A New Language
is" and "your name is" in both feminine
and masculine forms. Every now and
then she folded in unfamiliar words,
such as mumtaz (excellent) and kalb
(dog) and then distributed labels with
words in Hebrew and Arabic.
The students were surprised to realize
how similar the two languages are. "It is
easy to learn the language," said student
Barak Solomon. "So many words in
Hebrew and Arabic sound alike."
"It is unacceptable that when a Jewish
child meets an Arab child in the market
or at a soccer field, he cannot speak to
him in Arabic," said Ohaion.
Shlomo Alon, who supervises Arabic
language and Middle Eastern studies for
Israel's education ministry, believes that
the only way to ensure that students
learn Arabic is to make its teaching
mandatory, just as English and Bible
studies are. Such a mandate would
require many changes, including an
increase in Arabic teachers.
Alon said that if Arabic becomes
mandatory, teachers will develop. "No
one prepares himself for a project that
has no demand."
Some believe that the educational and
military establishments should have been
the first to promote Arabic studies. Even
if they had not been motivated by the
ideal of coexistence, at least the goal of
"knowing thy enemy" would have been
sufficient.
Ever since the state was established,
senior intelligence officers have com-
plained of the shortage of Arabic speak-
ers among army recruits. "It beats me
why the army doesn't have the power to
introduce the change, but this should
not be the main argument for studying
Arabic," said Alon. "There are enough
positive arguments." ❑
Trying to change attitudes, Haifa schools mandate teaching of Arabic.
GIL SEDAN
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Haifa
S
appose we meet an Arab and he
wants to kill us. We can say that
we, too, are Arabs," said 11-year-
old Shakked Petter, explaining why she
wanted to learn Arabic.
The study of Arabic actually was
imposed on Shakked and her fifth-grade
classmates at the Herzl elementary
school in Haifa. Against all odds, some
grownups decided to launch an experi-
mental project that eventually could cre-
ate a cultural revolution. They want to
expose the next generation of Israelis to
the language of their next-door neigh-
bors.
Some 16 schools in Haifa and
Carmiel adopted the project about a
month ago. It marks the first time in the
State of Israel's educational history that
the study of Arabic will be compulsory
for fifth- and sixth-graders. Up to now,
only seventh- through ninth-graders are
required to study Arabic, though that
requirement is not widely enforced.
At first, students at the Herzl school
were suspicious, but now many seem to
like their new class. "It is important that
we can talk to Arab children in their
own language," said student Daniel
Sharmet. "We need to be able to com-
municate to each other. They know
Hebrew better than we know Arabic."
His friend Nir Adi agreed. "We live
together and we share the same coun-
try.
Haifa was chosen for the experiment
because of its relatively high Arab popu-
lation — 22,000 of its 272,000 residents
are Arab. Carmiel was chosen because it
is close to many Arab villages in the
Galilee.
"I believe it is highly important to
study Arabic and I have put it high on
the priority list," said Herzl's principal,
Nava Landman. "There is no doubt in
my mind the study of Arabic is a pre-
condition for peace."
If it is successful, the project will
expand to other schools throughout
Israel. The project is a joint venture of
the Ministry of Education, the munici-
palities of Haifa and Carmiel, and the
Abraham Fund Initiatives, an organiza-
tion that promotes coexistence programs
and chipped in a third of the cost, with
an additional investment of some
$100,000.
"It is in the interest of both the Jewish
majority and the Arab minority that
Jewish children will speak the language,"
said Dan Pattir, the executive vice presi-
dent of the fund, which is based in
Jerusalem and New York. "We think
that in a country with a majority and a
minority, the majority should learn the
language of the minority."
Although Arabic is Israel's second offi-
cial language, the mother tongue of
Israel's 1 million Arab citizens and mil-
lions of its neighbors, very few young
Israeli Jews actually learn the language.
"Many children prefer to learn Spanish
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because it helps them understand the
telenovelas on television," said
Landman.
Seemingly in reaction to Israel's ongo-
ing conflict with the Arabs, Israeli Jews
in general, and the educational system in
particular, never opened up to Arab cul-
ture. Until 1967, when overnight Israel
controlled vast Arab territories, only a
small number of Israelis studied Arabic
and the history of the Middle East.
Interest grew stronger after the 1967
Six-Day War, but the study of Arabic is
still sporadic. Some 2,000 students up to
the sixth grade learn the language.
The greatest number of Israeli chil-
dren who study Arabic — 40,000 — are
in the seventh to ninth grades. At the
age, Arabic is ostensibly compulsory, but
school principals have the right to sub-
stitute French, Spanish, Russian or
Amharic for Arabic. As a result, 40,000
represents only half the eligible students
in those grades.
"In some schools, if you don't feel like
studying the language, they do not
insist," said Landman. From 10th to
12th grade, the study of Arabic once
again is elective.
In her class at the Herzl school,
teacher Miri Ohaion was energetic and
forceful, prodding the fifth-graders into
speaking a language that could have
been Sanskrit to them only two weeks
earlier. "Marhaba,"Ohaion greeted her
students, using the traditional Arabic
greeting.
She made them memorize "my name
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