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Building bridges in Israel peace path

Judith Sudilovsky International Herald Tribune
February 18, 2003

Bilingual schools for Arabs and Jews aim to break barriers

JERUSALEM While Palestinian suicide bombings and terrorist attacks continue unabated, and Israeli-imposed curfews, closures, and military activity stretch out interminably, a group of educators, parents and students at three Israeli schools is quietly working to establish a system of encourage equality, coexistence and tolerance between Arab and Jewish pupils. Using slightly differing educational approaches, The schools provide bilingual education in Arabic and Hebrew in the hope that bilingualism will help break down cultural and linguistic barriers. between Arabs and Jews giving a few hundred families hope for the future. Even in Israel’s few mixed cities, Arabs and Jews live mostly in segregated neighborhoods and attend separate schools. Language differences only contribute to the problem. To diminish such barriers, the schools emphasize bilingualism. This not only affects students, but also influences interactions between parents and teachers, most of whom grew up in different realities. ‘‘This is a very idealistic school,’’ said Omar Nashef, 42, whose 7-year-old daughter Areen attends Jerusalem’s Hand-in-Hand school. ‘‘All the parents who send their children to this school have strong ideals. We know this is working at coexistence drop by drop, but we all hope something will come of it.’’ Areen and her best friend, Tahel, who is Jewish, are inseparable. And Tahel spends a lot of time at the Nashef home and even sometimes sleeps over in Jerusalem’s Arab Beit Safafa neighborhood, a rare occurrence revolutionary in this part of the world. where most Arabs and Jews lead separate lives. Tahel’s mother, Naama Greenwald-Kashany, 36, said her contact with the Nashef family was the first she had had with Arabs, though she had always supported the concept of coexistence. ‘‘I wasn’t scared [going to their neighborhood] but there was a feeling of strangeness,’’ she said. ‘‘This was the first time I was in an Arab home and the first time I had a personal relationship with Arabs. I had no idea what their house would look like. Now, for me, it is so natural.’’ The Jerusalem school is part located in Galilee and Jerusalem, of the Hand-in-Hand Center for Jewish-Arab Education in Israel that was formed almost five years ago. A second Hand-in-Hand school is located in Galilee. Both schools have adapted the philosophy of the bilingual elementary school of the Jewish-Arab Neve Shalom/Wahat Al-Salam/Oasis of Peace (NSWAS) village. That school was opened in 1984.BETTER LOCATION? and is located between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. At all three schools, distinguishing between Arab and Jewish children can be difficult. But while these youngsters are unaware of the groundbreaking steps they take by studying and playing together, their parents and teachers know only too well that the schools are far from typical. The separation between Jew and Arab in the Israeli educational system serves only to develop fear, prejudice and hatred, said Amin Khalaf. Together with Lee Gordon, He co-founded the Hand-in-Hand Center for Jewish-Arab Education in 1998 as an outgrowth of the west Jerusalem YMCA Arab-Jewish nursery school program that his son attended. By the age of five, Khalaf said, many children have already begun to establish stereotypes. And by the time they reach university — where most Jewish and Arab students first encounter each other — it is often too late for meaningful cultural exchange. About 270 students, from nursery school age to sixth grade, attend the NSWAS school. Some 126 children study at each of the Hand-in-Hand schools. The Galilee school includes first through fifth grade; the Jerusalem school kindergarten through fourth grade. The classes are roughly divided evenly between Arab and Jewish students. The schools, which receive state funds and are recognized by the Israeli Ministry of Education, depend on outside funds for special projects and programs. ‘‘That two bilingual schools have been established is indicative that we have established a precedent,’’ said Bob Marks, an English and history teacher who is also in charge of public relations for NSWAS. ‘‘Ideally, we want to see this get rooted in Israeli society and see the state take care of all the future financing.’’ The schools use different methods to achieve the same goals. At the Hand-in-Hand schools, there are two teachers, one Arab and one Jewish, in each classroom who teach in their mother tongue. Sometimes they divide the subjects, other times they teach a subject together. Nothing is translated and teachers use body language or other signs to make themselves understood. Students study each other’s religion together and have time off for Jewish, Christian and Muslim holidays. Most students are bilingual by the third grade. The presence of two teachers in the classroom requires adjustments, said Lily Mesch, a Jewish first-grade teacher who is in her second year at the Jerusalem school. ‘‘It is even more difficult when my partner comes from another culture, with another type of educational background, and a different outlook and values concerning education,’’ said Mesch. ‘‘At the beginning of this year, I didn’t have such a good relationship with my partner but today we have learned to understand and respect one another and we have reached a point where the learning process flows. The children benefit from this because they see in us a model of coexistence and harmony between Arabs and Jews.’’ At the NSWAS school, there is only one teacher per class. It could be an Arab or Jewish teacher who instructs in their own language. Students separate for classes such as religion and math. Art, music, current events and homeroom are fully integrated. The three religious groups also have separate religious holidays. Marks noted that teachers found difficulties where they were least expected. There were no problems in language classes. ‘‘But in arithmetic classes,’’ he said, ‘‘where we didn’t think there would be a problem we encountered problems.’’ He noted that in Arabic teaching methods the arithmetic equation is from right to left just as the (Arabic) language is written, but in Hebrew, which is also written from right to left, equations are done from left to right. as in the West. In addition, he said, there is a level of abstract thinking required in arithmetic which they feel working in a foreign language makes more difficult. vacations, with those students remaining in school spending more emphasis on their religious studies during that time. All three schools have two principals — one Jewish and one Arab, of whom one is male and the other female. Neither system shies away from difficult topics. Both have continued teaching throughout the intifadah. And After the events of October 2000 when 13 Israeli Arab citizens were killed by police in demonstrations in Galilee, both NSWAS and the Galilee Hand-in-Hand School participated in strike days called by the Council of Arab Communities. For example, many of the Galilee school’s Jewish families now live on land that was expropriated by the state from Arabs during protests in 1976. Six Arabs were killed on what is known as Land Day, which is observed on March 30. ‘‘It is clear that what happened was an attempt by the government to take land from Arab citizens and there is no argument over these facts,’’ said Dr. Aura Mor, an academic consultant for the Hand-in-Hand schools. ‘‘At the school we are learning how to live with this reality. How do we deal with it now. What is important is the discussion of these issues, the telling of it and the asking of ‘What next?’’’ Family histories are largely used as a way to confront complex topics such as Israeli Independence Day versus El Nakba, a term meaning ‘‘the disaster’’ which is used by Arabs to describe that same day. Children in all three schools are asked to bring in family stories from this period, resulting in a very personal historical class mosaic. ‘‘We continuously hold meetings with the parents and teachers and examine ourselves and what we are doing and how the environment we are in influences us and how we can influence the environment,’’ said Kamal Abu Younis, co-principal of the Galilee Hand-in-Hand school.

‘‘Our children don’t think about how different their school is; this is their place. For them it is natural that Mohammed and Itai and Matan and Nabil are playing together. Judith Sudilovsky is the Jerusalem correspondent for the Catholic News Service.