Most of Israel’s mixed cities face complex social and economic challenges while representing some of the greatest opportunities to strengthen Jewish-Arab relations. In recent years, American-style community development models are being explored as a way to connect affordable housing projects to broader urban revitalization and social cohesion goals.
In January, the Ramat Eshkol neighborhood in Lod, one of Israel’s lowest-income neighborhoods, will be the site of a public-private revitalization pilot, including mixed-income housing, public schools and facilities, and social services. Can such projects address the needs of a mixed Jewish and Arab population? Will this new model effectively enhance economic opportunities?
On January 16 Avital Blonder of JINDAS and Ben Mayost of the Lod Economic Corporation, and renowned American urban revitalization expert Richard D. Baron discussed the prospects and scalability of such community development initiatives in Israel.
Co-hosted by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Israeli Arab Issues, UJA-Federation of New York and the Jewish Funders Network.