Study Tours

Study tour 1: Human and community rights in the Negev region

Trip to the southern city of Arad and a tour at two sites:

  • A meeting with environmental activists at the proposed site of a new phosphate mine, who are conducting a struggle against the construction of the mine. The struggle is led by representatives of Arad and of the Bedouin town of El-Pourah.
  • A visit to the old shopping center of Arad: over the past two years African refugees and asylum seekers have came to Arad in search of employment. One of the reasons being government policy which channels refugees away from the Tel Aviv area towards the more peripheral towns. The shopping center is a target for these refugees in their attempts to find employment.

Trip from Arad to Hura – a planned Bedouin town:

  • Discussion of the forced urbanization process of the Bedouin population. A tour of the town with a focus on the gap between the official planning policy and the use of space by the residents themselves.
  • Lunch at the Bedouin women's cooperative, a grass-roots organization that provides women with the opportunity to work and earn a livelihood.

A trip to Tarabin and Omer

  • A tour of the Tarabin area and meeting with the residents. The Tarabin area constitutes an unrecognized Bedouin village.
  • A tour of the Omer industrial park and from there a tour of the industrial park of Tel Sheva (a neighboring Bedouin town). The discussion will focus on the right to equal employment and local development policy.

Study tour 2: Globalization and the boundaries of the city

A trip to the Tel Aviv central bus-station area:

  • Meeting with a representative of the Organization for Refugee Aid and discussion of the circumstances which brought the refugees to Israel, the government's policy versus the policy of the Tel Aviv municipality. The trip includes a tour of Neve Shaanan street and visits to local businesses run by refugees.

A trip to Jaffa:

  • A visit to the Andromeda gated community and a discussion of the creation of class boundaries in the city.
  • A tour of the Ajami neighborhood and a discussion of the gentrification processes in Jaffa.

Study tour 3: From Be'er Sheva to Hebron through Jerusalem

  • The Meitar Crossing as a border crossing
  • Hebron and Kiryat Arba: settlement processes and ethno-national struggles.
  • A trip to Jerusalem: the Gilo neighborhood – Sefer neighborhood and the marking of the urban border.
  • Har Choma: a new settlement
  • Abu-Dis: the separation barrier and its impact on East Jerusalem.