It is of national interest to know the language of the fiend! Knowing arab it will be extremely simply to realize how much hate arabs have toward Jews and how many lies they report on Al-Jazeera, it will be easy to detect the double-standard and double-discourse arabs have, when they talk about peace with Israel. The whole world should study arab to understand them and their com-plots against the whole world !!!

There are several reasons for Jewish Israelis to learn Arabic, at least to the level many know English. First is to know your enemy, the best way to do that is read their literature and watch their tv. Second is when they are not your enemy they are your trading partners. When peace comes (or even before it) those who know Arabic will have a leg up in business.

I had to teach myself to read Arabic, and still am not as fluent as I would wish. Reading the street signs helps keep in practice! But as for the spoken language - other studies scuppered that. Only good can come out this project, and hopefully the next generation will begin to regard our cousins in a different light to that demonstrated recently by Eden Abergil.

Letting the Haredim off the hook and not including Arabic as mandatory in the education system.

next one easier to learn. Learning second languages, especially in childhood, engenders cognitive flexibility. My grandson and granddaughters are brought up in two languages, English and Hebrew. One parent represents English, the other Hebrew. Language development is slowed up at first but eventually the normal child who learns two languages while growing up is advantaged. A third language, Arabic, makes absolute educational sense in Israel and in the mideast. In Canada, French is emphasized and taught as Quebec is largely French speaking, New Brunswick is a bilingual province and Francophone communities abound in Ontario and the west. In Israel, one-fifth of the inhabitants are Arab, Druse or Bedouin. Arabic is an official language. It makes practical sense for native Hebrew speakers to learn Arabic just as it is a necessity for Arab students to learn Hebrew. Learning the language of one's neighbours engenders the possibility of increased and more positive social relations. Much good will come of this educational enterprise.

Now more people will be able to understand what's actually being said day and night in the Arabic-speaking world. As we know from organizations that monitor their media, it's not quite what gets reported in the Hebrew and English press.

I think it is an excellent idea, pity it took so long to think of it and to implement it. I'm sure it will be most beneficial to both population groups in years to come.

As a Jewish State, why are we forcing our children to learn Arabic instead of encouraging them to learn, and thereby preserve, our ancestral Jewish languages, such as Yiddish, Ladino, Bukarian, etc? so sad....

Finally a good project.

WHAT A COINCIDENCE, THE ARABS ARE ALSO TEACHING ARABIC. THE arabs SHOULD BE TEACHING GEOGRAPHY BECAUSE arabs ALWAYS MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE... ARABS mistakenly call ISRAEL. palisitine like the romans once did.... well I guess I should cancel my hebrew language refresher course. GEE..I NEED TO LEARN AGAIN 'HISTORY' MYSELF... I ALWAYS FORGET..... WHAT HAPPENED TO THE GREAT ROMAN EMPIRE? WHAT HAPPENED TO EGYPT EMPIRE? AND WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ISRAELI WARRIOR ARIEL SHARON WHO MADE PEACE PLANS WITH THE ARABS OCCUPYING ISRAEL? IF ISRAEL REALLY WANTED TO TEACH TOLERANCE TO ARABS.. THEY SHOULD TEACH JEWS HOW TO CARE AND RAISE CAMELS AND TEACH ARABS HOW TO MAKE GEFILTA FISH and trach the arabs where they can catch gefilta fish..... PS: there was a time when people thought france was the classy culture and french was mandatory to learn...now france made 'carpet weaving and goat herding mandatory... its amazing what so many countries are doing to teach tolerance to arabs I THINK LEARNING HOW TO RAISE RATS IS MORE APROPO THANKS DACON9 EMAILjewswithviews@gmail.coom

Is Israel preparing for the One-State scenario? Also, why was Arabic not taught in schools to begin with? Last time I checked 22% of Israelis are native Arabic speakers, and the region is an Arab one.

good idea-perhaps then, israeli jews will understand the natural malice of the "dar al harb" concept in the koran-which insists to all moslems that any piece of land, anywhere in the world, that does not have sharia law inposed upon its peoples, is a land islam is at war with. KNOW YOUR ENEMY!!

it is a beautiful semitic language , live in the middle of Arabs. one day you have to deal with those !@#!@@ Arabs.

is basicaly copy paste of the jewish one, y learn the copy when you have the original jewish story, this is no bridge from culture that the last technological break throw was 1500 years ago

Sharmootah :-)

When it comes to languages many native Israelis are behind the times. A huge percentage of Israelis don't even know basic english let alone arabic. Languages is one area where Israel is behind the arabs. In many arab states although they are generally much better at english than Israelis. If Israel is going to fit into a more globalized market place Israelis need to know foreign languages or they will fall behind and considering Israel is surrounded by arabs arabic should have been compulsory from day 1.

