Gesher Le-Aravit (Bridge to Arabic) is a grassroots Arab-Jewish project and a unique social change model, developed by four teachers in Jisr A Zarqa, the poorest Arab village in Israel. The project offers Jewish Israelis from all over the country to learn the Arabic language and culture in an Arabic-speaking environment. To this day, more than 250 Jewish Israelis visited Jisr A Zarqa to learn Arabic and to participate in a rich cultural
program. For the community, the project creates employment and sustainable livelihood for more than ten families. Thus, Arab-Jewish dialogue is both a learning experience and a contribution to socio-economic prosperity of the village.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Location
Jisr A Zarqa (Bridge over the Blue), the only Arab municipality that remained by the Israeli Mediterranean seashore after 1948, is registered as one of the poorest localities in Israeli official statistics. Its literacy rate is among the lowest in the country while unemployment is among the highest. The village inhabitants are seen as having the lowest social status by both Jewish and Arab societies. The village's 14,000 citizens only recently received a single bus route, which takes many of the women to work in the more established Jewish and Arab villages, Kibbutzim and neighbouring towns.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although Jisr's houses are clearly seen from the Haifa-Tel Aviv Highway 2 that passes just a few meters away from them, physical access to the village itself has not been made easy by the Israeli authorities. There is no access from the main road; one has to go through a set of interchanges and access roads in order to get into Jisr A Zarqa.
As Jisr A Zarqa is set on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, next to a nature reserve and built on the remains of an ancient Roman settlement, it has a full-scale touristic potential.

 

With an Arabic language and cultural study centre, it can supply a unique opportunity to learn and practice Arabic for all levels and to contribute to economic prosperity of the village.

 

Background and Rationale
The escalation of violence in recent weeks is enabled by decades of segregation and inequalities among Jews and Arabs in Israel, strengthened by the absence of a viable peace process. It is clear that the change is
not expected from above – it must come from below, by ordinary people seeking to live in peace and dignity. While many Arab citizens speak Hebrew, Arabic language and culture remain out of reach for most Jewish Israelis, often generating feelings of fear and  intimidation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If dialogue among Jews and Arabs takes place in the linguistic and cultural terrain of Hebrew, it preserves inequity and alienation of Jewish Israelis from the Arabic language and culture, thus limiting the  potential of a dialogue. Gesher Le-Aravit offers an unmediated way to learn and experience Arabic through everyday life interactions in Jisr A Zarqa. Practical work Through the year of 2015 we have independently managed to launch a new study program, build a steady group of genuine followers on our Facebook page, advertise our courses, draw new students year round and extend the villagers’ involvement in our enthusiasm and the project’s benefits.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meet our teachers in the videos on our Facebook page: Fatina, Hasib and Miriam presenting the studies in
Hebrew. Also available are pictures of some of our activities: a cooking workshop in Arabic the class, one of the tours we conduct as part of the program, and one more tour (all in basic Arabic, of course!)