Streetball Hafla

Streetball is a form of basketball popular in urban areas that takes place on playgrounds and in gymnasiums around the world. “Hafla” is a word common to both Hebrew and Arabic and means “celebration” or “party”. Put them together and you have Streetball Hafla, a project spearheaded by the Saltman Center for Conflict Resolution in the person of Mike Saltman. He supplied the funds and leadership so that over 160 Arab and Jewish teens could participate in a three day streetball tournament in northern Israel. Practicing coexistence and tolerance, Israeli and Arab teens shared rooms, played on the same teams, and went through the Anti Defamation League’s anti-bias training program together. The results? A huge success! So big that plans are in the works for a national tournament in Tel Aviv in November 2008 involving a thousand players with the same religious and ethnic mix.