Arabs in segregated vs. mixed Jewish–Arab schools in Israel: their identities and attitudes towards Jews

Abstract

In Israel, the majority of Jewish and Arab students attend ethnically-segregated schools. However, a new phenomenon has emerged in recent decades: ethnically mixed schools–either because they are intentionally designed to be bilingual and multicultural, or the circumstantial outcome of a demographic mix. The research compares the self-identifications of Arab students attending segregated schools and mixed schools of various kinds, and examines their attitudes toward Jews. The findings suggest that students attending mixed schools tend to define themselves in national terms, as social identity theory predicts. In addition, while Arab students attending circumstantially-mixed Hebrew schools tend to define themselves as Israelis, those attending multicultural and segregated schools tend to define themselves as Palestinians. The “Arab” self-definition is common to all research participants. Additionally, Arab students who identify as Israelis tend to have more positive attitudes toward Jews, but no significant correlation between Palestinian self-identification and negative attitudes toward Jews was found.