Identity Groups and Conflicts | The Jerusalem Intercultural Center

Municipal Elections in Jerusalem!!!

Yesterday, Jerusalem’s secular mayoral candidate, Mr. Nir Barkat, won the municipal election with 52% of the vote. His ultra-orthodox opponent, Rabbi Meir Porush, was close behind with 43%. The Jerusalem Inter-Cultural Center cannot, of course, support any of the candidates, as one of our most important functions is the enabling of fair dialogue and negotiations between the many identities in the city. The members of the JICC board, representing different groups in the city – Palestinians and Jews, ultra-orthodox and members of other religious denominations – supported various candidates.

Nevertheless, most of the 31 members of the newly elected City Council are new to their role, and they too represent many different identity groups and attitudes. It is our role to help them create effective and profound dialogue amongst themselves, as well as between them and the Jerusalem residents.

The JICC aspires to promote Jerusalem as a Culturally Competent City – and we hope to convince the new Council to adopt this approach. We will try to enhance the impact of the Jerusalem Employment Coalition on the decisionmaking process in the municipality. The municipality is a member of the coalition, which was founded and is facilitated by the JICC. In addition, the JICC has already started a dialogue process between main ultra-orthodox and non-ultra orthodox groups touching upon the issue of living together in Jerusalem. We would like the municipality to be a partner to the thinking process and to the implementation of the outcomes.

In recent years, we attempted to improve the dialogue between the municipality and the Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem, most of whom feel alienated from the municipality and therefore ban the elections. We hope that this dialogue will now intensify and result in better infrastructure and services in East Jerusalem.

To conclude, we see the elections’ results as an opportunity for positive change in the city, hopefully through the cooperation of the many rival groups at the City Council. To respond to these new challenges and opportunities the JICC will shortly initiate meetings with City Council members.

jicc2014-04-04T12:54:41+00:00November 12th, 2008|Blog, Citywide Religious Denominations Dialogue, Cultural Competence, Cultural Competence in Health Services, Cultural Competence in the Workplace, Employment, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Inter-Cultural Community Dialogue, Jewish Religious Denominations, Jewish-Palestinian/Arab, On Jerusalem, Palestinians/Arabs, The Jerusalem Employment Coalition, Ultra-Orthodox Jews|

Ramot Open Space Initiative – Steering Committee, November 9, 2008

In 2008, the Ramot Community Council asked the JICC’s assistance in creating a participatory community development process in the neighborhood. The selected model was Open Space Technology, a powerful methodology that encourages large groups of participants, in this case residents, leaders, activists and professionals, to engage in the process with both their passion and responsibility for action. To prepare for the Open Space event in December 2008 we formed a steering committee that includes all relevant stakeholders. The committee then discussed main topics for the event and ways to engage the community in large in the process.

Today, we held the last meeting of the steering committee, with seven members of the Ramot Community Council Board. We were impressed by the energy and enthusiasm of the committee members, and by their commitment to recruit as many residents as possible for the Open Space event. The event will take place during two evenings on December 10 and 16. Together with the neighborhood community worker and other staff of the community council the residents will help prepare and promote the event.

During the meeting it was also well understood that the municipal elections on November 11 will affect the dynamics in the neighborhood in general and of the event in particular. The local Haredi/non-Haredi rifts and the demographic changes that occurred in the neighborhood are important factors in the development of civil society in the Ramot community.

jicc2014-04-05T05:15:57+00:00November 9th, 2008|Blog, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Inter-Cultural Community Dialogue, Jewish Religious Denominations, Ramot Community Dialogue, Ultra-Orthodox Jews|

The Folklore Tale as a Facilitation Tool – Opening of a Training

The second cycle of “The Folklore Tale as a Facilitation Tool, for Awareness, Empowerment and Dialogue” has started today in the JICC. Shay Schwartz, the course facilitator, is an experienced group facilitator and storyteller and in the past an actor, director and script writer. In recent years Schwartz mainly focuses on developing models for using stories in different contexts, in particular in dialogue, therapy, personal and cultural identity search, and cultural empowerment. The twenty-sessions-long course will train group facilitators to utilize stories as a facilitation tool, especially in conflictual settings.

