The Jerusalem Inter-Cultural Center Blog

We just published an article at the Jerusalem Post and Search for Common Ground (SFCG) News service, focusing on the need for preparing today Jerusalem for potential peace scenarios. Here are the links and the text:

The Jerusalem Post (English).

PDF (English).

Hebrew, Arabic.

Text:

Prepare Jerusalem for peace now
June 26, 2010

By HAGAI AGMON-SNIR

Last month, a Home Front Command exercise was carried out in Israel. The emergency systems were tested for their response to various scenarios in case war breaks out. That same week, someone jokingly disseminated a message on the Internet regarding an emergency exercise that would be carried out to test responses for when peace breaks out. In this imaginary exercise, calming sirens would be sounded and the general public would be required to respond to the cheerful scenarios that may unfold in this new and unfamiliar situation.

In Jerusalem, the idea of preparing for peace should not be a topic of jokes. We are so preoccupied with the struggle over what the city would look like following a permanent status agreement that we are ignoring the fact that present-day Jerusalem is declining before our eyes, becoming a city in which life would be difficult even when peace finally arrives.

In east Jerusalem, Palestinian children suffer from a severely underfunded public education system. As a result, most will not find employment that can afford any kind of social mobility.

Health issues – such as development checkups – are often neglected, and health problems that should be addressed in childhood will become a future economic and social burden, even in times of peace.

Chaos in the material aspects of life is sorely evident in east Jerusalem, where things like dense construction around roads which preempt any future expansion and collapsing sewage systems are creating an irreversible reality on the ground. The poverty and neglect in east Jerusalem will not only cause hardship for the Palestinians living there but will also affect the Jews in west Jerusalem whether the city remains united or divided, because if the city remains united, the need to rectify these problems would affect the funding for the western neighborhoods; if it is divided, poverty and neglect in the east would quickly become fertile ground for crime and terror against the Jews in the west of the city.

In west Jerusalem, the nonharedi Jewish population is dwindling. The city does not attract an economically strong population or young people who are not haredim, as there a few job opportunities. It remains very attractive to the haredim for religious reasons, but they are economically weak. The deterioration of west Jerusalem is bad news for everyone: A Jerusalem that is home to large populations that are economically weak will be a miserable city for all those still left in it.

DESPITE ALL these threats to the future of the city, too often Jerusalem’s municipal decision-making process is shaped by considerations that contradict local interests and cater to global politics. One example is Jewish construction beyond the Green Line. The construction in Ramat Shlomo in north Jerusalem and in Gilo in the south made headlines across the world. Yet, anyone who has taken part in Israeli- Palestinian negotiations on Jerusalem knows that in any reasonable scenario, these neighborhoods will remain on the Israeli side. Moreover the construction in these neighborhoods is of high importance to the Jewish sector in the city, since construction for haredim in the north and for non- Orthodox in the south decreases the need for the haredi population to move into the secular neighborhoods in southern Jerusalem.

Reducing this pressure would strengthen west Jerusalem and this in turn, would benefit the residents in the east. Whether Jerusalem is united or divided, economic and employment cooperation between the two parts of the city keeps them intertwined and interdependent.

However, as Israel refuses to differentiate between legitimizing the building in Gilo and legitimizing the settling in the heart of the Palestinian neighborhoods, the Palestinians and the rest of the world do not make this distinction either. The world hears about Jews who enter homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood after its Palestinian inhabitants are evicted. The result: worldwide political pressure to stop the construction in Gilo and Ramat Shlomo, the same construction that can contribute to the prosperity of the city.

Israel, in response, toughens its stance on Palestinian construction in Silwan. This brings only harm to all the residents of Jerusalem Almost 800,000 people live in Jerusalem, from a variety of religions, nationalities, religious outlooks and ethnic groups. When peace comes this diversity can turn into a wonderful resource for anyone who is interested in visiting or living in Jerusalem – if only we could save the city from its current decline.

For this to happen the decision-making process on the municipal level must shift to a professionalism dedicated to improving services for all the residents of the city, one that sets aside global considerations. A greater focus on these issues at the municipal level will make Jerusalem friendlier to its inhabitants. And paradoxically, focusing on its own population’s needs can help turn Jerusalem, even in the eyes of the world, from a political burden into a universal resource.

The writer is the director of the Jerusalem Intercultural Center and can be reached at hagai@jicc.org.il. This article is published in conjunction with the Common Ground News Service and forms part of a special series on Jerusalem.

