http://www3.haaretz.co.il/eng/scripts/article.asp?mador=4&datee=06/30/00&id=83339
Nazareth vs. Upper Nazareth
By Nehemia Strasler, Ha'aretz
Friday, June 30, 2000
Delegates to the annual economic conference in Nazareth were greeted
by Arab and Jewish activists protesting against discrimination in the Arab
sector.Their words fell on fairly receptive ears because there was one
comprehensive discussion of the issue with the participation of ministers,
MKs, businessmen - and a large Arab representation.
The issue of discrimination has been around as long as the state, but has
recently become more painful because of the economic recession that
has been running for three years in the traditional sectors - and these are
the sectors where Arabs earn their livelihood.
The crises in textiles and construction have delivered crushing blows to
the Arab villages and cities. Behind the dry numbers of high
unemployment and increasing poverty is the human fact of very many
Arabs living beneath the poverty line.
The facts presented at the Nazareth conference show Arab local
authorities suffering from inadequate infrastructure and an outdated
educational system - and they still suffer at the hands of the Interior
Ministry. However, discrimination has been declining over the years,
although it still exists, primarily in education and social affairs.
The myth that Arab local authorities hardly ever collect municipal taxes
was also debunked. Nonetheless, there are too many small Arab local
authorities to close to one another, prolonging inefficiency and waste.
A more sensitive issue is land. Not only are there no master plans for
most of the Arab areas - transforming many citizens into unwitting
criminals - but the administration allocates large industrial areas to
Jewish local authorities, while not a single Arab city has its own industrial
area. This inhibits development, job creation, and the ability to make
significant sums from collecting municipal taxes.
The budget of the Chief Scientist in the Ministry of Industry and Trade is
NIS 1.8 billion. How much of that does the Arab sector get? Nothing. In
Nazareth the cost of a square meter of commercial space is the same as
in the heart of Tel Aviv, because there is no industrial area.
On the other hand, in Upper Nazareth, there is a large industrial area that
is willing to take any factory.
In Nazareth, 70,000 people live in area of 15,000 dunams, while in Upper
Nazareth, 50,000 people live in 40,000 dunams. Can there be any better
example? Since the establishment of the state, not one new Arab
community has been built. Arab farmers work 16 percent of the
agricultural land, but receive only 2.3 percent of the water. Of the 5,000
lecturers at Israeli universities, only 50 are Arabs. There is not one Arab
employee in the Communications Ministry and there are very few in the
other ministries. Of the Israel Electric Corporation's 13,000 employees,
only 50 are Arabs - 45 are Druze. The list of infuriating examples is
obvious.
The result is that Arab academics work as bank tellers or laborers, and
the Arab population has no proof that higher education helps one advance
in life - it is a simple fact that they do not get jobs that match their
qualifications. This is the source of despair, frustration and hopelessness.
A society is judged by its treatment of its minorities, and Jews all over the
world were in the forefront of battling discrimination against minorities
and weaker communities - while they themselves were a minority. Now
that we have become a majority state, we have failed this first taste of
humanity.
Amid the abundance of depressing data, there was a comic-tragic
moment in the discussions in Nazareth. Minister of Absorption Yuli Tamir
cheerily declared that Prime Minister Ehud Barak himself had asked her
to announce that he had prepared a NIS 4 billion plan to develop the Arab
sector.
After Tamir, Minister Matan Vilnai addressed the conference and
repeated the impressive promise. But toward the end of the proceedings it
became painfully apparent that the nice plans are on paper only - the
Finance Ministry has not heard a word about them, nor do they appear in
any budget.
It seemed an appropriate note on which to close this important discussion
of discrimination against Israel's Arabs.
