A two-year study on the effects of the friendship games on attitudes towards Arabs and Jews

The Friendship Games is a one-week event held in the resort city of Eilat, Israel. Quantitative research was conducted on the male and female basketball players from Europe, Jordan, Palestine and Jewish and Arab players from Israel who participated in the 2012 event held from 1 June to 8 June. Qualitative research was conducted on the 2013 event that was held from 31 May to 6 June. The event brings Arab and Jewish Israeli college-age athletes together with peers from other countries in the region and from all over the world to play basketball and participate in other recreational activities. Pretest questionnaires were administered at the beginning of the week, and post-tests were administered at the end of the week in June 2012. Questionnaires in English were administered to the European athletes; questionnaires in Hebrew were administered to the Jewish Israeli athletes; and questionnaires in Arabic were administered to Palestinians, Jordanians and Israeli Arabs. Positive changes were found in attitudes ...