In a collaboration between the Municipality of Arraba, the Municipal Department of Education, the Municipal Volunteering Unit, the Mahmoud Darwish Center, the Municipal Youth Unit and youth movements (including the Municipal Youth Council, "Al-Raya," "Krembo," Al-Bukhari High School, and Al-Batuf Middle School) and in partnership with the Mossawa Center, volunteer activities kicked off at the end of last week to prepare historical sites in Arraba for the "Arraba, Beating Heart of the Galilee" program. The event is scheduled for Saturday, May 17, 2025, during which a model public tourism trail in Arraba will be officially announced.
The volunteer teams, under the supervision of community and educational staff, worked on cleaning and preparing several historical sites, including the Daher al-Omar Fortress, the historic municipal building of Arraba, the memorial monument, and the homes of the Naif Yassin and Nimer al-Yousef families, as well as a cave. The Mayor of Arraba, Ahmad Nassar, visited the old municipal building and emphasized the importance of restoring the structure and its surroundings and turning it into a site that tells the story of the development of municipal work in the city. He thanked the volunteers, the Mossawa Center, the municipal departments, and the youth groups for their initiative and pledged his support.
Students from Al-Batuf School, under the leadership of Principal Rifa’ Nassar and the supervision of educators Ma’moun Na’amneh and Sheikh Mu’in Sah, worked on renovating and cleaning the memorial monument on the main street, repairing and tiling the site. The Municipal Youth Council and students from Al-Bukhari High School, under the leadership of Mur’ab Asleh, prepared the Daher al-Omar House and the old municipal building. The Al-Raya youth group, supervised by Mu’tasem Asleh, Youth Unit Director Minas Darawsheh, and Coordinator Sahar Darawsheh from the Mahmoud Darwish Center, prepared the Yassin family home. The "Krembo" group, under the supervision of Coordinator Sama Sa’di, prepared the Nimer al-Yousef House. The Municipal Youth Council also cleaned the historic municipal council building and the Nimer al-Yousef House. Hadeel Nassar, Head of the City Beautification Unit in the Municipality of Arraba, will send cleaning crews to remove waste and clean the areas surrounding the sites.
Jafar Farah, Director of the Mossawa Center, who participated on the second day of the giving and volunteer campaign, said: “The restoration and maintenance of touristic and historical sites in Arraba aim to promote the spirit of volunteerism and deepen youth belonging in the face of attempts to create alienation and allow gangs to take control of public spaces and our towns’ streets. Since the Mossawa Center’s founding, we have worked with local authorities and civil society institutions in our towns, and we are pleased to contribute to the development of a domestic tourism project in a city like Arraba.”
Shukriya Na’amneh, Director of the Municipal Volunteering Unit in Arraba, thanked everyone who contributed to this unique volunteering campaign, which helps preserve historical sites. She invited the public to visit these sites in the old town and the Batuf Plain on Saturday, May 17, 2025. She also called on building owners to open the historic sites and encouraged landowners in the Batuf Plain to host visitors and promote the consumption of local agricultural products from the vibrant Batuf Plain.
Omar Asleh, Head of the Municipal Student Council, highlighted the role of municipal student councils in activating volunteer work within and beyond the town. He stated that the council succeeded in creating a partnership between the Mossawa Center, municipal institutions, and youth teams. The Youth Council will now work to recruit local businesses to support the project and encourage internal tourism to the town.
Adam Qais, Youth Program Coordinator at the Mossawa Center, commented on the Mossawa Center’s role: “As a former student council president in my town of Nahf, I know the importance of involving youth in building and maintaining public facilities. We studied the idea of developing internal tourism projects during the Mossawa Center’s youth workshops last summer, and we are happy to implement the idea in Arraba in cooperation with all the town’s institutions that have mobilized to support youth and help them develop their city. We will prepare a tourism map that can be used to visit the different sites revealed through this project.”
During their volunteer work, the youth groups listened to explanations about the restored sites and discovered important historical landmarks that can be transformed into cultural venues and public institutions serving locals and visitors. The organizing delegation for the "Arraba, Beating Heart of the Galilee" program also visited the Batuf Plain to explore potential visitor hosting sites, where they learned about the agricultural crops expected to ripen in the coming month. Families will be able to purchase agricultural produce, cheese, and traditional Arab yogurt (labneh) directly from farmers in the Batuf Plain.
