[Los Angeles Times] Ken Ellingwood - In a bustling classroom in Kafr Qara, Israel, school volunteer Hanan Masarwa, 18, is teaching first-graders to add as part of an Israeli national service program. Civilian volunteers agree to work full time for one or two years. In return, they receive a $150-per-month stipend and qualify for up to $2,000 more in payouts upon completion of their term. Masarwa, one of 600 volunteers to sign up for the program, sees it as a way for her to help children in the Arab village where she grew up. But Arab politicians and activists in Israel have denounced the program as a government attempt to co-opt young Arab citizens into serving the Jewish state.
2008-01-03 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive