Speakers:
Rawnak Natour
Ron Gerlitz
Co-Directors, Sikkuy: The Association for the Advancement of Civic Equality in Israel
Moderated by:
Ned Lazarus, Visiting Professor of International Affairs, GW
Can Palestinian citizens achieve meaningful civic equality in the Jewish State? Rawnak Natour and Ron Gerlitz are co-directors of Sikkuy, a joint Arab-Jewish civil society organization that advocates for full equality on all levels between Israel’s Palestinian and Jewish citizens. Founded in 1991, Sikkuy works to achieve systemic changes in state policy and resource allocation, aimed at ending decades of public sector discrimination toward Arab citizens. They will report from the front lines of the contemporary struggle for civic equality for 20% of Israel’s citizenry, highlighting initiatives such as their campaign for equal representation of Arab voices in Israeli media, the politics of Arabic language in the public sphere, and the implementation of recently enacted government Decision 922, the most sweeping reform of budgetary allocation vis-à-vis the Arab sector in the country’s history.