Malake Arafat

In Israel live two national groups, the majority national group is Jewish, and the minority group which are the Arabs. The Israeli Arab citizens prefer to be called Israeli Palestinian citizens. They perceive the state as being discriminatory against them by using laws and other means. The two national groups are influenced by the conflict between them, as can be seen in the following realms: economics, academia, education system, politics. Nevertheless, bridges between the two national groups are being created in all of the life realms. The two national groups live separately except few mixed cities, one of them is Ramle. 

The educational system is segregated (Al Haj, 1995), and there is no mixed (Arab-Jewish) public school in the state.
However, there are indicators which point to a certain willingness on both sides to send their children to mixed schools (Aziza, Hertz Lazarowitz, Shoham, Amara, Zomerfeld & Nowhad, 2008).
The proposed research would examine this state affairs in one Arab professional high school in Ramle. In this school, there are both Arab as well as Jewish teachers. Therefore, the subject of the research is the perceptions and attitudes of teachers regarding the status of Arabs in Israel, specifically the opportunities and obstacles the Arabs face in their life. 

The goal of the proposed research is to explore the process of constructing a shared life reality in an educational context, because we assume that the school is a mirror of the large society. Therefore, the proposed research would contribute to a deeper understanding of similar processes on the macro level of the Israeli society. 

The experiences of Arab and Jewish teachers in public mixed schools have attracted very little research attention to date. The present study attempts to fill this research lacuna.