A small group of Israelis and Palestinians in Jerusalem, a city of political, religious, and cultural divisions, is trying to bridge a Hebrew-Arabic language gap through learning modeled on speed dating.

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About 20 students meet weekly at a 19th-century villa and sitting together, Jew facing Arab, they practice each other's language, guided by cards spelling out simple scenarios that prompt dialogue.

When a whistle sounds every 20 minutes, participants rotate with new partners across tables arranged under colorful murals.

The encounters – quick and cordial, if sometimes awkward – help the Palestinians to improve the Hebrew required for dealing with Israeli authorities and the Jews to deepen their grasp of Arabic.

Most Palestinians in Jerusalem live in its eastern sector, captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war. Only basic Hebrew is studied in east Jerusalem schools, making it difficult for Palestinians to achieve advanced proficiency.

"And it's the same for Israelis – if they do study Arabic, it's an Arabic you can't use," said Maya Giz, a Hebrew teacher, referring to the classical, and not commonly spoken, version of the language.

Giz, who initiated the project in 2019 with Sahar Mukhemar, a Palestinian sports instructor and a former student of hers, says the language exercises are a "crossing of a mental border" between the two peoples.

She said Palestinians and Israelis taking part in the program share "the same embarrassment of talking and... [can] break this barrier of fear together."

Jamila Khouri, a Palestinian, said learning Hebrew could help her and others "merge well in the community and find a job opportunity in a good field."

Jewish participant Eli Benita said the language learning spoke volumes about coexistence in a city where tensions in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict sometimes spill over into violence.

"I see that this is the only way to reach some kind of a peaceful routine of life here in this region we live in," he said.

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A Jordanian professor of Islamic law said earlier this month that while the term "Zionists" must be used instead of "Jews" lest one be "canceled," there is no difference between the two. Furthermore, said Professor Ahmad Nofal of the University of Jordan, this need for circumscribed language is proof that the "Zionists" control the world.

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"See how they rule the world? They even monitor what words you use. What kind of power is this? If you curse 1.7 [sic] Muslims, there's nothing to it. But if you dare to say one word (against the Jews), they cancel you," Nofal told Jordan's Yarmouk TV on April 2, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute.

Nofal's remarks were part of an anti-Semitic, anti-Western diatribe in which he called Freemasonry a "Zionist movement" and accused the United States of genocide.

"Global Freemasonry is a Zionist movement. I shouldn't say this, you say? So what is it, a nationalist movement? Is it a humanist movement? No, my dear. Zionism came up with the notion of Freemasonry," he said. "'Masonic lodges' and whatnot … the 'Grand Master' … these are all Zionist notions. Jewish notions … call them whatever you like. But it is forbidden to say "Jewish" nowadays … forbidden! Fine, whatever. We'll say 'Zionist.' It is the same thing," he added.

Nofal encouraged all his listeners to examine themselves for signs of Western corruption.

"We need to make sure that Western culture has not changed our notions and our tastes without us even noticing," he said. "It is like someone who undergoes a surgery under anesthesia. That's what the Zionists do. They harvest organs from our [Palestinian] patients. They chop off part of the liver … you know that when you cut part of the liver it grows. Sometimes they plant illnesses in you when you are under anesthesia," he added.

The United States, he continued, had "annihilated only 140 million Red Indians, and 40 million Africans. That's about 200 million. You killed them so that America could become America. And you are still killing them for being black."

Featured on JNS.org, this article was first published by Middle East Media Research Institute.

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