These gaps both strengthen and reflect attitudes of fear and mistrust. A study by the Guttman Institute found that about two thirds of Jews and Arabs agree that relations between the two peoples are characterized by little respect for human dignity. About two-thirds of Jews oppose both. The good news is that with our help Israeli non-governmental organizations have slowly begun to address each of these thorny issues. Some bring youngsters together to help them make a fundamental discovery, that both are human beings - Jewish and Arab.
Many programs advocate for improving education.
Recently, they helped pave the way for the Minister of Education to take an overdue but important step of providing the Bedouin in the south of Israel with desperately needed classrooms and teachers. Other efforts bring Arabs and Jews together over shared environmental concerns. Decades of hostilities between Israel, its neighbors and the Palestinians have seriously inflamed whatever ordinary tensions might have existed between the country s Arab minority and Jewish majority. Moreover, as relations between Israel, its neighbors and the Palestinians improve, the Israeli Arab struggle for equality is bound to intensify. To further complicate matters, a painful debate has emerged over alternative frameworks for future relations between both groups.