In an atmosphere of intensified racism and incitement following the war in Gaza, a well-attended conference in Karmiel last week offered hope, possibility, and inspiration to everyday people who want a more tolerant, democratic, and equal Galilee.
The Jewish-Arab Galilee Conference aimed not only to bring together northern residents who want a different reality, but to organize them into working groups that will promote concrete solutions. After inspiring keynotes –by Jewish and Arab speakers, participants rolled up their sleeves. They shared ideas for initiatives in roundtable discussions on education, culture, local economy, racism both online and in the media, racism in sports, tourism, and more. By the conference’s end, a date was set for the first meeting of each round-table-turned-working-group.
“Civil society has been at the forefront of bringing together populations in conflict to promote change,” said Dov Koller, a member of the Karmiel Democratic Rainbow in his opening remarks, citing the fight for civil rights in the U.S. and the battle against apartheid in South Africa.
The atmosphere was one of high energy, excitement, and hope. The event received widespread coverage in the local media.
“Everyone wants peace. We have to do something,” said one of a group of women from an activist group in the village of Baneh.
The need for the gathering was evident in the long lines that formed at the registration table well before the conference was scheduled to begin and in the overflow audience.
A number of participants — including teachers who felt they could not respond to the many racist remarks in teachers’ rooms at school and family members who had serious conflicts with relatives over the war — felt relieved, supported, and happy to be in a room full of others who shared their values and wanted to work toward the same goals.
“I didn’t know what to do with myself during the war,” said one woman. Another said her family was furious that her daughter had organized packages to help children in Gaza. They said they no longer felt alone.
SHATIL organized the conference with the Coalition against Racism and the Galilee Forum for Civic Equality and against Racism. Other participating organizations included Mahapch-Taghir, Osim Shalom — Social Workers for Peace and Social Welfare, Givat Haviva, Elmanar, Yad b’Yad, and the Friedrich-Ebert Stiftung.
The idea for the conference grew out of meetings held by the major shared society organizations during the war that re-focused on anti-racism education and regionally oriented work. Each organization took on a different task, with SHATIL taking the lead on getting local people in the Western Galilee and Jerusalem involved in a concrete way.
Muhamad Khalil, head of SHATIL’s Shared Society program, said: “We saw in the difficult atmosphere created by the war both a need and an opportunity – to do something positive in the Galilee, something that would bring hope and positive action.”