Final Push: Help Us Reach the Finish Line
We’re almost there!
Thanks to your generosity, we’ve already raised $8,000—enough to cover 4 students:
2 girls, 2 boys, 2 Jewish, and 2 Palestinian.
But 4 more students still need our help before school begins in September.
This is their last year of elementary school at the NSWAS Primary School—a year of growth, friendship, and lasting memories. With your support, we can ensure every one of them starts the year with confidence and joy.
Our Goal: $16,000
$8,000 raised so far
$8,000 left to fund the final 4 students
1 week left before school starts!
Your Gift Provides:
Tuition support
Bus transportation for students outside the village
Enrichment programs & class activities
Every donation brings us closer to the finish line.
Together, let’s give all 8 children the chance they deserve.
When jokes hit harder than negotiations:
Noam Shuster Eliassi’s bold approach to peacebuilding
Could humor be the most powerful tool in changing hearts and minds? In a thought-provoking new Reuters article, Jewish-Israeli comedian and activist Noam Shuster Eliassi shares how she’s traded diplomacy for satire to cut through political noise and reach new audiences.
Here’s How They Do It - The School For Peace
Surrounded by unthinkable disasters, the School for Peace is in universities, clinics, urban planning offices … providing the training to build relationships across differences; asking questions to find ways forward, making small steps to build and rebuild trust. With nearly 30 years experience, and thousands of success stories, the School for Peace has always committed to choosing that which gives life, to a common humanity, to becoming a shared society of local and global citizens committed to one another’s welfare.
Learn how dialogue training works and why it’s so important now. Then enjoy our first look at the rebuilt School for Peace. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes of arson two years ago, the School for Peace offers students and professionals preparation for becoming the wisdom and example we can all follow.
“More than ever before, the noble and imaginative efforts by Neve Shalom to bring together Israelis and Arabs in an atmosphere of cooperation and friendship deserve to be encouraged.”
—Eli Wiesel, Author and Nobel Laureate
We are the American Friends of Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam (“Oasis of Peace” in Hebrew and Arabic), a nonprofit organization committed to supporting Israel’s only intentional Arab-Jewish village.
Join us in our work to promote multicultural equity and secure a genuine, durable peace in the Middle East through real-world, life-changing initiatives and programs.
“If you don’t have faith, you despair, and just curse the dark. That’s not me. I want to light a candle. I want to make a difference, to change public opinion, and to influence the reality we live in.”
— Suhad Hammond Dahleh
“Every day, the Village gives us proof that building knowledge and trust is essential if we really want to reach agreement at the end of the day. It gives us proof that peace is possible.
— Rawnak Natour
“My time in the Village taught me that my job is not to blame others for having terrible eyesight, but to try to understand that they see things differently. It unequivocally changed my life.”
— Michael Sfard
“We had in mind a small village composed of inhabitants from different communities in the country. Jews, Christians, and Muslims would live there in peace, each…finding in this diversity a source of personal enrichment.”
— Father Bruno Hussar
The Village
Since its founding by Father Bruno Hussar in 1970, Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam has grown from a collection of tents and caravans into a vibrant village of more than 70 families, half Jewish and half Palestinian, all with Israeli citizenship.
Residents are committed to collective goals of equality, democracy, and peace. Living side-by-side, Villagers govern together, attend school together, work together, and play together, daily finding connections across language, culture, religion, and politics.
Our Impact
American Friends of Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam gives to a range of Village activities and programs. In 2023-24, we donated a total of $673,000.
$310,000
to the Primary School
$188,000
to the School for Peace
$70,000
to the Humanitarian Aid Program
$65,000
to the Spiritual Center and the Oasis Art Gallery
$40,000
to the Nadi Youth Club
Share in Our Work
The American Friends of Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam supports the Village in many different ways, from fundraising to volunteering to spreading the word. Our efforts not only ensure that their community thrives for generations to come, but that it is held up as a model for all those who are seeking to build a more just, equitable, and peaceful world.