Jerusalem schools begin teaching spoken Arabic to reduce east-west divide – Ahlan program aims to enhance ability of Jewish students to communicate in Arabic, in effort to create ‘positive light’ between city’s Arab and Jewish residents | Timesofisrael

The Jerusalem Municipality has launched a new Arabic-language education program, which will see 30 schools across the city begin to teach Arabic to Jewish students this schoolyear.
The program — named Ahlan, an Arabic greeting also used by many Hebrew speakers — will be taught by 50 Arabic-speaking university students currently studying education. It will be overseen by Madrasa, an organization that promotes spoken Arabic among Jewish Israelis.