The S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation is supporting an Abraham Fund Initiatives program that will help Israeli Arab college students land jobs in Israel’s civil service.
The program, which will begin this spring, seeks to boost Arab employment in the Israeli government by mentoring candidates through the application and screening process.
“Our goal is to make sure that the Arab sector is represented in government in a fair and meaningful way,” said Amnon Beeri-Sulitzeanu, co-executive director of the Abraham Fund, an NGO dedicated to improving coexistence between Arab and Jewish citizens.
“Arab citizens should be part of all public policy decision-making processes, not only those related to Arab society,” he said. “Such participation will bring about a greater sense of responsibility, ownership and belonging to our shared society.”
The program is being run in cooperation with Kav Mashve, an NGO that specializes in the preparation and integration of Arab university graduates into the labor market.
Today, Arabs make up 9 percent of civil servants, though they make up 20 percent of the population, according to the Abraham Fund, adding that various methods of affirmative action have not had a great impact.
Approximately 300,000 (13 percent) of the students in the 65 institutions of higher learning in Israel are Arab. They make up around 10.5 percent of master’s degree students and 6 percent of doctoral students. Women make up around 67 percent of Arab undergraduate students.
The program will operate at all six major universities within Israel, as well as at a number of smaller colleges. — jpost.com