JERUSALEM: Jerusalem's Hebrew-Arabic school aims to teach tolerance

Jerusalem's first bilingual Herbrew-Arabic school, which boasts Palestinian and Jewish teachers and students, is a rare effort to boost understanding and dialogue between the bitterly divided communities. A group of Arab and Israeli students attend Jerusalem's only bilingual Herbrew-Arabic school, which has two principals -- one Jewish and one Arab -- and mixed classes, in a rare effort to boost understanding and dialogue between between the bitterly divided communities. The Max Rayne Hand in Hand School lies between the Jewish neighbourhood of Patt and the Arab area of Beit Safafa in Jerusalem, serving pupils from both halves of a city that is revered by Muslims, Jews and Christians and lies at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "It's a very good idea which develops the linguistic abilities of children. There are Arab children who are used to speaking Hebrew, but there are also other Arab children here who had never heard the Hebrew language spoken before. But they are slowly getting used to this. The same is true for the Jewish children. And as you can see, no one differentiates between Arab and Jewish children here, and that is what is very nice about this school," said a Palestinian teacher at the school, Sireen Othman. While many Palestinians living in Israel learn Hebrew, few Jewish Israelis study Arabic and it is rare for children on either side to learn or socialise together. The school accepts the same number of Jewish and Palestinian children and aims to treat everyone equally -- unusual given Israeli schools are mostly separated along linguistic lines and institutions in Arab neighbourhoods often lack the facilities of their Jewish equivalents. The school, which is funded by a combination of government money, fees and donations, is the first bilingual Arabic-Hebrew school in Jerusalem. There are three other bilingual Arab-Jewish schools, all of which are in Israel. The Israeli schools also belong to the same "Hand in Hand" organisation to which the Max Rayne school belongs, founded in the early 1990s following the signing of the Oslo peace accords. "I think that the main impact (of the school on the students) is a sort of normalisation. There is life here, normal life, this is the major achievement (of the school). Because when the students learn to read and write -- that can happen now or afterwards. But the fact that they live together and they have a real, normal life of fighting and playing and making up again and living together in the classroom -- this is what is most significant," said Michal Shahar, a Jewish teacher at the Max Rayne school. Palestinian pupil Habib is too young to understand the implications of learning in both Hebrew and Arabic, but he is nonetheless proud of his school. "It's nice and very exciting. I think it's going to be the biggest school in the world," he said. A new premises for the school was officially opened on Sunday (October 21). The 11 million U.S. dollar building is partly funded by the late British Jewish philanthropist Lord Rayne, and the 410 children now have more room to work and play. "I really like the idea of a big school, although it was easier for me in the old school, but I think the new school is a very good idea and we have more room to study in and play in... I like it a lot," said Jewish student Aviv. On Sunday, a first grade class played bilingual tag, with Jewish and Arab teachers cheering on the children by shouting Yalla yalla!, slang for "go, go" used by both Arabic and Hebrew speakers.

ITN Source | October 23, 2007

Tags:. .accepts. .separated. .normalisation. .normal. .muslims