The only public elementary school in Israel with both Arab and Jewish students may shut down. Parents of Jewish students in Jaffa's Weizmann School are threatening to move their children to other schools unless the municipality ensures parity between Arab and Jewish students.

Although the school's studies are conducted in Hebrew, most of its students are Arabs. The Jewish parents are demanding the school be opened to students from other areas to ensure an equal number of Jewish and Arab students.

Open gallery view School children Credit: Yaron Kaminsky

While many of the Arab parents and teachers support this demand, the city refuses to set quotas for Jewish and Arab students, saying this constitutes religious discrimination.

The Weizmann School in central Jaffa is the only school in the country with a mixed Arab-Jewish student body and has a below average socioeconomic background.

About three years ago, the school was in danger of closing down due to dwindling Jewish students. To keep the school from closing, the Daniel Centers for Progressive Judaism started operating Reform Judaism classes in it. Today, there are two parallel study courses in the school - a regular one, for which students register at the Tel Aviv Municipality and another operated by the Daniel Centers.

The Daniel Centers operate two kindergarten classes and one first-grade class, in which about two thirds of the children are Jews and one-third are Arabs. In the regular school classes, however, 85 percent of the students are Arabs and only 15 percent Jews.

The parents say their demand to increase the number of Jewish students does not stem from racism but rather their desire to maintain coexistence in the school and prevent its closure.

On Tuesday, the parents' representatives met with Tel Aviv's education director, Dafna Lev, who told them she could not set quotas restricting the number of Arab students.

She also said she objected to separating the Daniel Centers' classes from the regular classes.

Lev told the parents she would try to make the school a non-regional institution next year, which would bring more Jewish students.

At the beginning of the week, the city's education officials will make this proposal to a larger group of parents.

"Everyone says the city must solve the problem, as if I could wave a magic wand and bring more Jews to the school, or persuade the Arabs to go elsewhere," Lev said. "The situation is unsolvable. It's the demographics in Jaffa. Those who live there must get used to it or give it up. Nobody forced them to be there."

The head of the parents' committee, Danny Beit-Yaakov, said the proposed compromise is unsatisfactory.

"We live in coexistence, this is a mixed city. But in this situation a Jewish school cannot be maintained," he said. The only way to save the school is to set equal quotas for both communities. If the imbalance continues, or the Jewish students are separated from the Arabs, it would be the end of the school. "That is the last thing we want," he said.

Merav Klein-Asher, whose son Uri is in to the school's second grade, says the city and Education Ministry must find a solution to keep the school going. "Such schools are rare. I expect the authorities to invest to preserve it and be proud of it," she said.