Following the success of our first activity in Haifa, we returned to this model city of coexistence and multiculturalism for a second educational seminar. This time, however, instead of bringing just Palestinian women, we also invited female Jewish participants.
Spending most of the time with the Ahmadiyya community in Haifa, our participants got to meet with the community leaders as well as embark on a tour of the mosque, the Kabir neighborhood, the community library, as well as stop in on a joint Arab-Jewish children’s bilingual class.
We were encouraged by the fact that our participants were particularly engaged, not only with the meetings and activities we had prepared for them, but also with one another. In so doing, in leaving Haifa, our participants took the city’s spirit of coexistence back home with them.
“We were encouraged by the fact that our participants were particularly engaged, not only with the meetings and activities we had prepared for them, but also with one another.”
For information about our other activities see here
"The connecting Hamza" association initiates connecting Jews and Arabs, Israelis and Palestinians, through learning each other's language.
The purpose of this learning is to provide a basis for an ongoing process of getting familiar with the meanings and nuances that are embedded in each language in order to pave the road to understanding the cultures and traditions of the participants.
The process of teaching each other creates bonding on a personal level through a combination of fun and challenge.
The process will include, among other things, educational and cultural workshops, such as: sharing authentic Arabic and Israeli music, food, lectures, watching films and discussing them and tours that allow experiencing the togetherness through fun, non-political activities.
Getting to know each other on a personal level allows the participants to overcome the barrier of fear, suspicion and dehumanization of the other.
Hamzah (Arabic: همزة) (ء) is a phonemic glottal stop in Arabic that is produced at the beginning of uttering a sound. More precisely, hamzat QaTaA is a sound that blocks the vocal tract.
However, the name of our non-governmental organization is derived from hamzat wasil (hamzat al-wasil همزة الوصل) which, UNLIKE the hamzat QaTaA, does not block the vocal tract but rather helps connecting and merging the sounds of two words.
This phenomenon symbolizes the purpose of our activities: to connect people from both sides on an individual level through language despite the barriers; Despite the "hamzat QaTaA": the obstacle that blocks the progress, the flow and the connection.
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The Connecting Hamza / המזת החיבור 