Givat Haviva Representatives at Israel-Arab Task Force Conference

Givat Haviva Educational Foundation eNewsletter (Page 1)
May 2006

Ahmed Bdair, Director of Givat Haviva’s Jewish-Arab Center for Peace, and Prof. Jihad El-Sana, Special Advisor to and Board member of GHEF, spoke at a one-day New York conference entitled "Voice Forum: Opportunities and Challenges Facing Israel as a Vibrant Democracy."

The conference, organized by the Inter-Agency Task Force Conference on Arab Israeli Issues, brought together the country’s major donor and organizational leadership to discuss the situation of Israel's Arab citizens and appropriate levels of involvement for the American Jewish community.

Ahmad Bdair posited that the Arab population can serve as a bridge for peace if properly nurtured. Recognizing a hestitancy among Arabs outside of Israel to promote projects of dialogue and coexistence, he reported he is approaching Arab Israeli business leaders to support Givat Haviva financially and is building a donor base in the New York Arab American community as well.

Prof. El-Sana of Ben-Gurion University discussed the status of Israeli Arabs and the subtle ways in which discrimination is nurtured. He provided an overview on the structure and history of Israeli Arab society, criticizing both the Arab sector's leadership for not helping its population improve their situation socially, economically or politically, and the Israeli government for not integrating the school system (and the study of Arabic) in a way that could promote coexistence.