First meeting of the course

This is the second time for the course to be offered to relevant Palestinian and Jewish professionals in Jerusalem. Feedback from the first cycle was excellent and we hope that this year’s course would also enable participants to utilize this unique methodology in their work.

jicc2014-04-05T05:14:29+00:00November 9th, 2008|Blog, Courses, Facilitators Trainings, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Jewish-Palestinian/Arab, Palestinians/Arabs|

Ultra-orthodox and other Jews in Jerusalem – November 6, 2008

Towards the Municipal elections in Jerusalem, the rift between Ultra-Orthodox Jews and other Jewish denominations is escalating. The main two candidates to the Mayor office represent the main two groups, and although the results will not be known until the elections on November 11, it is anticipated that whichever side wins will make the “other group” feel excluded in the city.

Earlier this week, the JICC invited a group of leaders to begin a high-level process of discussions and negotiations on ways to live together in the city. Today, a public conference on Jerusalem as a Multicultural City was held at the Ethics Center of Mishkenot Sha’ananim (see the program in Hebrew).

The conference was organized and facilitated by Avner Haramati, the JICC board chairperson, and by Prof. Shlomo Hasson. In addition to Haramati three other JICC board members spoke at the conference: Father Pier Battista Pizzaballa, OFM, Custos of the Holy Land; Sharon Rosen, the Israeli director of Search for Common Ground; and Dudi Zilbershlag, Director of Meir Panim. This demonstrates the diversity of the board and its serious attitude towards multiculturalism.

Importantly, the candidates for the Mayor office attended the conference and presented their approach to diversity in the city. Dr. Hagai Agmon-Snir, the JICC director, presented an example of a challenging dialogue process that took place between the gay and the Ultra Orthodox communities in Jerusalem around the Pride Parades conflict. In this case, the facilitation by the JICC resulted in understanding between the two sides. The challenge for the future will be to create similar processes in additional neighborhoods as well as citywide.

The JICC took the opportunity to announce the strategic process that was started this week. Next steps will be taken after the elections. Without doubt these issues are crucial for the future of Jerusalem.

jicc2014-07-11T08:36:03+00:00November 6th, 2008|Blog, Citywide Religious Denominations Dialogue, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Inter-Cultural Community Dialogue, Jewish Religious Denominations, Ultra-Orthodox Jews|

Clalit HMO, Kiryat Yovel – adapting clinics to Ethiopian patients – November 6, 2008

Today, a steering committee of Kupat Holim Clalit (the largest Israeli Health Management Organization), the Jerusalem Inter-Cultural Center and the Jerusalem Foundation met for the first time. This committee focuses on cultural competency of the Clalit HMO when serving the Ethiopian community in Jerusalem (read more about this project here).

The meeting took place in the Kiryat Yovel clinic, one of the clinics that serve the Ethiopian community. Representatives of most of the relevant clinics attended, as well as Dr. Sarit Avishay, the medical director of the Clalit HMO Jerusalem district. Many cultural issues and appropriate responses were discussed. In general the first important steps in each clinic include providing Amharic tele-interpretation services (of Tene Briut), conducting trainings to staff, communicating with the local Ethiopian community and assigning staff members as Cultural Competency Officers. It was decided that the JICC staff, together with the Clalit staff, would map the main cultural competency issues. The Kiryat Menahem clinic was suggested as the first clinic to undergo pilot training.

Next week the JICC staff will meet with the Clalit committee head who was assigned to promote the first steps of the process.

jicc2017-05-26T20:06:19+00:00November 6th, 2008|Blog, Cultural Competence, Cultural Competence in Health Services, Ethiopian Jews, Identity Groups and Conflicts|

Meeting of the Jerusalem Employment Coalition – November 5, 2008

Background: The JICC initiated an employment coalition in Jerusalem in 2005. To begin with the coalition’s main focus was the Welfare-To-Work program that was implemented at the time in Jerusalem, and in three other locations around the country. This program, the first of its kind in Israel, generated much controversy between experts from the government, business sector and NGOs active in the area of employment. The JICC invited the many agencies and businesses that were involved in the implementation of the program or in opposing it, to cooperate in the employment coalition. The coalition enabled the organizations to conduct an effective dialogue that made it possible to improve many aspects of the program. Unfortunately, such a coalition was not mirrored in other regions in Israel where the W2W program was implemented.

