|
|
|
| Current Issue |
|
|
| Resources |
|
|
|
Troubled Coexistence: Cautious Progress Between Israeli Arabs and Jews
| Article
# : |
11845 |
|
|
Section : |
CULTURE
|
| Issue
Date : |
1 / 1994 |
2,988 Words |
| Author
: |
Nechemia Meyers
Nechemia Meyers, affiliated with the Weizmann Institute of
Science in Rehovot, Israel, has previously published two
articles in The World & I: Israel and the Far East: Growing
Links Between Jews and Asians (January 1989) and Bar Kokhba: A
Two-Millennia Debate (July 1990). |
Few Israelis are as excited about the accord between Israel and the Palestinians as Riad and Chana Nasser. Theirs is a mixed marriage--Riad is Muslim and his wife is Jewish--and the prolonged conflict between Arabs and Jews has made life particularly difficult for them. They hope that the new situation will lead to increased understanding and to an opening of borders and of hearts.
The Nassers met at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, when both were studying theater arts and dabbling in politics. They were married in a civil ceremony in London. Riad, who has taught high school, is pursuing a master's in sociology at Tel Aviv University and researches social psychology at Bar-Ilan University. He dreams of obtaining a doctorate at a U.S. university and doing research full time. Chana works as coordinator of women's activities at the Jewish-Arab Institute of Beit Berl College. Financed by the Histadrut Labor Federation, the institute sponsors seminars that bring together the two peoples. It also publishes a bilingual literary journal in which every story appears in both Arabic and Hebrew, regardless of its language of origin.
The Nasser family lives in the Arab town of Tira. Chana says that most mixed couples live in Arab communities, where they are more readily accepted. Their two children--fourteen-year-old Adam and eleven-year-old Irene--both attended an Arab school in Tira until this year, when Adam transferred to a Jewish school in neighboring Kfar Saba. The children regard themselves as Arabs, albeit with an admixture of Jewish attitudes and culture that occasionally leads to minor arguments with their father.
The Nasser home is fully bilingual or, more correctly, trilingual. Arabic, Hebrew, and English are spoken, depending on who is present. In general, political issues do not cause a problem within the family, even though some of Riad's relatives are refugees and some of Chana's serve in Israel's Defense Forces. But sometimes there are differences of nuance when a touchy question, like Arab terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians, is discussed. Riad tends to describe them as "acts of despair"; Chana says she "can understand why they took place but can't accept them." Now the Nassers hope that the attacks will soon be things of the past.
Hitherto, existing tensions have limited the number of mixed marriages in Israel: There are only a thousand or so. Most matches are between working-class couples, primarily Arab men and Jewish women. However, some 15 percent are of couples who met at one of Israel's universities. But even in
...
Read Full Article
Look for this article in Ask.com
|
|
