Yoav Stern in Haaretz daily newspaper writes about the joint initiative of the The Abraham Fund Initiatives, Israeli Police, the Ministry of Education and local Arab authorities to improve the relationship between the police force and the Arab communities which it serves. The relationship between the Israeli Police and the Arab minority in Israel has always been complex. The tragic events of October 2000 in which 13 Arab Israeli citizens were killed by Israeli police officers during riots, plunged this relationship into an unprecedented state of antagonism and suspicion, emphasizing the need to build a new relationship based on mutual respect and trust.

The article discusses the challenges of creating this new relationship and partnership, and look at how police cadets are responding to it by learning Arabic language and studying Arab culture:

Police cadets at a Shfaram officers training college have begun to study Arabic and Arab culture in an effort to increase sensitivity toward the Israeli Arab minority and prevent a repeat of events like the riots of October 2000.During the riots, which lasted for some ten days, 12 Israeli Arabs were killed by police and security forces during violent demonstrations.Or Ben Ezra, the Cadets’ Arabic teacher, told Haaretz on Tuesday: “Police need to take an egalitarian attitude toward Arab citizens, they also need to respect the things that characterize Arab culture.”

The Shfaram training center started the course of studies last week. It is to demand 42 hours of intensive class work by cadets. The course was introduced by the Abraham Fund Initiatives coexistence group, the police human resources division, the police training department and the chief police Education Officer. It forms part of the Abraham Fund Initiatives’ “community-police” program which works for the implementation of recommendations by the Or Commission that investigated the October 2000 riots.

The Or commission reported in its 2003 publication that police frequently treat Israeli Arabs as “enemies,” and is consequently perceived by them not “as a body that renders service but as a hostile force serving a hostile regime.”

The course tackles questions of how to search the homes of Israeli Arabs and how to respond to sex crimes and violence against women within that community. Ben Ezra said the cadets will discuss police behavior in such situations in the classroom.

One simulation they analyze is of an Israeli Arab woman who would like to complain about domestic violence but is unwilling to call police to her home, instead preferring to visit a police station.

According to Ben Ezra, locals would frown upon the sending of a patrol car to the village: “We need to understand that this woman requires treatment different from the normal protocols associated with gathering evidence. The policeman or officer has to understand where the woman is coming from, and the meaning of family honor to the Arab public.”