ISRAEL: Digital gap between Arabs and Jews

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The gap between Israel’s Jews and the 20% of its population who are Arab citizens has been measured in many ways. The Arabs’ rates of unemployment and infant mortality are twice the national average; investment in public education is about twice as high per Jewish pupil compared with per Arab pupil.

Asmaa Ganayem, director of the technology center at Israel’s Al Qasemi Academic College of Education, has turned up a new indicator: the digital gap. She found that 72.5% of Jewish households are connected to the Internet, compared to 52.5% of Arab homes. Her research, reported this week by Israel’s ynetnews.com, shows that the gap widened between 2002 and 2005, but has narrowed since.

A separate study by Gustavo Mesch at the University of Haifa offered explanations for the disparity: lower exposure to the Internet at Israeli Arab workplaces and more negative attitudes toward new technology among Arabs. The researchers said the gap could be reduced by integrrating the Internet into Arab school curricula and adding the Arabic language to more Israeli government websites.

— Richard Boudreaux in Jerusalem