Many different cultures and backgrounds are represented in Israeli society, including Jews, Arabs, Christians, Druze, and Bedouin.

As a result, Israel's Ministry of Education maintains a Department for Education for Democracy and Coexistence specifically to provide training for teachers and administrators and to develop curricula. Areas of focus include: education for life in a democratic society, education for tolerance and accepting differences, education for life in a multicultural society (with an emphasis on promoting the relationship between Israel's Arab and Jewish citizens), and education towards peace.

The Ministry of Education has implemented many programs where Israeli and Arab students work together on joint projects in an effort to learn more about each other, their heritage and culture.

The program creates lasting friendships and prepares teenagers to become the next generation of peacemakers.

The Department of Education for Democracy and Coexistence was established in the Ministry of Education and Culture in 1986. The idea for the Department was predicated on the assumption that formal and informal education activities have the power to combat existing stereotypes and preconceptions and to develop tolerant behavioral patterns, which center around accepting differences and acknowledging that all people are equally important.

The Department's main areas of focus are:

1. Education for life in a democratic society: education for tolerance, for accepting differences, for awareness that all people are equally important and for socio-political involvement.

2. Education for life in a multicultural society, with emphasis on promoting the relationship between Israel's Arab and Jewish citizens.

3. Education for democracy for students who immigrated from countries that have no democratic political culture.

4. Educational involvement in current events, providing the teachers with the tools to better deal with controversial political, cultural and value-oriented issues.

5. Familiarizing teachers and students with Israeli democracy.

6. Instituting democratic processes in educational institutions and the educational system.

7. Education toward peace.

To accomplish these objectives, the Department sponsors joint study days and workshops for Jewish and Arab teachers who wish to explore Arab-Jewish relations and other current events. Examples include:

▪ Understanding the Peace Process: In conjunctions with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, members of the Ministry's Information Bureau discuss the peace process during meetings with high school teachers and students and at principal/teacher conventions.

▪ Children Teaching Children: This pilot program is run in conjunction with Givat Haviva. It brings together Jewish and Arab elementary and junior high students and teachers, so they can become acquainted and engage in shared study of a subject. This program takes place during regular school hours over the school year.

▪ Young Archaeologists/Young Painters/Young Sculptors: This year-long program offers Jewish and Arab students regularly scheduled courses where they can work together in archaeology or the arts.

▪ Language Studies: Jewish and Arab high school students study together for their oral matriculation examination in English. During a weekly meeting, they choose topics and prepare them in English.

▪ Democracy for new immigrant students: This program is designed for high school age immigrants. Jerusalem becomes a living classroom where students study democracy and tolerance, and become familiar with Israeli society and culture. Participants visit institutions that symbolize democracy -- the Knesset, the President's house, the Supreme Court -- and take part in workshops and social activities. Both new immigrants and veteran Israelis participate in some of the workshops to cement the ties between them.

▪ "The Young Legislator": The objective of this program is to make the legislative process more accessible to students and teachers. The students take part in deliberations of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee. Later, in school, they study the proceedings and draft laws and articles that were discussed during the year in the Knesset.

▪ "Children of Peace": Jewish and Arab students meet regularly to study drama. Their final project is a play, which generally explores the conflict between the two groups, including proposed solutions.

▪ Acre Festival: During the Acre drama festival, Jewish and Arab high school students from Acre and its environs attend joint theater arts workshops and stage a joint production.

The Ministry of Education and Culture and other organizations have developed and published different curricula adapted to every age level. Samples include:

▪ "We and Our Neighbors": Curriculum for grades three and four (in Hebrew and Arabic) designed to acquaint children in ethnically mixed neighborhoods with their neighbors. This program is part of the geography and Israel Studies curriculum and is integrated within the unit on "My Community."

▪ "Arab Citizens of Israel": Curriculum for secondary school students. The course textbook is part of the required curriculum for the matriculation examination in citizenship in Israeli high schools.

▪ "Families in Israel": Curriculum for grades eight and nine, which explore the complexity of Israeli society. This program uses six anthropological monographs of the lifestyle of six different families in Israel. Along with the family stories, the teacher receives lesson plans devoted to stereotypes and preconceptions, tolerance, cultural differences, etc.