El Ein Course 2008-2009

This program is a product of the cooperation between the Gender department at BGU (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev) and the SFP at Wahat al Salam/ Neve Shalom. It is the third year that the SFP is cooperating with BGU.

Facilitators: Ma‘ayan Hillel, Rina Al Ukbi

Educational advisors: Wafaa Zriek Srour and Michal Zak of the SFP

The goals of the program are to focus on the world of women, and to empower the participants in the different circles of life. A special aim is to deepen the dialogue between Jewish and Palestinian women. The partecipants were eight Arab women from Tel A Sabba and ten Jewish women from Beer Sheva (all Mizrachiot: of North African origins).

There were 14 study- days planned; the program took place at the university once a week for 14 weeks. On most of the days there was a lecture followed by a discussion. All the lectures were given by experts in the field, and each lecturer gave her lecture in her mother language. The lectures were translated by the staff into either Arabic or Hebrew. We think the dual-language format is not only necessary, but it is also an important process for both Jews and Palestinians. Most of the discussions were held in separate, national forums, each with a facilitator from the same nationality as the group. The discussions on Jewish-Palestinian relations were held in bi-national forums.

The themes concerned the Jewish-Palestinian conflict and women‘s issues in its context, which were easier to deal with, the women tended to find thing in common, sometimes the Jews wanted to "learn" about the Arab society, as if they were anthropologists, and not partners of similar circumstances. Sometimes the Palestinian themselves thought that they are the only ones who had problems. The women were able to learn together under very hard circumstances, since the program took place during the attack on Gaza.

This time the staff of the program included, in addition to Dr. Dahan- Kalev, two facilitators from the south. In addition the Jewish facilitator was a Mizrachi woman and the Palestinian facilitator was a Bedouin woman. This composition of the staff proved to be crucial to the success of the program.

We have a lot of experience in working with groups on similar topics in different parts of the country and we can compare and say that the participants from the south bring up for discussion topics that are unique to them. They also suffer from being a marginalized group, from many aspects, one is the geographical aspect. Having a staff that includes facilitators from the south is an empowering experience, it enables the participants to be better understood, and better represented.