Arab and Jewish residents of the Negev (the southern part of Israel) established the Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equality in 1997. Its aim is to provide a framework for Jewish-Arab collaborative efforts, in the struggle for civil equality and the advancement of mutual tolerance and coexistence. The Forum is composed by a core of 30 volunteer activists, both Arabs and Jews, who dedicate time and effort on a weekly basis to this mission. In addition to this core, there are another two hundred people that join in on selected activities and are continuously updated on issues of interest to the Forum and on the Forum’s activities.
Among the members of the Forum are leaders of the Negev Arab community and academics. The Forum is unique in being the only Arab-Jewish organization established in the Negev and that remains focused on the Negev’s population specific problems.
The Negev Coexistence Forum considers the State of Israel as responsible for the denial of the full civil rights of the Arabs of the Negev. As a result it has set out as one of its mission to advance civil rights and equality in the Negev. The Forum’s activities and projects are based on the principle of Arab-Jewish cooperation.
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