Several people in my community here in the Judean Hills have been calling for this for years. Glad to say it will happen in our schools here too. This is a good move that will only benefit everybody. It will be interesting to see my kids practicing their Arabic on the Palestinian kids in the new supermarket where Arabs and settlers shop and work side by side every day. Last night I wished the Arab checkout clerk "Ramadan kareem" and she wished me "layla tov" - no doubt our cousins will be wishing us "shana tova" soon while we wish them "Eid sayid" at the end of Ramadan. This is a slap in the face to the extremists on both sides who claim we cannot co-exist in peace. It's also a slap in the face to the phony "peace activists" who claim that we residents of Judea are "radical settlers". Liars. There are no separate roads out here. No buffer zones. I invited you all to come to the supermarket behind the petrol station at the junction of highways 60 and 367 to see for yourselves. I especially invite those incompetent BBC reporters, like Katia Adler, who report propaganda as fact.

Hey guys, what's the big deal, the hezzis also learn hebrew and they are arabs. Understanding your opponents' language will give you advantages during war.

While there's certainly nothing wrong with encouraging children to study "ancestral Jewish languages", the realities of life in as volatile a region as the Middle East makes it incumbent on Israelis to be able to understand and communicate with Arabic speakers, especially because, as was pointed out in some of the talkbacks, you often get a very different version of what's being said when it isn't the sanitized version given to the West and to Israel in English and Hebrew. But, in addition to that, language is a way to build cultural bridges and to do business, hopefully something that will come about one of these days...although I have to admit I've never been much of an optimist where that's concerned.

while Bibi Netanyahu is preparing to give away half of the land of Israel and open the way for Arab aggression on the remaining half, under pressure from Moslem Obama and sellout H. Clinton.

Don't try bring the haredi into this one. They have nothing to do with the fact that schools have made no real effort to teach arabic. Criticize the haredi when there is good reason to not just for the hell of it.

If they want to reach understanding with Jews round the world or even a sizable minority in the Zionist state let them learn their own forgotten language and culture - YIddish

Sorry to spoil your wet dream but Israel is not preparing for a one state scenario it is trying to educate its children. They should have learned arabic from a very young age decades ago. Other than Iran Israel is possibly the only country in the region where arabic is not the national language so its logical Israeli children should have a working knowledge of arabic. Also as you say 22% of the population speak arabic even if they have been forced to also learn hebrew so they can get by. The fact children being taught arabic doesn't mean hebrew is in danger of being replaced as the national language all it means is the kids know a second language. In most European schools children are obligated to learn a second european language. In the US in some schools the kids learn spanish because neighbor Mexico is spanish speaking. No conspiracies its just the government has decided to improve the education of Israeli children which is a good thing.

Many similarities in the languages for those who WANT to look for them. Magdal shams = migdal shemesh ..the list is endless. Just a a case of willingness and casting hate aside. Good brain exercise too. Shalom Salaam but don't discard the derringer yet

For the Hebrew ,I just love the way it sounds, i love hearing,speaking it, although I'm not really fluent in Hebrew :( ...*Who Am I? This is a question that others ask, but has no answer. I am my language. I am an ode, two odes, ten. This is my language. I am my language *. Mahmoud Darwish. good luck students :)

I am not criticizing the Haredim in this one. I am actually criticizing Ben Gurion who was responsible for all major decisions in 1948 and the immediate post state declaration era. I pointed out that two major mistakes were letting the Haredim off the hook and not including Arabic in the education program. For these mistakes we are paying today very dearly. You want to jump down my throat then that is ok by me but do it based on what I said and not what you think I said.