Photo Credit: Baraa Sharif
As Waseem Hosary traveled to a meeting with local officials in the Arab city of Sakhnin last month, media reported that the bodies of two young men had been found in Nazareth, an hour’s drive south, riddled with bullets. It was the latest example of skyrocketing crime and violence that has plagued Israel’s Arab communities in recent years. Waseem was on his way to discuss a new chapter of Betna, a new Arab youth movement, which he believes will be part of the solution to the core problems facing Arab society in Israel, and thus reduce the epidemic of crime and violence.
Betna is one of ten fledgling social initiatives and early-stage organizations that Shatil has accepted into its new Kickstart incubator. The incubator is one of the three tracks of a larger program to reinvigorate Arab civil society in Israel called Nasij نسيج (tapestry). The two other Nasij tracks—Diyar (homes) and Rawabit (connections)—focus on growing the capacity of mid-size organizations and developing a new generation of Arab-Israeli leaders respectively. Starting in March, when Diyar and Kickstart will launch, all three tracks will be operating concurrently for the first time. This moment is years in the making, with NIF and Shatil staff having spent countless hours building this comprehensive program to bolster Arab civil society. Nasij provides participants in all three tracks with a unique combination of grants and capacity-building training to help them amplify their impact as individuals, organizations, and for Arab civil society as a whole.
“The full launch of Nasij,” said Fida Nara Tabony, director of Nasij and Shatil’s Haifa office, “comes at a time when Arab society is experiencing numerous social and political difficulties related to increasingly racist government policies, ascendant fascism, and a sharp rise in crime and violence.” Nasij is part of the answer, she says. “To overcome these difficulties, we must build a strong, resilient civil society which is exactly what Nasij’s holistic approach aims to achieve.”
For Waseem, for example, the idea that a youth movement can be a vehicle for social change comes from personal experience. It was not so many years ago that he himself was an active member of a different youth movement, and he felt strongly that it instilled in him a sense of purpose at a young age. Moreover, it provided him with the skills and connections that have been invaluable throughout his career as a parliamentary advisor and advocacy coordinator at NIF grantee Sikkuy-Aufoq: For a Shared and Equal Society.
A lot has changed since Waseem’s youth. “Today, a small fraction of Arab youth in Israel participate in youth movements or other informal education frameworks in comparison to their Jewish peers” he says. “Filling that gap in informal education among Arab youth is crucial to building a new generation of independent and influential Arab leaders.”
Betna is already growing rapidly. Founded in 2023, it already boasts over 1,500 members with chapters in 25 Arab-Israeli municipalities. Shatil and NIF’s Kickstart program will help Betna scale up its activities even further.
Waseem is also an alumni of Rawabit, Nasij’s leadership course for Arab young professionals which also boasts a vibrant and active alumni network. Rawabit provides Arab-Israeli activists with a safe space to experience, learn, acquire tools, and get to know each other and their identity. Rawabit is a powerful part of the Nasij strategy, which is to strengthen up-and-coming Arab leaders in their sense of ownership and responsibility towards their community.
The third track of Nasij, Diyar, a three-year program designed to help midsize Arab-Israeli civil society organizations grow and reach their potential, is also launching this month. The eight organizations selected to participate in Diyar are already driving transformative change across Arab-Israeli society in diverse ways—from strengthening local governance and advocating for unrecognized Bedouin villages to expanding educational opportunities and creating thriving cultural hubs.
Through Diyar, these organizations will gain skills for upgrading organizational development, fundraising, policy advancement, and media relations through individual consultancy and group training, as well as funding when they reach program milestones.
It is thanks to NIF donors that the incredible staff of the Nasij program have the support that they need to comprehensively strengthen Arab-Israeli civil society from the ground up.