BUILDING BRIDGES BETWEEN JEWISH AND ARAB CHILDREN IN ISRAELI COMMUNITIES IN NORTHERN ISRAEL

The Importance of the Project

This regional partnership in Northern Israel unites Arab and Jewish communities in the North through carefully crafted workshops, empowering school students, teachers, and parents to break stereotypes, build understanding, and work together. This is now more important than ever. On October 7th, 2023 Hamas launched a vicious attack on Israel which ensued a horrible and bloody war we are still in the midst of. Since then, we have witnessed rising tensions, fear, violence, and radicalization between Jews and Arabs. These heightened emotions make constructive dialogue essential to prevent further division and create a path forward based on understanding and tolerance. The North of Israel, in particular, demands immediate attention. As the country’s geographic periphery and home to the largest Arab population, it faces even fewer opportunities for Jewish and Arab students to interact. Students report high levels of prejudice, fear, and anger, with limited exposure to the other side. Left unaddressed, these emotions can escalate into deeper societal divisions and even violence. This makes swift, meaningful interventions critical, ensuring that encounters between communities transform fear into trust and division into cooperation—laying the groundwork for a more resilient and unified society.

The Need

Israeli society is riven by widening gaps among different population groups, foremost of all is the tension between the State’s Jewish and Arab citizens. The outbreak of violence across the country in May 2021 further revealed the fragility of intercommunal relations in Israel, especially among youth. One example is the arson attack on the Uri Buri restaurant in 2021, marking a low point in Arab-Jewish relations not only in Acre, but country-wide. This assault on the iconic Acre establishment epitomized the deteriorating relations, the alarming surge in violence, and its far-reaching consequences. ANW saw the urgent need for reconciliation. Considered this a turning point, ANW adapted its materials accordingly, creating new programs and expanding its reach.

Fast forward to October 2023, we witnessed one of the worst attacks on Israel since its creation and an ongoing war in the region. Negative emotions such as fear and hate are at an extreme high and we are witnessing high levels of remoteness and seperation from the other community (aChord Center, 2023)

Even before the war, Jews and Arabs living in the north of Israel had few opportunities for positive, meaningful interaction. So, too, Israel’s divided education system widens these gaps, reinforcing fears and misconceptions, and thwarting the creation of a social basis for future generations.

As reported by JDC Brookdale, Northern Israel holds the country’s highest concentration of Arab youth in Israel. Additionally, A New Way (ANW’s) student questionnaires demonstrate the high emotions of fear and anger towards the other among students before commencing the program. Working towards a shared society has become ever more critical, and ANW has made itself known as a prominent inter-communal player in the northern region.

Our Solution & Strategies

The Communities in Partnership Program in Northern Israel is one of “A New Way’s” programs which operates in about 30 pairs nationwide. The program in Northern Israel has been uniting Jewish and Arab communities for over 10 years, targeting participants not usually engaged in such activities and working to break down the barriers erected by emotional prejudice, as well as cultivate the skills needed for multicultural collaboration.

This year, the program will create 9 groups and bring together approximately 70 students per pair from grades 4 to 11 as well as the key adult figures – parents, teachers, and key community members – in a unified effort to create long-term multicultural partnerships.

The workshops are led by professional ANW facilitators who come from the worlds of acting, music and the arts; as artists usually do not conform to societal stereotypes, they help challenge the students’ preconceived ideas. Teachers are actively involved in the program throughout.

The program consists of three unicultural workshops within each school to examine their own emotional prejudices and fears, learn about the other culture and prepare for a meaningful multicultural interaction. Given the ongoing sensitivities, ANW has expanded and deepened these unicultural workshops to provide students with a space for open and honest discussion, helping them process their experiences and better prepare for multicultural encounters. This is followed by five multicultural workshops, aimed at increasing participants’ belief in the power and possibility of multicultural collaboration, increasing their willingness to continue working together in the future and giving them the skills and tools to do so. We understand that in order to engage as many schools, students, parents, and community members as possible we must remain sensitive and flexible and make sure to adapt our programs to the needs of the schools and students.

ANW’s holistic approach puts an additional focus on the adult’s role in the process and engages them through a parent-student multicultural workshop and teaching staff workshops (click here for the full sample syllabus). ANW understands that in order to make sustainable impact we must engage the adults and enable them to be meaningful role models for the students. By building bridges from the municipal level down to the students themselves, we facilitate exposure to different communities, cultures, and opinions, laying the foundation for a unified Israeli society.

What sets our work apart?

A New Way stands out for its distinctive, holistic approach, offering a unique blend of informal, experiential learning within the formal education system to foster a change in perspective. As well as focused on connecting communities that are segregated in its demographic.

Project Goals/Objectives

The project will work in 17 classes engaging approximately 550 students, 330 parents, 260 teaching staff members, 50 leading community members.

Throughout the project ANW will conduct 51 unicultural workshops, 32 multicultural student workshops, 8 multicultural student-parent workshops and 8 multicultural teachers room workshops.

ANW will conduct a thorough Monitoring and Evaluation process resulting in a comprehensive end of the year report.

Organizational budget 2023 -2025

Project Impact

To foster a change in attitudes. ANW will reduce emotional prejudice (anger, fear, hatred) and increase positive emotions, intergroup readiness and trust. At the end of the program, more than 75% of the participants would indicate an increase in positive feelings and appreciation for one another as well as greater readiness and trust towards the other population.

To provide knowledge of the ‘other’ on a personal and cultural level. At the end of the program at least 80% of the participants would express willingness to pursue inter-personal and multi-cultural engagement with the ‘other’ population.

To create the ability and desire to collaborate and work cross-communally on common goals. At the end of the program at least 50% of the participants would express readiness to join hands and collaborate with members from the other population.

To establish long-term, day-to-day partnerships between Arab and Jewish municipalities, communities and schools.Continuity – at least 80% of schools will choose to continue with the program in the following year. Involvement – at least 8 new initiatives will be created by leading teachers. Parents engagement – 60% of parents will take part in the program, in student-parent’s workshops, or by accompanying the students on workshop days outside the school.

Click to see Performance Review Findings

“We had a lot of fun. I didn’t imagine that they would welcome us so nicely. I thought they would hate us, avoid us and not want to talk to us. But they came, asked us things, told us about their families and showed us pictures. It was a lot of fun and immediately calmed us down. They are just like us!” (An Arab middle school student)

“I remember the competitive games where the aim was to win together as a mixed team as the most meaningful. We learned their names (I remember almost all of them till this day), we worked together towards a joint goal, and we saw that they have something to say about everything. We did struggle with the language barriers but didn’t give up and neither did they and we communicated, we even exchanged phone numbers!” (A Jewish student talking about the challenges in nature day).

Organization Mission

Our mission is to promote positive Arab and Jewish relations by creating personal and direct encounters between the people themselves; to reduce fear, prejudice, anger, and hostility, and replace them with tolerance, understanding, trust, empathy and a commitment to working together. ANW’s unique model is based on a holistic, multi-community approach that brings the ‘informal’ into the formal education system, emphasizing that learning should come from one’s own experience while promoting direct interaction, hands-on action, and social activism.

Tags

EDUCATION | Expansion | Experiential education | ISRAEL | Israel | Project Targeted | Shared Society | Shared Society | Youth and Teen