Conference Call: Jewish-Arab relations in Israel in the wake...

Listen to the September 23rd conference call briefing with:

Mohammad Darawshe 
Director of Planning, Equality and Shared Society at Givat Haviva; and

Shuli Dichter 
Executive Director, Hand in Hand Centers for Jewish-Arab Education in Israel

Tensions between Jewish and Arab citizens boiled over this summer following the kidnapping and murders of three Jewish and one Palestinian teens and the launch and aftermath of Operation Protective Edge. Acts of incitement and deterioration of relations have left many leaders assessing the impact on Israeli society in its aftermath, and the paths for healing rifts and rebuilding trust.

Hear Mohammad Darawshe and Shuli Dichter, leading voices in shared society work in Israel, discuss their perspectives on the impact of these events on the field, what they see as immediate priorities on the ground, and the long-term effects on Jewish-Arab relations in Israel.

LISTEN TO THE CALL

About the speakers:

Mohammed Darawshe is the Director of Planning, Equality and Shared Living at Givat Haviva Educational Institute. Between 2005-2013 He served as Co-Director of The Abraham Fund Initiatives. Previously he served as Elections Campaign Manager for the Democratic Arab Party and later The United Arab List. He Holds B.A from Hebrew University in Jerusalem and M.A. in Public Administration from Hartford University. He is considered a leading expert on Jewish-Arab relations; presented lectures and papers at the European parliament, NATO Defense College, the World Economic Forum, and Club de Madrid, US Congress, Herzlia conference and Israel's Presidential Conference. He won The Peacemakers Award from the Catholic Theological Union, and The Peace and Security Award of the World Association of NGOs, and was the Leadership Fellow of the New Israel Fund. In 2008 he was elected as a council member in his hometown Iksal. In 2009 he served as a member of The National Committee which drafted Coexistence Education policy. He frequently appears on Arab Satellite TV news programs analyzing current Israeli political and social trends. He is currently a member of: The Three-sector Roundtable at the Prime Minister's office, Strategic Planning Team of The Authority for Economic Development of Arab Sector. Executive Board of One-Voice movement Public Council of Midot, Israel's NGO rating organization Executive Board of Civil Leadership.

Shalom (Shuli) Dichter is a long-time civil-society activist in Israel. He joined Hand in Hand as its executive director in January 2011. From 1998 to 2008, Shuli was the co-executive director of Sikkuy, The Association for the Advancement of Civic Equality, a Jewish-Arab advocacy organization. There he worked to advance equality via government-policy change, municipal cooperation and mobilization of public opinion. His op-ed articles and essays on equality and Arab-Jewish relations are frequently published in Israel and abroad. In 2001, he was invited to give expert testimony before the Or State Commission of Inquiry examining the status of Israel’s Arab citizens following the killing of 13 Arab demonstrators in October 2000. As of 2009, Shuli has been writing and consulting, for the officer of the Israeli prime minister and others, in his fields of expertise. He lives in Kibbutz Ma'anit near the Kfar Kara school and is married to Avital, an art teacher. They have three children.