In his late thirties, Amit, a Jewish father to two, grew up in Petach Tikva and moved to Haifa, where he lives today, following his involvement in Sadaka Reut. Amit has been working for the past three years at Elem (an association for youth at-risk) with multi-cultural and multi-ethnic population, accompanying youth at risk, and responsible for training and supervision of volunteers. Additionally he is active in the bi-lingual school initiative in Haifa.
During the 80’s Amit participated in Sadaka-Reut’s youth group in Jaffa. In 1993 he joined the commune and thereby became more involved in the movement. He later established a commune for the graduates of Sadaka-Reut, aimed to tighten the relations with the movement’s former youth participants and to prepare them to become future facilitators. During 1997-2000 Amit filled various positions within the organization.
Amit says:
there was a reason why I came to the youth group week after week. I was active back then in other struggles, but being in Sadaka-Reut’s group was a different experience. I dealt with my own racism, with my lack of knowledge about the history of the state and of current affairs…. In Sadaka-Reut there was always a very critical discourse. In my time some people were even critical towards the Oslo Accords. We always directly addressed the national conflict and the Palestinians’ needs to develop their own identity and to demand their collective rights. As a youth it was very important for me to be anti-Zionist, very few groups spoke of it back then… Sadaka-Reut before 2000 was a force, a different language the entered into the field of activism.
In response to the question: how his participation in Sadaka-Reut influenced him, Amit says:
I currently work as a facilitator and an educator. Sadaka-Reut is part of who I am and of my educational approach. It is the political home where I grew up. It shaped who I am in every possible way. So much so, that my circle of friends till this day is comprised of graduates of the movement, and my partner- I met her in the movement.