Location and general information
Access to Sport - 
Conflict victims - 
Personal development - 
Strengthening partnershipsContext
Israeli society is riven by widening gaps among different population groups. Of these, the tension between the State’s Jewish and Arab citizens is acknowledged as the most significant. One cause of this tension is the fact that Jews and Arabs have few opportunities for positive, meaningful interaction. Israel’s divided education system exacerbates these gaps, preventing meaningful encounters, reinforcing fears and misconceptions, and thwarting the creation of a basis for future collaboration. “A New Way” (ANW) acts as a unifying force and challenges the existing rifts in Israeli Jewish-Arab relations.
The October 7th attack and the war that ensued has thrust us into uncharted territory, amplifying the importance and urgency of our work. Now, more than ever, we must begin healing and reconciling Israeli society by mending the intricate fabric of Jewish and Arab relations. By creating a critical mass of individuals dedicated to working together, we can pave "A New Way" forward—a path towards a more peaceful future for Jews and Arabs in Israel.
Project goals
- Promote a peaceful, tolerant and inclusive society.
- Create a good first experience of multicultural collaboration among Arab and Jewish school students developing their desire and ability to work together.
- Bring knowledge regarding the ‘other’ society and promote shared values and ideas that will foster understanding a more tolerant and sustainable future for Israeli society.
- Strengthen Israeli society and promote a new generation that, through collaboration and joint action, will improve Jewish-Arab relations.
Project content
Project Structure: In the schools where we operate, ANW holds educational programs and multi-year processes that allow children and their teaching staff to meet and get to know their counterparts from the ‘other’ community, learn and be exposed to the neighbours’ culture, develop a common dialogue, find shared values and work together towards common goals and objectives. As part of the educational process and in order to enable students to work together, there is an essential need to hold workshops that will prepare the children and help them to develop the necessary skills and basic ability to act together and engage in real multicultural cooperation. Recognizing the power of sport to create collaboration between children from different groups and sectors, our organization chose to focus on tools from the world of sports and use them to build the ability to collaborate during the initial stages of the program. The project presented here is aimed precisely at addressing this need. As part of the project, we will hold unique workshops that create collaboration using tools and methods we have developed with our partners. This collaboration phase is built on three different activities to maximize our flexibility and ability to adjust each day of activities to the unique nature, age, needs, and level of development of the different participants in our educational process.
• “Challenges in Nature” day in collaboration with "Rikmae Enoshit" (Human Texture in English) - a local group of experts that develops collaboration workshops based on sports and outdoor challenges. “HUMAN TEXTURE - A house of meaningful group activity. We specialize in group bonding activities which include sports and outdoor challenges, leading to cooperation, teamwork, leadership development, initiative, imagination and creativity. We believe in passing on a message through experience, allowing close communication and inviting the participants to go through a thorough and meaningful process in a joyful and accessible way.”
• Acro-Yoga: The activities and tools used during this workshop were built with the assistance of “The Association for the Development of Circus Arts in Israel.” Circus and acro-yoga are non-verbal art forms that can overcome the barrier of language, while simultaneously reducing fears and building trust. The joint physical activities necessitate mutual acquaintance and trust, and in a human pyramid everyone is equal, without differences of race or religion. Moreover, acro-yoga requires that participants must work with each other and learn to know and trust one another. Just one day leads to remarkable changes in the way Israeli Jewish and Arab school students relate to each other.
• Fair-Play Football: The fair-play football workshop was built with the assistance of Iddo Diamant, former director of activities in "Tzav Pius", a leading specialist in educational development through sports. "Iddo has an MBA in Social Leadership from Ben Gurion University and has vast experience in the field of education both as a program manager and a content developer. Iddo believes in working in an interdisciplinary way to merge sports and education as a single field bringing together his experience as a basketball coach, educator and academic.”
Partner
