Israeli Arabs and Jews: Dispelling the Myths, Narrowing the Gaps

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Israeli Arabs and Jews: Dispelling the Myths, Narrowing the Gaps I SRA€LI ARABS ANDJ€WS Dispelling the Myths, Narrowing the Gaps Amnon Rubinstein THE AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE The Dorothy and Julius Koppelman Institute on American Jewish-Israeli Relations The American Jewish Committee protects the rights and freedoms of Jews the world over; combats bigotry and anti-Semitism and promotes human rights for all; works for the security of Israel and deepened understanding between Americans and Israelis; advocates public policy positions rooted in American democratic values and the perspectives of the Jewish heritage; and enhances the creative vitality of the Jewish people. Founded in 1906, it is the pioneer human-relations agency in the United States. Israeli Arabs and Jews: Dispelling the Myths, Narrowing the Gaps By Am non Rubinstein Dorothy and Julius Koppelman Institute on American Jewish-Israeli Relationsof the American Jewish Conmmittee The Dorothy and Julius Koppelman Institute on American Jewish-Israeli Relations, founded in 1982 as an arm of the American Jewish Committee, is an interpreter of Israeli and American Jewry to each other, and seeks to build bridges between the world's largest Jewish communities. Specifically, its goals are achieved programmatically through a variety of undertakings, including: • Exchange programs over the years bringingIsraeli politicians, academicians, civil servants, and educators to the United States so that they may learn about the religious pluralism and political dynamism of the American Jewish com- munity. Hundreds of Israelis have participated in these dialogue-oriented mis- sions cosponsored by the Institute and itsIsraeli partners, the Jerusalem Municipality, the Oranim Teacher Training Institute, and the Ministry of Education, Government of Israel. • Studies of the respective communities, particularlyof their interconnectedness, published in both Hebrew and English, in conjunction with the Argov Institute of Bar-han University. These have included monographs, among others, on "Who Is a Jew," "Post-Zionism," and Reform and Conservative Judaism in Israel. • Public conferences to study, discuss, and report onthe American Jewry-Israeli relationship. A recent conference was cosponsored by the Institute and Tel Aviv University on the emergence of a new generation of Israeli revisionist histori- ans and the interpretation of this phenomenonby Israeli and American Jewish society. Similarly, an annual public dialogue on the ties and tensions between American Jewry and Israel is sponsored by the Institute. The Koppelman Institute has succeeded in reaching out to leaders who ultimately will shape the minds of thousands of followers in developing a more positive and produc- tive relationship between Israel and the most significant Diaspora community. Harold T Shapiro Steven Bayme Chairman Director Foreword Dr. Eran Lerman Director Israel/Middle East Office The American Jewish Committee Alongside the questions of war and peace and of religion and state, the challenge of future relations between Israel's Jewish majority and its Arab minority stands out as an issue of utmost importance—both to the well-being of all Israeli citizens and to Israel's ability to be both Jewish and democratic. The omens are not especially good. Much blood has been shed since October 2000; bad blood has been with us for two generations. More recently, the findings of the Orr Commission, chaired by Israeli Supreme Court Justice Theodor Orr (assisted by Shimon Shamir, a leading scholar on the Middle East, and Hashim Khatib, an Arab judge from Nazareth), assigned to investigate the events of October 2000, have brought the issue into focus. The actions of the police at various levels, the misconduct of Israeli leaders and Arab politicians—all came in for criticism. So did the record of the state as a whole vis-à-vis the Arab minority—marked by 55 years of occasional repression, frequent neglect, and inequality in the allocation of resources. Can anything be done to undo the damage? Paradoxically, it is the stronger element among the younger generation of Israeli Arabs (or, as they like to refer to themselves, Palestinian citizens of Israel), who say "no," and seem dismissive of the prospect of ever moving forward toward greater equality. To them, as long as Israel remains what it is—a Jewish state—the basic prob- lems cannot be solved. They do not hesitate to argue that such a "racist" entity, which they often accuse of being an "apartheid state," will never fully respond to the practi- cal call for a better life for all. These arguments need to be countered, if a more positive answer is to be given to the basic question: Can Israel act to make the lives ofArab citizens better without losing its Jewish identity? To be able to answer in the affirmative, Prof. Amnon Rubinstein offers in this paper an interesting insight into Israel's record thus far—not as an excuse for inaction, but as a rebuttal to the typeof radicalized indictment that, in fact, inhibits rather than promotes practical efforts to improve the situation. A lead- ing Muslim moderate in Israel recently said that Arab political action remains stuck at the level of protest, not of influence. Indeed, by overstating the case against Israel, often in the service of Israel's enemies, the critics delay the day of reckoning over the allocation of national resources. 