Blog | The Jerusalem Intercultural Center

Atta’a’s Muhammad Akeel in Interview at Beit Hanina Community Center

Atta’a has been working around the clock to help Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem weather the coronavirus crisis. You can read about it here.

Muhammad being interviewed

Atta’a’s long-time rights coordinator, Muhammad Akeel, was interviewed by Beit Hanina Community Council. He spoke about the current economic situation in East Jerusalem, especially in light of the coronavirus. He also spoke about unemployment benefits, welfare payments from the National Insurance Institute, and more. Thus far the video has had over 6,000 views.

Here’s the interview in Arabic:

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation, the Rayne Foundation, the Bader Philanthropies, and the Jerusalem Model for its support of Atta’a

Naomi Roff2020-11-06T06:54:52+00:00October 27th, 2020|Attaa, Blog|

Little Prince – Continuing to Forge Public-Private Partnerships in Jerusalem

We’ve written here, here, here and here, about how the Little Prince initiative, through the JICC’s mentoring of activists from all parts of the city – Arabs, religious, secular and Haredi Jews – are helping to make Jerusalem a clean city, even during corona times. Over the past 3 years, by helping grassroots leaders to forge intercultural connections with each other and with Municipal professionals and officials on numerous levels we have empowered them to create change on the ground, starting with one of the most basic services – garbage and clean streets. Part of this work is facilitating partnerships with the Jerusalem Municipality and its professional leadership as a way to make work more effective. On October 14, we took one more step to strengthen this partnership.

This was the quarterly meeting with the Director of the Operations Department. The meeting included a number of division directors: Eitan Levy, Director of the Beautification Department; Ilan Sasson, Director of the Municipal Supervision and Policing Division, and Gili Gorni, Director of the Sanitation Division; ), a number of quarter supervisors and unit directors, together with the residents and activists. In the meeting, all participants were treated with respect and all claims and arguments were taken seriously. This meeting was another example of the importance of working together, where each of the partners brings their own piece to the puzzle, creating a beautiful, varied picture.

Much of what we do is putting the puzzle pieces together – together

This feeling was strengthened when Itzik Nidam gave his presentation, which showed the significant progress that was done as part of the Jerusalem Municipality’s cleaning reform:

Street sweeping reform: 600 new cleaning personnel were hired.
Sanitation Division responds to residents’ queries until 22:00 at night!
50 new and sophisticated street cleaning vehicles have been introduced, enabling a high degree of street cleaning.
Regular collection days for old cars and scrap metal, as well as pruned branches and leaves in each neighborhood.
Cleaning of 1,250 acres of open private spaces. These spaces are technically the residents’ responsibility to clean, but de facto are public eyesores. Over the past year the Municipality took responsibility for many of them (You can read more about that here.), and as a result, thus far 10 tons of garbage (!) were added to the regular garbage collection in the city.
Placement of 3 huge compactors in the downtown area for the use of business owners and residents.
Replacing garbage bins with underground bins, and upgrading existing underground bins to new models that have bigger openings and a larger capacity.
Investing in educational and social activities in schools, kindergartens and community centers to advance clean city principles, when possible in light of COVID-19 restrictions.
Reinforcement of cleaning in gardens and playgrounds.
Establishment of residents’ forums in the neighborhoods that work together with the neighborhood professionals.
And much more….

After the presentation we had a long discussion in which residents responded to the issues presented, brought up additional needs and issues that require continued focus and effort. We thought together about ways to deal with vandalism, supervising residents and more and came up with ideas for implementation.

And yes, all this cooperation took via Zoom.

We have been introduced to many desirable changes that affect how the city looks and our quality of life, which brings us closer to our original goal – to make Jerusalem a clean city. What fun it is to work with our partners from Operations Division, who invest so much in turning Jerusalem into the cleanest city in Israel.

Here’s the link from the original Facebook post in Hebrew:

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation and the US Embassy in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv for its continued support of the Little Prince!

Naomi Roff2020-11-18T15:07:57+00:00October 24th, 2020|Blog, The Little Prince - Cleaning Jerusalem Together|

Atta’a Interview on Al-Quds Digital

We’ve written here, here, here and here about the different ways the Atta’a Assistance Center for the Rights of East Jerusalem residents has been helping East Jerusalem Palestinian residents realize their rights. They’ve been operating since 2004, and Atta’a has been even more important since the onset of the COVID-19 crisis.

Daud being interviewed by Al-Quds Digital

As part of its efforts to help East Jerusalem residents, Atta’a has been reaching out in various ways – through individual assistance, updates to its website, Facebook posts, and videos.

On October 13, 2020, Atta’a Director Daud Aliyan was interviewed by Al-Quds Digital, a social media-based station, about different unemployment benefits and the National Insurance Institute, and directions on how to submit the necessary forms. You can watch the video in Arabic here:

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation, the Leichtag Foundation and the Rayne Foundation for its ongoing support of Atta’a, and to the Jerusalem Model , the Russel-Berry Foundation and the Bader Philanthropies for their support of our emergency activities in East Jerusalem in response to COVID-19.

