neighbors.org.il

Schenim - Neighbors for Joint Development in the Galilee ("Neighbors") is a non-profit organization established in 2002 and made up of professional architects, urban and regional planners, engineers, environmentalists and mediators, Arabs and Jews, who have joined together to create a different planning reality in the region in which we live, the Galilee. This region in Northern Israel is characterized by open green spaces as well as large Arab and Jewish populations living in separate towns and villages with large socio-economic gaps between them. One of the most difficult and sensitive causes of tension and conflict between the two populations is land, its planning and distribution, and this is the issue that we think is imperative to address in a way that will make honest, result-oriented work possible.

The present planning model is one that views the Galilee as a series of segregated areas for Arabs and Jews, ignoring both the reality of day-to day contact between the two populations, but more importantly, the great potential for increased economic and cultural cooperation in the future. Increased cooperation does not imply erasing cultural and other differences between communities, but rather, as the name "Neighbors" suggests, giving expression to the common elements and interests of the various populations living here, while respecting the particular qualities of each of them.
The model that we are developing is one that views the region as one planning entity populated by many different ethnic and cultural groups, living in equality and mutual respect. This model will promote centers that serve all of the populations, thus providing a more efficient use of the land that will maximize open green spaces. Thus we fuse our environmental concern for the land together with our social concern for the well-being of the communities living on it and the relations between them.
All of the stakeholders in the Galilee must be willing to change if they want a better future for the region: the Jewish residents need look around them and see the enormous gaps between their towns and villages and those of their Arab neighbors – in particular in housing and infrastructure - and the urgent need to close those gaps; the Arab residents need to change building and planning patterns in their towns and villages to enable development, and where appropriate, urbanization; the planning establishment must learn to view the region as one entity, and not as unconnected islands with differing rules and standards. What makes Neighbors unique among the many organizations working in the region is our professional planning focus combined with our mixed Jewish and Arab membership and board. This puts us in a position to show the way toward the abovementioned changes, through authentic and honest dialogue with residents and leaders. Neighbors works through a three-tiered process that combines face-to-face working sessions between Jewish and Arab professional planners, inclusion of the general public through meetings and conferences as well as through national and local media and the internet, and a program of advocacy toward municipal and governmental offices.

Our decision to devote ourselves to planning issues stems from our belief that land-related issues have the potential either to tear apart our beautiful landscape, or, with careful and thoughtful work, to make it one of the most prosperous and fascinating places to live in. The emphasis on planning is focused but not limiting, as it combines all aspects of human life: housing, protection of the environment, transportation, and the creation of educational, medical commercial and industrial centers for the benefit of all.