Summer 2009 was very dense with issues related to the Ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) community in Jerusalem. One issue was around the opening on Saturday of a public parking lot in close proximity to the old city. Another major case was the arrest of a Haredi mother who allegedly starved and hurt her son for more than a year. Every weekend throughout the summer, Haredis rioted in their neighborhoods and near the parking lot. Also, throughout the week of the arrest of the Haredi mother, the Haredi neighborhoods were on riots, and municipality services were prevented from approaching them. Specifically, welfare services did not function for several weeks as a result of the Haredi community blaming them for being active in the arrest of the mother.

The JICC has become the main mediating agent in these conflicts. It was our work during the week when the mother was arrested that enabled all sides to sit together and achieve a solution that allowed the riots to stop. Since then, we have been working closely with all sides to respond to the many conflicting issues, which could each develop into a full blown crisis. We were involved in the court discussions, in the children’s interrogation, in the mother’s visits of the relevant child etc.

This story is not over yet. As we write this post, during Succot Hol Hamoed, we are handling another crisis around the Welfare Department’s involvement in the case.  We observed professional people on all sides who act according to their best professional judgment in this case. However, in a complex culturally-sensitive environment, the usual best professional practices are not always best for the situation at hand - and we try to help all sides to redefine what would cultural competent professional work mean in their respective areas - health, welfare etc. The story was covered on a Jerusalem Post article on July 23, when our work on this issue just begun. We hope that when the issue is resolved, we will be able to write the full story as an important case study for the need for cultural competency in all services.

In the case of the Karta parking lot, we were also involved in most of the negotiations and with the efforts that allowed the “ceasefire” in September. We are still involved, together with the highest officials at the municipality, police and Haredi community, in the endeavors to calm the issues for the future.

Altogether, we must admit that with all these unfortunate and difficult events, this was a very interesting and fruitful summer for us. We accumulated a great deal of knowledge and experience and demonstrated our important role and significant contribution in the city. Most important - we created even better contacts and relationships with the innermost circles of the Haredi community. A clear outcome of this development is that at present, whenever problems are about to erupt, all sides call us to intervene - it took us 10 years to acquire this legitimacy in Jerusalem!

We reported in an earlier post that the JICC invited a group of Jewish leaders to begin a high-level process of discussions and negotiations on the future of Jerusalem. Since then the municipal elections took place, following which a group was quietly formed to look for agreed-upon strategies for Ultra-Orthodox and non-Ultra-Orthodox Jews to live together in the city.

It is interesting to note that at present the non-Ultra-Orthodox Jews who live in Jerusalem can only be defined by “what they are not”. In the past, the alternative to Ultra-Orthodox was “secular”, reflecting affiliations in the city. The “national-religious” and other traditional Jews were defined as “in-between”. Nowadays, the demographics of the non-Ultra-Orthodox group show that it can no longer be called “secular”. Yet, this group is perceived by many residents as hegemonic in Jerusalem. Also, in many ways, the anxiety of “Haredization” of the city is common to most of the non-Ultra-Orthodox residents - be them secular or religious.

On January 19, 2009, the group of high-level Jewish leaders met for the first time to begin the tough and hard dialogue on the future of the city, looking for shared strategies. the issue of affordable housing for all groups was raised as central. For the non-Ultra-Orthodox, the issue of culture was also prominent. It was claimed that for many Jerusalemites, the city is not attractive enough. The group agreed that Jerusalem needs to preserve its “conservative” character, while at the same time creating a vibrant cultural atmosphere.

Today, on February 18, the group met again to continue the learning process. Messages were deepened and it was agreed that towards the next meeting a document should be drafted for discussion.  Stay tuned for further reports as this important process unfolds.

Tal Kligman and Hagai Agmon-Snir from the JICC met Ami Segev, the Ramot Community Council Director, and Oren Bolondi, the Ramot Community Organizer, the people who approached the JICC several months ago for help in creating a community dialogue process in Ramot through Open Space.

The Ramot professionals updated on the progress of the 10 initiatives that stemmed from the two Open Space events. It seems that almost all of the initiatives enjoy a lot of positive energy of volunteers and professionals that wish to act together and bring about change in the neighborhood. There are groups dedicated to transportation, neighborhood clean-up, relations between different religious denominations, playgrounds, education etc.

Our main tip to Segev and Bolondi was to promote transparency. It was wonderful to see that so much came out of the Open Space and that there is a good follow up process. But the Ramot residents themselves must be the ones to realize that. Hence, the updates will be reported monthly in the Ramot newspaper and people will be encouraged to join the process. And of course, according to the original approach of the conveners, we might see periodical Open Space meetings in the neighborhood. This is all about deliberative democracy - decision making in Ramot can be based on deliberation and contribution by all stakeholders.

