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2009 Newsletter

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2009 Newsletter www.mossawa.org MOSSAWANews Published by the Mossawa Center, The Advocacy Center for Arab Citizens in Israel April, 2009 Elections 2009 Mossawa's 2009 Election Analysis Incorporating data and analysis from the 100 2009 elections, Mossawa Center updat- 90 ed its paper on Arab political participa- 80 tion. Throughout the election, Mossawa 70 60 carefully monitored campaigns, voting 50 trends and results. It found that Arab vot- 40 ing has steadily declined since 1999. In- 30 20 participation stead, some in the Arab community use Percentage of 10 political boycott to express their discon- 0 tent and to protest the legitimacy of the Israeli government, given the de facto 1949 1951 1955 1959 1961 1965 1969 1973 1977 1981 1984 1988 1992 1996 1999 2001 2003 2006 2009 Year exclusion of Arab parties in all govern- The Participation of Arab Voters in National Elections, 1949-2009 ment coalitions. Just 54% of the Arab community participated in the 2009 elec- tions, representing a 2% drop from 2006. participation since the 2006 elections, the gets translated into Knesset mandates. Despite this 2% fall in overall Arab number of Arab MKs elected to the Knes- 83% of Arab citizens who voted se- set from Arab or joint Arab-Jewish parties, lected one of three Arab or Arab- Party 1999 2003 2006 2009 Hadash 3 3 3 4 who directly represented the community’s Jewish parties, while 17% of these United Arab interest, increased by 1 mandate from 10 citizens supported Zionist parties. 5 2 4 4 List MK in 2006 to 11 MKs. The total number With the formation of Israel’s ex- Balad 2 3 3 3 Labor 2 0 3 0 of Arab MKs including from Zionist par- treme rightwing government, Mossawa Meretz 1 0 0 0 ties remained the same at 14, as three Center predicts that the upcoming two to Kadima -- -- 1 1 Arab MKs were elected on Zionist party three years will be very challenging for the Likud 1 2 0 1 lists (Kadima, Likud and Israel Beiteinu). region and Israel’s Arab citizens. It expects Israel Beitenu 0 0 0 1 Given the Arab community totals further confrontations in mixed cities such TOTAL 14 11 14 14 18% of the total population, and they are as the Acre riots in October 2008. Mossawa Knesset members representing the Arab com- approximately 14% of the voters, there is also deeply concerned about rising trends munity by political party remains a clear representation which in socioeconomic and legal discrimination. Table of Contents Public And Private Acre Youth Comprise Half Local Actors, Cooperation And Economic City On The Front the Arab Population Acting Development in Israel Globally Arab Leaders Sound Mossawa Raises Awareness of Alarm on New Racial Incitement Government 2 MOSSAWANewsletter April, 2009 Public and Private Cooperation and Economic Development Cooperation between the public and private sectors is essential to boosting the Arab community’s socio- economic status. In addition to the government, the private sector must also play a strategic role in resolving the socioeconomic gaps between Jews and Arabs. The Mossawa Center’s Socioeconomic Unit has identi- fied the following strategies for the local, regional and international communities. State Budget and Infrastructure Arab citizens receive 944 million NIS of the state budget, which is only 7.6% of the total development budget of 12.4 billion NIS. The government and private sector need to invest more in Arab in- frastructure planning. Priority projects include transportation, industrial zones, housing projects and schools. Employment Public and private sectors need to employ a higher percentage of Arab workers, especially female. Target in- dustries include high-tech, govern- ment, research and tourism. In these industries, Arab citizens can apply their unique trilingual ability -- Arabic, Businessmen with Dr. Khoulod Deibes, the Palestinian Authority’s Minister of Tourism Hebrew and English -- to their work. ibility in, and accessibility to, the media. billion NIS is lost per year due to the Trade and Export Regional Cooperation unemployment of Arab women. Further- The food and trade industries in Israel are The instability within Israel and the oPT more, 80% of the Arab female work- predominantly staffed by Arabs. Conse- has negatively impacted the region’s force is concentrated in three industries: quently, the public sector needs to in- economy. While there is preliminary education, health services and welfare. crease institutional support so that Arab cooperation in trade investment, tour- Other minority groups have been able exports can reach the Middle Eastern ism, and labor, there is great potential to access a wider range of industries. region and to international economies. for further cooperation in education Mossawa recommends that the gov- through cultural exchange. ernment support programs which as- Media sist Arab women in accessing diverse Currently, it is difficult for Arab citizens to Arab Women educational and professional resources. gain access to Middle Eastern and Is- Half of the Arab student population is raeli Hebrew media. Print, film and tele- female, however