...[T]o bring about a just and equitable society for all of Israel’s citizens, we need to increase the level of cross-cultural cooperation nationally by going beyond grassroots initiatives to create a national programme that reaches every part of Israeli society.
Source/Credit: Common Ground News Service
By Natalia Simanovsky | June 12, 2012
Tel Aviv, Israel - The annual Conference of the Association for Israel Studies will take place at the end of the month at the University of Haifa. This year’s theme is Israel’s fractured society. And there is no bigger cleavage in Israeli society to address than the one between Palestinian Israelis and Jewish Israelis.
Palestinian Israelis account for 20 per cent of Israel’s total population, and they are the indigenous minority. Although they have political parties, they have never been invited to be part of any coalition government. They are one of the most marginalised sectors in Israeli society. A 2010 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development report on labour policies in Israel, for example, documented poverty rates as substantially higher among this group than the Jewish Israeli population: 51.4 per cent versus 15.1 per cent among families, and 61.7 per cent versus 23.8 per cent among children.
There are a number of organisations working hard to increase equality between the two sectors. Organisations such as The Abraham Fund Initiatives, the Arab-Hebrew Theatre, The Center for Jewish-Arab Economic Development and The Citizens’ Accord Forum between Jews and Arabs in Israel, to name just a few, all strive to achieve a more just and equitable society by integrating Palestinian Israelis through various socio-economic initiatives.
The Abraham Fund Initiatives, for example, provides job training and placement for Arab women, and cultural sensitivity training programmes for mainly Jewish Israeli police staff in order to improve relations between the police force and the Arab communities it serves.
These programmes are definitely a step in the right direction. Increasing interaction between Palestinian Israelis and Jewish Israelis, they help break down stereotypes and overcome the fear of the “other” on both sides.
Yet to bring about a just and equitable society for all of Israel’s citizens, we need to increase the level of cross-cultural cooperation nationally by going beyond grassroots initiatives to create a national programme that reaches every part of Israeli society.
This type of large-scale approach could include the development of Arab Jewish schools in mixed cities, compulsory Hebrew and Arabic language classes until the end of high school for all students, youth volunteer programmes for both populations, promotion of increased enrolment of Palestinian Israelis in Israeli universities, joint professional training programmes, and encouraging Palestinian Israelis to enlist in the civil national service programme, a programme where young Israelis work in hospitals, schools and welfare services.
Specifically with regard to the youth volunteer programme, one possibility is to create a tutoring programme whereby students who are strong in subjects like math, science, Arabic or Hebrew could tutor students from the other side who want to improve their skills in these areas. Their efforts would count as credit toward their graduation requirements.
Volunteer programmes such as this one would stimulate much needed interaction between these segregated communities. Even in mixed cities – where only 10 per cent of all Palestinian Israelis live – daily interaction with the other side is severely limited.
Joint professional training programmes could extend beyond the police force to other emergency sectors, such as fire and ambulance services. Palestinian Israelis would be trained alongside Jewish Israeli staff. Something like this is already happening on a much smaller scale with the United Hatzalah, an emergency service that employs both Palestinians and Jews.
The motivation to establish such an ambitious programme must come from the Israeli government as well as Palestinian Israeli political and community leaders, as both have a responsibility for changing current structures.
At the next stage, the private sector could also become involved. Large private companies, for example, could be offered incentives to hire more Palestinian Israelis.
The changes necessary to narrow the divide in Israeli society will not happen overnight and these suggestions are not designed to be a panacea. Yet, the initiation of nationwide programmes which promote daily integration between the Jewish majority and the Palestinian Israeli minority will undoubtedly help in the long process of overcoming stereotypes that have gripped both sides, and help reconcile Israel’s largest cleavage.
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Natalia Simanovsky has worked as a researcher in various think tanks and intergovernmental organisations in North America and Israel.
Read original post here: Healing the Arab-Jewish fracture in Israel
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