Hagar is looking for partners in other schools that would like to make use of these EU stories that were developed.
“These are all things that charge us with energy and provide us with support for what is ahead.”
Why don’t we hear about this in the mainstream news?
“Media, in general, tends to focus on the negative, especially in the context of a conflict. But also it is probably the chicken and the egg. You have to live through such experiences in order to want to constantly tell the world about it, rather than just pay a token of support or issue an occasional ‘feel good’ media item. There is a big difference between the actual experience of bilingual education and the public concerns around it that drive public policies that discourage it rather than adopt and expand it.”
He continued, “I think people living through an ongoing conflict become very doubtful and cynical. This is the fourth generation born into this conflict. It is much easier for people to retreat to what is more in line with what they have been told or what they have learned about the other, rather than making that leap of faith and wanting to know and experience these things more. Ideally, the state should take pride in the kind of work that we do, encourage integrated schooling all over the country and make it available and accessible for all Arab and Jewish citizens. In practice though, Hagar and other such integrated schools receive only the basic support we need while segregated education remains the policy by default.”
The association has just been declined by the state to grow into the 7th grade and start a junior high. It is the first time since Hagar was established that their continued growth was stopped. Still in the future they hope this would change as the Arab families in Be’er Sheva do not have any alternatives for studying in Arabic anywhere in the city.
To close the interview he commented on wider support both inside and outside of Israel for dialogue between Jews and Arabs.
“I could say that without the support of the North American Jewish community I do not know where we would be. There are positives in this but also negatives in that the kind of services that we provide to the Israeli public should not be primarily sustained thanks to the bond we have with the North American Jewish community. I think that promoting shared living in Israel is fundamental for both the state and the American Jewish community and both need to promote it in a much stronger way until the state assumes full responsibility over shared living in Israel in a way that it does not do today.”
Hagar Association
DAVIDS STAR MAGAZINE
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