The Galilee of Israel, called by some “the land of life” has always been
a fertile area with special landscape characteristics, which has
provided throughout history a promising grounds for the emergence of new
cultures. Since the founding of the State of Israel, Jewish
and Arab citizens have been living side by side in the Galilee,
resulting in a delicate and fragile society comprised of Bedouins,
Cherkess, Druze, Moslems, Christians, and Jews. In the Galilee one
finds old settlements with thousands of years of history, such as
Nazareth, Tiberius, Safed, Acco, and Shefa-Amr, intermingled with new
settlements which were founded only recently.
Underneath the surface of the Galilean landscape a complicated social
reality is hidden; if it is not treated gently and if we are not able to
confront the challenges this reality poses, we are headed toward
violence as well as ethnic and religious struggles as is in other
conflict areas in the world or worse. In those regions the different cultures
failed to preserve the beautiful and diverse spiritual and human
landscape that had served as a source of inspiration before it became
grounds for endless conflict. In Israel today, like in many areas of
conflict in the world, a true leadership committed to peace is lacking.
The Arab and the Jewish communities in the Galilee tend to be alienated from each other. There are several reasons for this - social, economical, historical, cultural and, political, etc. the political developments during the last years have increased the alienation between the communities and created anger and frustration amongst the people of the Galilee. One of the main reasons for the growing alienation has always been socio-economic gaps, which increased over the years and are becoming more and to bridge.
The percentage of children in Northern Israel is the highest in the
country. Most of the children in the North of Israel are not Jewish
(62.3%) and include Arabs, Arab-Bedouins, Druze and Cherkesees. The Arab
villages do not receive sufficient investment or funding from local
authorities and do not have
community centres which would provide essential services such as
extracurricular activities, enrichment programs, family counseling etc.
Furthermore, the Arab educational system is always short of funds to run
enrichment programs. All of the above becomes even more difficult in
Bedouin settlements, where the shortage is even worse, as they lack
basic infrastructure.
As a result of this situation, many of the Arab children and youth in the Galilee are at risk. Many drop out of school, whilst others are in danger of being permanently expelled from school. Most of them live in a problematic socio-economic background situation and some frequently use drugs and alcohol. These problems tend to worsen due to the run-down community services and educational system in the Arab community. This situation causes many Arab children and youth to feel frustrated and to lack self belief in themselves. These feelings in many cases cause them to deteriorate and resort to crime and violence.
In order to improve the situation of the Arab population in the Galilee, there is an immediate need to develop programs that will help the children and youth stay in formal frameworks, complete their studies and channel their energies into more positive directions.
Furthermore, there is a need to bring both populations closer to each other and to create a feeling of true equality and partnership. This is the only way to empower these children and turn them into citizens who will make a contribution to society rather than becoming dependents on it.
Unless we invest in the relationships between both populations from an early age, and unless we direct more resources to the Arab population, the feeling of alienation on both sides will increase and the current reality will worsen.
However, there is still an alternative of forming a
common and fruitful life.