Twelve wonderful years have passed since the Central Arava region and the Jewish community of Australia were partnered through the Jewish Agency's Partnership 2000 project. Partnership 2000 was initiated in order to encourage regional development in Israel, and to help develop mutual relations with Jewish communities the world over. Each Israeli region was partnered with a Jewish community abroad: Max Shnider, the first representative of the Australian community, chose the Central Arava as the most suitable partner for Australia, due the pioneering element in both communities, as well as other mutual characteristics (isolated regions, desert agriculture). Close, warm ties have developed between the members of the two communities, despite the great physical distance between them, creating a true "living bridge".

Max Shnider, Australian founding member of the Partnership

Over the years Partnership 2000 has supported many projects that have contributed to the economic development of the Arava, as well as others that have helped raise the level of services provided to the residents, thereby improving the quality of their lives, and enabling the absorption of additional residents. In recent years activists from both communities working together in joint subcommittees have promoted and created projects which deepen reciprocal relations, promote awareness of the Partnership, and assist in regional development. The mutuality of Partnership 2000, as opposed to the traditional philanthropic approach, is what makes this project so unique and exciting.

Young Australians on the "Israel By Choice" program visiting the Arava

The connection between the Central Arava and Australia has become part of the traditions of the region and the community. For the past nine years reciprocal high school delegations have visited their peers in the Arava, Melbourne and Sydney, and have learned at first-hand how each side expresses its Jewish identity. This connection has also become an integral part of curricula in the schools in both communities. Australians visiting Israel know that the Arava is their "home away from home", and hundreds of close, personal friendships have been formed.

The 2006 Arava high school delegation to Australia with their hosts

About the partners

The Australian Community
The Australian Jewish community can trace its roots all the way back to the arrival of the first European settlers in 1788. The community today is flourishing and continually growing, with between 110,000 and 120,000 Jewish people living in mainly in Melbourne and Sydney, with additional Jewish centers in Brisbane-Gold Coast, Perth, Adelaide and more. In recent years the Former Soviet Union and South Africa have been the principal sources of immigration.

Ballarat Synagogue, the oldest synagogue on the Australian mainland, situated on the Victorian goldfields, established in 1853.

Approximately 50 per cent of the Jewish community are either Holocaust survivors or their descendants, or are closely related to its victims. Museums and permanent memorials have been established in a number of cities and efforts continue to improve Holocaust education in the general community.

Jewish education is of major importance in the community, with many children attending the network of Jewish day schools which has developed in Australia, and which has become the envy of many other Jewish communities. Australian Jewry also has a reputation for having a close and meaningful relationship with the Israeli people. Most Australian Jews have family members in Israel and each year many young Australians participate in one of a variety of programs based in Israel. This already existing deep connection with Israel helped facilitate the success of the Partnership 2000 project.

Note: Keren-Hayesod - United Israel Appeal is the central fundraising organization for Israel throughout the world (except the USA), operating in 45 countries on every continent in the world. The total contributions received by Keren Hayesod this year from their annual Australia and Emergency (Second Lebanon) War Campaigns put Australia in first place among all Keren Hayesod communities, and ahead of many North American communities as well.

The Central Arava Region
The Central Arava is the most isolated region in Israel at about130 kms from urban centers (Beersheva in the north and Eilat in the south). The region encompasses 1.5 million dunams, which is about 6% of the land area of the State of Israel, and the population numbers approximately 2,700 residents (540 families), that live in the Arava's seven settlements: five collective agricultural settlements (moshavim) and two community settlements.

The first settlers came to the Arava region with the agricultural branch of the Army (Nahal) in 1960, and set up their tents in a forbidding and barren region, in order to help guard the border with Jordan, and to follow the dictate of David Ben Gurion to make the desert bloom. This would become Moshav Ein Yahav.

Ein Yahav - the beginning years

Golda Meir on a visit to Ein Yahav in 1971, together with Shai Ben Eliahu, one of the moshav founders - look what had been achieved in just over 10 years!

Over the years the region has developed into one of the foremost agricultural regions in the world, producing 60% of the vegetable exports from Israel and 13% of the cut flower exports. The sophisticated agricultural techniques are developed by the local Research and Development Station, which is internationally known for its expertise in desert agriculture.

Moshav Ein Yahav - aerial view 2003

Agricultural produce of the Arava

During the past few years a flourishing tourism industry has developed in the Arava, thanks to its unique and primal landscape, beautiful geological formations, and historical and archeological sites, such as the Ancient Spice Route, along which myrrh and frankincense were carried from Saudi Arabia to the Greek and Roman Empires. Partnership 2000 provided almost all of the funding to establish and operate the regional Tourism Dept., which ensures that visitors to the region find appropriate accommodations, advertises and markets the region, and supports local entrepreneurs in many different ways.

Bedouin style tent at Hazeva guesthouses

How we work together

On the Israeli side the Partnership is headed by director Rina Peretz Gal, who has been with the Partnership since its inception, working tirelessly to promote the goals of the Partnership. Rina and her husband and their four young sons live on Moshav Ein Yahav, the most veteran settlement in the region.

The P2K steering committee guides the policy of the Partnership, and allocates the budget. It is comprised mostly of volunteers, and is co-chaired by Jack Smorgon AO, the federal president of Keren Hayesod - UIA Australia, and by Lilach Morgan, the head of the Central Arava Regional Council.

Jack and  Lilach at a Steering Committee meeting in the Arava

Following an intensive strategic planning process conducted during 2006, three subcommittees were established in both the Arava and in Melbourne, Australia, to advise the steering committee on the main areas of activity of the Partnership: reciprocal relations, education and community, and regional development, which represent the chief goals for the Partnership. For the first time, the subcommittees played an active role in screening projects for the 2007 budget, and the heads of the Israeli committees are also members of the steering committee.

Reciprocal Relations Committee: Concentrates on the personal relationships between the region and the community, and on promotion of initiatives for strengthening the ties between us. Israeli Chair - Orit Kachvan
 
Education and Community Committee: Addresses the development of programs for the promotion of educational and community issues, which will raise the level of services in the region. Israeli Chair - Oshra Bleiberg

 Regional Development Committee: Promotes the adoption of programs which will advance economic and tourist development in the region, with population growth and diversification of sources of income as primary goals. Israeli Chair - Shula Shaham

The Australian members are a committed group of activists whose connection with the Partnership began in 2003 as the ALG (Arava Leadership Group), and they continue their good work today on the subcommittees. The group is co-chaired by two of the most veteran and enthusiastic members, Ron Finkel and Sam Salcman, and receives unfailing support from Miriam Suss, the Executive Director of the Victorian UIA.

Visit of Australian subcommittee members to the Arava in January 2007

From left: Tamara Bruce, Celia Yitzhak, Sam Salcman (Australia Co-chair of the subcommittees), David Miller

We Are Family!

Partnership 2000 works on many levels to support the Arava region, and to create connections between Jews in Australia and in the region. The pride of the region is the annual hosting of the Melbourne UIA key workers in the homes of the residents for a weekend in December or January. The organizers at first didn't believe it would be possible to find enough families willing to open their homes to the visitors from Australia for three days, but the program has proven so successful that there is actually competition among the hosts!

Karen and Danny Lipson with their host in the Arava, Merav Shalev

We are very proud of what we have achieved over the past years. Many of the programs assisted by P2K are now able to stand on their own, and the support of the Partnership has been crucial to the development of the region. We look forward to the future, with great anticipation of even better things to come.