Hand in Hand was established in 1997 to build and strengthen a joint community of Arabs and Jews in Israel.

“As soon as the events began, we rushed to provide support and build resilience to the Hand in Hand community, which was established to promote Arab-Jewish involvement in the country. We have established axes of action to keep the individual members of the Hand in Hand community cohesive, maintain cooperation within the community, and support its people. We believe that in order to overcome this period, we must work on several axes.”

The axes:

The first axis—in the first month of the war: making phone calls and remote meetings between the two sides to ask about their situation and check who was harmed, to make things easier for the association members and to provide assistance, if necessary. It was important at this point to think about the day after the emergency. The shared vision that existed at the beginning of the establishment of this community (hand in hand) helped all members to hold dialogue, participate in events, share concerns and difficulties, and find ways to support members affected by the emergency.

The second axis—attempting to hold on: At the beginning of the state of emergency, there were restrictions on gathering and holding meetings. However, Hand in Hand found solutions to all these challenges. The association held social gatherings in small groups, whether at a picnic or hosting friends at home, to maintain communication and sharing and ensure the resilience of the community and its members that was built years ago.

The third axis—dialogue: Dialogue is the principle and not just a tool or method. At the beginning of the events, there was concern about whether it would be possible to speak. However, the association initiated dialogue meetings from the first week to break down the barriers that existed between the members.