S u m m e r N e w s l e t t e r 2 0 1 5

Gaza a Year Later: NSWAS Humanitarian Assistance for Al-Shifa Hospital

Last summer, during the Gaza War, many American donors contributed to NSWAS to support the Humanitarian Assistance Project, helping the village to send much-needed medical aid to Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza. This summer, we will continue to raise funds to support the hospital and hope to raise an additional $20,000, the estimated amount still needed for promised medical supplies and equipment. Dr. Raid Haj Yehia, the NSWAS representative for this project, will to deliver medical assistance to the hospital. Despite the overwhelming suffering and needs of the people at the hospital, Dr. Raid maintains that, “There is always hope. The spirit of humanity will come through. The good, human side will win.”

Dear Reader,

Life for the people at Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam goes on, as the community faces all the challenges and changes

that are reflected in the world outside them in Israel/Palestine. Please read and enjoy these recent stories about their

perseverance, joy and hope about life at NSWAS right now. We are proud to support their efforts, and we hope you will

be, too. - Judy Dubin, President of the Board

Visit us online at www.oasisofpeace.org We are on Twitter and Facebook! Get news, announcements, images and videos directly from NSWAS.

Follow us: @oasis_of_peace www.facebook.com/oasisofpeace

tinians spoke of the difficult situation in East Jerusalem during the Gaza war, and several Jews shared with pride their fighting in the Gaza war. The program clearly allowed participants to discuss very difficult issues and divisions between them, which is especially important in Jerusalem, where the trauma of repeated violence is extremely intense.

This year, for the first time, the School for Peace (SFP) began two courses for students study-ing at the Azrieli College of En-gineering in Jerusalem. The College draws from a broad population of Jewish and Arab students who live in this ‘mixed city,’ where the two popula-tions live side by side, but rarely together. The city experi-ences great tensions, with the two populations suspicious of each other, and violence often erupts from both sides. In Is-rael, Jews and Arabs rarely meet, and for most youth, the university is the first place where there is an opportunity to encounter the other and begin to build relationships.

The course had 16 students, half Arab and half Jewish, and

included Palestinians from East Jerusalem and from Is-rael, and Jews who were graduates of combat units in the Army, as well as settlers and religious people. For many, it was the first time they openly discussed issues with the other side. They spoke about life in East Jerusa-lem, the Gaza war last sum-mer, discrimination, terrorist activities and issues that are at the heart of the conflict. Pales-

School for Peace Builds Bridges With Engineering Students in Jerusalem

At the start of the program, some of the Arab participants were afraid to share their thoughts and feelings because of the tense situation in Jerusa-lem. At the end, they were pleased to find Israeli Jews who would listen to them and hear their concerns.

For the College, this was an extremely important step in opening communications be-tween the two groups. Many said that the program brought up a lot of questions about the relations between Jews and Arabs at the College, and Jew-ish students said they “began to understand the meaning of being an Arab student at the College."

Dear Friends,

It's hard to believe that the sum-mer is here, since it seems like just yesterday the school year be-gan. It has been an exciting year for me at the Wahat al-Salam-Neve Shalom primary school, as we have gone through many changes and are getting ready to grow. The big change this year was recognition by the Ministry of

Education, which positioned us to reach out and recruit a second first-grade class, which will start in September. This is the beginning of the school's doubling in size over the next five years and even-tual growth into a junior high school.

While the new first-graders are starting school, our sixth-graders have graduated, and although we are sad to see them go, we are happy that they will be carrying out into society the values and beliefs that the school has instilled in them over the past years. In so many ways it is so normal, yet so unusual, to see Jewish and Arab youth learning together, playing

together and living together. This gives us all hope for the future.

I can't finish the year without ex-pressing my thanks to the wonder-ful and dedicated staff at the school who have worked so hard and accepted me into the NSWAS family. The school will continue to grow, and the goals for the year to come are to upgrade and modern-ize our library, adding new com-puters and laptops and a science lab. In the coming year the staff will work on developing a special curriculum on tradition, culture and history. We hope to add more education next year, as well an-other language for all our children.

Letter From Carmella Ferber

Give a Child a Ride!

Attendance at the Primary School is increasing! With an uptick in enrollment, there is an urgent need for new school

buses. Will you help provide a seat for a child, so more children can attend the primary school?

In 2015 two of the school buses will be retired, having served the children for eight years, the maximum allowed by law.

Attendance is growing: Next year there will be another first-grade class!

Many students live outside of the Village and depend on the bus for their daily commute.

Each bus costs roughly $224,000, and each bus provides seating for 53 children.

Each seat on the bus costs $530 a year – the cost to provide a seat to a child.

Would your Rotary like to help? Do you know someone with an upcoming birthday or anniversary celebration who would like to direct gifts toward getting Jewish and Palestinian children to school?

Many thanks to you as well, our friends and supporters from around the world who helped in making this year so successful and have helped us grow. I look forward to working together with everyone in the years to come, making learning and living together a way of life for all of us here in this country and region.

