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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 October 2010
Educational segregation
During a conversation about the schooling of Palestinian youngsters in Natzerat Illit, a veteran Israeli resident, formerly a member of the municipal council, once said to me:
If only they wanted, they could easily send the whole educational system of this town spiralling into havoc. All they need to do is stage a wave of applications to our schools, wait for the first denial of admission, and apply to the supreme court. Their risk of losing such an appeal is minimal.
The speaker's nightmare has not materialized, nor is it likely to. The Palestinian residents of Natzerat Illit, including those who have been living there long and plan to stay indefinitely, display no desire for their children to attend primary, secondary or high schools in the town. They are indifferent to the political implications of turning all-Israeli schools into mixed institutions. Sending their children to schools in Nazareth seems to them a matter of course – a state of affairs which Israelis in Natzerat Illit view with evident relief. One official in the education department put it to me in clear and simple terms: ‘Why should they attend our schools here? They have their own schools in Nazareth, where they belong. They go there, we are here, and everyone is happy.'
The universal lack of interest in mixed education on the part of Palestinians in Natzerat Illit is linked to the obvious advantages of the schooling system of Nazareth. Schools in the Palestinian town, especially those run by church institutions, have outstanding academic reputations. The atmosphere tends to be competitive and achievement oriented. Discipline is strict.
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