In a hillside hamlet beside a forest, Jewish and Arab teenagers from the Holy Land are living together in a pioneering experiment to overcome racial prejudice.

There will be no debating their divisive histories, no lighting candles for peace, no lectures on the brotherhood of man. Instead, they are being instructed to dress as warriors, wood-cutters and sorcerers.

The Asha Centre, a retreat in rural Gloucestershire, has been converted for four weeks into a drama boot camp where the 16-year-olds will stage an adaptation of Grimm’s fairytales.

This method of peacemaking is to be reproduced for Turks and Armenians, Japanese and Koreans, and Afrikaners and black and Indian South Africans. A programme for white and Asian youths from one of urban Britain’s racially divided communities is also planned.

“I never expected to actually become friends with the Muslims who are my people’s enemies,” Avital Zohat, 17, a Jewish girl, said. “But it is great being with them.”

Of the 21 teenagers, the Jews come from Hardof and the Muslim and Christian Arabs from Shfaram, villages less than five minutes apart in Galilee. There have been tensions and tantrums, but not for the reasons that you may expect. The Arab boys “freaked out”, according to Alexander Gifford, a drama teacher, when they were asked to dance with the opposite sex on stage. The boys threatened to storm out, refusing to dance with girls from their community, although they were prepared to dance with Jewish girls.

It came to light that, before their departure, the Arab children had been called by their parents to a meeting at which the boys were given the duty of protecting the girls’ dignity. The youths were taking their manly burden seriously.

The teenage sexual politics remain tense. “The Arab girls have felt a bit rejected by their boys,” Adrian Locher, Asha’s artistic director, said.

Power is another conflict zone, according to Yakov Arnan, a Jewish actor and co-director of the show. “The Arabs are very sensitive to their honour,” he said. “A statement made to an Arab boy can cause resentment from his group. “Immediately they feel we are attacking them or [being] superior. They say, ‘Never speak to me with force!’. The Arabs can be very forceful, which can be frightening.”

The month abroad at the Asha Centre, an interfaith haven in Mitcheldean by the Forest of Dean, is the start of a four-year course run by the California-based Salaam Shalom Educational Foundation. The charity’s president, Shepha Vainstein, says that she wants to redress the disparity between Arab and Jewish student resources, and to tackle the higher Arab drop-out rate from education.

This is the second pilot scheme. Back in Israel, Bilal Chajallia, one of last year’s Arab students, said: “I got to know Jewish people and become real friends.” He now has a better understanding of the cultural differences. “When I go back to my village it is something else,” he said. “I can’t change the minds of the people there, and I don’t try.”

The play had an enthusiastic reception in English village halls and is being taken back to Israel this week. Working on it has given the teenagers a refreshing sense of unity. Avital said: “I was really happy when the Muslims joined in with our Sabbath prayers over Friday dinner. The kids who have not had our experience will still want to make fun of the Arabs. That’s stupid.”

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