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Jews and Arab Meet
Translated from L'Osservatore Romano - June 10,1971

Since October 1967, the Sisters of Sion, of the Ecce Homo Convent on the Via Dolorosa, in the Old City of Jerusalem, have been working for rapprochement between Israelis and Arabs, by opening Ulpanim, that is to say intensive courses, of Hebrew for the Arabs and Arabic for the Jews. Recently two hundred Arab and fifty Jewish students received diplomas after following these cultural and social Arabo-Hebrew courses in the convent, under the auspices of the Centre for Adult Education of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

All this began in July 1967. The superior, Sister Aline, returned to Jerusalem from France (where she had obtained her doctorate at the Sorbonne) to the house of the Sisters of Sion, which stands on what was probably the house of Pontius Pilate. « One day during Mass, >> she said, « an idea came to me: by my vocation I had vowed to work for rapprochement between Jews and Christians. Thinking this over, I decided that my work would be useful in Jerusalem and that I should give all my intelligence and energy to help establish peace between Jews and Arabs. But how was this to be done? With the foundation of a cultural centre where Arabs could learn Hebrew; this would help them to collaborate and improve relations with the Jews. »

At midday there was a knock at the door. It was Fr. Bruno Hussar, Dominican, at that time superior of the Maison Isale in west Jerusalem. « Sister, » he said, « one of my Jewish friends, a professor at the Hebrew University, has, for some years, been wanting to promote encounters between Jews and Arabs. He is looking for someone to help him in this initiative, and I thought of you.... » A few hours later, Sr. Aline met Professor Kalman Yaron, and it was decided to inaugurate a course the following Monday. « Try to find me ten pupils, » Professor Yaron said.

Sister Aline found thirty-six. From the start, the favourable atmosphere that they had wanted was established and by the end of the month, there were five classes with thirty adult students in each.

However, the superior had said to the professor, « If we want to build a bridge between two communities, our work must be bilateral, we must also teach Arabic to Jews. » With the help of a Syrian priest, a second series of classes was opened.

During breaks between lessons, students and teachers met over a cup of tea. Addresses were exchanged, and they began to visit one another. A well known Jewish architect and an Arab dentist went camping together. Prof. Yaron organized a visit to Tel Aviv and Cesarea at the request of the Arab students, some of whom had their first glimpse of the sea that day. They ate with some Jewish immigrants who were also learning Hebrew. On the way back to Jerusalem, one of the Arab students exclaimed: « And to think that we have been told over and over again to drive these people into the sea! »

Recently the younger members of a kibbutz invited many of the Arab youth from the Ulpanim to spend Saturday with them, and the Arabs then invited their Jewish friends to Jerusalem for a week end.

At the beginning of each school year, the Israelis and the Arabs meet to sing and dance together. This year over two hundred students are working under the direction of eight Jewish and two Arab professors. The Arab students are Christians and Moslems in about equal numbers. In speaking about the work accomplished so far, Prof. Yaron said recently, « Our activities may not lead to immediate peace, but we have certainly succeeded in establishing friendly relations between Jews and Arabs and thus preparing conditions for co-existence. »

(Translated from L'Osservatore Romano, June 10, 1971.)