By Hanna Szekeres

It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited sites in the world and is a major tourist attraction, but the city of Acre, is going through difficult times, with widespread poverty. A joint venture between the city and a passionate local woman has harnessed the spirit of the locals to create traditional businesses.

British-Israeli artist Noam Edry has come up with a unique and extravagant art project that she hopes will bring Israelis and Arabs closer. Her instrument of choice: sunflower seeds. The artist has already begun her quest to encourage people from both sides to sit together, chew and spit a total of 10 tons of sunflower seeds.

Sarine Zaken, an Israeli fashion student at Shenkar College of Engineering and Design, grew unique patterns of bacteria and applied them to items she designed. By manipulating the communication between the bacteria, she is able to pre-define patterns, and then apply them as prints.

The Israeli Scratch program, part of the miLAB at IDC in Herzliya, teaches young students programming concepts and skills in multimedia communication. Users are taught to make and share their own videos, animations and games.

40weeks is a 3D digital guide that aims to provide parents with all the information relevant to pregnancy, following the development of the fetus week by week. It is soon to be launched in Israel and then as an international version, and is accessible via the internet or as a mobile application.

Dream Doctors is an Israel project that builds a professional community of medical clowns to make hospital experience less traumatic for patients. Required to have academic training, these doctors are active in 20 hospitals across the country, reaching more than 100,000 patients annually.

International rapper Shyne and Israeli music exporter Oleh! Records launch a pilot project to help children at risk in Belize. The project, called Let’s Fill This Town With Musicians, aims to provide these children with an alternative to violence.

The Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem brings Jewish and Arab schoolchildren together to explore their shared heritage through their patriarch, Abraham. The educational program “Image of Abraham” takes them on a journey through exhibits, ancient games and workshops to help promote peace and understanding.

Heartbeat: Jerusalem, an Israeli music organization, is bringing together Palestinian and Israeli high school students to create modern popular music. "We want to build trust between the people because the mic is more powerful than the gun."

The Jerusalem Botanical Gardens has created a "coexistence" program designed to bring Jewish and Arab children together in peaceful surroundings.The project brings together nine- to 11-year-olds from the city’s Jewish and Muslim schools.

There is a basic concept in circus art one cannot do without: Trust. If you are swinging from a trapeze or performing acrobatic tricks, you need to have total faith in your partner. This is precisely the idea that drives the Israel Circus School to create a peaceful space where Jewish and Arabic youth can start to get to know one another.

Noticing that a lot of people leave museums feeling overwhelmed by the mass of information, an Israeli artists decided to make it easier for people at the art museum in Haifa to find the art they most want to see. Artist Maya Shimony created a personality questionnaire that helps visitors find a personal museum route.

On Saturday morning, on a private beach in Israel's Dead Sea resort, over 1,000 people eagerly undressed to pose for a naked group photograph. It sounds too good to be true, but it isn't – the hype was created by world-renowned photographer of the naked, Spencer Tunick and this time, it was all about saving the Dead Sea.

Israeli musician Miri Ben-Ari is taking the R&B and hip-hop world by storm, but not how you'd imagine. Ben-Ari is a classical violin prodigy, who blurs all musical boundaries by using her instrument to mix classical music with modern sounds.

Israeli organization HAMA is employing abandoned and abused cats and dogs as 'assistant therapists' in helping at-risk youth, holocaust survivors and survivors of abuse. Their success proves their philosophy - that humans and animals are meant to help and heal each other.