Toward 2008 coalition members suggested to upgrade the mission of the coalition and to become the Jerusalem Employment Coalition. A main focus of the JEC is to find ways to advance the adaptation of the employment field to the diverse identities in the city. In the bimonthly meetings, hosted by various coalition members, participants increase their exposure to, and understanding of, diverse aspects of the professional work in this field, and look for synergy and partnerships that would address the needs of the Jerusalemite identities.

Today we held a meeting at the Governmental Employment Service in Jerusalem. Thirty coalition members listened to Mr. Nimrod Alon, the director of the Jerusalem District, and discussed the services provided by this agency. The main issues that were raised related to courses offered to ultra-orthodox women and to unemployed Ethiopians. Two sub-committees will continue to meet in order to address the adaptation of governmental employment services, as well as help employers adjust their businesses to these identities.

Jerusalem Employment Coalition – November 5 2008

The next meeting will be held at Teva, an Israeli biotech company that works closely with employment assignment services.

jicc2014-07-11T08:34:43+00:00November 5th, 2008|Blog, Courses, Cultural Competence, Cultural Competence in the Workplace, Employment, Ethiopian Jews, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Inter-Cultural Community Dialogue, Jewish Religious Denominations, Jewish-Palestinian/Arab, Outside Jerusalem, The Jerusalem Employment Coalition, Ultra-Orthodox Jews|

The Arabic-Hebrew Studies Center in Jerusalem – Beginning of the 2008-09 class

On the week of October 26, 2008, we began another year of the language courses at the Arabic-Hebrew Studies Center.

These intensive courses are intended for professionals and leaders who need language skills in order to be more culturally competent in their work and activities. Participants include Jewish-Arab facilitators and project managers, Jewish lawyers who help Arab residents to gain their rights, Arab activists who work with Jewish NGO partners, people from the business sector who seek cross-cultural collaborations, and more. This project is funded by our strategic partner, the Jerusalem Foundation, with whom we share the belief that whoever works in an Arab-Jewish environment must have adequate knowledge of the two languages. Regrettably, up until now this approach is not well acknowledged in Israel. However, in Jerusalem, thanks to this project, we can see a significant shift.

Indeed, after only a few years, the results are noticeable. Jerusalem is probably the only city in Israel where most Jewish-Arab staff members have a good command of both languages. This transition has also affected the JICC itself – all our staff, including administrative staff, has elemental knowledge in both languages. Not many Jewish-Arab organizations can be proud of such an achievement – and remember that the JICC is not a Jewish-Arab organization, its West Jerusalem-East Jerusalem work is just a part of its undertakings

This year, in response to high demand, we opened two beginners’ classes instead of one and still had to screen the candidates. The intermediate course, which two years ago hardly had enough participants, filled up very fast, and the advanced course is also almost full. Just a year ago this group was half empty – there were simply not enough candidates for the higher level. The intermediate and the advanced groups are populated mainly by graduates of previous years.

One of the Arabic Beginners Course 2008-2009

This year we also added another aspect to the courses – although we focus on the spoken dialect, the participants will learn to read Arabic. The formal Arabic (Fus’kha) is very different from the spoken Palestinian dialect, which is taught in all our courses, so the students will not become readers of formal Arabic. However, they will be able to read names, signs, newspaper headings and similar – literacy at its best. This will be the next significant shift, as most Arabic-speaking Jewish professionals are unable to recognize their own name written in Arabic.

jicc2014-04-05T05:07:56+00:00November 5th, 2008|Blog, Courses, Cultural Competence, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Jewish-Palestinian/Arab, Language Center|

Clalit HMO, East Jerusalem – adapting clinics to Arabic speaking patients – November 2, 2008

Kupat Holim Clalit, who is also the largest Israeli Health Management Organization in East Jerusalem, was the first to join the Jerusalem Cultural Competence in Health Project of the Jerusalem Inter-Cultural Center and the Jerusalem Foundation. As part of the process two steering committees were formed to tackle cultural competence issues in East Jerusalem and in the Ethiopian community.

