Givat Haviva Photography Project Fosters Jewish-Arab Teen Interactions

New York -- Four Israeli Jewish and Arab teenagers, alumni of Through Others’ Eyes, an innovative Givat Haviva program, will exhibit and discuss their photographs during a visit to the United States in September. Givat Haviva is the oldest and largest organization in Israel devoted to advancing relations between the country’s Arab and Jewish citizens, to building a shared society in Israel.

“Art is a shared language, and photos are virtual messages Israeli youths use to express themselves,” says Jenan Halabi, coordinator of Through Others’ Eyes. “Every year I understand more how important is Through Others’ Eyes,” says Halabi, who lives in Daliyat al-Karmel and works in Givat Haviva’s Jewish Arab Center for Peace.

Meaningful interactions between Arab and Jewish youths in Israel are rare, largely because they attend separate school systems. An opportunity to engage with the other is a prime reason high school students apply to participate in the Through Others’ Eyes program. It brings together teenagers from different backgrounds to foster understanding and friendship through shared experiences, particularly in art and photography

“Facilitating cooperative interactions among teenagers in Israel is very important,” says Halabi, who will lead the group’s visit to New York and Cincinnati. “At this young age their personality is growing. They come from different communities but are similar in what they love, what they think, even in the music they listen to.”

Now in its 25th year Through Others’ Eyes hosts 20 high school students each year. The ten Jewish and ten Arab students meet weekly with Halabi at the Givat Haviva campus in central Israel to learn camera techniques, to review the photos they take individually or together during the program, and discuss how the images they create relate to their personal lives and to the situation in Israel.

The students are organized in ten Jewish-Arab pairs, enabling them to get closer, to share their respective narratives, as they travel around Israel taking pictures related to the theme that they and Halabi choose at the beginning of the program year.

“The Jewish-Arab student pairs capture images that depict their shared experiences and the real possibility of shared society,” Halabi explains. The two 18-year-old boys and two 17-year-old girls coming to the New York and Cincinnati say that their participation in the Givat Haviva photography program deepened their personal connections with one another and allowed them to express through photography their personal feelings about life in Israel.

In the Spring the Givat Haviva Art Center holds an exhibition of that year’s Though Others’ Eyes photographs. The visits to New York and Cincinnati will feature a selection of photos from the 2023 and 2024 exhibitions.

Halabi acknowledges the impact of October 7,2023, and the ongoing war, on the students, but points out that Givat Havia’s many education programs resumed full operation soon after the mass terror attacks in Israel on October 7, indicating the strong desire of Jewish citizens and the 20 percent who are Arab to strengthen mutual understanding. Still, for these young Israelis, affected by what is happening daily in Israel and the region, with a lot of information to absorb from social media, family conversations, dialogue with classmates and friends, while pursuing their daily lives, photography is a vital outlet to process their feelings.

“They show through art, in this case photography, what shared lives can look like,” says Halabi. The two boys and two girls coming to the U.S. are a great example of that happens “when we bring them together, at this time in their life, and they see each other, understand each other, and maybe even become friends,” she continues. “The camera is a tool that brings them together.”

For more information about the Through Others’ Eyes U.S. tour, contact Sadie Baker-Wacks at sadie@usfogh.org.