Saleem Abu Jaber

Higher education is a crucial pathway for socio-economic mobility, particularly for minorities. The events of October 7th in Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza (referred to as "Swords of Iron" in Israeli terminology and "Al-Aqsa Flood" in the Palestinian narrative) exacerbated tensions between the Arab minority and the Jewish majority in Israel, impacting daily interactions in workplaces and academic campuses. This study, grounded in Antonovsky's (1987) salutogenic model and employing a qualitative-constructivist approach (Creswell & Poth, 2018), examines the emotional responses, coping resources, and learning processes of Bedouin Arab female students during a period of heightened security tensions. For this study, 28 third- and fourth-year students from three academic institutions were interviewed. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to investigate the personal, familial, and organizational resources that supported them during this challenging time. Analysis of the interviews identified three central themes that aligned with the salutogenic model: comprehensibility, manageability, and meaningfulness.

Israel is defined as a Jewish and a democratic state. Yet, in recent years, the government of Israel has attempted to change the balance of power between the judiciary and the legislative and executive authorities. Many perceived this change as a fatal blow to democracy, while others supported the change. These political conflicts cannot be ignored inside schools. The purpose of this study was to examine how education administration M.A students deal with political conflicts within schools and the communication strategies they use. To that end, the method of simulation-based learning was used. The main research questions focused on the study participants’ willingness to express their opinions about controversial political conflicts. The results revealed an unexpected scenario. Even though school principals might be expected to be in control because of their powerful position in the organization’s hierarchy and their authority to mete out punishments and rewards, the simulations showed a different outcome in the broader political context, indicating that a general sense of chaos reigned in schools as well. Following these results, we developed a didactic educational model whose purpose is to educate toward social involvement and the ability to express a reasoned opinions.