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| Current Issues | No.65 October 2013 |

The Effects of Mifalot Soccer Programmes on the Attitudes of Arab and Jewish Youth towards each other
Michael Leitner , Yair Galily & Pini Shimon

Abstract

Utilising sports and other recreational activities to foster peaceful relations and coexistence is an idea that has gained popularity in recent years, particularly in Israel.

The aim of the current research is to fill a gap in the literature on the subject of coexistence programming. The Mifalot organisation conducts a programme called “Get to Know Your Neighbour” in which Palestinian, Jordanian and Israeli youth play soccer together. The programme, based mainly on the participants' love for football, is a series of activities and lessons designed to prepare children to meet and interact with youth from neighbouring communities. The study examines the effects of participation in this programme on the attitudes of the Palestinians, Jordanians and Israelis towards each other.

Key Words: Coexistence, Israel, Soccer, Peace

Introduction

Utilising sports and other recreational activities to foster peaceful relations and coexistence is an idea that has gained popularity in recent years, particularly in Israel. There are a variety of recreational coexistence programmes presently being conducted in Israel, ranging from soccer, basketball, martial arts, ultimate Frisbee and cricket, to dancing, music, arts and cooking.

However, the effectiveness of these programmes in promoting coexistence is being questioned. A conference was held in Jaffa, Israel on July 11, 2012 titled “Jews and Arabs kick around the same ball – and what's next?” The conference examined and questioned the effectiveness of recreation programmes in fostering coexistence. As discussed at this conference, although there are many programmes in place, there has been relatively little research conducted on examining the effects of these individual programmes on the attitudes of their participants.

This study sought to fill a gap in the research literature on the subject of coexistence programming. The Mifalot organisation conducts a programme called “Get to Know Your Neighbour”, in which Palestinian, Jordanian and Israeli youth play soccer together. The programme, based mainly on the participants' love for football, is a series of activities and lessons designed to prepare children to meet and interact with kids from neighbouring communities. This study examined the effects of participation in this programme on the attitudes of the Palestinians, Jordanians and Israelis toward one another.

Methodology

Mifalot conducts soccer activities in their “Get to Know Your Neighbour” programme, which bring together Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian youth ages 10-12. This study assessed the effects of this programme on the attitudes of the youth toward one another. Pretest questionnaires were administered in the Fall of 2011, before the joint activities for the year began. Post-test questionnaires were administered in June, 2012 at the last joint activity for the year. The difference in responses between the pre-test and post-test questionnaires was examined to determine the effects of the joint soccer programme on attitudes of the participating youth toward each other.

The questionnaire used in this study is the same one used in the 1998 and 1999 studies with Israeli elderly Arabs and Jews (Leitner, Scher and Shuval, 1999; Leitner and Scher, 2000). It consisted of eight items and was based on the questionnaire used by the Carmel Institute in their nationwide study in 1994 of teenagers’ attitudes. There were separate versions of the questionnaire for the Palestinians and Jordanians, in Arabic and for the Israeli Jews in Hebrew.

The questionnaires were completed anonymously to encourage the respondents to be honest in their answers. The pre-test questionnaires were completed by the youth on the bus on the way to their first joint activity of the year. They had to submit their completed questionnaires before getting off the bus. The post-test questionnaires were completed at the last joint activity of the year.

Results and Discussion

There are two sections to the presentation of the results of this study. The first one is a comparison of the pre-test and post-test responses of the Palestinians and Jordanians (the Arabic questionnaires). The second section is a comparison of the pre-test and post-test responses of the Israeli Jews (the Hebrew questionnaire).

Questionnaires to Palestinians and Jordanians

There were 131 Palestinians and Jordanians who participated in the “Get to Know Your Neighbour” programme during the year who answered the post-test. These post-test responses were compared to the pre-test responses of 112 Palestinians and Jordanians who had previously not participated in Mifalot coexistence programmes. On both the pre-test and the post-test, there were 20 Jordanian respondents.

Table 1 below displays the results from the questionnaires administered to the Palestinians and Jordanians. The last column indicates the percentage change in the scores from the pre-test to the post-test.

Table 1: Mifalot Arabic Questionnaire Results

Questionnaire Item Pretest Post Test Change

*Figures shown indicate the percentage agreeing or strongly agreeing with the statement

**Figures shown indicate the percentage disagreeing or strongly disagreeing with the statement

As shown in Table 1, positive changes were seen in all of the questionnaire items. The amount of change ranged from 18.5% for the question about willingness to host an Israeli Jew to over 35% for the question about trusting Jewish Israelis. The question about being opposed to having a Jewish Israeli neighbour had reversed scoring, meaning that having more respondents disagreeing or strongly disagreeing with the statement on the post-test indicated a positive change in attitudes. In summary, positive changes in attitudes of at least 20% were obtained for all of the questionnaire items except for the 18.5% figure for the item about willingness to host an Israeli Jew.

Questionnaires to Israeli Jews

There were 198 Israeli Jews who participated in Mifalot’s “Get to Know Your Neighbour” programme during the year who answered the post-test. These post-test responses were compared to the pre-test responses of 140 Israelis who previously had not participated in Mifalot coexistence programmes. Once again, the pre-test responses of previous participants in Mifalot programmes were not included in the comparison of the pre-tests and post-tests but their post-test responses were included.

Table 2 below displays the results from the questionnaires administered to the Jewish Israelis. The last column indicates the percentage of change in the scores from the pretest to the post test.

