Arabische Israelis

Arab citizens of Israel are Arabs who are citizens of the State of Israel. Israeli Arabs are full citizens of the State of Israel, with equal protection under the law, and full rights of due process, though like minority populations in many countries, Israeli Arabs face significant challenges within the broader society—which is made more complex by the fact that they have many ties, including family ties, to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. Arab residents of East Jerusalem, annexed by Israel in 1980 [1], are eligible for citizenship, though most choose not to exercise that right.

Israeli Arabs comprise around 15% of the country's total number of citizens (19.5% when East Jerusalem residents are included). They call themselves or have been called "Israeli Arabs", "Arab citizens of Israel", "Arab Israelis" and "Palestinian Arabs in Israel".

Most Israeli Arabs, including 170,000 Bedouin, are descendants of the 150,000 Arabs who remained within Israel's borders during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and of the Wadi Ara Palestinians who came under Israeli jurisdiction as part of a territory exchange under the 1949 Armistice Agreement with Jordan. As many as 200,000 others have emigrated into Israel from the Gaza Strip and West Bank, receiving citizenship under family-unification provisions. Israeli Arabs include 120,000 Druze and 180,000 Christian Arabs.

The large population of Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews, who fled or were expelled from Arab countries, mostly after 1948, or who are the descendants of those refugees, are not usually identified as Arabs, although many of them and their ancestors were traditionally Arabic-speaking. In addition, around 170,000 Palestinians were estimated to be living illegally in Israel as of 2004.

The majority of the Arab Israelis are de facto excluded from compulsory military service.

Demographics and subdivisions

Muslim Arabs

Muslim Arabs, excluding Bedouins, comprise about 70% of the Israeli Arab population. They live predominantly in the north, although a sizable number reside in East Jerusalem and some towns in the south. They are not required to serve in the Israeli military, and very few (around 120 a year) volunteer. In addition, of all Israeli Arab subgroups, they have probably the largest portion of people who identify themselves as Palestinian, often as well as Israeli.

The number of Muslim legal residents, including East Jerusalem permanent residents, in Israel at the start of 2004 stands at around 1,350,000, about 19.5% of Israel’s population. Muslims, including Bedouins, make up 82% of the entire Israeli Arab population, with around 9% Druze, and 9% Christians, according to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, May 2003.

Muslim Israelis have the highest birthrate of any group: 4.6 children per woman, as opposed to 2.6 for Jewish Israelis, a natural reproduction rate of 3.3% compared to 1.4%. This means that around 25% of the children born in Israel today are Muslim, and as a result, the Muslim population is mostly young: 42% of Muslims are children under the age of 15, compared with 26% of the Jewish population, with the median age of Muslim Israelis 18, while the median age of Jewish Israelis is 30. The percentage of people over 65 is less than 3% for Muslims, compared with 12% for the Jewish population.

According to forecasts, the Muslim population will rise to over 2,000,000 people, or 24-26% of the population within the next 15 years. They will also comprise 85% of the Israeli Arab population in 2020 (3% up from 2005).

The increasing population of Muslim Arabs within Israel has become a point of political contention in recent years. Dr. Wahid Abd Al-Magid, the editor of Al-Ahram's "Arab Strategic Report" predicts that "...The Arabs of 1948 (i.e. Israeli Arabs) may become a majority in Israel in 2035, and they will certainly be the majority in 2048." This has led some Israeli politicians to advocate land-swap proposals with the West Bank in order to assure a continued Jewish majority within Israel. A specific proposal is that Israel would give the Arab-populated Wadi Ara area (west of the Green Line to a future Palestinian state, in return for the major Jewish settlement "blocks" that lie inside the West Bank adjust to the Green Line.) Critics of the Wadi Ara land swap plan have argued that this measure will not be enough since "The number of Arab Israelis would drop by 116,000-148,000, or a total of 8.2-10.5 percent of the Arab population of Israel, and just 2.1 percent of the population in general."

Hussniya Jabara a Muslim Arab woman from central Israel, is a prominent feminist who served as a member of the Knesset.[2]

Bedouins

Datei:Beduintrackers.jpg

Bedouin Trackers in the Israeli Army

The term "Bedouin" or "Badawi" in Arabic defines a range of nomadic desert-dwelling ethnic groups spanning from the western Sahara desert to the Middle East. They are traditionally a nomadic people, although many of them have settled permanently and become fellaheen (land workers). The largest Bedouin locality in Israel is Rahat. The Israeli government encourages Bedouins to settle as permanent residents of particular towns, but many live in "unrecognized villages" against the government's wishes and with few social services.

