New members and families voted in

January 26 2003: Another milestone in the history of NSWAS. The village accepted eleven of our rising generation for membership or candidacy. There was great excitement as Sagi Frisch (22) and Suleiman Boulos (22) were accepted as members, and the following over 18-year-olds were accepted as candidates (alphabetical, by family name):

Ranin Boulos (18)– will study drama at the Hebrew University
Adi Frisch (21)– currently working for a cellular phone company
Amit Kitain (19) – doing his army service
Tom Kremer (22) – working as a sound technician
Rami Manaa (18) – will study pharmacy at the Hebrew University
Layla Najjar (19) – currently studying art at the Bezalel Institute
Shirin Najjar (22) – in her fourth year of studying biochemistry at the Hebrew University
Ori Sonnenschein (18) doing army service
Omer Schwartz (18) before army service

Sagi, by the way is now working as operational manager of the guest house, while Suleiman is in his third year of medical studies in Freiburg, Germany.

As candidates they must wait a minimum of six months before applying for membership, and even membership does not give them the right to build a house here at present, but the fact that many of our young people see NSWAS as a part of their future is a very encouraging sign. Due to lack of time, only Sagi Frisch had the opportunity to express himself and explain how he had come to see the ideology of NSWAS as his own, after experiencing other frameworks.

In addition to this group we accepted five new families for candidacy. These will be able to begin building as soon as the expansion plan will be authorized.

The families:

Abdel-Halim: The family has already been resident in the village for the past two years. Faten is a teacher in the Primary School. Ibrahim is a physicist. They have two children.

Abdel-Kader: The family has already been resident in the village for the past two years. Sinan is an architect, his wife Rose an interior designer, and they conduct their business in the village. They have three children.

Al-Kalak: Yasmin has been a teacher for four years in the primary school. Peter is an auto-mechanic. They have two children.

Gerges: Ibrahim is a physician, originally from Egypt. Wardeh is an educational worker. They have three children.

Kahtan: Sharon is currently studying for her master’s degree in peace-related studies in a special program in Oslo. Her father was one of the signers of the articles of association of Neve Shalom in 1970. Yanon is in charge of a customer service staff at a cellular phone company. They do not yet have children.

The meeting yesterday had the highest attendance ever in the history of our general assemblies. Out of 72 members of the village, there was direct attendance or the representation of 69.