Working Women
by Michal Schwartz, Asma Agbarieh-Zahalka
This article is based on a paper that is to appear in Erella Shadmi (editor), Hazon Isha: Nashim Borot Olamot Hadashim (The Vision of Woman: Women Create New Worlds), in Hebrew, 2008.
Just a few yards separate Jisr al-Zarqa from Caesarea. The former is among the poorest villages in Israel. The latter houses the elite. Just a few yards—plus a wall built six years ago so that the Caesarea rich would not have to see their neighbors. A similar wall, but invisible, crosses the hyphen of Tel Aviv-Jaffa. You will find the same invisible wall between Jewish Me-Ami and Arab Um al-Fahm, between Nazareth Ilit and Nazareth, between Carmiel and its surrounding villages—in short, wherever Jews and Arabs live near each other. A hair's breadth separates worlds. >>more
Women Hidden from the Eye On the Status of Widows in Arab-Bedouin Society in Israel
by Orly Almi
Excerpts from a lecture to the Convention on Widowhood in Mediterranean Societies, Van Leer Institute, Jerusalem, December 3, 2007
Khittam, a 47-year-old widow and mother of three daughters, has no civil status in Israel. She has lived for 20 years in one of the state-established Bedouin-Arab towns of the Negev. In 1998 she lost her husband, a Bedouin-Arab Israeli citizen. Because her daughters were born here and appear on the father's identity card, they too are Israeli citizens. After his death, an attempt was made through the Welfare Ministry to obtain residency status for Khittam. This was rejected on the ground that only her Israeli husband could apply for her. She and her daughters live on a survivors' allotment, which goes to the eldest, who was married off by the husband's family at age 17. The family also withdrew Khittam's daughters from school at age 12. She had no say in these decisions. >>more
Conversation with Farm Worker Kamila Zeidan
by Samya Nasser
THREE MONTHS AGO Kamila Zeidan (40) joined the labor force in Israel's Arab sector, where only 18.6% of the women work outside the home. Kamila, from Kufr Manda in Galilee, has quickly advanced. She now heads an agricultural work team in the Haifa region. Independent in spirit, she is raising her two children on her own: Sabah (9) and Sumaya (8). >>more
WAC's International Women's Day
by Challenge Staff
ON MARCH 8, International Women's Day, 150 of WAC's farm workers—Arab women all—marched through Tel Aviv, demanding the right to a job. They were joined by delegates of half a dozen women's forums and social organizations. >>more
Thailand and the Israeli Labor Market A Journey through Israel's Agricultural Sector
by Roni Ben Efrat
IN THE LAST WEEK of April 2007, the Workers Advice Center (WAC-Ma'an) hosted a delegation of European and American labor unions, which it had invited to study exclusion and exploitation in Israel's agricultural sector. The basic concept was similar to that of the delegation we hosted in construction in 2004. >>more
Persimmons and Empowerment
by Michal Schwartz
ON INTERNATIONAL Women's Day, March 8, 2007, a group of Arab women will march down a Tel Aviv avenue. All are farm laborers organized by the Workers Advice Center (WAC-Ma'an). Israeli feminists and leftists will join them. The aim of the march is to bring the status of Arab women to the center of public attention. >>more
Bread and Roses in Tel Aviv
by Dani Ben Simhon
AN EXHIBIT CALLED “Bread and Roses,” held on Saturday, September 16, 2006, at the Minshar Gallery in Tel Aviv, assembled works by 180 Jewish and Arab artists in Israel. >>more