Yad be-Yad school

Today I went to a very special school: It's called Yad be-Yad, which means "hand in hand" in both Arabic and Hebrew. They have both Arabic and Jewish students, starting with the same number of each in the first grade. During the first year the class is taught by both an Arabic speaking and a Hebrew speaking teacher, which means the kids are fairly fluent in bith languages after a year. After that, each teacher teaches in his or her native language, so the kids/ students get to practise both.


It has a wonderful atmosphere, and I couldn't tell which kids were Jewish and which were Arabic. They are taught to accept each other's different opinions, even when they don't agree. They do discuss the conflict, and celebrate both the Israeli Independence Day (a very happy day for the Jews) and al-nakba, the catastrophe, as the Arabs call the birthday of the Israeli state. Of course they also face problems from both side of the society, and only children of moderate parents who think it's a good idea go there. But I hope this project will have many more schools with many students around the country, so some of all the prejudices and hate can disapper when kids play together and become friends.

Read more about the project here.