By Alisha Deluty, Ben Gurion University of the Negev

 

While helping female Bedouin teenagers prepare for English college entrance exams through Masa Israel at Ben Gurion University (BGU) in the Negev in August 2008, I met Nesma.  In the coming weeks, I tutored Nesma in English by using Hebrew and Arabic to explain English vocabulary or grammatical constructions.  Despite our religious, cultural, and national differences, Nesma and I developed a friendship.  As we spoke Hebrew, Arabic, and English, Nesma and I soon learned about each other’s lives and families, mine in New York City and hers in a small Bedouin village near Be’er Sheva.

 

Nesma and I engaged in the type of dialogue that I have strived to cultivate for my entire life.  Growing up, my...