Bilingual Education and Practical Interculturalism in Israel: The case of the Galilee

Bilingualism in general, and hilingual education in particular, appears to be inherent to practical interculturalism, and vice-versa. Each area has been investigated separately, and connections have been made between interculturalism and education in general. However, no specific study has so far connected bilingual education with interculturalism. The aim of this article is to establish such a connection, deriving from both theoretical and practical issues. Insights from an ongoing project conducted by the Jewish-Arab Center (JAC) at the University of Haifa, concerning the relationship between bilingual education and practical interculturalism in the northern Galilee arc presented in this article. The paper presents theoretical consideration of bilingual education and interculturalism as a framework for understanding and evaluating the social changes that have taken place in the Galilee over the last decade, regarding socio-political relationships between the Arab-Palestinian and the Hebrew-Jewish communities in the regio