January, 2012

The Association for the Commemoration of Bat-Chen Shahak was founded by her parents in 1997 in order to perpetuate the memory of Bat-Chen Shahak, of blessed memory, who was murdered by a terrorist suicide bomber in Tel Aviv during the Purim holiday in 1996. It was her fifteenth birthday.

 http://www.batchen.co.il/english/site/

The Association’s goals include:

**Promoting peace – encouraging meetings between Arabs and Jews of all ages and  

    From all walks of life in hope of nurturing dialogue and rejecting violence.

**Fostering literacy through educational endeavors emphasizing creative writing.

Summary of the numerous activities and projects

The activities and projects have been developed and are being planned by the Association for the Commemoration of Bat-Chen Shahak. We have included links so that you may independently learn more about each project and activity:

Informative lectures for all ages are being offered to various frameworks including schools, colleges, student teachers, pre-army programs, soldiers, and the elderly. Lecture topics include:

 * "For Me, Writing is Wonderful"—a journey through Bat-Chen's diaries with Ayelet Shahak.

 *  "Bat-Chen's Legacy for Peace"- a look at Bat-Chen's diaries with an emphasis on her writings about peace given by Ayelet Shahak.

 *  "From War to Peace" Tzvika Shahak delivers this presentation about his military background and the Yom Kippur War and his transformation into a "warrior for peace." Tvzika is a Lieutenant Colonel (Res.) and holds the medal of honor. 

Sale of The Bat-Chen Diaries

continues in all 7 languages: Hebrew, Dutch, Arabic, Italian, Japanese, Italian German and English.

Writing competition in Bat-Chen's memory in cooperation with the "Aharei" Organization. (http://www.aharai.org.il/)

The topic, "I am an Israeli" is the focus of essays collected for this competition.  The essays are published in a book each year, this being the fifth year of publication. Even President Peres and other dignitaries have received copies of the publication.

"Kites for Peace"—Arab and Jewish Cooperation-An educational program aimed at sixth graders in a Jewish school and an Arab school.

This year, two groups will be working together—Jewish and Arab students—in order to get to know each other and enter into dialog.  This year, the project includes Arab children from Tira and Jewish children from Tel Mond---neighboring towns. One new emphasis which will be given is that of ecology and taking care of our shared environment. This project is sponsored by the Hanns Seidel Foundation.

MOPE (Minds of Peace Experiment): Participation in a public congress for negotiations

http://www.mindsofpeace.org/

The objective of this congress is to include "grass roots; people to people negotiations" between Palestinian and Israeli participants as part of the peace-building process and to build a preliminary foundation for continued contact and negotiations in the future. The Association has funded four congresses from 2009—2011. The last two congresses was made possible through a contribution from

 "The Fund for Reconcialiation Tolerance & peace." http://thefundfor.org/mission

Embracing Our Differences-2009-A yearly art contest in Sarasota, Florida. One of Bat-Chen's drawings won this competition; her drawing was enlarged to billboard size and appeared in a city-wide exhibition. The topic of the drawing was her family and was drawn when Bat-Chen was only 12 years old.

Bat-Chen's winning drawing makes "aliya" from Sarasota- In honor of the new year, 2010, the huge enlarged picture (6 X 4 meters) arrived in Tel Mond with Betty Greenspan, coordinator of activities between Sarasota and its twin sister city, Tel Mond. The picture is on permanent display at an elementary school in Tel Mond.

Yearly scholarship allocation in the memory of Bat-Chen-For the past seven years, a special study-day and scholarship allocation in memory of Bat-Chen has been sponsored and held at the "Center for Academic Studies" in Or Yehuda . http://www.mla.ac.il/

Screening of the movie, "Encounter Point"in cooperation and sponsored by "Just Vision"

http://www.justvision.org/he/encounterpoint

 in private homes, institutions, schools and conferences throughout the country. The audience includes Jewish Israelis from all walks of life, Israeli Arabs as well as Palestinians. Educators, in particular, find the movie relevent and take back an important message to the classroom.    Following the screening, a structured discussion is lead by a professional facilitator/psychologist: Iris Katz-Dotan. Some of the movie particpants  themselves are also present and  partcipate in the discussion.

"Women Weaving a Dialog for Peace"

This is the fourth year in which a group of Arab and Jewish women educators has been formed and workshops have been organized in order to  build bridges of friendship and understanding through art, education and dialog. The past two years, this project has been operated under the auspices of the Ministry of Education. The Hanns Seidel Foundation has contributed to this project from the beginning.

http://cms.education.gov.il/EducationCMS/Units/Haifa/Hanala/Dovrut/nashimrokmot221211.htm

ADDITIONAL PLANS FOR THE COMING YEAR: 2012

·        To increase the number of screenings of the movie, "Encounter Point" to additional audiences throughout the country.

·        The women educators will plan and implement projects in their classrooms and school which were developed in the workshop "Women Weaving a Dialog for Peace."

·        The Diaries of Bat-Chen are presently being translated into Russian.

All of the above-mentioned programs are the initiative and creation of the Association for the Commemoration of Bat-Chen Shahak which emphasizes two goals: *encouraging literacy and  *building bridges for peace.

This is a non-profit organization.

These activities are implemented by volunteers

Every project is like a diamond…and as you know….diamonds cost money! Therefore we appreciate all donations and assistance.