While the class of around 25 pupils looks pretty much like any other of its kind countrywide, what sets this group of children apart and makes this school unique, especially in the South, is that half of the children are Arab residents of Beersheba and half are Jews, even though it’s almost impossible to tell who is who.

“We are not two communities, we are one community, and it’s called Hagar,” states Hagit Damri, executive director of the Arabic-Hebrew bilingual school, which started as a kindergarten in 2007 and opened its doors as an elementary school at the end of 2009.