Groundwork

You know that feeling when you look around, and everything just feels too big? Like you just can’t make a difference? That’s the feeling the Tzedek Centers were created to fight. We talked to the co-founder and co-director of the Tzedek Centers, and to an activist from Rehovot whose very small fight represents something very big. In this episode reported by Elisheva Goldberg, we learn about how political change really happens: slow...

Since Israel was established in 1948, Jerusalem’s diplomatic and international status has been controversial and unresolved. The city is often the center of discourse around the political future of the region. Yudith Oppenheimer, a Jerusalem resident herself, is the Executive Director of Ir Amim (City of Nations). In this brief conversation, we spoke to Yudith about her time as a young activist living in South Africa, lessons learn...

Not too long ago, we sat down with Yonatan Zeigen, the son of Vivian Silver, a woman who in both life and death was an iconic peace activist. She was murdered on October 7. In that conversation, Vivian’s son told us about a new award, the Vivian Silver Impact Award which would recognize two women who embody Vivian’s values and work—one Palestinian and one Jewish—every year. 

Yonatan just announced the recipients of the inaugural aw...

Growing up in East Jerusalem during the Second Intifada, Mai Shahin’s childhood wasn’t easy. She was stopped and held by soldiers on her way to school. She saw home raids and increased separation. Even after she joined peace protests during those early years, she saw violent clashes with the military in the streets, and support for violent resistance was growing. But a job working as a translator showed Mai a challenging world, the...

Last May, Sapir Slutzker Amran went viral for her work documenting and supporting aid trucks on the journey to Gaza as they were attacked by people destroying humanitarian aid. As a Mizrahi Jew, a woman, a feminist, a human rights lawyer, as an activist, Sapir doesn’t see Palestinians as just her neighbor. She sees them as her own people. We sat down with Sapir to hear more about her experiences, the power of solidarity, and her wo...

Hundreds of thousands of Israelis fill the streets alongside Einav Zangauker, shouting, “Deal! Now!” Einav’s son Matan was taken hostage by Hamas almost one year ago, and she has since become a leading voice for the hostage families. Her demand is simple–that her son, and the rest of the hostages held in Gaza, come home. This episode tells the story of one mother’s fight, against great odds, to demand better, to bring her son home ...

Last season, Elisheva Goldberg took us on a trip to Umm al Khair, a village in the West Bank carrying on the legacy of the late peace activist Hajj Suleiman. Now, amidst home demolitions and settler violence, we return to Area C for an update on the people living there and the solidarity movements working to support them.

Listen back to Elisheva's first piece, “A Quiet Transfer,” from Season 2 of Groundwork.

Learn more about thes...

On October 7th, Vivan Silver, a lifetime peace activist with Women Wage Peace, AJEEC-NISPED, Road to Recovery, and many more, was murdered in Kibbutz Be'eri. This week, we’re talking to her son, Yonatan Zeigen, about honoring her legacy through his own peace activism. Join us as we talk to Yonatan about his work and the challenges facing peace activists on the ground.

Learn more about the Vivian Silver Impact Award, given to one Pa...

In Israel today, there are only nine bilingual schools. These are schools where Palestinian and Jewish Israeli kids learn alongside one another and lessons are taught in both Hebrew and Arabic. These are the only formal educational institutions where kids learn one another’s histories and cultures, and from an early age, play, study, and work with each other. This week, we’re talking to Mohammad Kundos, a principal in one of these ...

We’re back with season 3 of Groundwork, a podcast about activists on the ground working to end the occupation, stop this endless bloodshed, and demand justice, peace, and equality for all. This week, we’re introducing a new host, activist and comedian Noam Shuster. Noam joins co host Sally Abed to introduce the new season and talk about what these last several months have been like for activists working on the ground in Israel and ...

We just finished season two. But before we sign off fully, we wanted to give you a special episode. We're turning the mic around! Groundwork creator and producer Yoshi Fields sat down with host Sally Abed to talk about her experience as a Palestinian activist in Israel. Sally is a member of the national leadership of Standing Together - the largest Jewish Arab grassroots movement in Israel. 

Groundwork is created and produced by Di...

In Israel-Palestine today, many people feel trapped in a century-long circle of violence. The closest breakthrough came thirty years ago in 1993, with the Oslo Accords. In this week's episode, we hear a story about May Pundak, Executive Director of A Land For All. May is the daughter of one of the architects of Oslo, Ron Pundak. But she thinks she may be onto a different model for peace that can break the cycle where Oslo went wron...

We’re back with our one-on-one series, Ground Report, where we sit down with an activist to have a conversation about who they are, what motivates them, and what kind of future they imagine for the region. This week’s guest is Yara Amayra. Yara is a Palestinian activist from the south of Hebron in the West Bank. She has worked with Women Wage Peace, New Story Leadership, and now works as the Palestinian Co- Director of Land for All...

This week, we're featuring a story from our friends at the Unsettled podcast. Unsettled features difficult conversations and diverse viewpoints on Israel-Palestine and the Jewish diaspora.

The episode is called, "The Calderons are Unsettled (Pt. 1)" and follows Unsettled producer Asaf Calderon. Asaf's parents raised him to think critically and to fight against injustice, even if it means going against what most people consider norm...

Dr. Tareq Abu Hamed is a Palestinian environmental scientist from East Jerusalem, but he works at a Kibbutz near the southern tip of Israel, at the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies. To say this is unusual, is an understatement. Yet, Tareq feels that science gives him a unique way to make connections between Palestinians and Israelis, and even Jordanians, who are all facing the same climate crisis – and also creating a more...

We’re back this week with our one-on-one series, Ground Report, where we sit down with an activist to have a conversation about who they are, what motivates them, and what kind of future they imagine for the region.

This week's guest is Mikhael Manekin. Mikhael is an anti-occupation activist, Director of the Alliance Fellowship, and an Orthodox religious Jew living in Jerusalem. The narrative around the fight for Israel’s values - ...

Our story follows Wasim Almasri, a Palestinian refugee, in his search for belonging in an imperfect homeland. As he attempts to navigate the complexities and multitudes within his own Palestinian identity, we travel with him from a refugee camp in Syria, to a small town in Gaza, and then into the West Bank.

Groundwork is hosted by Sally Abed and Dina Kraft, and produced by Yoshi Fields. The episode was reported and produced by Yosh...

We’re back this week with our one-on-one series, Ground Report, where we sit down with an activist to have a conversation about who they are, what motivates them, and what kind of future they imagine for the region. 

This week’s guest is Robi Damelin, from an organization called The Parents Circle – Families Forum. It’s a joint Israeli-Palestinian organization that includes over 600 bereaved families, all of whom have lost an immed...

Organized crime and violence within Arab communities in Israel is one of the top issues for most Palestinian citizens of Israel. This issue comes ahead of even the Palestinian Israeli conflict. Today we follow activist Maisam Jaljuli, as she visits the recently bereaved families of those that have lost family members to this violence. And we learn about the underlying reasons for the situation. As noted in the episode, you can che...