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There is some dialogue between
Jews and Arabs, as this
conversation between women in
Jerusalem illustrates, but on the
West Bank and in Gaza,
communication is sparse,
friends with Arabs," says Dr. Yosef
Goell, a Jerusalem journalist who
specializes in Jewish-Arab relations.
"But most people — Arabs and Jews —
are simply too busy getting through life
to bother."
Such relationships are fraught with a
complex of sensitivities: "There are
some subjects I don't talk about and I
am more careful than I would be around
Jews," he says.
"For example, I don't discuss politics
unless they bring it up and I am very
careful when discussing relationships
between men and women — or indeed,
in mentioning women at all.
"Some less-traditional Arabs are just
as free about these things as I am, but
some are not and it takes time to find
out, so I exercise restraint."
In Jerusalem, a city shared by
300,000 Jews and 150,000 Arabs (most
of whom are Jordanian citizens), the two
groups literally dwell apart. They live in
separate neighborhoods which occa-
sionally overlap, but they rarely mingle.
This arrangement has allowed both
communities to develop while contain-
ing communal tensions to a remarkable
degree. It has also allowed negative
stereotypes on both sides to flourish, un-
challenged by personal encounter.
But while dialogue with the Pales-
tinians might be a relatively lost cause,
there is a real and urgent need to
enhance the relationship between Jews
and Israeli Arabs.
Israeli Arabs are citizens of the state,
they vote in its elections and, given their
burgeoning numbers, they are likely to
have an increasingly powerful influence
in the future.
At present, every sixth Israeli citizen
is an Arab; there are, indeed, as many
Arabs in Israel today — 650,000 — as
there were Jews when the state was
established 38 years ago. And by 1993,
the Arab population will have grown to
1 million. At that point, say demo-
graphers, every fifth Israeli will be an
Arab.
Given a far higher Arab birthrate (38
per thousand for Arabs versus 18 per
thousand for Jews), combined with a
determined drive to achieve educational,
social, professional and political equali-
ty, it can be assumed that by the turn
of the century, Israel's Arab minority
will be a potent force in Israeli life.
"Among sober people," says Professor
Avigdor Levontin, of the Hebrew Uni-
versity Law School, "the recognition has
grown that we have no choice but to get
along together — not because we are
enamored of the idea, or enamored of
each other, but because there is no
alternative.
"The price that will have to be paid by
both sides in not getting along is utter-
ly unacceptable."
Says Knesset Member Darousha: "If
we in Israel fail to demonstrate that
Jews and Arabs can co-exist, what
chance is there of Israel integrating in-
to the Middle East, or of making peace
with the Palestinians? We simply have
no choice."
But if coexistence is the buzz-word,
education is the key. As President of
Israel, Yitzhak Navon forged close ties
with the country's Arabs. And now, as
Education Minister, he has thrown his
weight behind an array of projects —
from revamped school programs and
textbooks to encounter sessions be-
tween Arab and Jewish schoolchildren
— that are designed to break down the
negative stereotyping that afflicts
Arab-Jewish relations.
One such project brings together
groups of Arab and Jewish school
teachers for intensive four-day seminars
to examine mutual professional
problems.
"The seminars begin with tremendous
tension — sometimes crises," says
Alouph Hareven, who devised the pro-
ject. "The Jewish teachers have great
difficulty in coping with the Palestinian
dimension in the identity of Israeli
Arabs and the support some express for
the Palestine Liberation Organization
and Palestinian self-determination.
They find it very threatening.
"On the Arab side there is a great sen-
sitivity to the term 'Zionism.' For them,
it has a very negative connotation. They
will say, 'We accept Israel, but don't like
the definition 'a Jewish state.'
"It generally takes a few hours of
sometimes heated discussion before
members of the group can start relating
on a personal, human level. But once
they begin to like and trust each other,
we find they are capable of absorbing
the shock of different political attitudes
— and then we can move on to the sub-
ject of teaching."
Hareven is convinced that his
18-month-old program, which has
worked with 500 teachers, school prin-
cipals and school inspectors, has proved
its value: "Many times," he says,
"someone will say at the end of the
seminar: 'I came against my will, but
I'm glad I came'."
Many of the graduates of the program
have gone on to set up special projects
within their schools, maintaining close
ties with colleagues they met during the
seminars.
And the friendships thus forged often
lead to exchange visits and joint projects