Givat Haviva update

For many civil society organizations, the summer is a time of vacation and organization. For Givat Haviva, the summer of 2016 has been a time of great activity.
In the area of Education, two delegations from our leadership programs attended camps in North America, while another delegation of the Kfar Kara-Pardes Hanna partnership hosted a reciprocal visit by a youth delegation from Germany. Nearly 100 children from the region attended our Soccer for Peace Camp led by Givat Haviva’s facilitators and professional soccer coaches.

Dear Friends and Partners,
This is the month of Ramadan. Here at Givat Haviva, its blessed spirit was a noticeable presence this year.
For the first time, we held an Iftar (Ramadan break the fast) dinner at Givat Haviva. This meal symbolized the great blessings of the deep partnerships forged in our region and in our country through the Shared Communities program.

A week ago, for a moment, it seemed like a ray of light pierced the darkness. The prime minister and the leader of the opposition spoke together about a historic opportunity for peace that would justify a partnership between them. By the next day it was clear that the light was from the engine of the train of war and hate … and we got a right-wing nationalist government.

As we sit around the seder table and consider our liberty, the question arises: Are we truly free? The query is a common subject of contemplation. It would seem that we have our own independent country, and are masters of our own destiny. But in actuality, I feel we are bound by the fetters of racism and hate, which prevent us from being, in the words of our national anthem, a free people in our own land.