes, obesity and other chronic illnesses associated with lifestyle. The opening session reviewed the nutritional pyramid, the influence of food and physical activity on people’s health, the need to include as few toxins in our food as possible. Fifty-four participants gathered for the opening session.

An impressive first day

Certified nutritionist Susan Tony will accompany the course for 4 months. We wish the participants well – and good health!

Here’s the Facebook post (in Arabic):

Naomi Roff2016-10-07T13:15:09+00:00September 12th, 2016|Blog, Effective Activism, Identity Groups and Conflicts, MiniActive, Palestinians/Arabs|

MiniActive Youth – also Improving Issawiya

We’ve written here about MiniActive Youth’s project in Silwan. They are also helping to decorate a special education school in Issawiya. The girls started at the end of July.

They decorated one of the school’s doors.

Decorating doors

And fences.

Fences

And other structures outside the school, making it a more pleasant place to be.

Under the sea

And the Facebook post in Arabic:

And here’s some more pictures on their progress, both on the building:

More decorations on the door

Here’s another picture of the decorations painted on one of the aluminum siding fences around the school:

More fun paintings

And on the fence surrounding the school:

May you, too, have a colorful day

And here’s a later Facebook post:

But wait! There are more pictures from Issawiya.

Finishing the decorations on the door

We’re sure these pictures and other decorations will make the children’s learning experience special.

What are they building? We’ll soon find out

Many thanks also to the Tambour paint company, which donated the paint.

Here’s the Facebook post in Arabic:

Naomi Roff2016-08-26T14:46:34+00:00August 25th, 2016|Blog, Effective Activism, Identity Groups and Conflicts, MiniActive, Palestinians/Arabs|

MiniActive – Improving the Environment for Palestinian Residents throughout East Jerusalem

We are, yet again, seeing the results of the incredibly hard work the MiniActive women are doing day in, day out. Here are some examples:

In January 2016 MiniActive reported that bricks were falling from a school’s outside wall in the Old City.

The wall, before

Here’s the wall, after the workmen finished on Saturday, August 6:

After. Now this wall won’t be dangerous

Here’s the post from the MinActive Facebook page:

Drainage problems can also be health hazards. Thanks to the work of MiniActive in Kufr Aqeb, this drainage problems has been taken care of. Here’s a before and after picture:

Cleaning up drainage problems in Kufr Aqeb

MiniActive has also followed a number of public works activities that have taken place as a result of their complaints:

In Wadi Joz

And elsewhere in East Jerusalem:

Improving infrastructure for safety

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation for its continuing support of MiniActive.

Naomi Roff2016-09-15T16:46:31+00:00August 20th, 2016|Blog, Effective Activism, Identity Groups and Conflicts, MiniActive, Palestinians/Arabs|

MiniActive Youth – Fruits of their Labors of the Silwan Project

We’ve reported here on the progress of the MiniActive Youth in decorating and cleaning up the area of the elementary / secondary school in Silwan.

We’re all proud of their work

Now they’ve finished

Putting on the finishing touches

And we’re proudly displaying their final product. The change is most pronounced when we show you the before and after pictures. Here’s one:

Before and after

And here’s another:

A second before and after picture

And a third, this time on garbage receptacles:

It’ll even be fun to take out the trash

Can’t wait to see their projects in other parts of the city. Many many thanks and congratulations on a job well done!

Much more pleasant learning environment!

The Silwan boys school event thanked MiniActive for their efforts, which are translated in this post:

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation for their continued support of this project. Many thanks also to the Tambour paint company, which donated the paint.

Here’s the post in Arabic presenting the final product:

Naomi Roff2016-09-10T11:54:52+00:00August 17th, 2016|Blog, Effective Activism, Identity Groups and Conflicts, MiniActive, Palestinians/Arabs|

Join the Group, Like the Page – Building Community through Facebook and Other Social Media

In our day and age, the bricks and mortar of building community take many forms. One of the most important forms today is through Facebook and other social media.

During the month of July we held two workshops with the staff at the Gilo Community Council in using Facebook to build community dialogue. The workshop stemmed from our work over the last year with the neighborhood community worker and the local planner, and in our experiences using Facebook in the process.

Using Facebook as a tool for community building

The Gilo Community Council has a very active Facebook page and Facebook group with several thousand members that does a fantastic job in communicating a wealth of information (locating and taking care of nuisances, providing information, advancing small businesses, raising needs in different fields, requests to the Community Council lay and professional leadership to deal with burning issues, and more). There are a number of community-led groups as well; in many of them the community worker is an active member. Here’s an example of an event on the Community Council’s Facebook page:

Because we understood how much the use of Facebook is important in Gilo to the community discourse, we decided to use it to inform residents about the impending expansion of the light rail system into the neighborhood, and to create active discussion and involvement in this process. This work proved to be very effective and impressive. They opened a new Facebook group and uploaded all the relevant information. A number of community town hall meetings were set and advertised in the group, minutes were distributed and discussed in the group (residents expressed their opinions, asked questions and discussed different issues) between residents, as well as between residents and professionals. Here’s an example (in Hebrew) of one of their posts:

Light rail facebook

We learned a great deal as a result of this experience – the dilemmas raised, and the conclusions that we reached – and we concluded that it is important that everyone who works with the community should use this tool. Thus the community worker and JICC staff designed a 3-part workshop for all the staff at the Gilo Community Council: 1) a technical review that discusses the using different aspects of Facebook; 2) skills to use Facebook as a tool for dialogue; 3) ethical questions regarding Facebook and different solutions.

Practicing what they learned

Throughout the month of July there were two meetings with the administrative and coordinating staff of the Gilo Community Council, which included the Director, who actively participated throughout the process. There will be another meeting in October.

We expect that these workshops will enable the staff and leadership of the Gilo Community Council to further engage the community in its important work. Of course, this is only one aspect of their community work….

Naomi Roff2016-08-26T14:34:47+00:00August 15th, 2016|Blog, Deliberative Democracy, Gilo|

MiniActive Women and Youth Improving the Environment in Silwan

We wrote here about about a new group of MiniActive Youth. On July 19 they started action. First stop was beside the boys’ elementary school and boys’ middle school in Silwan. Here’s some pictures:

MiniActive Youth summer 2016

They started working on the area that borders the schools. First they cleaned up the space.

Cleaning up the work area

And then they started painting. First they needed to paint the wall white.

Painting the wall

And then the decoration. Because it’s adjacent to a school, they painted images of Winnie the Pooh,

Winnie the Pooh

SpongeBob Square Pants, Bambi and others, universal characters for children the world over.

SpongeBob, Bambi

Here’s a compilation of “before” and “after,” as well as in between.

Showing the progression

And here’s the first post from the MiniActive Facebook page (in Arabic):

But they didn’t stop there.

Here come the Smurfs too!

A few days later, shaded from the heat, they continued painting favorite characters.

Work to be proud of

Here’s more pictures from the work in progress. The July 26 Facebook post (in Arabic):

And on the next day you can see the progress that they made:

They continue to make progress – in decorating more parts of the outside wall.

Every school should be decorated like this

Or in painting garbage receptacles nearby.

Making even throwing away the trash more pleasant

Notice the graffiti on the wall above the garbage receptacle. Thanks to MiniActive women and the work of the Jerusalem Municipality, this, too has been removed.

MiniActive women and youth, improving the environment in Silwan

Here’s the link to the MiniActive Facebook post (in Arabic):

So great to see the progress! I’m sure we’re not the only ones.

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation for their continued support of this project. Many thanks also to the Tambour paint company, which donated the paint.

Naomi Roff2016-08-26T14:41:40+00:00August 9th, 2016|Blog, Effective Activism, Identity Groups and Conflicts, MiniActive, Palestinians/Arabs|

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