Naomi Roff2020-12-25T14:47:58+00:00October 22nd, 2020|Attaa, Blog|

MiniActive Women – Building Community Resilience with Online Lectures

The MiniActive Network of 1,000 Palestinian women has been working on a grassroots level to improve communities and their infrastructure in East Jerusalem since 2012, and in the process, they’ve been strengthening civil society, strengthening women’s place in the community, and building community resistance.

We’ve written several times about how MiniActive has strengthened community resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic. You can see a few examples here, here, and here.

Over 80 participants on Zoom for an anti-stress workshops

On October 15, 2020 they continued to do so, with an online lectures about how to deal with everyday stresses, especially during current times. She spoke about how to deal with everyone at home, with children who are trying to study remotely, how to reduce stress and keep control of the household without everyone going crazy.

Over 80 women participated in the lecture, and feedback was excellent. Thank you MiniActive! May we have many more activities that help us get through this period together!

Here’s the post from the MiniActive Facebook page (in Arabic):

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation and to Natan for their ongoing support of MiniActive!

Naomi Roff2020-11-06T08:38:29+00:00October 20th, 2020|Blog, MiniActive|

Cultural Competence Training for Academic Institutions during COVID-19

The COVID-19 crisis has changed so many aspects of all of our lives. Since so much of our communication has become less and less face-to-face, the need for cultural competence and cultural sensitivity is more critical than ever.

Teaching lecturers how to navigate diverse classrooms, especially during COVID-19

This includes, among other places, the academic classroom. Like many college and university campuses around the globe, COVID-19 has turned the bustling academic campuses into spaces that are largely virtual. In Israel, the school year began with full online academic learning, and, as part of the preparations, the JICC Cultural Competency Desk was invited to lecture at the Zefat Academic College on how to teach online courses, with diverse classes, in a culturally competent manner.

Raising questions, discussing answers

How can lecturers hold classes online that will be both culturally competent and culturally sensitive, taking into consideration the cultural differences between students and faculty, as well as between the students themselves?

What aspects should be taken into account vis a vis the students, where not everyone might have a suitable Internet infrastructure, but they do have a strong desire and motivation to learn? How do you take attendance when everyone can choose a Zoom nickname and / or turn off the camera?

And most importantly – how can dialogue and the skills of listening and recognizing intercultural differences help a lecturer overcome these challenges? The culturally competent perspective and these questions were raised by Dr. Rachelly Ashwall in the online lecture held on September 15, 2020 for academic staff at Zefat Academic College.

Naomi Roff2020-11-20T14:05:32+00:00October 11th, 2020|Blog, Cultural Competence, Cultural Competence in Academic Institutions|

Atta’a Center – Continuing Emergency Assistance during COVID-19 Outbreak in East Jerusalem

The Atta’a Assistance Center for the Rights of East Jerusalem Residents (also see its internet site) has been working tirelessly since the coronavirus crisis hit the region to help Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem to deal with the range of effects of the coronavirus on East Jerusalem – in health care, welfare, economy, and more. They’ve been:

Disseminating information, with Facebook posts about Ministry of Health guidelines, National Insurance Institute guidelines (for unemployment and welfare payments)
Helping residents individually with online forms, which are only available in Hebrew. This includes forms for furlough and unemployment, for discounts on property taxes, and a range of other forms.
Producing videos and website guides to help residents realize their rights.

We wrote about what they’ve been doing here, here and here.

Videos with healthcare leaders

Here are a few statistics:

Since mid-March, Atta’a has helped over 3,500 requests, which has helped resident receive an additional NIS 10 million, more than twice their regular annual average.
Between March – July, Atta’a posted over 30 posts to its Facebook page and to other popular pages in East Jerusalem about COVID-19, health guidelines, instructions on filling out various forms and other critical information. These posts received 224,235 views cumulatively
Between March – June 2020, the Atta’a web site had 9,534 views.

More recently, Atta’a has made videos together with the National Insurance Institute and with a health care leader for two videos (in Arabic).

Link to video held with member of National Insurance Institute:

Link to video held with Fuad Abu Hamed, owner of Kupat Cholim Branch in Beit Safafa:

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation and the Rayne Foundation for its ongoing support of Atta’a, and to the Jerusalem Model and the Bader Philanthropies for their support of our emergency activities in East Jerusalem in response to COVID-19.

Naomi Roff2020-10-30T11:37:33+00:00October 3rd, 2020|Attaa, Blog|

Culturally Competent Community Work – JICC Setting Professional Standard

Just before the New Year, our Cultural Competency Desk, led by Orna Shani Golan, and JICC Director Dr. Hagai Agmon-Snir, together with Orit Yulzari, a community social worker, previously the head of the “Gisurim” program, and Dr. Orna Shemer, Lecturer in Community Social Work at the Paul Baerwald School of Social Work at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, published an article (in Hebrew) in the professional social work journal, Meidaos, called, “I Don’t Know, You Tell Me: A Culturally Competent Dialogue Model.”