111 iv Foreword Rubinstein is better positioned than most to make this case. For many years, he was Israel's preeminent authority onconstitutional law; upon his entry into politics, as the founder of the original incarnationof the Movement for Change, Shinui, he brought human rights issues to the fore of Israeli political concerns. As minister ofjus- tice and in the Ministry of Education, he had an opportunity to promote the practi- cal aspects of policies of equality and human rights. As a leading member and former MK of Meretz, the leftist anchor of Zionist politics in Israel, he does not need to prove his credentials when he acts to place the progressive case for Israel in its proper per- spective. One of the main motivations causing him to make the case has been the hijack- ing of international institutions—Durban being the most blatant case among many— by anti-Israeli radicalism, and the spread of such ideas within Israeli society itself, through the agency of the so-called "new historians" and revisionist sociologists. The scion of a truly Revisionist family—which followed Ze'ev Jabotinsky's mix of liberal- ism and nationalism—he found himself face-to-face with those, in Israel and around the world, who would rewrite the "narrative" (or would refer to all "narratives" as equal, whether true or not) or would willfully ignore the patterns of Arab political action—e.g., Mufti Haj Arnin el-Husseini's alliance with Adolf Hitler or Yasir Arafat's alliance with preseni-day terrorists—that have led to the present impasse. In an important paper this year, Rubinstein has shown that Israel is not alone, and is certainly not "racist," when it implements certain preferences (as do most states in "New" Europe, which have legal provisions for the return of their kith and kin, i.e., for making aliyah to their homeland). Here again, in this paper, he makes a well-doc- umented case that Israelis need not beat their chests in self-accusation as to the caus- es of the social and economic gapsbetween the various sectors in Israel. The purpose may seem diplomatic or apologetic—but it need not, and should not, be seen in this light. It is acall for action, if indirectly—action based on identi- fying the real causes of inequality By first separating out the Christian Arab minority, and showing that their economic and social achievements are equal to or better than those of the Jewish population, he rules out Israeli "racism" as an explanation for the differential (or else, the Christians would also have been targeted). He hints that small families, rather than any governmental handout, may create the opportunity for indi- viduals to succeed and prosper. The time has come, in other words, for the govern- ment to cease paying out huge sums to promote ever higher ratesof child support. Application of the implicit concept suggested by Rubinstein would be a win-win sit- uation: a win for hasbara (public relations) against those who malign Israel; a win for young Arabs, who get to grow upin a land of better opportunities; and a win for Israel in the decisive demographic struggle to survive. Israeli Arabs and Jews: Dispelling the Myths, Narrowing the Gaps By Amnon Rubinstein Among the vociferous accusations leveled against Israel, one that is directed at neither its occupation of the West Bank nor its treatment of the Palestinians is the charge that the Jewish state mistreats its own Arab citizens. This indictment, which reached its peak at the infamous UN-sponsored Durban Conference against Racism in 2001, is repeated habitually and ranges from accusations of rampant anti-Arab discrimination to condemnation of Israel as an "apartheid state." So widespread arethese accusations that for some they have become a self-evident truism. The purpose of this study is to examine the truth of this truism. Gaps between Arabs and Jews inside Israel Arabs in Israel enjoy equal political rights, but are exempted from military service. Their communities suffer from lower budgetary allocations, lower average per capita incomes, and a lower rate of participation in public life. Above all, there is a sense of total estrangement, if not animosity, between the two communities. These gaps are indisputable, and it would require a tremendous national effort to abolish them. One must take into considerationthat this is a minority that identi- fies with and belongs to the hostile Arab majority population that surrounds Israel. Indeed, in recent years, especially since Yasir Arafat launched his terror campaign against Israel in 2000, some Arab members of Knesset have missed no opportunity to denounce the very existence of Israel.
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