Both the Arabic a nd the Hebrew novels are considered as a literary fo r m bo r rowed fr om European literature. If we believe that ",Zaynab", is the first Arabic novel wo r thy of the name, there is hardly any possibility of an influence of the Arabic novel on the Hebrew novel, since the latter preceded the fo r mer by few decades. On the other ha nd, no real influences could take place in the opposite direction, since there was no meeting between the Haskalah in Europe a nd the Arab intelligentsia. Even with the growing of the Jewish colonization in Palestine, cultural contact was almost non-existent, even translations fr om either language to the other were very rare. Culturally, those Modern Hebrew writers bo r n in Arab countries abso r bed quite a lot fr om their Arab environment. But when it came to literature, they were generally influenced by Modern Hebrew literature. The educational system of the Jewish colonization was guided by the literati of the Haskalah. Their culture was further influenced by European literatures, principally known in Hebrew translations.