The Integration of East Jerusalem Residents into the Israeli Employment Market: Learning from Success

The research questions were:

1. What are the key factors that contributed to the interviewees’ ability to integrate successfully into the employment market in Israeli society?

2. What insights may be drawn from these successful cases with respect to policies for promoting employment integration among East Jerusalem residents?

Among the key findings and insights:

1. The common denominator among the interviewees is that they attended private schools, and they therefore approached the Israeli employment without an Israeli high school matriculation certificate (bagrut) and almost no proficiency in the Hebrew language. 

2. Families play an important role in the decision to integrate into the Israeli employment market, particulary brothers and sisters.

3. The interviewees’ transition to the Israeli arena occurring at two principal points in time: after completing an academic degree or after graduating from high school.

4. In general, the first step in transitioning to the Israeli market is to learn Hebrew in a mechina (preparatory course) or ulpan (intensive Hebrew language program). The study recommends that mechina and ulpan programs adopt a mechanism for alumni to maintain and reinforce the connections they formed allowing the group to provide a professional and social support network.

5. Private education graduates lack knowledge of the possibilities offered by the Israeli arena and it is recommended to use social media as a means of transmitting information and use success stories, such as the research interviewees, as mentors in the transition process.

The study points to the tremendous potential among graduates of private schools in East Jerusalem to integrate into quality employment in the Israeli market, in stark contrast to their disadvantageous starting point – without an Israeli high school matriculation certificate (bagrut) and without proficiency in the Hebrew language.

The study’s recommendations emphasize the importance of allocating resources to removing these barriers and to addressing them systemically. The study recognizes that private education is still the natural choice among the East Jerusalem elite, and it will take time for them to begin viewing the municipal system, and the Israeli bagrut curriculum specifically, as a comparable, worthwhile alternative. Until then, therefore, it is necessary to find a systemic solution for those skilled graduates who seek to enter the Israeli employment market but lack the basic tools to do so.

Published in collaboration with the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom.