Arab graduate students in a teachers college in Israel: leaving their identity at the gate

This article examines the experience of Palestinian-Arab graduate students in an Israeli teachers college that describes itself as multicultural. By listening to the voices of the Arab students the article identifies the limitations of a liberal multiculturalism. The Arab students interviewed feel that they are treated fairly by their teachers, and they also note that they are treated well by the administration. While they acknowledge the progress made by the college when comparing the campus environment to that of other sites in the Israeli public sphere, their experience also teaches them to "leave their national identity at the gate" when they enter the college campus. They learn that giving expression to their national identity may jeopardize the social comfort zone that they manage to attain at the college—a comfort zone that is unlike anything they experience outside in the “real world.” While not quite feeling at home, the Arab students are left feeling like welcome guests. The research population included 52 male and female Arab students who studied in the college in 2015–2016. The data were gathered through semi-structured, in-depth interviews and analyzed using an open inductive coding method.