The executive director of a unique network of bilingual Israeli schools, the Hand in Hand Association, has said that there had been "a tremendous increase" in applications from both the Jewish and Arab communities, despite - or perhaps because of - the often tense political situation.

Shuli Dichter said: "It is a very positive reaction of both Jews and Arabs to the current wave of hostility, bigotry, harsh racism… you name it. People in Israel want to counter this wave. But sending their kids to this school is only one step. Another is joining the activities around the school, and between the communities."

Hand in Hand's first school opened in Jerusalem in 1998 and the group now runs six such establishments in Israel.

In the new academic year, the schools will be home to 1,500 students, with more Arabs than Jews and children aged from one to 18.

The Jerusalem school, funded by the UK-based Max Rayne Foundation via the Jerusalem Foundation, was subjected to an arson attack in November 2014, which shocked students and much of Israel. But as Mr Dichter recalled: "The arson attack brought us to a test of our resilience, at all levels."

Thousands of people had come to the school - where a classroom was destroyed after the arsonists burnt children's textbooks and notebooks - in a demonstration of solidarity.

Dr Inas Deeb, who runs the pedagogic division at Hand in Hand, and whose own two children attended the school, said that in the immediate aftermath of the attack she had heard a Jewish woman say she was going to take her child out of the school.

"But the next day, when she saw the response - from the government, the municipality, the Jerusalem Foundation - she changed her mind. And we have not had one person drop out of our schools in the wake of the arson."

Both educators spoke passionately about the benefits to both Jews and Arabs of bilingual, equal opportunity schooling.

A parallel dialogue team works with students and teachers so that difficult political situations can be addressed within the "safe environment" of the Hand in Hand school. "Sometimes," admitted Mr Dichter, "a maths lesson is supposed to start at 8am but it gets postponed while everyone addresses what happened the day before."