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November 4, 2025Opinion | No Good Government Can Exist in Israel Without Jewish-Arab Cooperation
Givat Haviva CEO Michal Sella, in her Haaretz oped, recalls how Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, assassinated 30 years ago, advanced Jewish-Arab political cooperation in Israel. “In an election year we should discuss such cooperation. It’s important to discuss it, especially because so many groups, and not only on the right, are trying to prevent it,’ writes Sella. Rabin “proved that he was a genuine leader, with a vision and a plan of action, when he said at an election conference in Nazareth in 1992: ‘We've been in power for 29 years and we're to blame for the discrimination. I beg forgiveness, and I plan to take steps to eliminate discrimination’.” The Rabin government, with support of Arab parties in the Knesset, was committed to strive for peace with the Palestinians and to promote equality for Arab citizens, notably by providing additional budgets for Arab local municipalities. “Too many of the opponents of the current government reject cooperation with the Arab parties or accept as a fact the claim that such cooperation is impossible,” Sella emphasizes. “We have to say to these leaders, There won’t be a good government here without some kind of Jewish-Arab cooperation.”
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October 24, 2025Collaboration can build a stronger, healthier tomorrow
Visitors to Givat Haviva often rub their eyes in disbelief: Jews and Arabs building deep, meaningful relationships every day, in every space, without denying their identities or narratives. Through our educational tools, mutual suspicion and fear are replaced with healthy curiosity and a desire to understand,” writes Mohammad Darawshe, Givat Haviva Director of Strategy, for Labour Friends of Israel (LFI) in the United Kingdom. ”The tragic war in Gaza is the longest and most brutal war we’ve ever known, and has shattered everything we’ve worked so hard to build – mutual responsibility, compassion, trust, and a shared society between Arabs and Jews in Israel,” Darawshe continues. “Surveys we have conducted during the war have confirmed that Jewish and Arab communities have closed off and distanced themselves from each other, avoiding the few shared spaces left in Israel. Against this backdrop, we have nurtured a healthy, thriving microcosm at Givat Haviva where partnership is not a necessity but a conscious choice. Jewish and Arab students arrive charged, angry, and hurt – but after 48 hours with children from the other society, they breathe easier. Thousands of emotionally wounded students came to us and left with friends and a smile. It’s hard to express just how meaningful it is to witness this process unfold every day, and to know that not all is lost.” Read Darawshe’s full article.
Recent Events
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Sep
7
Through Other's Eyes @ Temple Ner Tamid
On Semptember 7, 11 AM to 12:30 PM, come to Temple Ner Tamid (936 Broad St. Bloomfield, NJ 07003) to see a photo exhibition feauturing four students: two Arab and two Jewish students of Israel. The students will speak briefly and present their photos.
