נקודת מפגש | meeting place | نقطة الالتقاء

The Meeting Place project facilitates direct and informal encounters with the 'other' in the diverse streets of Jerusalem, in Zion Square. Using the tools of dialogue circles and non-violent communication, its weekly events directly engage prejudice and fear through non-curated face-to-face confrontation. We began as a grassroots response to the attack on the LGBT community and the murder of Shira Banki in 2015, and have grown into a “brave space” for difficult dialogue on many issues affecting Israeli society.

On July 30th, 2015, 6 people were stabbed in the Jerusalem LGBTQ Pride March. Three days later, 16-year-old Shira Banki died of her wounds. Immediately following the news of Shira’s passing, the Yerushalmit Movement* organized a public Shiva in Zion Square. Facilitated dialogue circles allowed thousands of people from across the social, political and religious spectrum to meet face to face, and confront painful disagreements. For seven days, Zion Square was transformed from a place of violence and racism to one of reconciliation and hope. From this emerged a new model of social engagement in the shared public space: the Meeting Place project. Every Thursday night since Shira’s death, the Yerushalmit Movement fills Zion Square with dialogue circles around controversial issues affecting Israeli society, bringing down barriers and building bridges through spontaneous encounters. The initiative is in partnership with "Shira Banki's Way", and organization started by Shira's parents to keep her memory alive through social action.

*The Yerushalmit Movement advances Jerusalem as a "community of communities", a pluralistic society that benefits all its residents through community organizing, transforming public spaces into places of encounter, and promoting an ethos of ‘shared society’.