Jews and Arabs pray together in Gush Etzion
Jews and Arabs pray together in Gush EtzionNati Shochat, Flash 90

A poll conducted by the Rafi Smith Institute for the Dov Lautman Conference on Democracy among Israeli youth found that 79% of Arab young adults have never spoke to a young Jewish person about democracy and coexistence..

The poll also found that 85% of Jewish young adults have never spoken on those subjects with Arab youths.

Most of the Arab (91%) and Jewish (85%) participants were interested in meeting young people from the other sector. At the same time, 39% of Jewish youths showed interest in Druze culture and lifestyle, while 50% of Arab youths showed interest in the lifestyle of secular Jewish youths.

It is not clear why the number of Arab youths who interacted with Jewish young adults is not available; however, a full 23% of Jewish youths had interacted with Arab young adults via social media.

In addition, 69% of Arab youth feel they are not part of Israeli society, compared to 60% in 2015.

Despite efforts to change the UNWRA curriculum, the PA continues to educate its youth to extremism, nixing efforts to create a moderate curriculum able to bring the next generation to work towards peaceful coexistence with Israel.