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RESULTS OF STUDY: COEXISTENCE MEETINGS INCREASE OPENNESS & MUTUAL TRUST Israeli Jewish and Arab teenagers that participated in a year-long coexistence program, came away with more positive feelings toward the other community, and more trust in the other, even a year later. They were more willing to become closer to the other, and were ready to learn the other group's language. They were also willing to be "peace ambassadors," recommending such meetings between the two sectors to their friends. These results emerged from a study commissioned by the Abraham Foundation Initiatives for Education for Coexistence. It was conducted as part of the activities of the University of Haifa's Center for Research on Peace Education, headed by Prof. Gavriel Salomon. "The results are particularly significant because the meetings of Jewish and Arab high schoolers took place close to the events of October 2000, in which 13 Israeli-Arabs were killed by Israeli police during demonstrations," noted Professor Salomon. The study surveyed 123 Jewish and 129 Arab youths between the ages of 14 and 18. Of these, 177 took part in the meetings, and the remainder served as a control group. The views of about half of the participants were studied a year after the termination of the programs. Only one of the items checked went contrary to expectations. The Jewish teens that participated in the programs were more likely to feel that Arabs hate Jews than those in the control group. The coexistence meetings apparently made the Jewish participants more aware of the Arabs' negative attitudes, of which they were not initially aware. In contrast, the Arab participants in the program felt that Jews harbored less hatred toward them than did those in the control group. The Haifa University researchers concluded that participation in coexistence programs has a positive impact on the attitudes and perceptions of Jewish, and particularly Arab youth toward the "other group." One explanation offered for this finding is that the Jewish youths started out with more positive attitudes toward their Arab peers. It is also possible, according to Salomon, that it is more important for the Arab minority to improve relations with Israeli Jews than the other way around. In either case, "participation in the kinds of programs of the type investigated serves to block deterioration in relations that events in the past two years have generated," he says. The executive vice-president of the Abraham Fund Initiatives, Dan Pattir, expressed satisfaction at the survey's results, finding them "a ray of light in the darkness and giving a shot of encouragement to all participants and supporters of the Fund's activities" in promoting co-existence.
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