Each year, between 5%-10% of the Bedouin population in draft age volunteer for the Israeli army, (unlike Jewish and Druze Israelis they are not required by law to do so). The legendary Israeli soldier, Amos Yarkoni, first commander of the Shaked Reconnaissance Battalion in the Givati Brigade, was a Bedouin (born Abd el-Majid Hidr).

Christian Arabs

Christian Israeli Arabs comprise about 9% of the Israeli Arab population, and reside mostly in the north. Nazareth has the largest Christian Arab population. Some Christian Arabs are active in Israeli politics and civil life, they play an important role as an integral group within the Arab Palestinian citizens in Israel. The only non-Jewish judge to receive a permanent appointment to preside over Israel's Supreme Court is a Christian Arab, Salim Jubran. The legendary Munir Redfa who flew a MiG 21 from Iraq to Israel, was an Arab Christian who accepted Israeli citizenship and decided to stay and live with his family in Israel, despite his previous wishes to emigrate to the United States.

Druze

The Druze are members of a sect residing in many countries, although predominantly in Israel, Lebanon and Syria. Israeli Druze mainly live in northern Israel, notably in Daliyat Al-Karmel near Haifa. There are also Druze localities in the Golan Heights, which are claimed by Syria.

Some Druze identify themselves as Israelis and are required to serve in the IDF per a request from their local leaders. In recent years many members of the community have denounced this mandatory enrollment[3]. The Israeli Druze, like all Druze, follow a unique Druze religion which stemmed from Islam, although unlike Syrian Druze for instance, Israeli Druze generally resent being referred to as Muslim. Some of them do not even identify as Arabs and claim to have nothing in common with Arabs other than language.

Spatial distribution

In total, 71% of the Arab population lives in 116 different localities throughout Israel. In these localities, Arabs are a heavy majority. Only nine of the 116 Arab localities are cities. The other localities are ruled by an Arab local authority or else they are strictly rural areas.

Almost 40% of the country’s Muslims (400,000 people) live in various predominantly-Arab communities in the north, the biggest of which is the city of Nazareth, which has 40,000 Muslim residents. Nazareth has the largest Arab population of the cities which are mainly Arab.

24% of Arabs live in cities that have a Jewish majority. These cities are Jerusalem, Haifa, Tel Aviv-Yaffo, Akko (Acre), Lod, Ramla, Ma'alot-Tarshiha, and Nazerat Illit. They are sometimes called the "mixed cities" although with the exception of Haifa and Jerusalem (where the Arab population is essentially confined to annexed East Jerusalem) the Arab populations of each of the other locations comprise less than 5% of the whole. Of the remaining 5% of the national Arab population, approximately 4% live in Bedouin communities in the Negev, and 1% live in areas that are almost completely Jewish.

Economy

The participation in the labor market of Arab Israelis in 2003 is 39%. This is considerably lower than for Jewish Israelis (including "others") at 57%. For the men the participation is equal at 60%, with a higher participation in the labor market at 15 through 34 years but lower at 45 through 64. Arab women participate much less in the labor market (17% as compared to 55% for Jews). Personal preferences, social pressures, a lack of opportunites and differences in education (especially for the older generation) contribute to the variances among the genders and ethnicities. Moreover the Arab sector has been hit harder by the current recession in Israel; in 1989 68% of the Arab men particpated in the labor market compared to 62% for the Jewish men (now both are equal at 60%). The main branch of occupation for Arab men is building (25%) and for women education (38%).

The gross hourly income for Arab Israelis in 2003 was 29.5 shekel. The mean income for women was higher than that of men, 30.3 and 29.3 shekel per hour respectively. This situation is remarkable for large populations. The mean hourly rate of the Arab Israelis is 69% of what the Jewish Israelis earned, 63% for the men and 82% for the women (Jewish women earn on average less than Jewish men). The reasons for the atypical gender distribution within the Arab Israeli population can be found in the lower female participation in the labor market (it is mostly the women who can earn a higher salary that work) and the higher proportion of Arab women versus Arab men in government jobs, such as in education. 76% of the household income is from wages (77% for the Jews) and 20% from allowances (versus 11% for the Jewish Israelis). The major household expense is food (housing for Jews). This difference is related to the lower income and higher ownership of housing for the Arab Israeli households (87% as compared to 68% for the Jews).

