Meet Aya and Aya, two of our alumnae from the Gesher school. One is Jewish, one is Arab, and both graduated from the Wadi Ara elementary school—with just one year between them. We met with them last week at our annual community activists' retreat—here's what they had to say about…

Hallel and Haneen grew up 10 minutes from each other in Jerusalem, but only met as teachers in the Max Rayne Hand in Hand Jerusalem School. This year they are 9th grade co-teachers and they shared their story at the shared Memorial Day Ceremony last week, with hundreds of students,…

March 8th, 2018 For International Women's Day, we are celebrating women leaders at Hand in Hand. Shada Edress Mansour is the community organizer in the newest community in Kfar Saba and has been a leader in making gender equality a priority in Hand in Hand schools and communities.    I…

March 8th, 2018 For International Women's Day, we are celebrating women leaders at Hand in Hand. Dr. Merav Ben-Nun is the Deputy Director of the Community Department at Hand in Hand as well as one of the founders of the Hand in Hand Haifa School.    I’m from Haifa and…

In Hand in Hand elementary school classes, there are co-teachers, one Jewish and one Arab, who teach together in Hebrew and Arabic. Together, teachers model cooperation and respect for students, and in the process, go through transformations of their own. Yusra, a new teacher and Dana, a veteran teacher, co-…

"Everywhere I go – I am proud to say that I am a graduate of the Galilee School. A place where I learned that every person has endless richness and is a world unto themselves; that every person has a place and a path. I grew up knowing that Aya…

In February 2017, Hand in Hand Alumni Fatima Yahia and Bar Itamari stood together in front of thousands at a gathering for Jewish-Arab cooperation and said: “We are here to assure all of you that living together is possible.”   Bar and Fatima became friends in 1st grade when they…

In February 2017, Hand in Hand Alumni Fatima Yahia and Bar Itamari stood together in front of thousands at a gathering for Jewish-Arab cooperation and said: “We are here to assure all of you that living together is possible.” Bar and Fatima became friends in 1st grade when they started…

amia and Lihi are both mothers in the Haifa Preschool with sons who started 1st grade today. This first grade is the first of its kind in Haifa and will grow into a full elementary school in the years to come. But the road to this day was long, below…

In my first week as the school principal, a father of one of the students came into my office. He was tall, with a mustache, and when he saw me, a small woman on a chair behind the desk, he couldn’t take it and spoke to me disrespectfully, witheringly. So…

Mohamad is the Community Department Director and one of the founders of the Hand in Hand Wadi Ara School. Below is his story and his famiy's story, in his own words:  I grew up in the village of Aara, an Arab village in Wadi Ara, in the center of Israel.…