On May 28th, 2015, the Third Givat Haviva Shared Society Conference took place on the Givat Haviva campus. More than 400 representatives from civil society, foundations, and local councils, and an array of scholars, Israeli leadership and activists participated.
The Conference featured distinguished speakers, panel discussions and the unveiling of a vision document, “The State of Israel as a Shared Society for its Jewish and Arab-Palestinian Citizens,” which was formulated over two years by a group of Jewish and Arab activists under the sponsorship of the Institute for Human Security, The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University.
President of Israel, Reuven Rivlin, delivered the keynote address. Additional speakers included Minister of Gender and Minority Equality Gila Gamliel (Likud); Knesset members Zehava Galon and Tamar Zandenberg (Meretz), Ayman Odeh and Ahmad Tibi (Joint List), Roi Folkman (Kulanu); the German ambassador to Israel; representatives of the Bank of Israel and academia; representatives of civil society foundations active in the field; municipal and regional heads; and many more.
Panel discussions covered such topics as “Municipal Equality and Cooperation” (in collaboration with Shatil); “Joint Living in Sustainable Democracy” (in collaboration with the Citizens Accord Forum); “Employment in a Shared Society” (in collaboration with NAAMAT) and “Teaching Arabic and Hebrew as a Tool for Shared Living” (in collaboration with the Abraham fund Initiatives).
A number of speakers reflected on how this conference fills a need for a nation-wide discussion on shared society between Jewish and Arab citizens as an important parallell to national conferences dealing with economy, security or social justice:
Minister Gila Gamliel was passionate in her remarks about the importance of closing gaps and reaching equality between Jews and Arabs in Israel. She also spoke about the recently established Ministerial Committee on the Arab Sector the importance of direct and ongoing dialogue with the Arab leadership to promote both development and trust.
MK Ayman Odeh, Head of the Joint List, focused his talk on the possibility and desirability of building a shared society, and on “the beauty, rather than danger of diversity”.
Introducing President Rivlin, Mohammad Darawshe, Director of Planning, Equality & Shared Society in Givat Haviva appealed for “a civil consensus that will turn us into a normal country that recognizes all sectors of the population. And then we need a leadership brave enough to start implementing this joint vision and creating success stories.”
In his closing address, President Rivlin stated that “raising awareness of relations between Jews and Arabs in all areas in Israel’s mainstream is a mission of highest importance, and minimizing such awareness is criminal negligence.” Givat Haviva’s CEO Yaniv Sagee thanked the president and his wife for honoring the conference with their presence and for his impressive efforts to improve relations in Israeli society and his campaign against racism and exclusion.