Bustan Nof Meshutaf (Keren Omri)

Bustan Nof Meshutaf (A Shared Landscape), established by Keren Omri, is a place that brings together people of different cultures, backgrounds, religions and ages, providing opportunities for learning about our shared environment. Here, under the shade of the carob trees, is a place where Israelis of all backgrounds and identities - Jews and Arabs, secular and religious, young and old - may come in order to study, create, heal and enjoy, enabling us to overcome alienation ,hate, inequality and prejudice. BUstan Nof Meshutaf believes that by working together and by listening to both, to each other and to our environment, boundaries can be removed and a better future for all can be build, which is based on mutual trust. A Shared Landscape: Arab and Jewish youngsters learning and working together .The goal of the program is to promote opportunities for Arab and Jewish youngsters to study and work together in an outdoors open air environment, to learn about environmental conservation, traditional methods of agriculture and about ecological sustainability. 70 youngsters are divided into 4 mixed groups, meet 10 times a year for 4 hours each followed by two Jewish and Arab facilitators. The setting establishes a framework for dialogue between the Jewish and Arab youth that are getting to know each other, form relationships, and overcome ether mutual fear and alienation while learning about their counterpart's culture and discovering how to become good neighbors for life. The program activities are carried out by trained youth facilitators whose focus is to establish sustainable relationships between the participants while agreement on political issues is not necessary. Upon former program researches Bustan Nof Meshutaf's staff believes that the effect of the program depends on its continuity for a period of at least three years, which is the necessary grounds for establishing change in an environment which is conflict ridden.