Relationship that created a talking space for Jews and Arabs

Published: 6 August 2018

Last updated: 4 March 2024

WHEN NITSAN GORDON moved with her family at age 10 from Kibbutz Magal to Signal Mountain, Tennessee, she was in for a rude awakening. Kids threw rocks at her because she was Jewish. When her class learned about the Holocaust, two kids whispered to her that it was wonderful all the Jews were killed but unfortunate she wasn’t among them.

A dance therapist, Gordon returned to Israel for the second time in 1989 in the middle of the First Intifada after completing her master’s degree, wanting to do something for coexistence.

At the Arab Pedagogical Centre in Acre, where she did dance therapy with Arab kindergarten teachers, the director of the centre, a Muslim woman, asked her if she was interested in raising funds for a coexistence program. Gordon identified and recruited Jewish and Arab kindergarten teachers, hoping the kids could be reached while they were still too young to develop prejudice.

In 2002 Silvia Marjeyeh, a Palestinian, was studying for her master’s degree when a friend told her about a group of Arab and Jewish women meeting in Rosh Pina. There, she met Gordon.

The relationship led to the founding of Together Beyond Words, a non-profit that serves as a talking space for Jews and Arabs all over Israel.

FULL STORY ‘Together beyond words’ opens dialogue for Jews and Arabs (Jerusalem Post)

Photo: Exercise in building trust (Nitsan Gordon)