Health

Improvements in healthcare, environmental conditions, and improved education have led to a lower infant mortality rate for Arabs, from 32 deaths per thousand births in 1970 to 8.6 per thousand in 2000. Muslims have the highest rate of infant mortality with 9.1 per every thousand [4] from 46.4 in 1961. Among Christian Arabs, the decrease was from 42.1 in 1961 to 6.7 in 1996; among the Druze it dropped from 50.4 to 8.9 deaths. Life expectancy has increased 27 years since 1948. The most common health-related causes of death are heart disease and cancer. Around half of all Arab men smoke, and roughly 14% were diagnosed with diabetes in 2000. [5]

In the 2002 budget, Israel's health ministry allocated 1.6m shekels (£200,000) to Arab communities out of its 277m-shekel (£35m) budget to develop healthcare facilities. [6]

Education

The median years of schooling of Arab Israelis rose over a 35-year period (1961-1996) from 1.2 to 10.4 years.

Education levels in the Arab sector are relatively lower than those in the Jewish sector, often leading to lower incomes.

Human Rights Watch issued a report in 2001, which stated: "Government-run Arab schools are a world apart from government-run Jewish schools. In virtually every respect, Palestinian Arab children get an education inferior to that of Jewish children, and their relatively poor performance in school reflects this." [7] The report found striking differences in virtually every aspect of the education system. It found that the Education Ministry did not allocate as much money per Palestinian Arab child as it did for Jewish children. The classes were 20 percent larger on average.[8]

Legal and political status

Israeli Arabs are full citizens of the State of Israel, with equal protection under the law, and full rights of due process. Unlike Jewish citizens, they cannot be drafted into the Israeli army, but they may serve voluntarily. There are currently twelve Israeli Arabs sitting as members of the 17th Knesset out of a total of 120 seats, and there is one Arab judge, Justice Salim Jubran, sitting in the Supreme Court of Israel. Ariel Sharon's 2001 cabinet included one Israeli Arab minister, Salah Tarif, and in March 2005, Oscar Abu Razaq was appointed Director General of the Ministry of Interior. Arabic is one of Israel's official languages.

Inequality in funding between Jewish and Arab towns, and widespread discrimination present significant hurdles for Israeli-Arabs [9].

On March 3, 1999 Abdel Rahman Zuabi took his seat as the first Arab on the Supreme Court. Zuabi was Deputy President of the Nazareth District Court. He was elevated to the post by Justice Minister Tzahi Hanegbi, who on March 2 said that "[Zuabi's] appointment highlights the successful integration of the Arab community into the life of the state."

In May 2004, Salim Jubran was selected as the first Arab to hold a permanent appointment as a Supreme Court Justice. Jubran, 57, is a native of Haifa, born to a Christian family with roots among the Maronites in Lebanon. Jubran's expertise lies in the field of criminal law, and he is known for his tough stand on sex and drug-related crimes.

On Dec 2005, member of Israeli Knesset Azmi Bishara told an audience in Lebanon that "(Israeli Arabs) are like all Arabs, only with Israeli citizenship forced upon them...Return Palestine to us and take your democracy with you. We Arabs are not interested in it."[10]. Bishara has been a critic of what he feels is the lack of democracy in Israel, as he champions a state for "all of its citizens" and believes the Israeli state provides only democracy for certain favored groups.

On Feb 2006, member of Knesset Ahmed Tibbi called for establishing an Islamic Caliphate over what he called "Arab and Muslim land" and rejected "Israelization" of the Arab in Israel. [11]

Political development

The Israeli Communist Party played a major role in mobilising the Israeli Arab community throughout these years and in demanding full equality for Arab citizens. Its newspapers and journals were important outlets for Arab Israeli expression and cultural production. In 1965 the first attempt was made to stand an independent Arab list for Knesset elections, with the radical group al-Ard forming the United Arab List. The list was, however, banned. In 1966 martial law was lifted completely, and the government set about dismantling most of the discriminatory laws, while Arab citizens were, theoretically if not always in practice, granted the same rights as Jewish citizens. The defeat of the Arab forces in the Six Day War the following year was a turning point in the political development of the Israeli Arab community, as it appeared to prove the durability of the state of Israel.

The 1970s saw a number of major developments in the political history of the Israeli Arab community. In 1974, a committee of Arab mayors and municipal council chairmen was established which was able to play an important role in representing the community and bringing its pressure to bear on the Israeli government. This was followed in 1975 by the formation of the Committee for the Defence of the Land, which sought to prevent continuing land expropriations.

That same year, a political breakthrough took place with the election of Israeli Arab poet Tawfiq Zayad, a Communist Party member, as mayor of Nazareth, and the election of a strong communist presence to the town council.

The United Arab List was established in 1996.

Recent developments

The political face of the Israeli Arab community has continued to change, with a more active participation of Israeli Arabs in the Labour Party in the 1992 elections but a large-scale alienation of them from that party after the Qana massacre of 1996 and the harsh response of the Israeli government to the second Intifada in 2000.

