Coming up.... April 26 to 28, 2012
Sha’ar la-Adam Festival ‘A Fire for Peace’
Every year, around the time of the Shavuot (tabernacles) festival, the Centre holds a multi-cultural
festival at its centre in the forest. Hundreds of people young and old, children and adults – Arabs and Jews – are
taking part in the festival that lasts for three days and included shows, creative workshops with natural materials,
conversation circles and more. This is an opportunity to meet and enjoy together from a familial and cultural
event in the midst of the Galilean nature.
The staff of sha'ar la'adam alongside other Arab and Jewish partners joins efforts in the creation of the festival
so that it could address the varied population in our area.
The festival will take place for the ninth time on June 2011. It is the highlight of the
artistic and social activities going on throughout the year, celebrating
Jewish and Arab culture and understanding. It is entirely organised by
volunteers who see it as their mission to create a place of living
encounter between the different religions of the region, out of the deep
belief that peace is not a faraway dream, but that it can be brought to
life even in the simplest of acts.
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The festival program includes:
Day and Afternoon Activities:
- Story-telling
- Stand-up comedy workshop
- "Dancing through walls" workshop
- Belly Dance workshop
- Family activities: craft workshops, children's plays and puppet theater
Evening Activities:
- International Story-Telling evening
- Arabic and Jewish poetry evening
- A play by the Sha'ar laAdam - Bab lil'Insan theatre group
- Celebration of the Bedouin legacy
Tent and camping area (showers and toilets provided)
A place to meet and relax over coffee and delicious vegetarian food
About the 2010 “Fire of Peace” festival
The festival took place at Sha'ar laAdam - Bab l'ilInsan for three days on May, as every year
in the past eight years at this time. It was located at the forest between the Bedouin village of Ka'abiyye and Kibbutz Harduf
in the Galilee of Israel. The festival included various activities such as: workshops and theater for children,
a puppet theater, hosting elementary school children from Ka'abiyye and Shfar’amr, an Arab-Jewish lyric evening,
Arab dance performances and more. The theatre plays where performed by the Speech and Drama school and by Hamila
Theatre. In addition, the area offered camping, delicious meals, a tent to relax at etc.
The initiators of the festival explain that the importance of the festival is in bringing the nations closer together
through joined cultural activity. Crafts, listening to music or watching a play, in the open nature and in a
relaxed atmosphere – there is nothing like it to decrease fear of the other and allow true meeting that leads to common
fruitful action.
The visitors of the festival reported positive experiences and say that they "felt at home" at Sha'ar laAdam - Bab lil'Insan.
They say that it is a joint place, both for Arab and Jews, where both people feel equally belonging to and no one is a stranger at.
As the Arab school children from Shfar’amr and Ka'abiyye arrived, they ran out of the busses and felt as if the place was
their own. The other Jewish visitors wandered around with ease.
Dream catchers and woolen ball necklaces where part of the products of the children's workshops. For the Jewish children
such workshops are a common thing, but for the Arab children it is an experience that they have almost only at this festival.
They received guidance from the instructors, worked with enthusiasm and enjoyment and at the end of the day went home with
their own self-made art product. This is a memory that they will keep for a long time.
A group conversation about the common life of Arabs and Jews in Israel took place on the first evening. The participants
expressed their thoughts, feelings and experiences on the subject. As the conversation deepened, the burning questions of
this time arose in their harts, these questions became the seeds planted within the group members for the future.
Diane Kaplan and Wafa Ibrahim performed a wonderful joint Jewish-Arab singing evening. They sang in three languages: Arabic,
English and Hebrew. After them Mahamud Subah and Yaacob Arnan have red out Arabic Hebrew poetry. The audience took part in
the evening with singing and music playing. An intimate and pleasant atmosphere was created among the participants of
that evening.
Arabic dance performances concluded the festival. First performed the belly dancer Tamar, with eastern music in the
background. She dazzled the crowd with her bright smile, especially when she went off the stage and danced among the
viewers. Following, performed a "Debka" group from Yafeea, which is a dance band of youngsters. In an even rhythm and perfect
coordination the danced tirelessly. The excited audience took part again and as the performances ended, joined the dancing
on stage.
The eighth festival - Fire of Peace concluded, with new experiences, uncommon meetings, fresh new thoughts,
and experiences in art and culture.
