Studied Coexistence, from The Jerusalem Report
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Subject: Studied Coexistence, from The Jerusalem Report
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Studied Coexistence, from The Jerusalem Report
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>From the moderator: Although the piece below does not deal with the
MINELRES' "formal" geographic area, i.e. Central Eastern Europe, we
believe it might be of interest for many subscribers. Indeed,
problems, challenges and approaches are very similar to those in many
regions of the post-Communist Europe...
Boris
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Studied Coexistence
By Tamar LaFontaine
The Jerusalem Report
August 28, 2000
In 1996, three young men from the village of Kafr Qasem, east of Tel
Aviv, became the first Israeli Arabs to enroll at the College of Judea
& Samaria in Ariel, the second-largest Jewish settlement in the West
Bank. Four years later, there are 150 Israeli Arabs in the
6,500-strong student body, and that number is set to rise to 200 in
the coming academic year.
Israeli Arab political leaders don't like the idea of their youth
crossing the Green Line to study at a "settlers" college. But,
perhaps surprisingly given its location, students and teachers say
there is less political friction in Ariel than at some universities
inside sovereign Israel.
There are no Palestinians enrolled in the college - which is
affiliated with the modern Orthdox Bar-Ilan University - but Professor
Kenneth Hochberg, the rector, notes that the college is open to any
student with the appropriate acceptance requirements, and thus there
is no formal bar to Palestinians. "Conflict of principles or fear of
being tagged a collaborator," he suggests, have so far kept
Palestinians away; another factor, however, he acknowledges, is that
they would need to finance their own tuition.
Founded in 1982, the school draws most of its students from central
Israel and 15% from settlements [in Judea & Samaria]. Israeli Arabs
are attracted by its closeness to their communities - it's 20
kilometers from Kafr Qasem - and, college officials say, lower entry
requirements than at Israeli universities.
Hochberg also cites what he calls the relatively conservative
atmosphere: "It's smaller, quieter and more appropriate for their way
of life," he says. "And we do give Israeli Arabs a supportive
environment. For example, students whose native tongue is Arabic are
given additional time for exams in Hebrew, or additional instruction."
The college offers both academic programs and non-academic prepatory
courses, in areas such as tourism, computers and electronics. Within
its academic division, a third of students are working towards a
bachelor's degree in the social and health sciences, and two thirds in
engineering, architecture and the applied sciences.
Mhamid Rami, a computer major from Kafr Fureidis, south of Haifa, is
one of the 22 Arabs among the 1,550 students who live on campus in
dormitories. "Generally an Arab student prefers to live with an
Arab," Rami says, noting that the 22 room together. "Divisions are
clear."
Yusef Atia, of Ramlah, a second-year student and head of the Arab
Students Committee, stresses the apolitical bent of daily campus life:
"I separate academic matters from politics, and I'm not interested in
creating conflict between Jews and Arabs," he says. "The second that
politics enters the conversation, there will be problems, so we keep
it inside ourselves."
The absence of political heat on this campus stands in stark contrast
to protests by Arab students at some of Israel's largest
universities. This past spring, for example, saw angry protests at
both Haifa University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem,
coinciding with Land Day and highlighting expropriation of land for
the Trans-Israel Highway and other projects.
The Arab Student Committee and the Student Union hold dialogue
sessions between the Arab and Jewish students. And Atia praises the
administration's "receptive ear for our concerns." It recently
responded favorably, for example, to a request made by the Arab
Student Committee for a Muslim prayer hall.
But support has not been forthcoming from Arab political leaders.
"They're disgusted," Atia says frankly. "We are traitors in their
eyes. But the way I look at it is that there's no real difference if
I study at Ariel or Haifa or Tel Aviv. Ariel is not going to be given
over to the Palestinian Authority." (Prime Minister Barak has
indicated that he would seek to bring Ariel under Israeli sovereignty
in a final peace deal with the Palestinians.)
Atia recounts an occasion this year when the Arab Student Committee
invited United Arab List Knesset Member Abdul-Malik Dehamshe to visit
the school. "Dehamshe's visit was publicized to the student body;
unfortunately, he canceled at the last minute." Asked about this,
Dehamshe commented that "because the college is located on Palestinian
land, an area of conquest, as part of the settlements, I would not be
prepared to study there or to send my son to study there."
"Relationships between students are o.k. and they're improving," notes
Mansorah Abozyad, a student from Kafr Qasem. And Anat, a secular
Jewish student from Petah Tikva (only about a third of the school's
Jewish students are Orthodox), says she feels that "the Arab students
are more open than the religious students. I probably wouldn't take
one as a boyfriend or confidant, but on a general day-to-day basis,
things are good between students."
But Tomer, an Orthodox student from the settlement of Eli, located
about 10 kilometers southeast of Ariel, is not as sanguine about the
Arab presence. "It's problematic for me," he says. "Let's say a
Jewish student wanted to study at an Arab university - would he be
accepted? Israeli society is too open. I don't think it's right.
Having Arabs study here," he believes, "will hurt us in the end. They
will use it against us."
The folder Tomer carries bears the college's old slogan, "A small
miracle in the heartland of Israel," splashed across it. The new
college slogan, "Expanding horizons from the heartland," apparently
hasn't reached him yet.
--
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