Parents in Nazareth Illit: ‘There is no need for our children to be educated with Arabs’

Lilach kindergarten in Nazareth Illit. (Photo: Eran Gilvarg/Walla News)

Only few days ago Haaretz published disturbing, though not surprising, survey that was conducted among Jewish Israelis, where most Israeli supported Apartheid regime in Israel.

Among many disturbing data in the survey, 42% of the questionnaires said they don’t want to live in the same building with Arabs and 42% don’t want their children in the same class with Arab children.

Soon enough this is illustrated in real life.

According to the Walla news website, parents of Jewish children in kindergarten “Lilach” in Nazareth Illit, are threatening to make a strike and shut down the garden, if the kindergarten will integrate in a project that will bring Arab children and Jewish ones together.

Kindergarten “Lilach,” in the city of Nazareth Illit, was included in the pilot project of the Israeli Ministry of Education. The new project “know the different” is designed to connect between Jews and Arabs in order to promote “co-existence.” As part of the project, “Lilach” will host every week, the children from “Nitsan” kindergarten, to which Palestinian families in Nazareth Illit send their children. The project aims to expose the children to the culture of each side, and promote educational cooperation between the two.

The parents of Jewish children are trying to prevent such project from happening in any possible way. The chairman of the parents’ committee told Walla: “I won’t give a hand to make my daughter learn about the customs and traditions of the Arab community.” He added “it is enough to me that we live near each other, there is no need for our children to be educated with Arabs.”

One of the mothers added: “I do not understand why my son should learn about Christmas customs or other non-Jewish ones. We live in Israel, a country with a Jewish character. There is no point in trying to educate our children differently.”
The Jewish parents resorted to the rabbi of Nazareth Illit, Rabbi Yesha’yahu Herzel, asking him to help convincing the mayor, Shimon Gabso, to cancel the project. The Rabbi told Walla, “The matter is examined. I understand the desire of parents. We have enough problems of integration in our own nation.” He then explained that “the parents are concerned that such relationship can cause problems in the future, such as assimilation, or exposure to non-kosher foods.”

The parents committee threatened the local council and the Ministry of Education to shut down the school year and closes the kindergarten, if no solutions are found. “We will make complete separation in the kindergarten,” said the Chairman of the committee.

The parents have support from elected figure in the city, Wolf Hartmann, city council member and a candidate for the mayor’s office, said: “We view this issue with great severity. I will appeal to the Minister of Education and present to him the severity of the problem. I have no doubt that this project will not happen.”

Nazareth Illit (upper Nazareth) was established in the mid 50s as a Jewish settlement on lands confiscated from the largest Palestinian city Nazareth and it’s neighboring Palestinian villages. With the years, many Palestinian families moved to live in Nazareth Illit. They are estimated to compose now 20% of the population in the city, which is seen by many racist movements and figures in the city as a “threat” to the city’s Jewish character. Read more about the city and about another racist incidence.

If this is the environment Jewish children are raised into, in addition to the education system that teaches children to hate, and the militaristic society in which children are born, no wonder that most Israelis support Apartheid in Israel.

This article was originally published on October 26, 2012 by AbirKopty.wordpress.com.