Today we had the second day of the Open Space event (which consists of two evenings - on Dec 10 and 16 - see the update on the first evening). Most of the participants in the first evening, as well as a few new faces, showed up and continued the discussions on the future of Ramot. Upon their arrival, the participants received the summaries of the discussions from the previous event written by the discussion groups themselves.

Ramot Lay Leaders and Professionals at the Open Space

The second session was devoted to suggesting new implementation initiatives. Groups were formed to define these initiatives and ensure followup. The Ramot Community Council is committed to convening the groups in order to implement the Open Space outcomes. The Open Space steering committee will meet to make certain that the events would not remain a one-off activity, but that they would really be the beginning of profound participatory democracy in the neighborhood.

Ramot Open Space Banner

In 2008, the Ramot Community Council asked the JICC’s assistance in creating a  participatory community development process in the neighborhood. The selected model was Open Space Technology, a powerful methodology that encourages large groups of participants, in this case residents, leaders, activists and professionals, to engage in the process with both their passion and responsibility for action. In recent posts we updated on the preparations towards the two-sections Open Space event.

Assembly of the Ramot Open Space

Today we had the first day of the Open Space event (which consists of two evenings - on Dec 10 and 16). About 100 residents, staff members, and a few others that see themselves as involved in the neighborhood, came and actively participated in discussion groups on topics they themselves have raised. We were happy to see involvement by the local youth, including four 12-year old primary school students who came ready with their discussion topics and ran a few of the discussions as real pros…

Putting a discussion topic on the agenda

Diverse issues were raised: transportation, cleaning the neighborhood, education, activities for young adults, parks and much more. Each discussion group concluded with a summary paper of the main points discussed and first recommendations. There were two sessions, with 6-10 concurrent discussions.

A Discussion Group

The summary papers were typed and will be soon available on the Ramot Community Center website. They will also be distributed to the participants towards the next evening that will conclude the event.

Another Discussion Group...

The slogan of the event was “Now it is in our hands” and the main message that came out of it was that together, the residents and the staff of the community center can create a change in the neighborhood - with passion and responsibility.

Yet Another Discussion Group...

In recent posts we updated on our process with the Ramot Community Council to create a  participatory community development process in the neighborhood, using Open Space technology.

The Ramot Community Center is currently investing much effort to publicize the community meetings that will take place on December 10 and 16. Meetings are being held with school boards, youth movements, community organizations, synagogues and all other entities that can be part of the process. We meet regularly with the community worker/organizer of Ramot to help and guide the process. It is our hope that this process will serve as an important landmark in community participation and in affecting the fate of this neighborhood.

Look here for the invitation to the Open Space events. This invitation calls anyone and everyone that lives in Ramot, or feels that they want to impact the future of this neighborhood, to join us for these events.

Yesterday, Jerusalem’s secular mayoral candidate, Mr. Nir Barkat, won the municipal election with 52% of the vote. His ultra-orthodox opponent, Rabbi Meir Porush, was close behind with 43%. The Jerusalem Inter-Cultural Center cannot, of course, support any of the candidates, as one of our most important functions is the enabling of fair dialogue and negotiations between the many identities in the city. The members of the JICC board,  representing different groups in the city - Palestinians and Jews, ultra-orthodox and members of other religious denominations - supported various candidates.

Nevertheless, most of the 31 members of the newly elected City Council are new to their role, and they too represent many different identity groups and attitudes. It is our role to help them create effective and profound dialogue amongst themselves, as well as between them and the Jerusalem residents.

The JICC aspires to promote Jerusalem as a Culturally Competent City - and we hope to convince the new Council to adopt this approach. We will try to enhance the impact of the Jerusalem Employment Coalition on the decisionmaking process in the municipality. The municipality is a member of the coalition, which was founded and is facilitated by the JICC. In addition, the JICC has already started a dialogue process between main ultra-orthodox and non-ultra orthodox groups touching upon the issue of living together in Jerusalem. We would like the municipality to be a partner to the thinking process and to the implementation of the outcomes.

In recent years, we attempted to improve the dialogue between the municipality and the Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem, most of whom feel alienated from the municipality and therefore ban the elections. We hope that this dialogue will now intensify and result in better infrastructure and services in East Jerusalem.

To conclude, we see the elections’ results as an opportunity for positive change in the city, hopefully through the cooperation of the many rival groups at the City Council. To respond to these new challenges and opportunities the JICC will shortly initiate meetings with City Council members.