Increasing numbers of Israeli Arabs studying at Jordanian universities
A decade ago fewer than 100 Arab Israelis were studying in Jordan, but last year the figure neared 5,000.
By Ofri Ilani Tags: Israel education Israel news JordanIncreasing numbers of Israeli Arab high school graduates are leaving the country to study at Jordanian universities, according to a recent survey. A decade ago fewer than 100 Arab Israelis were studying at Jordanian institutions of higher learning, but last year this swelled to about 5,000.
According to the study, sponsored by Dirsat: The Arab Center for Law and Policy, a major reason for the phenomenon is age requirements in many departments at Israeli universities, as well as the language barrier.
When Maria Shalash of the largely Arab city of Nazareth graduated from high school two years ago, she wanted to study occupational therapy and communication disorders. "The field interested me, and people also told me that there were jobs [in the field]," she said.
Shalash tried to gain a place at the University of Haifa and was invited for an interview. But the university later discovered she was under 20, which disqualified her. She is now studying law, where there is no minimum-age requirement.
De facto discrimination
Shalash is not alone. Thousands of young high school graduates who want to study nursing or occupational or physical therapy have to wait until their 20th birthdays because of limitations by universities. Organizations representing the Arab community are seeking to change the situation, saying that it constitutes de facto discrimination against Israeli Arabs.
Though similar age requirements are not generally imposed by universities abroad, Israeli universities say the policy is necessary to ensure that students are emotionally mature. On the other hand, the Israel Defense Forces allows recruits, most of whom are Jewish, to defer their military service and enter university at age 18.
In recent years, Israel Arab civil rights organizations have sought to fight the universities' minimum-age requirements. "This discrimination actually harms [students seeking to study] in the fields that are most needed by the Arab public," said Dirsat director Yusuf Jabarin. "Even if it was originally not designed to harm Arab students, it is appropriate to consider abolishing [the restrictions]."
A lawsuit filed by the Nazareth-based Karameh human rights organization seeking to abolish the age provisions is currently pending in Tel Aviv District Court.
"I finished high school with good grades and I wanted to do paramedical studies," said Fadel Sa'adi, who hails from an Arab village in the north. "Ultimately I decided to study nursing, but I couldn't because I wasn't 20. I didn't have anything to do so I worked in construction."
A spokesman for the University of Haifa declined to comment on the matter because it was the subject of legal proceedings. Ben-Gurion University of the Negev said that age is a "criterion that is a predictor of success relating to the need to deal with practical experiences." He said that "the university has an interest in maximizing the success rate [of its students]."
The university noted that there are other areas such as the granting of firearms licenses or a bus or taxi driver's license where the applicant needs to be over 18. Regarding the army's program that allows 18-year-olds to enter university, a spokesman said that "the university fulfills the dictates of the Israel Defense Forces ... on the understanding that it involves an important national need."
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Right on that the universities are punishing these students by not allowing them to enrol. Here in Canada we have not had compulsory military service for decades. I started university at age 17 when I finished high school, my brother at age 16 1/2. Maybe we weren't fully mature for life when we started, but we were certainly well prepared to learn and study hard, which we did. Are all IDF soldiers mature and experienced for life when they serve? Maybe not, but they do their jobs. Clearly these universities keep this rule for one purpose - to exclude those who are not enlisted in IDF.
Go to an Arab village and look how much Israel is spending on these people. Look at their schools, look at running sewage in Fureidis for example. Israel gives these people nothing but Bituah Leumi and a passport. Why should they give anything in return. The way Arabs are treated in this country is a disgrace for Israel.
close your eyes to the truth. This is normal. And it can be cured. Arab citizens do not get drafted into the army like Jews do. Not because they don't want to go, but because of an internal army regulation. Consequently they want to enroll for University studies earlier. Instead of allowing them to do so, (After all, 30 years of marshall law did create a large inequality in education between Jewish and Arab citizens), we push them into the construction and shwarma business. Very smart thing to do.
Taking into account that 18 year old Israeli girls are required by law to serve 2 years in the army, and boys 3 years, and cannot start studying immediately after high school, I think it's only fair not to give a prize to those Israeli citizens who choose not to serve in the army or do national service by allowing them to get their diploma and go into the work market 2 or 3 years before the Israelis who are their age who do give 2 or 3 years from their lives to serve the country. But since everything evolves around money in Israel, I'm adraid that if these numbers continue to rise, the universities and colleges in Israel will start pressuring the government to cancel this age barrier because they'll hate to lose all this money as a result of Arab Israelis choosing to study else where instead of postponning their studies in 2 years.
Given that these Palestinians with Israeli citizenship (not generic Israeli Arabs as the state calls them) are not given their full rights to begin with, there can be no requirement on them to serve the state. And before you pull out the tired old argument of "we treat them better than any other Arab country" perhaps you should be comparing the treatment of minorities with Western countries and not despotic regimes. Finally what a ridiculous excuse by the universities, they have no problem breaking the rules for Jews, that is preferential treatment, or by any other standard, apartheid.
If these arab citizens were truly concerned with discrimination and equal rights, they would surely seek to eliminate the inequality that allows them to start university at age 18 instead of the mandatory national service that their non-arab neighbors are required to perform. Maybe instead of crying discrimination they should consider to do two years of national service, in their own communities, and then arrive at the university at age 20 just like all the other normal citizens of the country.
Arab citizens don't have to serve in the army but they can volunteer for the army or for national service. The vast majority do not. While the Jews are in the army they are free to work and study. Now they complain about it. Why should those who have been in the army be put at a disadvantage. Let the Arabs volunteer for national service then go study in Israeli Universities at age 21.
As long as the criterion of minimum age applied to every applicant, where's the discrimination? The IDF "atudah" programs, allowing deferment of service for university studies are contingent on those studies being a profession that the army is interested in and the soldiers "pay" for that deferment with several extra years of service beyone the regular three years in order to work in their profession. Virtually all of the atudah participants go into university to study engineering, law or medicine and enter the army at age 22 or above. Why not just make it mandatory for an underage applicant to do some kind of Sherut Leumi in their new profession for a year or two years after their graduations?
"On the other hand, the Israel Defense Forces allows recruits, most of whom are Jewish, to defer their military service and enter university at age 18." What percentage of Jewish students are permitted to defer their military service? The Israeli Army permits those studying medicine and a few other valuable professions that the Army would prefer to have serve for three years as a professional rather than as a regular soldier. All those who do not serve in the IDF should be obligated to perform community service for a similar period. Those who refuse should not be entitled to social benefits provided by the state. Let them stay in Jordan and serve in the Jordanian Army after their University training.