ISRAEL CONNECT & YOUNG JNF ISRAEL TRIP 2011 PROGRAMME

MONDAY 19TH SEPTEMBER

Jerusalem
Bring modest clothing for Kotel.

09.00 Welcome & Israel Update
Overview of programme, meet the group.
Speaker: Update on current political situation by Israeli spokesperson

11.00 Fruit Picking / Volunteering
Through Project Leket, volunteers, through the support of farmers, go into fields to pick and gather fruits and vegetables that were left and not harvested at the end of the season. All of the collected produce is distributed to non-profit organisations serving people in need of food, located throughout Israel.
An ideal way to get to know the rest of the group in an informal, fun and different setting!

12.50 Lunch

15.00 Tree Planting
Plant a tree in the Lord Sacks Forest in Jerusalem.
Did you know? Israel is the only country in the world that entered the 21st Century with more trees than it began the 20th Century with. This was achieved in a country that is more than half desert.

16.30 Gilad Shalit Tent
Gilad Shalit is an Israeli IDF who was captured on the 25th June 2006 by Hamas in a cross-border raid. He has been held hostage at an unkown location in Gaza by Hamas since then, with no access allowed by his family, the Red Cross, or anyone. His family (father Noam and mother Aviva) has set up a tent utside the residence of the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem to demonstrate for their relative's release.

17.30 Kotel
The Western Wall, or the Kotel, is known as the most significant site in the world for the Jewish people.

20.30 Dinner in Tel Aviv

22.00 Tel Aviv by night
A chance to let your hair down and get to know the group. Experience Tel Aviv’s incredible night life whilst overlooking the sea.

TUESDAY 20TH SEPTEMBER

Down South!
Bring your swimming costume!

08.45 Leaving Hotel

10.00 Sderot Indoor Recreation Center
Over the past few years, the Israeli communities on the border with Gaza have endured continual Kassam rocket attacks. These attacks are untargeted, but some have hit residences and schools, killing 11 citizens and hurting hundreds more. The city of Sderot, located on the border with Gaza, has been hardest hit — its children growing up in the shadow of violence, fear, and uncertainty. To directly impact the lives of the children of Sderot and provide them with the chance to simply be kids the largest indoor playground in Israel in Sderot has been built. The all-inclusive Indoor Recreational Center opened on March 10, 2009 to provide Sderot’s youth with a place to have fun, connect with friends, enjoy stimulating classes, and be children, beyond the conflict. A place to feel strong and free, away from their daily helplessness and anxiety. And parents can have peace of mind knowing that their children are playing and learning in an environment that is safe and secure.

12.15 Halutzit
A remarkable community of pioneers at Halutzit in the Northern Negev who have seen their communities dismantled twice in the name of peace, first at Yamit in Sinai, and then at Atzmona, Gush Katif in the Gaza Strip. Now they are building again from nothing, for a third time. In plastic greenhouses they are growing superb sweet peppers and lettuces that you can find on the shelves of top-quality supermarkets and stores in the UK.

13.45 Lunch & Swimming Pool – Kibbutz Tze’elim

17.15 Ayalim Centre
Built in the middle of the Negev desert, 20 miles south-east of Beersheva, Yerucham was established as a development town in 1951. It has one of Israel's highest unemployment rates, few facilities and is a very challenging place to live. Yet young people are moving here, through an organisation called Ayalim. They are true 21st Century Zionists.

18.00 Dinner at Yerucham
We will spend the evening with the residents getting to know more about them and the project.

22.00 Tel Aviv by night



WEDNESDAY 21ST SEPTEMBER

08.45 Leaving Hotel

09.45 Dialogue in the Dark
Dialogue in the Dark has been presented in over 30 countries and more than 160 sites in over 110 cities throughout Europe, Asia, the Middle East and America since it’s opening in 1988. So far, over 6 Million visitors have experienced Dialogue in the Dark worldwide, and over 6,000 blind candidates have found employment through Dialogue in the Dark.

12.30 Lunch at IDC
IDC Herzliya has attracted 850 students from over 50 countries to its International School (RRIS), the only academic institution in Israel that offers three-year Bachelor’s Degree Programs and Master's Programs taught entirely in English. Known for their programmes on National Security and Counter-Terrorism we will see what makes IDC so special, and have a briefing from a top lecturer.

