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Welcome to Spotlight, I’m Ryan Geertsma
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And I’m Ruby Jones. This programme uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
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Today’s programme is looking at some very special schools in the state of Israel.
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‘When I talk about the school tears come to my eyes. I still cannot believe that our dream has come true. Our children now learn in a school with both Jewish and Arab children. Every time I am asked about the school, I can only say, “It is too good to be true”’.
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Carmel Ron’s son goes to the Bridge Over the Wadi School. It is in the village of Kfar Kara. This is in an area of Israel called the Wadi Ara. What makes this school special is that children from Jewish and Muslim families learn together.
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Many people know of the troubled history of Israel. We read of struggles between Israel and its Palestinian neighbours. But we often forget that Israel’s own population is about twenty percent Arab. Almost all parents in Israel send their children to either Jewish schools or Arab schools. Normally children will learn only with other children from their community. That means they do not mix with people from other cultures. But the Bridge Over the Wadi School is helping to change this. It is part of a project to build more bilingual schools. These teach in both the Hebrew and Arabic languages.
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What makes the Bridge over the Wadi school even more unusual is where it is. Kafr Qara is an Arab village. For the first time in Israel, Jewish children enter an Arab area to go to school. But this school thinks that it is helping to bring the two groups together. They want to help the children to learn about the people whom they would normally try to avoid.
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This school is part of a project called Hand in Hand. Holding hands is an image of the way this project is bringing divided communities together. The first Hand in Hand school opened in 1997. The idea was created by Amin Khalaf, and Lee Gordon. Gordon explains the idea behind the schools,
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‘Hand in Hand students learn in classrooms with equal numbers of Jewish and Arab students. They are taught in both languages by Arab and Jewish teachers. Students learn to relate their own culture and language to others... They receive the skills and experiences to live in a peaceful and mixed community. Nowhere else in Israel do Arabs and Jews spend so much time together. Every day they work on the small and large issues of living together. This includes sharing each other’s religious holidays and staying united when violence happens.’
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There are now four Hand in Hand schools in Israel. In total, over eight hundred children go to the schools. Some are Jewish, some Moslem and some Christian. There are two headteachers in each school. One is Arab and one is Jewish. Bushra Masalkha is a student at the school in Jerusalem.
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‘I like this school because Arabs and Jews mix here. Here I can learn the language of the Jews. It is also nice to see how other people live.’
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There is now a waiting list to get into a Hand in Hand school. There are not enough places for all the children that want to learn there. So Hand in Hand now want to build more schools. The big plan is to have schools all over Israel, all linked together. Hand in Hand hopes that the schools could change the way that all Israeli children are taught. In the next few years the organisation wants to expand its schools. Until now the students have left school at the age of about fifteen. This is because the project does not have high schools. But Hand in Hand wants to fix this. They want the students to be able to stay for their last three years of school. They also want to create an education programme for all schools in Israel to follow. This would help other schools to teach about Jewish and Arab culture.
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But not everyone is happy about Jewish and Arab children going to school together. Some religious leaders are angry about the schools. The anger of one Jewish leader was reported in an Israeli newspaper. The Rabbi said that starting such schools was ‘sinful’. He thought it was very bad for Jews to mix with Arabs. He said very hurtful things about the Arabs. Some other people are also worried about the schools. They think that by mixing with another culture they will lose their own culture.
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But people at the school say this is not true. They say that even when people mix together, they remain different. They say that it is better for children to study their culture among other cultures. This learning experience teaches children who they are in a way that single culture schools can miss.
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Many people in Israel and around the world are interested in the schools. They are happy to see the two communities coming together. Officials from countries such as the United States, Australia and Switzerland have all visited the school. Some countries even give money to the schools to help keep them open. In 2005 the leader of Germany’s capital city visited the Hand in Hand school in Jerusalem. The mayor of Berlin said:
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‘I think it is very good that the children here are learning how to live together. This school is a wonderful model, not just for Israel and the Palestinians but for the whole world.’
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It is true that it is not just in Israel that people are divided by their religion or culture. In many places around the world people fear or distrust people from other communities. People fight and communities divide because the people are different. Sometimes people think that religion is the cause of the trouble.
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However, most religions encourage people to be kind to others. Almost all religions believe that you should treat other people as you want to be treated. This simple command has been called the Golden Rule. Many people think it is the best way for people to live in peace. Being kind to all people involves being tolerant. The Hand in Hand schools are helping to teach children this Golden Rule of tolerance. They hope it will bring peace to their divided communities.
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