Today the first meeting of the steering committee focusing on East Jerusalem was held in the Sheikh Jerah Clalit HMO clinic. This is the central clinic in East Jerusalem serving around 200,000 people. The committee drafted a list of many challenges in this clinic and in other parts of the East Jerusalem health system. It was decided that the JICC staff, together with Clalit staff, would map the main cultural competency issues in the Sheikh Jerah clinic towards the next meeting. In parallel, we will examine some of the issues related to Arabic-speaking patients who are sent to experts in West Jerusalem, most of them are Hebrew-speaking Jews. Language was found to be an important barrier, but also other cultural barriers were identified as central to the quality of health care.

Next meeting of the committee will proceed with the planning of the cultural competence project in the Clalit HMO.

jicc2014-04-04T12:54:43+00:00November 2nd, 2008|Blog, Cultural Competence, Cultural Competence in Health Services, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Jewish-Palestinian/Arab, Palestinians/Arabs|

Gishurim Annual Conference – October 27 2008

On October 27, 2008, the Gishurim Program, which is a program to help Community Mediation Centers in Israel, had its annual conference. 300 participants from all around the country attended the conference, definitely the largest ever meeting of the community mediation centers in Israel.

Gishurim Conference Assembly 2008

The conference was implemented through the Open Space Technology and was facilitated by Daphna Barashi-Aizen, an organizational psychologist, and Tal Kligman, from the JICC. The conference focused on how community mediation centers can become more culturally competent in serving their diverse target audiences, and also in responding to the diversity amongst their staff and volunteers. Dr. Hagai Agmon-Snir, the JICC director, gave the keynote presentation about the case study of cultural competence in the health system also in reference to the mediation centers. Following this presentation the participants discussed insights and initiatives in smaller groups. The summaries of the discussions were presented and follow-up initiatives were formalized for the coming year.

Setting Discussion Topics for the Open Space Sessions

A main discussion topic was the Acre riots and “the day after” – in all multicultural cities and communities in Israel. A few dozens activists and mediators came from Acre and helped the others to understand the background, the events and the probable consequences in Acre. Many other discussions touched upon the incorporation of new immigrants and different religious denominations into mediation centers. The discussions provided important insights for the activists in Acre as well as for those active in other places. The context of cultural competence offered an important framework for these discussions.

Open Space Discussion Group

All discussions and follow-ups will be documented on the Gishurim website and through the help of the Gishurim program, some of the initiatives will be implemented. The Gishurim program is being operated by Mosaica and the Jerusalem Intercultural Center.

jicc2015-11-01T18:09:21+00:00October 27th, 2008|Blog, Cultural Competence, Ethiopian Jews, Gishurim - Israel Community Mediation Centers, Inter-Cultural Community Dialogue, Jewish Religious Denominations, Jewish-Palestinian/Arab, Outside Jerusalem, Ultra-Orthodox Jews|

Acre Riots – October 10, 2008

Two days after the eruption of the riots in Acre, which began on Yom Kippur, October 8, 2008 (read here, here and here), we felt it was essential to reassess the situation in Jerusalem. Here there aren’t really any mixed Palestinian/Arab-Jewish neighborhoods, so our hope is that the events in Acre will not stimulate events in the city. Nevertheless, a few weeks ago there were some incidents in Neve-Yaakov and Pisgat-Zeev, two Jewish neighborhoods in North-East Jerusalem where Palestinians have recently bought apartments. We will have to keep up our attention in these areas, and probably also in other sensitive places where Jerusalemites might encounter each other on Succot and Simkhat Torah.

At the same time, since we have a role in the region as a consultant for inter-cultural issues, we talked today with officials in the Acre Community Work Department about their next steps there. In Lod, where the JICC consults regularly to inter-cultural processes and issues, we suggested that the multi-cultural forum of lay-leaders that we helped create in the last two years, will meet on Sunday, analyze scenarios for the coming week and suggest proper response. This forum also works with the local police.

We all hope that the events will soon be over. Most important of all, we do not want these events to deteriorate, as happened in October 2000. Although the formal mandate of the JICC is in Jerusalem, we feel responsible to share our expertise with other mixed cities in Israel.

jicc2014-04-05T04:51:18+00:00October 10th, 2008|Blog, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Jewish-Palestinian/Arab, Outside Jerusalem|

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