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Growing Numbers of Arabs in Israel Are Performing National Service

(New York Jewish Week) Michele Chabin - Leen Jaber, 19, who speaks fluent Hebrew as well as Arabic, is in high demand in the oncological day ward at Hadassah-Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem. Jaber is one of Israel's growing number of non-Jewish National Service (Sherut Leumi) volunteers. Today there are 4,500 non-Jews doing National Service (up from 600 in 2010); 70% are Muslim, while the rest are Druze, Christian or Circassian. About 85% of Arab volunteers serve within their own communities in health care, working with children or the elderly, in social service agencies, or in education. Volunteers receive financial grants - nearly $3,000 per year of service, enough to cover a year's tuition at an Israeli university - once they complete their volunteer service. A.H., 21, who volunteers at the Interior Ministry's east Jerusalem office, did not want his name or photograph published. "Except for my close friends I keep my volunteering a secret from people in the neighborhood," he said. When he encounters a neighbor at the ministry, he lets them think he is a paid employee - something that doesn't carry a stigma in Arab society. "Never in my life have I felt so appreciated," he says. "I'm comfortable here. I'm helping people. I interact with the public. And yes, I feel loyal to the state and feel I should serve it."
2016-09-23 00:00:00
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