April 4, 2002 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Named for the common ancestor of both Jews and Arabs, the Abraham Fund makes grants to organizations working to improve relations between Arab and Jewish citizens of Israel. Its latest tool, a new Web site, provides information about the organization’s work in Arabic, English, and Hebrew.
“The organization’s philosophy is that we do everything in all three languages, so the Web site was a natural extension of this,” says Barbara Merson, vice president of the fund, which has offices in Jerusalem and New York.
While English is read from left to right, Arabic and Hebrew are both read from right to left, presenting a design dilemma. Ms. Merson says the organization had to balance its desire for consistency across the site with the visual demands of the different languages.
“You want it to look like it’s all part of the same Web site, but on the other hand, you do have to make allowances for the fact that the languages are written differently,” she says.
To make sure that the information makes sense in each of the languages, the site has three editors who are native speakers of Arabic, Hebrew, and English.
Ms. Merson says the fighting between Palestinians and the Israeli Army and the suicide bombings aimed at Israelis have created an atmosphere that makes it more difficult for Jewish and Arab citizens of Israel to talk to one another. But she says that interest in programs that promote cooperation and coexistence is still strong. This year the fund received as many grant proposals from coexistence programs as it ever has, and the amount of money requested is up by more than $1-million over last year.
Says Ms. Merson, “Jewish and Arab citizens of Israel want to continue to try to work together.”
To get there: Go to http://www.abrahamfund.org.
