ALLMEP Members kick off the school year with “Back to School” initiatives, learn more with our Back-to-School Roundup 

School is back in session and ALLMEP members are working hard to bring youth together to break down barriers to peace. 

ALLMEP Member Hand in Hand welcomed back more than 2,000 Arab and Jewish students to classrooms across their six schools. 

They are starting off the school-year with exciting announcements regarding their programming, including opening the first ever integrated, bilingual 7th grade class in Haifa, expanding their Kfar Saba School to 5th grade, and embarking on year two of the Student Community —a university-based Jewish-Arab leadership program. 

Hand-in-Hand Schools are also continuing their Multicultural Training Program, providing multicultural training to 15 public preschools in Jaffa and Nof HaGalil. 

ALLMEP Member A New Way has started the school year in full vigor, with registration of their core program for elementary school students well underway with a record number of applicants. 

They have also launched their joint study program for matriculation in citizenship as well as welcomed new instructors to join their team. They look forward to a year full of meaningful and diverse actions working towards a stronger and better society.

ALLMEP Member the Freddie Krivine Initiative are starting the year with a new, twice-weekly bus to bring children from Jisr az Zarka for tennis training. 

FKI is hosting a Homework Club at the courts at Beit Hananya. The Homework Club, with the support of English- and Hebrew-speaking volunteers, gives children the confidence to use their new languages. A combination of returning and new participants, the program already has 65 students signed up.

In addition to these programs, the FKI team took an older group of teens to a Kids Day event, ahead of the Israel Czech Republic Davis Cup match, and had the opportunity to play on the court with Israel’s top five players.

On September 22nd, a reunion of Jewish and Arab teen girls from the FKI’s summer camp, joined ALLMEP Member Women Wage Peace, as a new tennis program opened at Faradeis. Two more due to open in the next few weeks. 

ALLMEP Member Parents Circle- Families Forum will continue their 21st year of Dialogue Meetings program for both youth and adults in schools, community centers, and other frameworks. The program is specifically geared towards groups of high school age students and educational teams, such as teachers and school administrators. The dialogues give participants the opportunity to witness differing perspectives from Israelis and Palestinians and their stories in relation to the conflict. After sharing their stories, an open conversation takes place in which the participants are invited to practice respectful discussion skills and ask questions. 

The Dialogue Meetings program has had 8,500 meetings and reached 250,000 people. From these conversations, 85% of participants feel they have gained a better understanding of the “other.” In addition, the Dialogue Meetings were approved to be included in the Israeli Ministry of Education’s pool of suggested external programs.

One participant said, “My school has been holding these dialogue sessions for eight years, and I can say, with a hand on my heart, that this is one of the most valuable activities we have to offer. Do you want thinking, critical, valuable and humane graduates? This is the activity you want your youth to take part in.”

ALLMEP is excited to amplify the peacebuilding work of our members in the education and youth sectors as a new school-year begins. For a full list of our members and their sectors, please visit https://www.allmep.org/about-us-allmep/members/