HATD DIRECTOR’S NEWSLETTER SUMMER 2023

Summer 2023 | Healing Across the Divides Newsletter

It is a historic time in an ongoing conflict that is more than 75 years old. At this moment, the extent of the authoritarian turn of the current Israeli government is unclear. Participants on the 2023 Healing Across the Divides Study Tour have reported witnessing local demonstrations in support of democracy primarily for the Jewish people living in Israel. At the same time, Israelis continue to expand their presence in the occupation with the government deciding to re-establish the settler outpost on land in the West Bank that Palestinians own. And tragically violence against Palestinians both in Israel and the West Bank continues unabated. We will keep updating our community as more updates on this ongoing conflict occur. For sure, despite the daily drumbeat of challenging news, the Healing Across the Divides staff and board are redoubling our efforts to be more engaged – both monetarily and through consultation.

Healing Across the Divides Study Tour

We are pleased to announce that the 2023 Study Tour went ahead without a hitch – that is to say no one got Covid! With Emili Rishmawi and Yael Moav leading us from Mejdi Tours, we had respectful conversations and perspectives about the conflict, learning about many other aspects of life in the region, all while eating wonderful Middle Eastern food. 
 
Our next HATD study tour will be March 17-27 2024 and is currently open for registration. We hope to see you there for a unique and unforgettable journey to Israel and the West Bank.

Grantee Highlights

We are excited to be working on two new cross-Green Line partnerships. One partnership is between 2 Palestinian groups: YES Theatre (previously funded) based in Hebron in the West Bank and Siwar, based in East Jerusalem. Both groups work in the area of drama therapy. In addition to learning from each other, one of the mission objectives of Healing Across the Divides, they will directly engage with hundreds of drama therapy participants. We just approved their approach to evaluating their work and the two groups should be starting any day now. 
 
The second partnership is between two groups we have funded in the past- Diabetes Palestine (DP) and Ahli Balata Club (ABBC) both based in the West Bank together with a new group based in Nazareth. The three groups have submitted a letter of intent. They propose to learn from each other and implement a program to improve self-confidence and empowerment for individuals with chronic disease, in this case diabetes; a program developed at Stanford, the Chronic Disease Self-Management Program (CDSMP) has been translated and validated in Arabic. DP and ABBC have already implemented the CDSMP in hundreds of individuals. 

For our full list of current grantees, please click here.

2022 Annual Report

We are pleased to announce that our 2022 Annual Report is now live and available for viewing on our
website. We hope you’ll take the time to look back on all of our accomplishments as we work towards an
even more successful 2023. 
 
Click here for our 2022 Annual Report

Call for New Proposals

While we continue to work with current grantees, We are pleased to announce a new call for proposals for NGOs/ Community Based Groups (CBOs) that seek to improve the health of marginalized Israelis and Palestinians in any manner within a community framework in both Israel and Palestine.  Key points and please spread the word:
 
Israeli proposal – we encourage applications serving Jews and Palestinians. We encourage joint Israeli and Palestinian (West Bank) partnerships. One grant is reserved for groups working with African Refugee Asylum Seekers. Due date for preliminary maximum 2 page proposal is July 15.

Please visit our website to learn more.

We are always looking for new and innovative ways to grow our audience with supporters like you. Help
grow our mission’s impact across the divides by forwarding this on to one other person in your
community. Interested in learning more about HATD? Contact us today at [email protected].
Thanks again for all your engagement and support!

Norbert Goldfield, MD | Founder and Executive Director