An Equal Education

Sayed Kashua’s Second Person Singular explores personal identity in Arab Israelites, specifically in Jerusalem. A conversation early in the book, chapter “Discussion,” gave me an epiphany. As the lawyer and some of his colleagues discuss the importance of integrating Palestinian culture into the curricula of the ministry of education. Answering Tarik’s question regarding why children’s’ Palestinian nationalism needs to be strengthened, Samir answers: “Because they’re Palestinians. A child needs to grow up with a sense of cultural awareness. Look at the Jewish kids, from age six they know all about the wars and have a good sense of where they want to serve in the army when the time comes” (41). 

I have always respected Israel for its requirement for all citizens to train and serve in the military after primary school. Despite our recent in-class discussions about conflicted identity and nationality in Jerusalem, I never made the connection that Palestinian families in Israel would fall under the same requirement. Palestinians and Israelites battle for space in Jerusalem every day; there is an unending debate over who is the colonizer versus the colonized. I find it difficult to believe that Arabs in Israel, especially those who raise their children there, would feel comfortable enlisting in the army of a nation they feel has appropriated their homeland. Further, it provides an unbelievable burden on their children that are being conditioned by society to not only identify as Israeli but as a Jew. I am inclined to argue that education for children in such controversial areas of the world should be private or secularized, at least until the Jerusalem conflict is resolved (which may not be in the foreseeable future). Forcing parents into a stalemate between excluding their child from education or allowing them to learn a culture that has previously marginalized them appears to me as a societal injustice, just as Kashua displays in his novel. Regardless of national and racial tensions, the government of Israel has a duty to its citizens—all citizens—to ensure the future of their children. Perhaps if children are taught not the revolutionary nature of their culture but an even and undivided education on both cultures, they will grow up and find peace as a whole instead of inheriting their parents’ biases.