Seven Step Dialogue Model

The article sets out a 7-step model for social workers in performing their everyday work in a culturally competent manner. These stages, which include, explanations and understanding of the problem and possible solutions by both the social worker and the service recipient can go a long way in providing effective social work services.

You can read the article here and the whole journal here.

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation for their continued support of Cultural Competency in Jerusalem.

Naomi Roff2020-10-23T11:04:36+00:00September 30th, 2020|Blog, Cultural Competence|

JICC Arabic Language Center in Jerusalem Post

On September 20, 2020, The Jerusalem Post newspaper ran an article about a revolution in Arabic-language instruction, with a focus on Arabic for communication, especially at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

Learning Arabic at the JICC

In recognition of the JICC’s leadership role in Arabic instruction over the past 15 years and more, we were mentioned in the article as well. Here is an excerpt:

The Center for Arabic Instruction at the Jerusalem Intercultural Center is one place in Israel where interest in learning Arabic has increased, according to the center’s director, Dr. Hagai Agmon-Snir.

When the center started teaching Arabic about 15 years ago, it was difficult to open two courses every year. Now, there are 15 to 20 courses at capacity, Agmon-Snir told The Media Line, adding that Israelis understanding that they need to learn Arabic has grown “by a thousand percent.”

He added that there are six or seven other places in Jerusalem teaching Arabic and that they are full, a point of pride.

While most of the students are Hebrew-speaking Israeli Jews, teaching classes on Zoom due to the coronavirus pandemic has even allowed for a few people abroad to enroll in the courses, Agmon-Snir said.

Agmon-Snir said that learning Arabic could be especially beneficial for Israelis doing business in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, the two Gulf countries that officially established diplomatic relations with Israel at a White House signing ceremony on Tuesday.

“Arabic is not only a language, it’s a culture,” Agmon-Snir said. “If you get into it, you can make business that you couldn’t do before and this is going to be very important to businesspeople who are going to work over there.”

You can read the full article here.

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation for its continued support of our Arabic Language Center.

Naomi Roff2020-10-23T10:48:16+00:00September 27th, 2020|Blog, Language Center|

Little Prince – Even Rosh Hashanah Greetings Have a ‘Cleaning Up Jerusalem’ Theme

Every year, the Jerusalem Municipality wishes its Jewish residents a Happy Jewish New Year for Rosh Hashana. We’d like to take a minute to do the same:

Happy New Year from the JICC

This year, in keeping with his promise to make cleanliness in Jerusalem a top priority (you can read about that here, here, and here), even the Municipality’s New Year’s Greeting has a ‘Cleaning Up Jerusalem’ Theme. It was written about in the Ma’ariv daily online newspaper, here. This main priority of the Municipality towards cleaning the city, is the result of the effective cross-cultural activist group gathered in our the Little Prince – Cleaning Up Jerusalem Together initiative.

You can see the short Municipality Happy New Year video here:

We’d like to express our appreciation to the Municipality on all levels for their cooperation on the issue of clean streets. We’ve shown that, together, change is indeed possible!

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation and the US Embassy in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv for its continued support of the Little Prince!

Naomi Roff2020-10-23T10:55:19+00:00September 25th, 2020|Blog, The Little Prince - Cleaning Jerusalem Together|

HoliGame – Playing All the Way to Diversity in Organizations

We’ve spoken about our cooperation with the Israeli Forum for Employment Diversity here, and here we discussed our joint project, the HoliGame, which deals with dilemmas and issues related to holidays and cultural events in organizations, especially when the different commemorations conflict or lead to a conflict between identities and individuals in the organization.

The HoliGame at Kfar Shaul on September 3, 2020

The month of September was full of HoliGame events in a variety of organizations. On September 3, we used the game in a diversity management workshop at the Jerusalem Center for Mental Health at Kfar Shaul, which dealt with the way cultural competency coordinators are responsible for leading culturally sensitive measures – and constant dialogue regarding potentially flashpoints throughout the year in order to maintain a respectful and inclusive work environment.

The HoliGame for Businesses September 9, 2020

On September 9 the HoliGame was used in a workshop for nearly 30 human resources managers and diversity managers in leading companies. Here, too, the issues need to be dealt with sensitively and in a way that the shows the important role of the management in creating a sense of belonging to the organization. Above is a glimpse of the meeting for business and companies.

Israeli Hope in Academia September 10, 2020

The issue of diversity and cultural competence affects academia as well. On September 10, 2020 we held a workshop for Coordinators for the Israeli Hope in Academia program, which seeks to integrate all the ‘tribes’ in Israel into Israeli higher education. We spoke about everyone who works on campus – from the lecturers to administrative staff, must still be careful not to exclude populations from different identities, and how issues can be addressed even in an age where the campus has become primarily virtual.

Invitation to play the HoliGame

We’ve seen the different issues that the HoliGame has raised and enabled leaders from a variety of different types of organizations to create deeper understandings of both the issues at hand as well as processes to resolve those issues in a respectful and inclusive manner. So thank you to those who’ve played, and we can’t wait to play more!

rachelly2020-10-23T10:46:36+00:00September 23rd, 2020|Blog, Cultural Competence|