only 23% of the Arab Research and Human Resources vision are important forums for sociocul- workforce is female. By comparison, Education resources are not distrib- tural and political dialogue. The private 56% of Jewish women and 59% of uted proportionally between Jews and sector needs to help increase Arab vis- Arab men are employed. According to Arabs. A far lower percentage of Arab analysis by the Mossawa Center, 6.2 students completing degrees in higher education are employed in professional industries. There are currently 36,000 unskilled Arab workers in the labor mar- ket. It is important to bridge this sig- nificant education and workforce gap. For further information, please see Mossawa Center’s paper “The Eco- nomic Status of the Arab Community: An Overview” available at www.mossawa.org Workshop on education and human resources in the Arab community MOSSAWANewsletter April, 2009 3 Mossawa holds 2nd Annual Economic Conference On December 4, 2008, Mossawa Cen- There were four panels entitled, for Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud ter hosted its annual Economic Develop- “Export, Traditional Industries, and the Inter- Abbas. Additionally, the conference also ment and Business Initiatives Conference national Economic Crisis”; “Education and Hu- included representatives from the Ministry in Nazareth. With the international financial man Resources”; “Financing Resources and of Treasury and Industry, international eco- crisis as a background, the conference was Infrastructure”; and “Employment Possibilities.” nomic experts, local business leaders and highly anticipated. The conference covered Notable participants included NGOs. three main topics: the economic potential of Ramez Jaraisy, the Mayor of Nazareth, Mazen If you would like to be involved or receive the Arab minority in Israel, integration of the Ghanaim, the Mayor of Sakhnin Dr. Khoulod information on the Third Annual Economic Arab minority into the national economy, and Deibes, the Palestinian Authority Minister of Conference to take place in October 2009, integration into the international economy. Tourism and Dr. Hassan Abu Libdi, consultant please contact: [email protected]. UK Local Government Association Cooperating With Arab Local Authorities Arab and British Local Councils have taken the first steps towards long-term cooperation, facilitated by the Mossawa Center, Injaz and the Committee of Arab Mayors. The cooperation between the local organizations and the UK Local Government Association (LGA) began with the vision and support of Sir Jere- my Beecham, first chairman of the LGA and currently the LGA Vice-Chairman. LGA experts held a two-day training for the heads of Arab local councils on March 25 and 26, 2009. The principal aim of the training was to enhance the performance of Arab local authorities and to facilitate coopera- tion among them with the UK and EU. The training focused on generating (L-r) Mayor Nader Sarsur of Tira, Mayor Khaled Hamdan of Umm al-Fahm, James Beadle resources for Arab local councils, es- pecially through public-private sector Keynote speakers at the event state budget. Ghaida Rinawi Zoabi, ex- partnerships. It also addressed the included Shawki Khatib, chairman of ecutive director of Injaz presented sur- impact that Israeli government policies Injaz and former chairman of the Com- vey findings on Arab Local Councils. and the international financial crisis will mittee of Heads of Arab Local Authori- Professor Rasem Khamaysi spoke on have on local councils. ties, the newly appointed chairman of the theme of regional cooperation and The training consisted of a the Committee of Heads of Arab Local MK Dr. Hanna Sweid discussed local series of lectures and workshops con- Authorities, engineer Ramez Jaraisy, leadership. As a follow-up to the train- ducted by experts recruited by the James Beadle, representative of the ing, Mossawa is looking to send a del- LGA. They included Judi Billing from LGA, Dean Hurlock, representative of egation of Arab mayors to the UK. Learning for Leadership, Martin Lip- the British Embassy, and Jafar Farah, The two day training was con- son, program director at 4ps and Ra- director of the Mossawa Center. ducted with the support of the Foreign chel Litherland, National Adviser on Mossawa Center economist Commonwealth Office and the Trust- Partnerships for the Improvement and Amin Fares also spoke at the event, house Foundation with the initiative of Development Agency (IDeA). addressing the economic crisis and the Sir Jeremy Beecham. 4 MOSSAWANewsletter April, 2009 Acre City on the Front On the eve of the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, October 2008, Taufiq Jamal, an Arab resident of the northern city of Acre, drove his car into a mixed Arab and Jewish neighborhood to pick up his daughter from her fiancé’s home. Angered that Jamal was disrupting the observances of Yom Kip- has been made in ending discrimination. If there is internal tension between Jews pur, Jewish youth attacked his car and the The conflict in Acre has several and Arab citizens, it will further aggravate home of his daughter’s fiancé.
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