Education Minister Yuli Tamir (Labor) instructed the medical school at Hebrew University to review its process of acceptance, after it was accused of discriminating against Arab applicants.

Tamir gave the order Wednesday in response to a query that was submitted by MK Ahmed Tibi (United Arab List).

Tamir decided to act against the discrimination in the university's medical school following a report in Haaretz that exposed the declining number of Arab students accepted by the institution. This year, the report revealed, only sixteen Arab applicants were accepted, compared to 55 in 2005 - a 71 percent drop.

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According to data provided to Haaretz by Hebrew University, the number of students who actually attend the medical school is lower than the number of students accepted. Therefore, 33 Arab students actually attended the medical school in 2005, as opposed to eight in 2006, a 76 percent drop.

The reason for the drop appears to be a change in the system of acceptance, which now includes appraisal of every candidate through interviews and role-playing.

The new method, takes into account matriculation scores, psychometric scores and personal assessments as well as a day-long session examining the candidate's biography and his or her ability to deal with simulated situations and moral dilemmas they may face when they become licensed physicians.

The aim is "to accept students who not only excel in studies, but who also have the personal and psychological characteristics necessary for future doctors," said the Hebrew University spokesman. "In the past, the students with the most outstanding cognitive skills were accepted, but these are not necessarily what one wants from a doctor."

Deputy Knesset Speaker MK Ahmed Tibi (United Arab List), himself a graduate of the medical school, says the new system is "culturally dependent" and therefore by definition unfair to Arab students and perhaps also ultra-Orthodox Jews and others "whose culture and values are different from those of the examiners."

In a letter to the dean of the medical school, Tibi demanded that the old system of acceptance, a function of matriculation grades and psychometric exams, be reinstituted.

In response, the university spokesman told Haaretz that the system had been changed to "improve the composition of the students who are accepted."

Ahmed Abdel-Hadi from Jaljuliya started studying in Amman this year; his grade average should have had him accepted in Jerusalem but he failed in the new system.

"The questions are formulated for Jewish students. They asked about moral problems and how we solved them. Clearly a Jew who served in the army has something to say but we, high-school graduates, know nothing about moral dilemmas," he said in a telephone interview from Jordan.

Tibi said Wednesday to Haaretz that he is "aware that the medical school, of which I am proud to be a graduate, has academic independence. However, the drastic reduction of the number of Arab students pinpoints the fact that [the new system] is culturally dependent, whereas Israeli society is multicultural."