Meanwhile, nationalist parties such as Balad have continued to gain support, as has the Islamic Movement, divided between a conciliatory and a radical faction. Hadash, the left-wing coalition based around the Communist Party, still gains strong support in the Israeli Arab community, while Likud and Kadima have made considerable inroads in the Druze vote.

To combat what they call "violent elements in Arab society" Israeli Arab leaders urge police action against weapons in Arab sector, this was after "over 20 Arab municipality heads have been attacked in recent months as part of an attempt to change their positions or in response to decisions they made".

Economic development of the Israeli Arab community

The predominant feature of the Israeli Arab community's economic development after 1949 was its transformation from a predominantly peasant farming population to, in large degree, a proletarian industrial workforce. It has been suggested that the economic development of the community was marked by distinct stages. The first period, until 1967, was characterised by this process of proletarianisation. From 1967 on, economic development of the population was encouraged and a Palestinian bourgeoisie began to develop on the margin of the Israeli bourgeoisie. From the 1980s on, the community developed its economic and, in particular, industrial potential.

Well-known Israeli Arabs

Well-known Israeli Arabs include novelist Emile Habibi, film directors Elie Suleiman and Hany Abu-Assad, actress Hiam Abbass, politicians Azmi Bishara and Ahmad Tibi, Lt. Col. Amos Yarkoni, Salim Tuaama and several other soccer players.

Discrimination

In July 2006, the Israeli Government decided to brand all Arab communities in the country as 'class A' development areas, thus making them eligible for tax benefits. This decision aims to encourage investments in the Arab sector[12]

According to the 2004 U.S. State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for Israel and the occupied territories, the Israeli government "did little to reduce institutional, legal, and societal discrimination against the country's Arab citizens."[13]

Examples of what the State Department report found include the following:

• According to the report, Muslims enjoy full freedom of religion and government "did not affect the rights of Muslims to practice their faith" according to "Legislation enacted in 1961 afforded the Muslim courts exclusive jurisdiction to rule in matters of personal status concerning Muslims. Secular courts have primacy over questions of inheritance, but parties, by mutual agreement, may bring cases to religious courts. Muslims, since 2001, also have the right to bring matters such as alimony and property division associated with divorce cases to civil courts in family-status matters."
• "According to a 2003 Haifa University study, a tendency existed to impose heavier prison terms to Arab citizens than to Jewish citizens. Human rights advocates claimed that Arab citizens were more likely to be convicted of murder and to have been denied bail."
• "government spending on children was proportionally lower in predominantly Arab areas than in Jewish areas. ... According to the Government's February 2002 report to the U.N., government investment per Arab pupil was approximately 60 percent of investment per Jewish pupil. ... According to Human Rights Watch, during the year, the Government provided 1 teacher for every 16 Jewish primary school children compared to 1 teacher for every 19.7 Arab children." (Note: Human Rights Watch has over the years been accused by Israel government supporters of having an anti-Israel bias.)
• "The Orr Commission of Inquiry's report ... stated that the 'Government handling of the Arab sector has been primarily neglectful and discriminatory,' that the Government 'did not show sufficient sensitivity to the needs of the Arab population, and did not take enough action to allocate state resources in an equal manner.' As a result, 'serious distress prevailed in the Arab sector in various areas. Evidence of distress included poverty, unemployment, a shortage of land, serious problems in the education system, and substantially defective infrastructure.'"

The Or Commission report also claims that activities by Islamic organizations such as the aforementioned society may be using religious pretenses to further political aims. The commission describes such actions as a factor in 'inflaming' the Muslim population in Israel against the authorities, and cites the al-Sarafand mosque episode, with Muslims' attempts to restore the mosque and Jewish attempts to stop them, as an example of the 'shifting of dynamics' of the relationship between Muslims and the Israeli authorities.[14]

