How has Seeds of Peace had an impact on you?

I have been involved with Seeds of Peace for many years as a Delegation Leader and through regional activities for both educators and youth.

I recently retired from my position at the Israeli Ministry of Education, where I was responsible for various initiatives, including the creation of programs for teaching students values, leadership, and community service, and for training teachers in the field of informal education. I am now a full-time social activist and advocate for cross-cultural understanding, civic engagement, and leadership.

How have you impacted your community?

I am working with diverse populations within Israel to build bridges between the Jewish and Arab, and religious and secular, communities. This is an effort to build a strong network of Jewish-Israeli and Palestinian-Israeli educators and citizens in Israel who are devoted to cross-cultural understanding, social awareness, civic engagement, and leadership. I’m bringing people together in order to ‘know the other’ and believe that we can live together.

To accomplish this, I work with non-profit organizations to create a wide range of activities that develop meaningful relationships between communities and among individuals who are from diverse backgrounds and have radically different perspectives.

One of my projects is to conduct Arabic language courses for Jewish-Israelis, where the language classes are also opportunities to learn about Palestinian culture and Palestinian perspectives. I am also planning to host film discussions and “listening tours” for citizens to learn about marginalized communities, as well as outreach workshops and meetings in Jaffa for Palestinian-Israeli women.

Finally, I am involved with efforts in several municipalities to create strong women’s leadership (both Jewish and Arab) that focuses on dialogue and living together in a shared society.

Education

BA, International Relations and Political Science (Hebrew University)
MA, Public Administration