Exchange schemes are to be set up offering Oxford's young people the chance to visit the Middle East, in the latest move towards twinning the city with a community in Israel.

Oxford City Council played host to two visitors from the village of Neve Shalom-Wahat Al Salaam, where Arabs and Jews are trying to live together in peace as an example to the rest of the country.

Israeli Arab Daoud Boulos and Ruth Shuster, a Jew originally from Iran, came to Oxford to help build links between the two comm- unities.

Now work is under way to set up an exchange scheme between a bi-lingual language school in Neve Shalom-Wahat Al Salaam and schools in Oxford.

A second scheme is being considered to allow students from Oxford to train to become peace negotiators at the School of Peace in the experimental Israeli village.

The twinning links, initially proposed by city councillor Fiyaz Mughal, are to be spearheaded by the Oxford Neve Shalom-Wahat Al Salaam support group formed by local Arabs and Jews wanting to promote peace.

Mr Mughal said: "There are 50 families in the village with another 300 families on the waiting list.

"The village and its representatives are truly remarkable and have resisted primal urges to 'ghettoise' themselves under such strong social pulls towards isolation and non-co-operation between communities.

"Oxford has a very diverse community and has a large number of Arabs and a thriving Jewish community. We are effectively showing that such communities can live together."