JERUSALEM | On July 28, nearly 30 Israeli Seeds of Peace educators and social activists toured the northern Israeli city of Ma’alot-Tarshiha, which was created when one Palestinian and one Jewish town joined together in order to improve infrastructure, education, and economic opportunity.
The group, consisting of Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel, visited a community center in Ma’alot, where a group of Palestinian and Jewish women use art as a common language. They also toured a mixed neighborhood and heard from a panel of the neighborhood’s residents.
The educators ended the day with a visit to the nearby Christian town of Mi’ilya, which has focused on maintaining a homogeneous community.
The program was organized by an Israeli Seeds of Peace Educator, Haya Shapira.
“Seeing these different ways of living sparked meaningful conversation among the group and left them with a lot of questions to think about and discuss,” she said.