• "In November, the Israeli-Arab advocacy NGO Sikkuy's annual report stated that 45 percent of Arab families were poor, in contrast to 15 percent of Jewish families, and that the rate of infant mortality in the Arab sector was 8 out of 1,000 births--twice that of the Jewish population."
• "According to a report by Mossawa, racist violence against Arab citizens has increased, and the Government has not done enough to prevent this problem. The annual report cited 17 acts of violence by Jewish citizens against Arab citizens. ... A Haifa University poll released in June revealed that over 63 percent of Jews believed that the Government should encourage Israeli Arabs to emigrate."
• "Approximately 93 percent of land in the country was public domain, including that owned by the state and some 12.5 percent owned by the Jewish National Fund (JNF). All public land by law may only be leased, not sold. The JNF's statutes prohibit the sale or lease of land to non-Jews. In October, civil rights groups petitioned the High Court of Justice claiming that a bid announcement by the Israel Land Administration (ILA) involving JNF land was discriminatory in that it banned Arabs from bidding."
• "Israeli-Arab advocacy organizations have challenged the Government's policy of demolishing illegal buildings in the Arab sector, and claimed that the Government was more restrictive in issuing building permits in Arab communities than in Jewish communities, thereby not accommodating natural growth. In February, security forces allegedly demolished several homes built without authorization in the Arab village of Beineh."
• "In June, the Supreme Court ruled that omitting Arab towns from specific government social and economic plans is discriminatory. This judgment builds on previous assessments of disadvantages suffered by Arab Israelis."
• "Israeli-Arab organizations have challenged as discriminatory the 1996 "Master Plan for the Northern Areas of Israel," which listed as priority goals increasing the Galilee's Jewish population and blocking the territorial contiguity of Arab towns."
• "Israeli Arabs were underrepresented in the student bodies and faculties of most universities and in higher professional and business ranks. The Bureau of Statistics noted that the median number of school years for the Jewish population is 3 years more than for the Arab population. Well educated Arabs often were unable to find jobs commensurate with their level of education. According to Sikkuy, Arab citizens held approximately 60 to 70 of the country's 5,000 university faculty positions."
• "Israeli Arabs were not required to perform mandatory military service and, in practice, only a small percentage of Israeli Arabs served in the military. Those who did not serve in the army had less access than other citizens to social and economic benefits for which military service was a prerequisite or an advantage, such as housing, new-household subsidies, and employment, especially government or security-related industrial employment. Regarding the latter, for security reasons, Israeli Arabs generally were restricted from working in companies with defense contracts or in security-related fields. In December, the Ivri Committee on National Service issued official recommendations to the Government that Israel Arabs not be compelled to perform national or "civic" service, but be afforded an opportunity to perform such service".

In February 2006, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that the government education development plan discriminated against Israeli Arabs and mandated that the government should come up with a new plan within a year.

A poll commissioned by an Arab advocacy group, the Center for the Struggle against Racism, found that 63% of Jews believe Arabs are a security threat; 68% of Jews would refuse to live in the same building as an Arab; 34% of Jews believe that Arab culture is inferior to Israeli culture; and support for segregation between Jews and Arabs is higher among Jews of Middle Eastern origin than those of European origin.

Human Rights Watch has claimed that cuts in veteran benefits and child allowances based on parents' military service discriminate against Arab children, however "The cuts will also affect the children of Jewish ultra-orthodox parents who do not serve in the military, but they are eligible for extra subsidies, including educational supplements, not available to Palestinian Arab children." The organization further blames Israel for operating "two separate school systems, one for Jewish children and one for Palestinian Arab children".

See also: anti-Arabism in Israel

Initial measures taken by the Israeli government

The Israeli-Arab population was subject to a number of controlling measures and, in particular, Israeli Arabs were subject to martial law , which required, inter alia, that they apply for permission from the military governor to travel more than a given distance from their registered residence. Martial law was lifted from the Arab population of predominantly-Jewish cities some years later, but remained in place in Arab areas until 1966.

A variety of legal measures facilitated the transfer of land abandoned by Arabs to state ownership. These included the Absentee Property Law of 1950 which allowed the state to take control of land belonging to land owners who emigrated to other countries and the Land Acquisition Law of 1953 which authorised the Ministry of Finance to transfer expropriated land to the state. Other common legal expedients included the use of emergency regulations to declare land a closed military zone, followed by the use of Ottoman legislation on abandoned land to take control of the land. .

Palestinians who had left their homes during the period of armed conflict but remained in what had become Israeli territory were considered to be "present absentees", and in some cases refused permission to return to their original homes, which were expropriated and turned over to state ownership as was the property of Palestinian refugees. Notable cases of "present absentees" included the residents of Sepphoris and the Galilee villages of Bir'am and Ekrit. The legal efforts by residents of Bir'am and Ekrit to be allowed to return to their homes continued into the twenty-first century.

Modifications to Citizenship and Entry law

On July 31, 2003 Israel enacted the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law (Temporary Provision), 5763-2003, a one year amendment to Israel's Citizenship Law denying citizenship and Israeli residence to Palestinians who reside in the West Bank or Gaza Strip and who marry Israelis, though this rule is waived for any Palestinian "who identifies with the State of Israel and its goals, when he or a member of his family has taken concrete action to advance the security, economy or any other matter important to the State." Upon expiry the law was extended for six months in August 2004, and again for 4 months in February 2005.[15] The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination unanimously approved a resolution saying that the Israeli law violated an international human rights treaty against racism.

