With little recent progress in peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, many Israelis and Palestinians are focusing on people-to-people (P2P) approaches between the two communities, with a goal of promoting understanding and cooperation “on the ground.” One NGO (non-profit) that has taken this approach and begun to have a substantial impact in recent years is Project Rozana. What does Project Rozana do?
Project Rozana logo used with permission of Project Rozana.
A. Project Rozana’s mission is to create “pathways to peace” between Israelis and Palestinians by providing funding and other support of health-care initiatives. Named after a Palestinian girl, Rozana, who received life-saving emergency medical treatment at Hadassah Hospital, Project Rozana’s focus is on health-care as a bridge between Israeli and Palestinian communities. The organization supports volunteer Israeli drivers who bring seriously ill Palestinian children from the security crossings to Israeli hospitals for treatment, funds the training of Palestinian doctors in Israeli hospitals, and pays for medical care for Palestinian children when Palestinian Authority funding is not available.
B. Project Rozana operates day camps which are open to both Jewish and Palestinian children in Israel. Even in cities with mixed populations, such as Haifa, Akko, and Jaffa, this is one of the few opportunities in which children from both communities can play together and get to know each other on a one-to-one basis. Project Rozana was started by the family of an Israeli girl named Rozana who had attended a similar camp in Maine under the auspices of the Seeds of Peace organization. Rozana’s family felt that bringing the concept into Israel was the next step forward in promoting peaceful interaction between the communities.
C. Project Rozana is a cooking school established in Haifa by Israeli chef Michael Solomonov of Philadelphia and named after his mother Rozana, who inspired him as a chef. The school is open to Israelis and Palestinians, and provides chef training as well as courses in restaurant management and related hospitality skills. Tuition is free, as Solomonov raises funding from Israeli and Palestinian chefs and restauranteurs around the world, including Alon Shaya of New Orleans, and Israeli Yotam Ottolenghi and Palestinian Sami Tamimi, co-authors of Jerusalem: A Cookbook.
D. In 2018, a group of Israeli settlers on the West Bank set fire to an olive tree orchard owned by a local Palestinian. Hearing this story on the news, a 7-year-old Israeli girl named Rozana told her parents that she wanted to send the orchard owner some olive tree seeds. The girl’s father explained that the trees did not actually grow from seeds, but he used this moment as an inspiration to collect olive tree cuttings which he and Rozana brought to the Palestinian to help him replant his orchard. Following this initial effort, the man established Project Rozana to provide tree cuttings, seeds, and saplings to Palestinian and Israeli families who could not afford them.
E. Project Rozana was established by the wife of a prominent Jerusalem rabbi. The woman, the Rebbetzanna Rozanne Rozeannadanna established Project Rozana in response to a letter she received from a congregant. She tells the story thusly: A Mr. Richard Feder, formerly of Fort Lee, New Jersey and now of Ramat Trump, Israel, wrote in and said, Rebbetzanna Rozanne Rozeannadanna there’s another election coming up and I don’t know who to vote for. Do I vote for Blue and White, or Black and Blue, or Jerusalem of Gold? Do I vote for Bibi or Barak or Benny or Baba Ghanoush? Should I be Progressive or Secular or Sephardi or Haredi or Jewish or Arabish or just pro-marijuanish? Am I for a one-state solution or a two-state solution or a deep-state solution or a deranged mental state solution? Am I pro-Israel or pro-Palestine or pro-Philistine or pro-Phyllis Diller? Or should I just return to Fort Lee and vote in the American election, which isn’t so complicated? So I told him, Mr. Feder, you sure ask a lot of questions. But I’m gonna help you, because it’s like my abba used to say–Rebbetzanna Rozanne Rozeannadanna, if it isn’t one thing it’s another. If it isn’t Bibi, it’s Bubbie. If it isn’t Haredi, it’s Havruta, and if it isn’t Havruta, it’s Havarti. And speaking of Havarti, did you ever eat that labeneh cheese? You know, the one that isn’t yogurt, and it isn’t cottage cheese, and it isn’t cream cheese. I don’t know what kind’a cheese it is. But I do know that when you try to eat it, you don’t know if you should swallow it or spit it out or swish it or just hold it in the side of your mouth until it mixes with your saliva and just kinda melts away. Which just thinking about it makes me wanna puke. So that, my friends, is why I created Project Rozana. To help you decide which cheese to choose, which political party to patronize, and whether to vote for King Bibi, BB King, the BBC, or Bebe Rebozo.