Back to Basics: Israel's Arab Minority and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
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BACK TO BASICS: ISRAEL’S ARAB MINORITY AND THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT Middle East Report N°119 – 14 March 2012 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................. i I. PALESTINIAN CITIZENS SINCE THE SECOND INTIFADA: GROWING ALIENATION ................................................................................................................... 1 A. OCTOBER 2000: THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL ................................................................................... 1 B. SEEKING REGIONAL AND GLOBAL SUPPORT ................................................................................ 5 C. POLITICAL BACKLASH ................................................................................................................. 8 II. POLITICAL TRENDS AMONG PALESTINIANS IN ISRAEL ............................... 10 A. BOYCOTTING THE POLITICAL SYSTEM ....................................................................................... 10 B. THE ISLAMIC MOVEMENT .......................................................................................................... 12 C. THE SECULAR PARTIES .............................................................................................................. 15 D. FILLING THE VACUUM: EXTRA-PARLIAMENTARY ORGANISATIONS ........................................... 19 E. CONFRONTATION LINES ............................................................................................................. 22 III. PALESTINIANS IN ISRAEL AND THE PEACE PROCESS ................................... 25 A. PALESTINIAN CITIZENS AND THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT ............................................ 25 B. ISRAEL’S JEWISH CHARACTER ................................................................................................... 28 C. POPULATED LAND SWAPS .......................................................................................................... 31 IV. CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................ 34 A. A COMBUSTIBLE MIX: ESCALATION AND THE RISK OF VIOLENCE ............................................. 34 B. A POSSIBLE WAY FORWARD? .................................................................................................... 36 1. Steps to Integrate Palestinian Arabs and Reduce Tensions ....................................................... 37 2. Internal Jewish and Palestinian dialogues .................................................................................. 38 3. Jewish-Arab negotiations in the context of a two-state settlement ............................................ 38 APPENDICES A. MAP OF ISRAEL ................................................................................................................................ 45 B. ABOUT THE INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP .................................................................................... 46 C. CRISIS GROUP REPORTS AND BRIEFINGS ON THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA SINCE 2009 ... 47 D. CRISIS GROUP BOARD OF TRUSTEES ................................................................................................ 49 Middle East Report N°119 14 March 2012 BACK TO BASICS: ISRAEL’S ARAB MINORITY AND THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS World attention remains fixed on the Israeli-Palestinian Jews grew ever more suspicious of their loyalty. Palestin- conflict but a distinct, albeit related, conflict smoulders ian citizens’ trust in the state plummeted after Israeli secu- within Israel itself. It might be no less perilous. Jewish- rity forces killed thirteen of their own during protests in Arab domestic relations have deteriorated steadily for a October 2000. A rapid succession of confrontations – the decade. More and more, the Jewish majority views the 2006 war in Lebanon; 2008-2009 Gaza war; and 2010 Palestinian minority as subversive, disloyal and – due to bloody Israeli raid on the aid flotilla to Gaza – further its birth rates – a demographic threat. Palestinian citizens deepened mistrust, galvanising the perception among Is- are politically marginalised, economically underprivi- raeli Jews that Palestinian citizens had embraced their leged, ever more unwilling to accept systemic inequality sworn adversaries. Among Arabs, it reinforced the sense and ever more willing to confront the status quo. Interac- that they had no place in Israel. Several have been arrested tion with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict further compli- on charges of abetting terrorist activity. Meanwhile, the cates matters as negotiations bump against a core issue – crisis of the Palestinian national movement – divided, whether Palestinians will recognise Israel’s Jewish char- adrift and in search of a new strategy – has opened up acter – that further inflames communal relations. There is political space for Israel’s Arab minority. no easy or quick fix. In the near term, Israel should take practical steps to defuse tensions with its Arab minority and As a consequence, Palestinian citizens began to look out- integrate it into the civic order. In the longer run, the chal- side – to surrounding Arab states and the wider interna- lenge to Israeli Jews and the Palestinian national move- tional community – for moral sustenance and political ment is to come to terms with the most basic questions: leverage. They have come to emphasise their Palestinian what is the character of the state of Israel, and what rights identity and increasingly dissociate themselves from for- should its Arab citizens enjoy? mal Israeli politics. The result has been steadily declining Arab turnout for national elections and, among those who For over six decades, Israel’s Palestinian citizens have still bother to vote, a shift from Jewish Zionist to Arab had a unique experience: they are a Palestinian national parties. Palestinians invest more energy in political activi- minority in a Jewish state locked in conflict with its Arab ty taking place beyond the reach of official institutions. neighbours but they also constitute an Israeli minority en- Unsurprisingly, Sheikh Raed Salah – the leader of the joying the benefits of citizenship in a state that prizes de- northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, which mocracy. This has translated into ambivalent relations refuses to engage with the country’s political institutions with both the state of Israel and Palestinians in the West – has become the highest-profile Arab politician. Bank, Gaza and beyond. They feel solidarity with their brethren elsewhere, yet many Arabs study in Israeli uni- Yet Palestinian citizens’ conflicting experiences has meant versities, work side-by-side with Jews and speak Hebrew that such reactions go hand-in-hand with others: continual fluently – a degree of familiarity that has only made the demands for achieving their rights within Israel; persis- discrimination and alienation from which they suffer seem tent criticism of Israel’s democratic shortcomings; and more acute and demands for equality more insistent. the absence of any visible interest or willingness to relo- cate to an eventual Palestinian state. They undoubtedly Since 2000, a series of dramatic events have both poisoned feel deeply Palestinian. But they also take their Israeli cit- Jewish-Arab relations in Israel and reinvigorated its Pal- izenship seriously. estinian minority. The collapse of the peace process and ensuing intifada harmed Israel’s relations with not only Simultaneous Arab marginalisation and revitalisation also Palestinians in the occupied territories but also its own has manifested itself in initial efforts by its leadership to Palestinian minority. As Palestinians in Israel organised define the community’s political aspirations. The so-called rallies in solidarity with Gazans and West Bankers, Israeli “Vision Documents” advocate full Jewish-Arab equality, Back to Basics: Israel’s Arab Minority and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Crisis Group Middle East Report N°119, 14 March 2012 Page ii adamantly reject the notion of a Jewish state and call instead itself cannot be done without the acquiescence of Israel’s for a “binational state” – in essence, challenging Israel’s Arab citizens. current self-definition. This, for many Jews, is tantamount to a declaration of war. For now, this downward spiral has resulted in relatively few violent confrontations. For the most part, Israel’s Palestini- For its part, Israel’s Jewish majority – confronted by an in- ans fear an escalation could erode their civil rights and fur- ternal minority developing alliances outside the state and ther jeopardise their status in the state. But the frequency seeming to display solidarity with its foes – has grown of clashes is rising. Should current trends continue una- ever more suspicious of a community it views as a poten- bated, localised intercommunal violence should come as tial fifth column. It has shunned Palestinians, enacted leg- no surprise. islation to strengthen the state’s Jewish identity and sought to ban certain Arab parties and parliamentarians. Today, It will not be easy to sort this out, not with a frozen peace what for most Palestinian citizens is a principled struggle process, not with deepening Jewish-Arab antagonism and for equal rights is perceived by many Israeli Jews as a mutual fears. But some things are clear. First, that there dangerous denial of Jewish nationhood. What for most are long overdue measures Israel should take to begin