The Coexistence network supports over 150 organizations working for peace, understanding and coexistence between Arabs and Jews in Israel. Last week’s workshop gave me a chance to meet representatives of a few members. One of the participants was Uri Shani from Nemashim: Noar Messahek Shalom / Shabab ya’eshu Massrah:
The “Nemashim” Project brings together Israeli Jewish and Arab students who have graduated from high school and use theatre as a means to develop dialogue, mutual respect and understanding. …
The group is made of 6 Israelis of Jewish and Arab origin who live together in a form of a commune, within Haifa, a town of a mixed population. Together we prepare and create theatre programs that focus on promoting peace and understanding.
The second commune have just finished their year together, and the third one is on its way. They are about to open a new workshop, and are looking for for young Israelis, speaking Hebrew, Arabic, Russian or Amharic or any other language, and are interested in theater.
And to think that Nemashim is just one of many individuals and organizations, each harnessing their special talent and ingenuity to create a better future for Jews and Arabs together.
According to the Haaretz daily newspaper website, Adel Kaadan has recently began building his new home in the town of Katzir, approximately seven years following his landmark victory against the Israeli Land Authority (ILA) in the Supreme Court.
The Kaadan case is one of the most prominent cases dealing with coexistence and equality among Jews and Arabs in Israel. In 1994 the Kaadan family’s request to build their new home in Katzir was rejected on the grounds that as Arabs they do not fit in with the Jewish nature of the Town. Living only several miles away from Katzir, in the village of Baqa El Gharbiya, the Kaadans sought correction of the injustice from the Court with the support of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI). In March 2000 the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that the Kaadan family cannot be denied living in Katzir.
In a panel of five judges the court ruled that the Israeli Land Authority, which leased land to the Jewish Agency to establish Katzir as a Jewish-only community, had acted illegally. The court argued that government resources cannot be allocated separately to a single group and in particular to a group or an agency that discriminates against non-Jewish citizens of Israel. As former Chief Justice Aharon Barak wrote in the majority opinion in the case: ’’…Equality is among the fundamental principles of the State of Israel. Every authority in Israel, beginning with the State of Israel, its institutions and employees, must treat the various elements in the state equally. This is requisite from the Jewish and democratic character of the state and it is a function of the principle of rule of law, which is in force here. Thus, the state must honour and protect the fundamental right of every individual in the state to equal treatment’’
It has taken four more years; and it is only after filing for contempt of the Court, that the Kaadan family received their plot of land from the ILA. Yesterday, in 2007, construction works finally began.
