From “Walla Zone” Website Thursday, December 15, 2005 By Amir Tivon, Walla! staff
What happens when you take two classes, one from Tel Aviv, the other from the Arab town of Tira, and put them together for two crowded days? Amir Tivon participated in a Jewish-Arab seminar at Givat Haviva and came back with insights.
We stood in a big room, two groups of Israeli pupils. On one side, a Jewish group from a school in Tel Aviv. On the other side, an Arab group from a school in Tira, an Arab town in the center of Israel. There was a feeling of discomfort in the room. People whispered, exchanged fearful glances and every so often smiled in the direction of the other group. There was a clear geographical dividing line between us: we did not go near the center of the room. We stayed at the edges.
After a few minutes, a thin youth with glasses came out of the Arab group, and walked with full confidence to the “Jewish area.” He sat on a chair right next to me, and put out his hand for a friendly shake. “Hello, my name is Mu’ad.” We broke the fence of separation between us. That was how our first day at the Givat Haviva Educational Center began, in the framework of a Jewish-Arab youth seminar, which was held entirely in English.
We stayed there two days, close to 50 pupils. We started with getting-acquainted games, and went on to discussions on both personal and political subjects, in large discussion groups, in small groups and even “one on one,” Jew with Arab. Each one of us learned to know the other, for good and bad.
They are so different
As the conversations got deeper, it was possible to see more clearly how different we are. For the Tel Avivians, talk of love and screwing are completely normal. For the Tirans, these words were strange, scary. They talked about entirely different things – complete abstinence before the wedding: no kisses on the cheek, not even telephone calls. They were completely shocked by our free attitude to sexual relations.
I was also shocked. Opposite me are sitting people who are exactly like my friends. We wear the same clothes, watch the same television programs. How could it be that they haven’t even kissed? I felt sorry for them. The girls from Tira, do they really intend to remain virgins until the wedding? And the boys, during the most turbulent period of their lives, give up in advance on the experience, the excitement, the hunt.
There was another difference, no less deep: in the group from Tel Aviv, there were a few pupils expert in “self-criticism”: active leftists, against the occupation, criticizing government policy, both during breaks at school as well as in front of Arab youth. Freely.
In the group from Tira, on the other hand, almost no voices of self-criticism were heard. Amongst the Tirans there arose some complaints against Jewish society, but every attempt to also criticize Arab society on points such as attitude towards women, freedom of expression and the like, were met with a wall of social supervision.
They are so much alike
As the conversations got deeper, it was possible to see more clearly how alike we are. Everyone is an excellent student, most are bio-technology majors. Their parents belong to the middle class, many of them are doctors, lawyers and the like. All are on their way to university, and no one intends to stop with only a B.A.
In personal conversations, one-on-one, we opened up and discovered that not only are we studying the same major, but we are also interested in the same fields. The musicians sat on the grass and played guitar. The smokers smoked together. The soccer fans talked about the “Peace Team” game against Barcelona, and the internet junkies argued about all kinds of long words. We also talked about our parents, siblings, friends, plans, dreams. Everything that interests 16-year-olds.
That evening a group of Argentinean students from another school in the north of the country came to Givat Haviva; they came to sleep in the framework of their annual trip. During the night I learned that if there is one thing in common amongst nerds from both religions, Jews and Arabs, that is that they’re all afraid of preppies. Starting at two in the morning, the preppies from the north made our lives miserable. They made a tremendous amount of noise, they tried to break in to one of the girls’ rooms through a window, and in general had a great time at our expense.
But they didn’t know who they were dealing with. At three-thirty, when it was already clear to all of us that if we didn’t deal with the problem we wouldn't get any sleep, we decided on a joint Jewish-Arab initiative, and we threw back the intruders with great bravery (that is, we went to wake up the counselors).
