Hand in Hand: Center for Jewish-Arab Education in Israel

Hand in Hand: Center for Jewish-Arab Education in Israel (, ) is a network of integrated, bilingual schools for Jewish and Arab children in Israel. Hand in Hand was co-founded by Israeli Arab educator Amin Khalaf and Israeli American educator Lee Gordon in 1997 with 50 students at two campuses.

Hand in Hand's mission is to create a strong and inclusive shared society in Israel through a network of integrated, bilingual schools and active communities. The organization's philosophy is that the actual living experience of its students, teachers, parents and others who participate in its schools and communities can inspire broad support for social inclusion and civic equality in Israel.

Hand in Hand now operates seven schools with more than 2,100 Jewish and Arab students. More than 3,000 parents and other adults, Jews and Arabs alike, currently participate in integrated community activities organized by Hand in Hand. Over the next 10 years, Hand in Hand aims to create a network of 10 to 15 integrated bilingual schools, supported and enhanced by active communities, altogether involving more than 20,000 Israeli citizens. .

History

Hand in Hand was founded in 1997 by two Israeli educators, one Arab and one Jewish. They started the first two schools in 1998, one in the Galilee region near the Misgav Regional Council and one in Jerusalem. These first two schools grew, and in the summer of 2003, a group of interested parents from the Wadi Ara region in the Arab Triangle met to express interest in establishing a third Hand in Hand School in their region.

After delays, which included difficulty winning recognition from the Israeli Ministry of Education, the "Bridge over the Wadi" (Gesher al haWadi, Hebrew: ) school opened on September 1, 2004, with 106 students. The teachers come from Jewish and Arab towns in the area.

Hand in Hand's fourth school opened in September 2007 in the city of Beer Sheva. This school is now fully independent of Hand in Hand.

On October 21, 2007, Hand in Hand's Max Rayne school opened in Jerusalem's Pat neighborhood near the Arab village of Beit Safafa. The new campus was built with $11 million from donors including the Jerusalem Foundation, the Rayne Foundation, and other European donors.

In 2012, a preschool was opened in the urban area of Haifa, by Dr. Merav Ben-Nun, with a kindergarten in 2013. In 2016 an elementary school was opened In Carmelia. THe school moved to another neighborhood in Haifa in 2019.

Hand in Hand has also partnered with Project Harmony Israel since 2010 to provide an English immersion summer camp for Hand in Hand students as well as students from around Jerusalem.

Conflict

2014 arson attack in Jerusalem

In November 2014 the Hand in Hand Max Rayne School was subjected to an arson, suspected of being a hate crime that was racially motivated. The school was also defaced with anti-Arab slogans such as "Death to Arabs" and "Kahane was right!" Shortly thereafter, the "Tag Meir" coexistence organization held a support rally to counter those who threaten Arab-Jewish cooperation and promoting racism in Israel. Mohamad Marzouk, head of communications for the Hand in Hand school in Kfar Qara, noted that the attack brought out a show of community support for the school. In the minds of many people the arson, he said, "crossed a red line." The Israeli police arrested a number of suspects in connection with this arson attack.

Following the arrest, the mother of one of the arsonists said she would have burned the school as well, if it were not illegal to do so, and she expressed disgust and revulsion that Jews and Arabs studied together at the school. In 2018, one of the arsonists, Yitzhak Gabai, was invited to a Channel 14 talk show for a friendly conversation. The left-wing and right-wing commentators smiled and laughed as Gabai recounted the terrorist attack. The show engendered a social media backlash, and Channel 14 apologized.

Aftermath of attack

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, along with his wife Nechama, invited the Hand in Hand first graders to his official residence along with their teachers. He told them: "I am excited to welcome you to the President’s Residence. You are proof that we can live side by side in peace, and we must not let difficult experiences - such as the one you have been through - harm our belief in our ability to coexist."