About a month ago I had the wonderful opportunity to go on two tours of Jerusalem. However, before I write about those tours, I want to state a few facts about Israel.
~There are only two official languages for the State of Israel; Hebrew and Arabic. It wasn't until recently, 2002, that municipal signs were written in Arabic as well as Hebrew and English.
~Arabs and Jews do not go to the same schools. There are a couple reasons for this, the main one being the language barrier; the native language for Arabs is Arabic and for Jews it is Hebrew. There is a school called Hand in Hand-Center for Jewish-Arab Bilingual Education in Israel where both Jews and Arabs learn together, in the same classrooms. In these schools, there are two teachers in each classroom; an Arab and a Jew. The two teachers teach side by side in their native tongues so that each student is able to fully understand the lessons. Other than this school, all public and private schools are separated and the funding is different for each school.
~All of the Israeli Universities teach in Hebrew, therefore if Israeli Arabs want to study at a University their Hebrew must be on par with their Israeli classmates.
~Israeli Arabs are not allowed to serve in the Israeli Defense Force (IDF). Arab Druz, however, are allowed. The Arab Druz population is split on the issue of serving in the IDF, but there are a few prominent Arab Druz in the army.
Ok that's all I have for now.
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