Although this law affected all Israelis, it disproportionately affected Israeli Arabs, and was considered by many to be highly discriminatory [16] [17]. Critics argue that the law is racist because it is targeted at Arabs, since Israeli Arabs are far more likely to have Palestinian spouses than other Israelis. On May 8, 2005, The Israeli ministerial committee for issues of legislation once again amended the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law, to restrict citizenship and residence in Israel only to Palestinian men over the age of 35, and Palestinian women over the age of 25. The new bill was formulated in accordance with Shin Bet statistics showing that involvement in terror attacks declines with age. This newest amendment, in practice, removes restrictions from half of the Palestinian population requesting legal status through marriage in Israel. This law was upheld by a High Court decision in 2006.

Defenders say the law is aimed at preventing terrorist attacks and preserving the "Jewish character" of Israel by restricting Arab immigration.

Participation of Israeli Arabs in terror acts against Israeli citizens

Since 2001, a growing number [18] of Israeli Arabs have participated in terror acts against Israeli civilians: On September 9, 2001 an Israeli Arab suicide bomber attack, on a group of soldiers and civilians disembarking a train in the Nahariya station, killing 3 people and wounding at least 90. [19]

Over the next few years, Israeli Arabs and residents of East Jerusalem took part in many attacks and assisted Palestinian suicide bombers reach cities in Israel. Several Israeli Arabs have been convicted of espionage for Hezbollah.[20],[21],[22], In 2001, at least 110 Israeli Arabs were detained on suspicion of involvement in terrorist activities – a record high, and about three times the number in the previous year. Despite those events, Israeli security sources said they still consider Israeli Arab involvement with terrorism to be the exception rather than the rule. The rule is that the vast majority of Israeli Arabs, regardless of their political viewpoints, see terrorism as the red line.

On March 9, 2004, an Israeli Arab woman, Lina Jarbuni, 29, of Arrabeh in the Galilee, was sentenced to 17 years in prison by the Haifa district court for helping members of the Islamic Jihad who had been planning to carry out terror attacks inside Israel. Jarbuni helped one of them obtain an Israeli ID card, rented an apartment in Israel, and also opened a bank account on behalf of the man and an accomplice. She was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder, contact with a foreign agent, and helping the enemy at a time of war. [23] [24] [25] [26]

On October 9, 2005, three Israeli Arab men were convicted of plotting to blow up the Azrieli Towers in Tel Aviv, and a plot to plant a bomb on railroad tracks near Netanya. The Tel Aviv District Court also convicted them of attempting to provide assistance to a foreign enemy during time of war. One of the Arabs was convicted of contacting a foreign enemy agent. The three, Dubian Natzirat, 27; Amir Zivati, 20; and Mugahad Dukan, 19; all from Taibe, admitted their guilt and were convicted under a plea bargain arrangement. [27] [28]

On December 12, 2005, Hamas sent a greeting to the "Arabs of 1948" (i.e Israeli Arabs) on their help to Hamas using a video that was translated to English on Hamas web site[29].

On March 13, 2006, Tel Aviv District Court sentenced Lenin Altouri, 24, from the Israeli Arab village of Kassem, to 16 years in prison, after he was convicted of being in contact with a foreign agent with the intention to betray the country. Altouri was convicted of plotting to aid Hamas kidnap soldiers and transfer them to Hebron or Ramallah.[30]

Demographic threat

Israeli politicians have used the term "demographic threat" (also "demographic bomb") to describe the potential threat the growing Arab population is to the Jewish majority in Israel. The term was famously used by Benjamin Netanyahu in 2003 to refer to the growing Israeli-Arab population of Israel, saying that if the percentage of Arab citizens rises above its current level of about 20 percent, Israel will not be able to remain both Jewish and democratic. Netanyahu's comments were criticized as racist by Arab Knesset members and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel.

Intra-community tensions

Beside the greater picture of the Arab-Jewish conflict in Israeli society, within Arab society itself there are scars of internecine fighting, much of it a natural continuation of many such feuds that are centuries old in Palestinian Arab society.