Carmella Ferber

Principal -Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam Primary School

Fun, creativity, adventure and gaining new skills on the Playground ture

* a new concrete round bench for seating

* new play elements, including a seesaw, a

ropes course, a swing and a climbing wall.

This year, the Village is redoubling efforts to

upgrade the playground area and we’re ask-

ing for your help once again. These much-

needed upgrades will make the playground

safer, more accessible and more enjoyable

for the children. We invite you to learn

more. To see the architectural drawings,

contact us at afnswas@oasisofpeace.org We

are always available for a conversation at

(818) 662-8883. Please help us reach our

goal with a donation today!

launched a campaign to raise $40,000 to

cover the costs of significant new safety

and beautification improvements at the

playground:

* repair of the concrete pathway leading to

the playground

* a new safety bed of sand and infrastruc-

Elenora Edlund, granddaughter of Ety Edlund,

one of the original members of NSWAS, re-

cently entered the Primary School, making her

the third generation of Edlunds at Neve Sha-

lom/Wahat al-Salam.

For Elenora, and for all the children at the vil-

lage, the playground is the place where they

can get to know their classmates in a different

way: through games and play. They interact in

a friendly, comfortable and safe environment,

free to break down barriers and deepen friend-

ships. For a playground, as we all know, is not

just a playground – it is a place where children

leave their struggles behind and enter into a

world of fun, creativity, adventure and some-

times some good exercise.

Last year, the American Friends of NSWAS

Elenora Edlund, Third generation student at NSWAS.

Primary School to Welcome Additional Class of First-Graders

the Primary School’s unique methodology and

bilingual staffing. The response to the principal was

so great that an additional first-grade class has

been added to the 2015-2016 school year, with an

additional first-grade to be added each of the next

Now entering its 31st year, the Primary

School at Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam,

is widely acknowledged for its ground-

breaking work in bolstering self-esteem

and reinforcing mutual respect among

Palestinian and Jewish Israeli children.

Today, the school serves children 90% of

whom are from 30 surrounding towns

and villages.

This year, the new principal at the Primary

School, Carmella Ferber, held a series

of “Get to Know Us” meetings, gatherings

that served as an opportunity to describe

five years! With this increase in attendance, the

school needs support more than ever. Although

the most pressing need is for support in getting

the children to school on their school buses,

there are other small-scale needs like a dozen

new computers and a dozen tablets, and an

assortment of age-appropriate guitars, banjos,

drums, bells and flutes for the school’s active

music program.

Your gifts will help the Primary School students

get a ride to school, gain access to new technol-

ogy, make beautiful music and enrich their

learning skills.

end at seventh grade.

Students of a binational and bilingual

school grow to become adults with a

cohesive national and human identity,

an awareness of their history and that

of their neighbors, who are

not threatened by the Jewish student

on the nearby bench or afraid of a game

of hide-and-seek led by an Arab student

during recess. They value meaning-

ful learning and know how one can be

happy while learning at the same time.

And yes—they may even be the world’s

most naïve people and believe that

peace is on its way.

A Celebration: Three Decades of Learning at the Primary School

has a solution, and since they

intended to teach about how to

achieve peace, they knew there

were no shortcuts—they simply

needed to live together.

Three decades of tireless peda-

gogical practice sum up the his-

tory of the Arab-Jewish conflict

rather well. One need simply to

walk around the photography

exhibition at the school in order

to understand that what is hap-

pening outside always seeps in—

even if we are atop a mountain,

somewhat disconnected, the

political situation does not by-

pass us. There have been good

days and dark ones, too. “We

have met many people on our

journey,” says Ety Edlund, the

remaining co-founder. “We have

heard, learned, changed and

continued forward reso-

lutely, eyes wide open and with

a willingness to adopt any idea

or piece of advice, any bit of help

along the way. The goals we set

for ourselves were clear and

concrete: to bring together two

cultures, teach both languages,

and create a school where stu-

dents enjoy learning.”

During the event, one gradu-

ate of the school, a mother from

Abu Gosh whose son is currently

in third grade, had tears in her

eyes as she walked around the

exhibit, telling her son how much

love, warmth and joy she experi-

enced in the school, and how

much she wanted it to continue

through high school, rather than

Thirty years ago, the first-ever Arab-

Jewish school in the world opened

at NSWAS. A few weeks ago, the

village hosted an emotional and

beautiful event to mark that impor-

tant date since the opening of the

village school. Parents and children

celebrated in the schoolyard to

honor this first-of-its-kind school

that is both binational and bilingual.

Also celebrating were members of

the school’s founding generation,

the first people to put Arabs and

Jews in the same classroom. Those

first classrooms had two teachers,

Abdessalam Najjar and Ety Edlund—

one Arab and one Jew.

Back then they were just two brave

teachers, village residents, and sev-

eral families, who decided to start

the journey together. They believed

in each other’s inherent goodness,

being good neighbors, speaking two

languages, equality, and not being

afraid to talk about anything. They

simply knew they would figure it

out; they believed every problem

This story was excerpted from an article written by NSWAS resident Ms. Samah Salaime Ighbariyeh, for +972, an independent, blog-based web magazine.

