Singled out

POGREBIN, LETTY COTTIN

Singled out Letty Cottin Pogrebin Israel can't afford to treat Arabs as second-class citizens. JEWS KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE A STIGmatized minority group, singled out for mistreatment or...

...And American Jews have the power to help through our dollars and our vocal support of such efforts...
...To add insult to injury, dozens of Arab villages founded before 1948 are not even recognized by the state...
...Although [they] have occasionally been involved in terrorist activities, they have generally behaved as loyal citizens...
...We need more dialogue with Israeli Arabs, not to discuss Zionism and theology but to find a better standard of living and improve the situation...
...In the United States, the singling-out has taken many forms, from Father Coughlin's virulent anti-Semitic harangues on the radio in the 1940s, to the Red Scare of the 1950s when some commentators suggested the Rosenbergs were only the tip of the iceberg of Jewish subversion, through all those decades when Jewish quotas limited our access to good jobs and universities...
...But how different is that notion from the charge of "dual loyalty" that for years has been unfairly leveled against American Jews...
...Moreover, it must also be said that the current climate is ripe for Arab citizens to move from discontent and alienation to outright solidarity with Palestinians and hostility toward Israel—since the government has done so little to equalize their conditions or inspire patriotism in its Arab minority...
...Arab per capita income is half that of Jews...
...Yet when 150 Bedouin demonstrators marched in front of his ranch pleading for improved educational services (only 45 percent of Bedouins finish high school), he refused to see them...
...In some instances, Arabs volunteered to take over civilian functions for reservists...
...Government policy is very important in shaping these attitudes," said Smooha...
...Some excuse the disparity because Arab Israelis, especially the women, are doing so much better than their counterparts in Arab countries...
...It's important to note that in 2001, Land Day's 25th anniversary, the demonstration was peaceful...
...How we treat them makes them feel more and more alienated...
...We know how it feels to live with heightened fears, enforced alienation, and the injustice born of institutionalized discrimination...
...Remember Pat Buchanan's claim in 1991 that Israel's "Amen Corner" (i.e...
...Less than 1 percent of public construction has benefited the Arab population...
...Hasn't our patriotism been called into question on the grounds that our pro-Israel stand isn't necessarily in America's best interest, especially vis-a-vis Arab oil supplies and supposedly advantageous coalitions with Arab nations...
...The facts speak for themselves: Infant mortality is twice as high among Arabs as Jews...
...Since 1948, the Arab population has grown from 150,000 to almost 1 million, yet 76 percent of their land has been confiscated and no Israeli government has created even one new Arab town...
...Until very recently, Arab Israelis participated actively in national elections, comprising more than 10 percent of eligible Israeli voters...
...In his campaign, Sharon pledged to build one...
...While it's true that many Arab citizens, including MKs, take issue with Israel as a Jewish state, their position is not hard to understand since by definition, a Jewish state disadvantages non-Jews...
...Yet many of us have remained either willfully ignorant of or disgracefully silent about the marginalization of the Arab citizens of Israel: The more than 1 million Muslim Arabs, Druze, Bedouins, and Christian Arabs who constitute nearly 20 percent of the population of the state...
...as of now, it hasn't happened...
...Since 1975, the government has built one Arab housing unit for every 337 units built for Jews...
...Israeli Arabs are under-represented in higher education and most industries...
...No wonder every March 30, Arab-Israelis commemorate Land Day with vigils recalling their first demonstration against Israel's land confiscation policy in 1976 when six of their people were killed by Israeli security forces...
...Bishara has since been stripped of his parliamentary immunity and indicted for supporting terror...
...The Jewish State has the power to equalize their status...
...According to Adalah, an Arab rights organization, about 20 laws provide unequal rights and obligations based on "nationality," which in Israel means religion...
...Remember how the oil crisis of the 1970s gave rise to bumper stickers that said, "If you're waiting in line for gas, blame the Jews...
...I know it's a concept that will take some getting used to here...
...In general, the various systems [i.e...
...Their unemployment rate is estimated at 40 percent...
...Land inequities are equally shocking: By law, 93 percent of Israeli land can be leased or owned only by Jews or Jewish agencies...
...What is at stake is nothing less than the meaning of Israeli democracy and the integrity of Israeli citizenship...
