Safety and protection of civilians is one of the priorities for East and West Jerusalem residents alike.  The realities, however, are divergent not only between East and West Jerusalem but also among the resident’s dependent on their location, nationality, gender and appearance. These thematic groups examine and discuss some of the differences in protection and safety for residents living and working in different parts of Jerusalem. Drawing on priority focus areas decided by the participants, the Palestinian, Israeli and mixed groups discuss issues of concern to them related to policing, safety, violence, checkpoints, gender-based violence and current realities of protection as well as their hopes and visions for the future.
The groups utilize “photo voice” to capture focus areas and give voice to diverse members of the Jerusalem community. The selected photos on priority problems and visions for change will become a part of a rotating exhibition along with other Jerusalem themes including public spaces, youth and education and political representation. The thematic groups will also contribute to policy papers that will highlight concerns of Jerusalem residents and make recommendations to local, national and international policy makers. 

      

Within the mixed city of Jerusalem, there are significant differences between neighbourhoods and the social groups that inhabit them. Many social and academic organizations attempted to analyse the core problems within disadvantaged neighbourhoods, mostly in East Jerusalem. In this thematic discussion about public spaces in Jerusalem, we invited Israeli and Palestinian residents to voice out their needs and problems. Our attempt is to look at public spaces from a community perspective nested in a mixed city – how can public spaces be equalized between the social groups in Jerusalem? How infrastructure, the most urgent issue raised by Israeli and Palestinian Jerusalem residents, can become a base towards uniting discussion about justice and redistribution? Our bottom-up approach calls upon the residents, with the help of professionals to focus, analyse and recommend how to make the ‘Jerusalem mix’ with its growing public spaces needs an opportunity for a better future in Jerusalem.

 

This thematic group focuses on teenagers living in Western and Eastern side of Jerusalem. The main objective of the Israeli, Palestinian and youth groups is to highlight youth needs and visions including in education, safety and well-being, activities and employment. The method used to tackle those issue will be through workshops and photovoice in schools in East and West Jerusalem and with Kids for Peace.
The groups utilize “photo voice” to capture focus areas and give voice to diverse members of the Jerusalem community. The selected photos on priority problems and visions for change will become a part of a rotating exhibition along with other Jerusalem themes including public spaces, youth and education and political representation. The thematic groups will also contribute to policy papers that will highlight concerns of Jerusalem residents and make recommendations to local, national and international policy makers. In addition, this policy paper will highlight examples and case studies that might help solve youth problems in the city.

These groups examine political representation and shared versus separate life in this divided city. This thematic group will examine different international models of separate, versus shared or open cities. Residents and experts in mixed and separate groups will discuss current political representation and leadership identifying key issues and priorities. The groups will also discuss and propose solutions for issues such as lack of political leadership in East Jerusalem and the current toxic and uncompromising environment.
The groups utilize “photo voice” to capture focus areas and give voice to diverse members of the Jerusalem community. The selected photos on priority problems and visions for change will become a part of a rotating exhibition along with other Jerusalem themes including public spaces, youth and education and political representation. The thematic groups will also contribute to policy papers that will highlight concerns of Jerusalem residents and make recommendations to local, national and international policy makers.