Christians vs. Muslims

Though the Christian Arabs are generally known to be less radical than their Muslim counterparts in terms of politics, and a number of Christian refugees from the 1948 War became leader of terror groups (e.g. Dr. George Habash), a continuing tension exists between Christians and Muslims as to land rights, as to the existence of a separate identity for the Christians. Though there are Arab villages were Muslim, Druze, and Christian residents live in harmony, in certain areas, particularly in Nazareth, a hostile rivalry exists between them. A parallel process that affected this development in the 1990s and 2000s is the rise of Islamic extremism in the West Bank and Gaza in the form of the terror groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Though the majority of them have no identity with Zionism (some Christians view a Jewish state as the beginning of persecution of the Christian faith in the Holy Land in favour of Jewish messianism), the threat that an Islamic Caliphate would envelope both Israel and the West Bank and Gaza would mean the transformation of the Christians and other non-Muslims into second-class citizens. Throughout the past decades a dramatic rise in emigration by Christians from Israel and the Palestinian territories coupled with a low birth rate has paralyzed the progress of the Christians as a minority, even though they are noted as the best educated demographic in Israel, including both Jews and Arabs. Christian enrolment in the IDF has increased in the past decade, as more barriers have been breached by lone Christian soldiers with ambitions to hold important specializations such as naval and air combat assignments. Christian Arabs are traditional known for their leftist economic and political views and form a large constituency of the Hadash party.

Beduin and Fellah

Among Muslim Arabs, a filial hatred traditionally existed between those of the village (al-Fellah), and the nomadic herder clans kown as the "Badawi" ('wanderer'). Fellah's and urban Arabs viewed the Beduin as savage criminal tribes of no social value. In Mandate Palestine the two groups were notoriously hostile to each other, and the criminal acts and reprisals between them threatened entire communities. Much of the conflict was purely economic: the herders desired pastoral land; fellah farmers wanted to grew crops and vegetables.

Today southern Beduin are almost all aligned with the Fellah in political opposition to the Jewish state. The southern branch of the Islamic Movement is completely aligned with the mainstream United Arab List, if not with the more extreme northern branch which has few Beduin members. In the north, many Beduin serve in the IDF and Border Guard. Northern Beduin are often considered to be equal to the Druze in their allegiance to Israel, although exceptions are present, and there have been northern Beduin arrested for espionage on behalf of Hezbollah or Palestinian terror groups. Meanwhile, many Beduin clans living in the West Bank in the Jericho area are also noted for having hostile relationships with the other Arabs living there. In fact, there are many Arabs both in Israel and the Palestinian Authority who hold far more hostile views towards the Arabs than other Israelis. Though Jewish Israelis are known to hold a stigma that Beduin have criminal and antisocial tendencies, particularly in the south, they are considered to be "better" than other Arabs if not "good".

Druze and the military

Druze Israelis, with a number of exceptions, serve in the IDF and feature an disproportionately high percentage who continue the service past the compulsory three years. The almost across the board loyalty of the Druze to Israel has led to conflict with other Arabs in the Galilee. Druze living in the Golan Heights are considerably less connected with the state, as they have family ties in Syria. Even though the majority of Druze hold moderate political views, a number of them are known for unusually hard line attitudes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. MK Ayub Kara, for instance, was one of the staunchest Likud opponents to the 2005 Gaza Withdrawal, and some Druze soldiers even refused orders to participate in a little-known phenomenon. Kara and other Druze who agree with him hold right-wing views due to fears that a Hamas state would lead to persecution or even genocide of the Druze ethnicity in Israel. The alleged Israeli spy Azzam Azzam of the upper Galilee village of Mrar was often cited as an example of super-patriotic sympathies by Druze Israelis. After his release from Egyptian prison, the flamboyant festivities that Mrar threw to welcome Azzam back brought to light among Israelis a perspective of Druze that had been ignored for decades. Though certain Druze identify themselves as Zionists and attached to that world-view as adjutants to the Jews, the Druze patriotism toward Israel is often considered disconnected to identity with the Jewish state, less so than to identity with the state as a haven for their faith.

The SLA

In 2000 several thousand Christian Lebanese refugees flowed into Israel due to the IDF's withdrawal to the Blue Line. These families were almost all those of South Lebanon Army soldiers who fled Lebanon under the threat of annihilation or imprisonment by the Hezbollah militants who occupied South Lebanon. Though eventually some returned, many settled into Israel as refugees, some of them embittered by the perceived betrayal of their cause by then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak. Though Arabic-speaking and culturally contiguous to their Christian Israeli Arab brothers (they themselves were awarded citizenship not long after their flight), they were widely defamed by the Israeli Arabs as collaborators of the Israeli occupation in Lebanon that had fought against both Hezbollah and earlier the PLO. This has led to mutual resentment between the SLA refugees and the Arab Israelis, resulting in many of the former enrolling in Jewish schools and becoming far more involved in Jewish Israeli than Arab society. They repeat what the SLA had long espoused: That the existence of a Hezbollah mini-state in Lebanon is the prelude to the control by that group of all sectors of the life of Lebanese citizens, Shiite or not, and that they were therefore fighting for survival. The SLA refugees, like Palestinian collaborators relocated to Israel by the government in order to protect them from reprisals, identify with the Israelis generally far more than with the Arabs because they view Israel as a state where individual freedom is greater than in their homeland and the rule of law is enforced with greater fairness to all citizens. Their critics argue that they (the collaborators much more so than with the SLA soldiers), collaborate with Israel for pure financial gain and are therefore traitors. Many SLA members remain imprisoned by Hezbollah leading to security concerns that these prisoners can be used to extort from SLA refugees intelligence.

