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News from the Field: Arab minorities in Israel: Towards a transformation of inter-communal relations

The Mossawa Center is a human rights center that works to improve the status of the Arab minority in Israel using legal, media, international, and socioeconomic advocacy. One of the first steps in the implementation of the two-year project supported by the UNDEF included a seminar directed toward university students that would empower youth to strengthen democracy and human rights among the Arab community in Israel.

On May 22 and 23, 2007, the Mossawa Center held a two-day seminar for Arab university students from all over the country. As members of the national minority in Israel, these young people grow up in an oftentimes hostile environment that discriminates against them based on their cultural and ethnic identities. Constantly in the shadow of the Israeli Palestinian conflict, the Arab minority and Jewish majority struggle to transform inter-communal relations between each other and the multiple communities in Israel who cross racial, religious, linguistic, and ethnic divides.

The Mossawa Center’s reason for targeting youth and promoting youth and student activism hinges on the fact that these university students are studying in Israeli universities and have daily interactions with their Jewish colleagues. Many of these students are engaging with and directly affected by the ongoing debates and struggles between the Jewish majority and Arab minority in Israel.

This two-day seminar, held in cooperation with the Committee for Educational Guidance for Arab Students (CEGAS) provided a forum for learning and discussion about the socioeconomic, cultural, political, and legal circumstances of the Arab minority in Israel. Challenges faced during the planning stages included how to reach students from different universities. The sessions covered the areas of legal status of the Arab community in Israel, the use the media as a tool for advocacy, the State Development Budget and how it relates to the different minorities in Israel, the socio-economic status of women in Israel, strategies for international advocacy, and community organizing. Over 30 students participated in the event, representing majors, political parties, and universities from all over the Israel. Participants and lecturers said the seminar was mutually educational and that the atmosphere created by the discussion was both inspirational and passionate. One of the most significant sessions discussed how to spot and interpret representations and stereotypes of the Arab minority in the Hebrew-language media. Students said that they became more aware of existent stereotypes and the media’s ability to frame particular stories in a political way as a result of this session.

The seminar resulted in a group of university students with whom the Mossawa Center will continue to work with throughout the project, on community outreach, human rights educational programs, and social justice programs focusing on issues such as police violence, house demolition, and racial profiling. Building relationships and coalitions with student activists is a tool for developing long-term programming directed at the Arab community.

Student participants are now proposing community outreach projects that will be supported by the Mossawa Center, such as an upcoming art exhibition, voluntary work day to renovate the Carmel Educational and Culture building belonging to CEGAS, which will be used as student dormitories. Possibly, the greatest endorsement came from the students, who said that this seminar addressed a very real need for such an activity among the Arab student community in Israel.

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