Along Jerusalem’s “Seam Line” – where East and West meet and Jewish, Muslim and Christian communities live side by side – everyday life is marked by tension, fear, and fragile coexistence. The Jerusalem Intercultural Center (JICC) is working to transform this reality through the Partnership for Seam Line Community Resilience project, an ambitious three-year initiative aimed at strengthening trust, improving personal safety and building resilience across divided neighborhoods.
The project brings together diverse partners from community councils and residents to law enforcement and municipal officials to co-create lasting systems of safety and dialogue. Each year, four community centers from ultra-Orthodox, Arab and mixed populations will develop joint initiatives that help residents respond to conflict calmly and cooperatively. Over time, 16 centers and hundreds of local leaders will become a web of resilience spanning Jerusalem’s most sensitive borders.
The project’s origins lie in the upheaval following the 2023 Judicial Overhaul protests and the violent aftermath of October 7th, which reignited deep mistrust between Jewish and Arab Jerusalem communities. JICC’s earlier pilot program, launched with support from the Savran Family and the Russell Berrie Foundations, trained neighborhood watch teams to reduce friction and foster cooperation. The results were immediate: communities that once viewed one another with suspicion began to share emergency communication systems and problem-solve together.
Now, with co-directors Mukarram Hadieh, an Arab project manager from Beit Hanina in East Jerusalem, and Tami Lavie, JICC’s Director of Community Partnerships, the initiative is scaling up. Mukarram explains:
“For years, safety here has meant police, fences, or cameras. But what people really need is to feel seen and understood by their neighbors. When we listen to each other’s fears, we discover how similar they are and that’s where resilience begins.”
In the first year, centers in Beit Hanina, Kufr Aqeb, Ramat Shlomo and French Hill are crafting twelve initiatives that focus on cooperation between residents, police and city officials. These efforts range from joint safety patrols and emergency training to cultural exchange events and youth-led dialogue groups.
By the project’s end, more than 1,000 direct participants and 300,000 Jerusalem residents are expected to feel a measurable improvement in safety and connection. In a city often seen as a barometer for Israel’s social stability, the Partnership for Seam Line Community Resilience project represents something rare: hope built not on politics, but on partnership.
“Partnership for Seam Line Community Resilience” reminds Jerusalem and the world that resilience begins when neighbors work together to keep one another safe.