14.30 Rich Confections
Netta Korin grew up in a family that had to be careful with their money. She thought to be happy you had to have money, and thus was determined she would be a millionaire. By 25 she was a investment banker on Wall Street , and was a millionaire. Few years later following a break up with her boyfriend, she realised money wasn’t everything. She wanted to help. She visited the Friends of IDF and heard how some had to stay on base during their leave because there was no food for them at their homes. Now she runs a bakery, with all profit supporting Friends of IDF.

15.15 Free time for shopping/leisure/beach in Tel Aviv

18.30 Dinner in Tel Aviv

20.00 Briefing by David Horovitz - with Zionist Federation Israel Trip Group
David Horowitz is an Israeli journalist, author and speaker, and the former Editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post – one of the biggest newspapers in Israel; widely read around the world.

21.30 Tel Aviv by night
A chance to let your hair down and get to know the group. Experience Tel Aviv’s incredible night life whilst overlooking the sea.



THURSDAY 22ND SEPTEMBER

Up North!

08.30 Leaving Hotel

10.00 Navy Base
Israel has four Navy bases – one of the key bases being in Haifa. The Haifa Navy base were responsible for stopping the flotilla in May 2010. A chance to have a tour around the Navy base, and see a different side to Israel’s defence.

12.30 Ein Hod
Ein Hod is a picturesque artists’ village, the only one of its kind in Israel and one of the few such villages in the world. Nestled in natural vegetation and bordered by an ancient olive grove, it lies on the western slopes of Mt Carmel, in a breathtaking landscape looking out toward the sea and the Crusader fortress of Atlit.
Be sure to visit the pub: Danny’s Beer!

14.30 Google Israel
Israel has more companies quoted on the high-tech NASDAQ stock exchange in New York than any other country outside the United States. In innovation it outshines all its neighbours. Between 1980 and 2000 Egyptians registered 77 patents in the US. Saudis registered 171. Israelis registered 7,652.
A chance to visit Google Israel, to see how Israel is competing in the international market, and why Google decided to set up an R&D centre in Israel.

16.30 Wine Tasting at Carmel Winery
A new Center for Wine Culture has opened at Carmel Winery’s Zichron Ya’acov Wine Cellars. At Carmel’s Zichron Ya’acov Wine Cellars, it is possible to see winemaking on both a large and small scale. It is the largest winery in Israel, yet there is also a small state-of-the-art facility for making the upper level wines. Visitors will learn about the history of Israeli wine from the 1880’s right up to the recent quality revolution. The winery provides a fascinating glimpse into the ancient, old and new world of winemaking, all in one setting.

20.00 Dinner at the Winery
’Bistro de Carmel’ is a Mediterranean style diary restaurant situated in the historic house where the winemaker used to live until the 1970’s.

21.30 Tel Aviv by night
A chance to let your hair down and get to know the group. Experience Tel Aviv’s incredible night life whilst overlooking the sea.



FRIDAY 23RD SEPTEMBER

09.30 Breakfast with Lone Soldiers
The IDF defines a lone soldier as one who has no immediate family in Israel, primarily made up of those that made aliyah. A chance for discussions with soldiers – a chance to learn about their motivations and challenges, whilst meeting Israeli’s of similar age.

10.45 Rabin Centre
On November 4 1995 the Prime Minister of Israel, Yitzhak Rabin, was assassinated at the close of a peace rally entitled, “Yes to Peace, No to Violence” in Tel Aviv. An Israeli Jew shot the Prime Minister three times in the back. The assassination took place at the height of a difficult political struggle centred on the character and future of the State of Israel, a struggle that was accompanied by incitement against the Prime Minister and against the political process he led. The Center is the national institute dedicated to improving the shape of Israeli society by ensuring that the legacy of Yitzhak Rabin continues to impact the youth and people of Israel.

12.45 Sikkum and Goodbyes

13.30 End of Programme




Contact Phone Numbers in Israel
If you are dialing or texting from your British mobile phone, you will need to enter as below.
If dialing from an Israeli phone, replace the digits ‘00972’ with a ‘0’.

Gary Sakol Israel Mobile (from Sunday 18th, PM) 00972 54 793 1126
Melanie Lax Israel Mobile (From Sunday 18th, PM) 00972 54 242 6321
Alan Aziz (emergency only) 00972 52 600 0444
Taxi number in Tel Aviv 00972 3 546 6222
Hotel: Grand Beach Hotel, 250 Hayarkon St., Tel Aviv, 63113 00972 3 543 3333
Police 100
Ambulance 101
Fire 102