Report finds discrimination against Israeli Arabs
3 July 1997
JERUSALEM (AP) Discrimination against Israeli Arabs has increased
in the past year, an Israeli civil liberties group said Tuesday,
citing unfair hiring practices and discrepancies in government
funding.
The gap between Israel's Jewish and Arab communities has grown
since Benjamin Netanyahu was elected prime minister, said Uri
Shavit, director of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel.
The group cited preferential services and government funding given
to Jewish communities by the interior and housing ministries, both
headed by members of Jewish religious parties.
Israeli Arab communities, by contrast, are treated by government
ministries "as an obstacle to be circumvented," it said in its
annual report.
Some Education Ministry grants are earmarked only for army
veterans, the report said, making most Arabs ineligible because
they are not drafted into Israel's army.
Some private employers also demand military service, the civil
rights group said, citing an ice cream store that advertised for
staff with an army record. "The criterion of army service is
cynically used to prevent Arabs being accepted for jobs," it said.
The report by the organization of volunteer lawyers said such
messages feed bigotry among Israeli youth. It cited a government
study several months ago that found two-thirds of Jewish high
school students opposed equal rights for Arabs.
More than a sixth of Israel's 5.8 million citizens are Arabs, and
about 95 percent of Arab voters supported Netanyahu's opponent
Shimon Peres in the May 1996 election.
The report also had harsh words for Israel's treatment of
Palestinians.
It said the Shin Bet security agency still uses "violent and
degrading interrogation techniques" against Palestinians, such as
tying them in painful positions and sleep deprivation.
The association also criticized a bill that would prevent
Palestinians from seeking compensation from the state for damages
in the 1987-93 uprising against Israeli occupation in the West
Bank and Gaza Strip.
Still, it found some improvements. Shavit pointed to a loosening
of Israel's closure of the West Bank and Gaza, which allows
thousands of Palestinian laborers to return to jobs in the Jewish
state.
(c) Copyright 1997 The Associated Press.
