Bridge over the Wadi

On a small hill at the edge of the Muslim town of Kfar Kara, a modest one-story building hums with activity; the stammering of first-graders reading Hebrew and Arabic, children at play, and young voices learning a Palestinian folk song in music class spill into the air. Peering in, one sees that the classrooms are built around a courtyard, lending the school a feeling of intimacy like a desert plant that appears overnight on the bare sand after a long dry season, Hand in Hand's Bridge over the Wadi School seemed to spring out of nowhere in a most unlikely place. In fact, this small miracle was the result of the hard work of a dedicated group of Jewish and Arab parents, who, seeking a context for hope in light of local tensions, joined forces with Hand in Hand and pushed the proposed school plan through one obstacle after another until it was realized. The school began its first day in September 2004, with 105 pupils from K-3, and now has 195 pupils.

The teachers at this school, from Jewish and Arab towns in the area, are notably young and enthusiastic; the school also boasts the largest number of male teachers of any Hand in Hand school. An educational resource center brimming with teaching materials gleaned from Hand in Hand's experience over the past years is frequented by faculty and administration alike.

In keeping with the Hand in Hand model, there are two co-principals, one Arab and one Jewish. Husam Abu Bachar has spent many years asthe director of programs and initiatives and the director of strategy and organizational development for the Abraham Fund.  Last year, he took a leave of absence and worked as a principal of a high school in Haifa.  Deciding that this was his true calling, he came to the Wadi Ara School in August 2008.  Tal Kaufaman

also began her new job as the co-principal of the school in August.  For many years, she served as the program coordinator for the National Humanistic Education agency as well as leading courses and workshops for principals and teachers under the auspices of Achva College, the Ministry of Education, and others.  Under the leadership of this magnificent team, the school is blossoming beyond all expectations.

History and Character: Hope in a Torn Region    In the middle of Israel, from near the western shore of the Mediterranean Sea through the first significant line of hills to the east, runs the wide, gently sloping valley of Wadi Ara. The wadi runs through rolling hills spotted with small and large Arab towns, agricultural land, and some small Jewish towns and agricultural communities including kibbutzim.  The Green Line, the dividing line between Israel and the West Bank, jogs close to the wadi at its southern border.

In October 2000, violence erupted in this idyllic landscape, beginning with a general strike in the Arab sector, swelling into stone-throwing and rioting, and culminating in the death of 13 Israeli Arabs killed by the Israeli police while demonstrating. Following this incident, the Israeli government established the Or Commission to investigate the tragedy.

It is often the courage of a few individuals that changes history. In the wake of the violence and deteriorating Jewish Arab relations, a small group of 10 Jews and 10 Arabs from the Wadi Ara region, determined to change the world, came together. Seeking to live together in peace, equality and mutual respect, they took the situation into their own hands. Together they agreed that the answer to violence and hatred had to be a framework where their children could live and learn together. The group, which began growing exponentially, partnered with Hand in Hand, and in September 2004, a new Hand in Hand school was born.
 
The head of the local council in the Arab town of Kfar Kara offered the group a possible solution: an empty and new building on the edge of town.  But this generosity came with its own set of challenges.  Never before had Jews in Israel traveled to school in an Arab town. Characteristic of minority-majority relations, the minority is de facto accustomed to venturing into the 'territory' of the majority while the majority is fearful of leaving its familiar setting. At an emergency meeting, the parents reaffirmed their commitment to making the school work. They recognized that the new school would not only bring the Jewish and Arab communities closer, but, for the first time in Israel's history, would bring Jewish children to study in the heart of an Arab town. In fact, a new and significant and precedent was set!

Hand in Hand and the parents of Wadi Ara joined together in lobbying the Ministry of Education and in 2004 received the government's stamp of approval. Giving an extra boost to the enterprise was a pledge from the Van Leer Foundation to support cultural diversity programming during the school's first year of operation.

Now bilingual, multicultural education in Wadi Ara would become an established fact, and in years to come, the school could become a bridge into a better future of Jewish Arab relations in the area.