GEOFF SIFRIN

TAKING ISSUE

Amidst the recent spate of stabbings, shootings and vehicular attacks by Palestinians on random Israelis all over the country, this question is paramount for many parents.

Telling him to stay away from all Arabs is a racist way to raise a child. Yet in the climate of justifiable alarm pervading the Israeli streets after the attacks on innocent people, how else can a parent protect him? Not send him to school? That is not an option; the society must continue to function, despite terrorism.

White South Africans who lived under apartheid remember the Afrikaans word “swartgevaar” – meaning “the black menace” – used by the government to portray all black people as potentially dangerous – to dehumanise them into a homogenous mass with evil intentions and thus promote its ideology of keeping the races apart.
It would be a tragedy for an Israeli version of the “swartgevaar” mentality to take root; for Israeli Jews of every stripe to be afraid of Arab civilians walking in the street, or working in restaurants, shops or other places, because of the actions of some murderous extremists. And afraid to let their children mix with Arabs, in case one should pull out a knife. 

But sadly, that’s the way things are moving because of the threatening practical reality. The dilemma is excruciating: How can parents protect their kids without turning them into racists? Arabs are not a homogeneous mass: They are individuals and families, the vast majority wanting the same things as Israelis – to raise families, get an education, work for a decent living, and so on. 
An Israeli columnist described her dilemma: “With 13-year-olds stabbed on their bikes and random attacks occurring on buses and sidewalks, Israeli parents agonise over keeping kids safe without scaring them to death… balancing messages of fear in the air, with calls to treat their fellow citizens who are Arabs, with respect in these tense times.” 
One school principal, in an attempt to combat racism, sent a personal request to parents to tell their children to greet Arab cleaners working in the school and look them in the eye. Educationally, he said, it was important for the children to be taught not to fear them; for the workers, it was important they felt comfortable in the school.
But in response to a traumatised public, some schools have moved the other way, citing security concerns. The cities of Tel Aviv, Rehovot and Hod Hasharon announced on their websites and in e-mails to residents that maintenance workers and cleaners – many of whom are Arabs – would temporarily not be allowed into schools; they avoided using the word “Arab”, but the intention was clear. 

Another city, Modiin-Maccabim-Reut, said “minority members” would be excluded from working in its schools.

Outside the controlled school environment, in streets and buses, some parents may simply tell their kids Arabs are dangerous and to avoid them. But for liberal-minded parents, achieving self-protection without fostering racism is the challenge.
Arabs are feeling and acting on Israelis’ fear and accompanying hostility. For example, sources in the Association of Renovation Contractors, who renovate Israeli apartments, say most Palestinians employed by their members haven’t come to work recently – some 80 per cent of the 37 000 Palestinian workers were absent at the start of the week. 

Customers don’t want to let Arabs into their apartments through anxiety, especially apartments in which the people continue living during renovation. 
In this atmosphere, the recent demonstrations in Jerusalem of hundreds of Jews and Arabs calling for peaceful coexistence, may seem irrelevant, even naïve to some. But it is critical not to surrender to the terrorists’ aims. 

During South Africa’s “swartgevaar” period, many organisations and individuals on both sides doggedly refused to succumb to the “them-versus-us” mindset, and year after year kept trying to cross the boundaries between black and white, to get to know each other. The bridges they built helped keep hope alive.
It takes courage in the prevailing climate to fight for Arab-Jewish coexistence. But the alternative – circling the wagons and retreating into an ethnic, religious or racial laager – is the worst option. 

Geoff Sifrin is former editor of the SAJR. He writes this column in his personal capacity.