...They are so sufficiently integrated into Israeli society that an Arab woman from Haifa was chosen Miss Israel, an Arab sits on Israel's Supreme Court, a Druze is currently a government minister, and there are a dozen Arab Members of Knesset (MKs...
...In other words, Arab citizens are more likely to act like Israelis if they are treated like Israelis...
...Some would argue that Israeli Arabs can't be compared to American Jews because, given their strong identification with the Palestinian cause, Arab citizens of Israel threaten to become a fifth column, "the enemy within...
...As Arab MK Ahmed Tibi put it, "Israel is a democratic state for the Jews, and a Jewish state for the Arabs...
...But by 1999, he found evidence of growing extremism...
...The Arabs in this country are not living in a vacuum...
...Despite the Israeli Declaration of Independence guaranteeing "complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants," the gap between promise and fulfillment is vast...
...Twice as many Arabs live below the poverty line...
...During Israel's wars, none engaged in acts of sabotage or disloyalty...
...Their municipalities have received one-third less government funding than Jewish areas, affecting the quality of Arab schools, infrastructure, and social services...
...Did we ever ask African-American citizens to be content because they're doing better than blacks in Africa...
...They make up less than 6 percent of the civil service...
...Just as you and I are capable of being both loyal Americans and Jews who identify with and support Israel, Arab-Israelis deserve a comparable assumption about their multiple identities...
...In November, the Arnow family pledged $1 million to the New Israel Fund for an American advocacy effort to put this issue on the agenda of the American Jewish community...
...Jews constitute only 2.5 percent of America...
...They have adopted Hebrew as a second language and Israeli culture as an extra layer in their lives...
...Singled out Letty Cottin Pogrebin Israel can't afford to treat Arabs as second-class citizens...
...Regarding the delivery of public services, Sikkuy, an Israeli nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing Arab citizens of Israel, says in its 2000-2001 report: "Arab localities are often like isolated islands within the national and regional systems...
...Others feel Arabs deserve no better because of their fifth column behavior, pointing to such high profile "agents of the Palestinian authority" as MK Tibi, who refused to sing Hatikva at his swearing in (but did recite the loyalty oath), and MK Azmi Bishara who, speaking at a ceremony in Syria marking the first anniversary of President Assad's death, called for unified Arab resistance against Israel while praising Hezbollah for its "heroism...
...The Education Ministry spends half as much per Arab child as per Jewish child...
...And our own government's policy is something that we have control over...
...Rabbi Michael Melchior, Israel's current deputy foreign minister, said, "We need to find a solution fast or our society will fall apart...
...Half as many Arabs as Jews have 13 or more years of schooling...
...Arabs are still waiting for implementation of the government's four-year development plan...
...Every Israeli must carry an identity card that identifies him or her as a Jew, Muslim, or Christian...
...Haifa University sociologist, Sammy Smooha, who has been studying Arab attitudes for 25 years, noted a clear trend of "Israelization" and moderation among Arab citizens from 1976 to 1995...
...According to The American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, most Arab citizens "see their future tied to Israel...
...the American Jewish lobby) got the United States into the Gulf War...
...About 97 percent of them voted for Ehud Barak in 1999...
...Remember just last fall, when some attributed the terror attacks to America's pro- Israel policies that in turn were attributed to Jewish pressure on our government...
...In his acceptance speech, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declared, "We will turn over a new leaf in our relationships with our Arab citizens in order to achieve a genuine partnership and a feeling of equality among all the country's citizens...
...JEWS KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE A STIGmatized minority group, singled out for mistreatment or viewed suspiciously in one's own country...
...On a visit to the United States at that time, Avraham Burg, speaker of the Knesset, suggested American Jews should make it a priority to fund programs fostering understanding and cooperation between Israel's Jews and Arabs because Israel's very existence depends on the two groups amicable co-existence...
...Such experiences—if not basic decency—should make American Jews super-sensitive to the evils of second-class citizenship...
...It's desperately needed now...
...electricity, telephone, and sewage] extend only as far as the entrance to Arab towns, and then continue on to neighboring Jewish towns where individual Jewish households are hooked up, in contrast to the Arab households which are not...

Vol. 27 • February 2002 • No. 1


 
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