Ahlam Kasim Ali lives in Tur'an in the northern Galilee region. Ahlam has been a group leader in the Palestinian society in Israel for the past 8 years, working for equality and a shared society. Today she is co-executive director of the Ajyal movement.

Amit Ben Ami is a member of the Hashomer Hatzair Educators' Kibbutz in South Tel Aviv. Amit is an educator, activist and poet, and is the partnerships director of the Tzedek Centers movement.

In May 2021, the streets of Israel, in Arab and in shared cities were threatened with violence. Since, and with the current threats to Israel’s democratic infrastructures, the fabric of shared life in Israel is under attack, fueled by extremists, locally and nationally.

The Tzedek Centres movement is a national grassroots movement, built to rehabilitate these wounds and rebuild the power of the public. For the Tzedek Centres, establishing their work in Arab and mixed cities is an acute and primary goal, with NIF Australia funding the first shared centre in Ramle.

Amit and Ahlam will describe the tremendous work of the centres, striving to build a movement rooted in growth and believing in building power from bottom to top and with Arab-Jewish alliance.

As the basic principles of Israeli democracy are threatened by those who wish to drain values of freedom, equality and rule of law, the work of the Tzedek Centres is essential to rebuild an active community that endorses those values. The national project, which has reached more than 250,000 Israelis already illustrates a pathway forward for Israel’s democratic future.