ADOPT A CLASS NOW FOR NEXT FALL’S NEW STUDENTS

As the primary school prepares to welcome an additional class of first-grade students for the coming year, we are widening the opportunity to be a

part of their growth. We invite you to support the children’s education by adopting this year’s additional first-grade class. Even after parent and gov-

ernment contributions, it still costs close to $50,000 per year to educate an average class of 25 children (or $2,000 per child). By adopting the entire

incoming first-grade class, you can make a commitment to keeping the unique Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam program alive for the newest and young-

est generation of peace-builders. Supporting these children and watching them grow as they start on their first bilingual, bicultural, binational adven-

ture will connect you to a new generation of peacemakers and let you grow with them for the next six years. We invite you to be part of their journey.

together with members of their

congregations and friends: Sheikh

Rason Manssor of Nazareth, Rabbi

Ruth Kagan of Jerusalem, and Sister

Agnes of Emmaus Monastery at

Latrun. It was a very emotional and

empowering gathering for all who

participated.

Sheikh Rason of Nazareth brought

30 Sufi Muslims, some from Jerusa-

lem and some from his own family,

who honored us with music and

singing. Rabbi Kagan of Jerusalem

invited Kehila Neve Tehila, a Jewish

congregation in Jerusalem who

pray in the spirit of Jewish renewal.

Sister Agnes brought friends and

guests from the nearby Latrun

Especially in times of increased

hostility, with tension and confu-

sion among peoples, it is important

to develop new spiritual tools to

build communication and mutual

respect. With that understanding,

the Spiritual Center at NSWAS

convened a meeting of Jews,

Christians, and Muslims during

Shavuot, the holiday celebrating

the giving of the Torah.

In that spirit of respect and com-

munication, three leaders came

Monastery. There was music that

uplifted spirits with songs and

chanting. More than 100 people

participated, with some staying at

the guest house, some staying in

tents by the Spiritual Center, and

others visiting just for the day,

participating in the prayers and

study sessions.

It was a rare experience for the

troubled region. In the same

space, there were prayers by

Muslims, Christians and Jews,

each praying according to their

beliefs and miraculously listening

to the other and extending mu-

tual respect. The group studied

through the night as part of one

“We are as One” - Three Religions Under One Roof

A m e r i c a n F r i e n d s o f N e v e S h a l o m / W a h a t a l - S a l a m

of the most distinctive customs

of Shavuot, 'Tikkun Leil Shavuot.'

At daybreak they came together

in the Doumia (House of Silence)

with the Torah, the New Testa-

ment and the Koran. The power

of the experience is still echoing

in the hearts of the participants.

"We are parting greatly

strengthened," said one of the

participants. "I was very happy

that I came and I look forward

to the continued enrichment of

this group."

Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam Representatives Visit United States

Two representatives from Neve

Shalom/Wahat al-Salam visited the

US for a two-week tour of major

cities on the East and West Coasts

in April and May. Maram Masarwi

and Ety Edlund crisscrossed the

country on a re-acquaintance and

fundraising tour, renewing friend-

ships and delivering a message of

peace and hope to donors and

friends. They spoke before audi-

ences large and small, and met

with supporters in Boston, New

York and Washington, DC, then

traveled to Los Angeles, Silicon

Valley and Northern California.

Ety Edlund, who along with Abdes-

salam Najjar, was one of the origi-

nal founders of the Primary School,

focused on the years of growth and

accomplishments at Israel’s first

bilingual, bicultural school. Maram

focused on the impact of the School

for Peace and the thousands of

Israelis and Palestinians who have

been influenced by their ground-

breaking curriculum.

Highlights of the tour included

meeting with US Ambassador Rich-

ard Murphy in New York, a lunch-

eon hosted by David Hitchcock for

AFNSWAS Advisory Council mem-

bers in Washington, DC; speaking

engagements and meetings with

T h e A m e r i c a n F r i e n d s o f N e v e S h a l o m / W a h a t a l - S a l a m

229 North Central Avenue, Suite 401 Glendale, CA 91203

Phone: (818) 662-8883 Email: afnswas@oasisofpeace.org

Website: www.oasisofpeace.org

The American Friends of Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam is a not-for-profit organization with a 501(c) (3) status under the Internal Revenue Code.

several foundations; and lively

salons in the homes of several

donors along the way. The tour

resulted in new pledges of sup-

port and numerous opportunities

to share the message of the Oa-

sis of Peace. We are grateful to

the many friends and donors

who hosted us during the tour,

and to our two indefatigable

travelers from NSWAS, Ety Ed-

lund and Maram Masarwi.

Editor’s Note: As we go to press,

we have learned that School for

Peace Co-Director Nava Sonnen-

schein will visit the US in October

of 2015 – please stand by for

more news and an update on her

itinerary.

Above, l-r, are Ety Edlund, NYC City Council Member Mark Levine, and Maram Masarwi