---

Israel

---

Israel Teaching Fellows - Israel Experience|

Contemporary Israel is a country of about 8,000 square miles and almost 6 million people. More than 80 percent of the population is Jewish, though they are not homogeneously religious. The rest of the population consists of other groups, mostly Arab. There is a separate Arabic educational system, in which Arabic is the language of instruction.|

Family law in Israel comes under both religious and secular jurisdiction, with two parallel legal systems working in tandem. People who want to marry and divorce in Israel must obtain the authorization of the court of their religion. These state-supported courts rule in accord with religious laws, which restrict interfaith marriage, encourage family stability, and place obstacles in the way of divorce. Jewish religious law forbids marriage between relatives or between divorcees and descendants of the ancient priesthood. Divorce requires that the husband give his wife a writ of divorce and that she accept it.|

With Israel turning rightward and U.S. politicians following, what’s a left-leaning American Jewish voter to do?|

In 1958, the Council for Higher Education Law centralized and formalized higher education in Israel through the creation of the Council for Higher Education, the central authority for all forms of higher education. It is chaired by the Minister of Education and Culture. The Council oversees the funding, planning, accreditation, degree offerings, academic freedom, and levels of autonomy for all institutions of higher education in the country.|

American men find that life in Israel is quite informal, and the open-neck shirt is predominant among Israelis in daily business. Formal wear is occasionally needed, but a dark business suit can be readily substituted. Topcoats and medium-weight suits are sufficient for winter.|

During the Gulf War of 1991, Israel was hit by Iraqi missile attacks, demonstrating for some the state's vulnerability and need to move toward peace with the Arabs. Prime Minister Shamir, who opposed the return of occupied territory, reluctantly accepted a United States and Russian invitation to direct peace talks in Madrid in October 1991. These and subsequent negotiations produced few results until, under a Labor government, Israeli and Palestinian representatives met secretly in Oslo to work out a peace agreement involving mutual recognition and transfer of authority in Gaza and Jericho to interim Palestinian rule with the final status of a Palestinian entity to be resolved in five years. The Oslo Accords were signed at the White House in Washington on 13 September 1993. Promises of international aid for the new Palestinian units poured in but the agreement was opposed by extremists on both sides and further set back by a massacre of 30 Muslims at prayer in the Hebron mosque on 25 February 1994 by a militant Israeli settler. Finally, delayed by several months, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from certain sectors and establishment of Palestinian self-rule took place on 18 May 1994. By 1997, six West Bank cities had been turned over to the Palestinian Authority. Israel balked at turning over control of Hebron even though it agreed to do so. A 1997 Hebron Protocol split the city between Palestinian rule in one part of it and Israeli rule in the remaining 20%, to guarantee the security of settlers living in Jewish enclaves. All seven of the major cities controlled by the Palestinian Authority were reoccupied by Israel in 2002.|

On October 6, 1973--Yom Kippur (the Jewish Day of Atonement)--Syrian and Egyptian forces attacked Israeli positions in Golan and along the Suez Canal. Initially, Syria and Egypt made significant advances against Israeli forces. However, Israel recovered on both fronts, pushed the Syrians back beyond the 1967 cease-fire lines, and recrossed the Suez Canal to take a salient on its west bank, isolating Egyptian troops, who eventually surrendered.|

With Israel turning rightward and U.S. politicians following, what’s a left-leaning American Jewish voter to do?|

Plane connections from Ben Gurion Airport (about an hour's drive from Jerusalem at Lod, near Tel Aviv) are available to principal European cities, Cyprus, and the U.S. Travel by ship is also possible from Israel to Cyprus and to various other Mediterranean ports.|

Significant diversity also exists among elderly Jews. In 1998, almost two-thirds of them were born in European or American countries, about 26 percent were born in Asian or African countries, and only 8 percent were born in Israel. In general, Israeli-born elderly persons and elderly of western origin have more education and higher levels of income than people of Asian or African origin. However, elderly immigrants who arrived to Israel in the 1990s from the former Soviet Union, although younger and more educated than the Israeli veteran elderly, are physically and economically weaker (Carmel and Lazar).|

The Arab group within Israel is not the only significant group in the total population. As a result of the various waves of immigration both before and after Israel's independence, its society is highly diverse in terms of culture, ethnicity, and national origins. The schools are the major resource for integration of these diverse groups into Israeli society, particularly through the teaching of Hebrew and through the mandatory curriculum followed in the primary schools. Since the early 1980s, the school system has taken a multicultural approach to fostering integration of diverse groups.|

In the 1969-70 war of attrition, Israeli planes made deep strikes into Egypt in retaliation for repeated Egyptian shelling of Israeli positions along the Suez Canal. In early 1969, fighting broke out between Egypt and Israel along the Suez Canal. The United States helped end these hostilities in August 1970, but subsequent U.S. efforts to negotiate an interim agreement to open the Suez Canal and achieve disengagement of forces were unsuccessful.|

Many Palestinians are describing a new kind of armed struggle that is based on sporadic, leaderless outbursts against the Israeli occupation and policies; violence has emerged amid lapsed peace process; improvised intifada has been at least tacitly condoned by Palestinian leaders, but without evidence of coordination by Fatah or Hamas, Israel has no straightforward way to curb the attacks or hold authorities accountable.|

Acre ('Akko) is about two hours from Tel Aviv. It is an Arab town and, like Nazareth, is a reminder that Israel is indeed part of the Middle East. On the Lebanese border, a half-hour north, are the grottoes of Rosh Hanikra. The road heading east along the border is particularly beautiful.|

---