Table 2: Mifalot Hebrew Questionnaire Results

Questionnaire Item Pretest Post Test Change

*Figures shown indicate the percentage agreeing or strongly agreeing with the statement

**Figures shown indicate the percentage disagreeing or strongly disagreeing with the statement

As shown in Table 2, positive changes were obtained in all of the questionnaire items. All of the items changed by more than 10% from the pre-test to the post-test. The change scores ranged from 11% for two of the items (willingness to host and readiness to have a friend) to 28% for being opposed to having a Palestinian neighbour. The question about being opposed to having a Palestinian neighbour had reversed scoring, meaning that disagreeing or strongly disagreeing with this statement were the more positive or desired responses.

Summary, Conclusions and Recommendations

This study provides concrete evidence of the value of joint sports programmes in conflict mitigation and coexistence efforts with Israelis, Palestinians and Jordanians. In particular, the positive changes from the pre-test to the post-test in the areas of trust, hatred and perceived level of hatred of the other group are encouraging.

There are similarities and differences in the results of this study and those of earlier studies on attitudes of Arabs and Jews toward each other cited in the introduction. One similarity is that the previous research showed that 62% of Israeli Arabs thought that all or most Jews hate Arabs. In this study on the pre-test, 60% of the Palestinians and Jordanians indicated that they thought that all or most Jews hate Arabs. These figures are remarkably similar. Keep in mind that the children (ages 10-12) in this study were younger than the teenagers studied in the earlier research by the Carmel Institute (Gal, 1996). In addition, the Arab respondents in this study were Palestinian and Jordanian, NOT Israeli Arabs. Despite these variables and the many years that had passed between the studies, the figures for this question were almost identical when comparing the pre-test results to the results of the Carmel Institute’s research.

However, the post-test findings for this question were markedly changed, with only 36% of the Palestinians and Jordanians stating that they thought that all or most Jews hate Arabs. If the joint soccer activities made such a big difference (24% change) in this study, then it is likely that a similar programme with Israeli Arab teenagers would produce similar positive changes.

The similarities in responses to this question in the two different studies make the differences in responses to the question about hatred of Jews even more intriguing. In this study, 54% of Palestinians and Jordanians on the pre-test said that they hated all or most Jews, compared to only 24% of Israeli Arab teenagers indicating that they hated all or most Jews in the Carmel Institute’s 1994 study. The level of hatred dropped to 31% on the post-test, but this figure is still higher than the 24% in the earlier study.

There are several possible explanations for the higher level of hatred found in this study. One possibility is that Palestinians and Jordanians hate Israeli Jews more than Israeli Arabs do. Another possibility is that younger children are more honest in answering questionnaires than teenagers are and are more willing to admit that they hate Israeli Jews. The post-test in this study showed the Arab respondents to perceive a lower level of hatred of Jews toward Arabs (36%) than in the Carmel Institute study (62%), but at the same time, a higher level of hatred toward Israeli Jews (31% on the post-test) than in the Carmel Institute study (24%). It is also possible that these findings reflect true feelings. After playing with Israeli Jews, Palestinians and Jordanians realise that Israeli Jews do not hate them, but that their feelings of hatred toward Israeli Jews were stronger than that of Israeli Arabs toward Israeli Jews.

Meanwhile, the responses of the Israeli Jews on the pre-test in this study were similar to those of the Jews in the Carmel Institute research. The percentage that indicated that they hated all or most Arabs was about the same (36% versus 37%). Surprisingly, a lower percentage (46%) on the pre-test in this study answered that all or most Palestinians hate Israeli Jews, compared to the 59% of Jews saying that they thought all or most Arabs hate Jews in the Carmel Institute study. The post-test figures are encouraging, showing that hatred dropped to 23.5% and perceived hatred by Arabs dropped to 36%.

The comparison of the feelings of trust in this study versus earlier studies is perhaps the most encouraging finding. The earlier research had shown that 66% of Arabs and 66% of Jews felt that it was impossible to trust the other. In this study, in the post-test only 20.5% of Palestinians and Jordanians answered that they did not trust Israeli Jews at all or almost not at all. Similarly, only 25% of the Israeli Jews on the post-test indicated that they did not trust Palestinians at all or almost not at all. These results attest to the power of sports to help improve relations between Arabs and Jews.

In conclusion, programmes such as “Get to Know Your Neighbour” need to expend in order to reach more youth. The positive impact of this programme is documented in this study. The more people that are reached by programmes such as these, the more ambassadors for peace we will have. The bad news, as indicated by the pretest results, is that a great deal of hatred and lack of trust exists among Palestinians, Jordanians and Israelis. The good news, as indicated by the post-test results, is that by playing soccer together, feelings of hatred can be greatly reduced and feelings of trust can be enhanced.

References

1. Gal, R. (1996, March 1). Summary of 1994 attitudinal research. ZichronYaacov, Israel: The Carmel Institute.

2. Leitner, M., Scher, G., and Shuval, K. (1999). Peace-making through recreation: The positive effects of intergenerational activities on the attitudes of Israeli Arabs and Jews toward each other. World Leisure & Recreation, 41(2), pp. 25-29.

3. Leitner, M.J., and Scher, G. (2000). A follow-up study to peacemaking through recreation: The positive effects of intergenerational recreational programs on the attitudes of Israeli Arabs and Jews. World Leisure and Recreation, Vol. 42, No. 1, pp. 33-37.

Contact

Michael J. Leitner
Department of Recreation, Hospitality, and Parks Management
California State University, Chico
Chico, CA. 95929-0560
USA
Email:MLEITNER@CSUCHICO.EDU

http://www.icsspe.org/