Trivia

The only non-Jew owning a business in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City is an Israeli Arab Muslim who makes and sells breads. His food and facility is certified kosher and (like all business in the Jewish Quarter) his shop is closed on the Jewish Sabbath and holidays.

In 1999, an Arab woman was named Miss Israel for the first time in the nation's history. "I am totally Israeli, and I do not think about whether I am an Arab or a Jew", 21-year-old Rana Raslan, from Haifa, said at the pageant. "They wanted a beauty queen, not a political queen." News of her victory made headlines across Israel and the world. She is a secular Muslim.

In January 2005, The Palestinian Football Association signed Israeli Arab Azmi Nassar as their new national team coach for a two-year contract.

In April 2006, Niral-Najin Krantangi, A 20 year old Muslim Arab woman from Haifa won the Israeli TV reality show "The Super Models".

In June 2006, Ismail Khaldi has been appointed as Israeli consul in San Francisco, to become the first Bedouin consul of the State of Israel.

See also

• Arab al-Mawasi massacre (Nov. 1948) : 14 Israeli Arabs killed
  
• Kafr Qasim massacre (Oct. 1956): 48 Israeli Arabs killed
  
• Ma'alot massacre (May 1974): Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine kills 2 Israeli Arabs
  
• Land Day (March 1976) 6 Israeli Arabs killed
  
• October 2000 riots (Israel): (Oct. 2000) 12 Israeli Arabs killed
  
• The Shfar'am attack: (Aug. 2005) 4 Israeli Arabs killed
  
• Sinai bus crash: (August 22, 2006) 11 Israeli Arab tourists killed when their bus overturned in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. Israel sends Magen David Adom but Egypt refuses the entry of Israeli aid. The ambulances wait for hours by the border before Egypt opens its borders. MDA treats the injurred.[31][32][33]
  
• Israel-Hezbollah conflict: (2006) 19 Israeli Arab civilians killed
  

References

• Rosenthal, Donna. The Israelis. Free Press, 2003. ISBN 0-7432-7035-5
• Féron, Valerie, Palestine(s): Les déchirures, Paris, Editions du Felin, 2001. ISBN 2-86645-391-3
• Kodmani-Darwish, Bassma, La Diaspora Palestinienne, Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1997. ISBN 2-13-048486-7
• Schenk, Bernadette "Druze Identity in the Middle East", in Salibi, Kamal, ed, The Druze: Realities and Perceptions, London, Druze Heritage Foundation, 2005
• Orgad, Liav(PhD), IDC, Hertzlia, "Internationalizing the issue of Israeli Arabs" , Maariv, March 19, 2006 page 7.

External links

• HRA, Arab Association for Human Rights
• Mossawa, The Advocacy Center for Arab Citizens of Israel
• Arab Israelis (Jewish Virtual Library)
• SECOND CLASS; Discrimination Against Palestinian Arab Children in Israel's Schools (The full text of the Human Rights Watch 2001 report)
• http://www.israel-palaestina.de: lectures, reports, news, maps, Books, documentaries- asite mainly in German- many contributions in english
• Adalah, the Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel
• The Association of Forty - the association for the recognition of the Arab Unrecognized Villages in Israel
• Israeli Arabs (Israel Country Study, US Dept. of the Army)
• Inside 1948 Palestine (Islamonline.net)
• The Galilee Society: The Arab National Society for Health Research and Services
• Ittijah, Union of Arab-based Community Organisations
• Israel and the occupied territories (U.S. State Department 2004 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices)
• "The demographics point to a binational state" - an haaretz article suggesting "swapping heavily populated areas" as a solution to the Israeli-Arab conflict
• I Am a Lucky Arab (anonymous article, purportedly by an Israeli Arab, in FrontPageMag.com)
• THE ARABS IN ISRAEL: A SURGING NEW IDENTITY
• `What are Israeli Arabs? Are they Jewish? their lives are much better in Israel than they could be in Jordan' - Israeli Arab in the eyes of Arabs in Saudi Arabia and Jordan
• Involvement of Israeli Arabs in terrorism

de:Israelische Araber