http://www3.haaretz.co.il/eng/scripts/article.asp?mador=3&datee=12/13/00&id=103433
Partners with equal rights
Editorial
The prevailing view holds that Israeli Arabs won't go the extra mile
to help Ehud Barak win the elections. The proximity of the balloting
to October's violent clashes in which 12 Arab citizens were killed by
police, along with bitter disappointment regarding Barak's policies,
will result in a low Arab turnout in the special election for the
prime minister, that view predicts.
But even before the violence in the North, Ehud Barak displayed a
reserved, cold attitude toward Israeli Arabs, underestimating them as
an election constituency. Barak apparently viewed the Arab population
and its delegates as a public which would support him under any
circumstances, if only because he is the candidate who conveys a
message of peace. As a practical matter, Barak was wary of Arab
support, viewing it as a burden liable to stain his government.
To hold Barak accountable for all of the woes suffered by Israeli
Arabs would be an exaggeration. A series of reports written for
Ha'aretz by Lily Galili and Ori Nir on mixed Jewish-Arab towns and
cities has shown that there has been a consistent policy for the past
52 years of viewing Israeli Arabs as enemies to be kept at bay. That
perception was responsible for political, economic and social
measures which discriminated against Arab citizens - one carved out
for a minority which is tolerated but suspect.
The series of articles documented the discrimination: Funds were not
allocated for the construction of special cultural facilities for
Arabs; no new Arab community (needless to say, no new Arab city) has
been established since 1948; most Israeli Arabs who live in mixed
cities such as Acre, Haifa, Lod and Ramle live in state-owned
housing; most educational facilities in these cities almost entirely
neglect the special needs posed by Arab pupils and Arab culture.
Thus, for example, Arab pupils in Haifa attend private schools, and
Acre students go to schools in nearby villages. In the most indigent
cases, such as Ramle's Juwarish neighborhood, Lod's Harakevet
neighborhood and even Jaffa's Ajami quarter, Arab citizens' places of
residence resemble those which are found in the most squalid refugee
camps.
Since Israel's establishment, much creative thought has gone into
devising ways of hindering the Arab population's growth, and of
keeping the population rooted at sites slated for it, via deliberate
settlement and demographic policies. In a large, mixed city such as
Be'er Sheva, the municipality refuses to establish an Arab school and
construct a mosque, little matter that the town is classified as a
binational metropolitan area. The construction of mitzpim, hilltop
communities, in the Galilee, was designed to create a buffer between
Jewish and Arab populations. During the 1950s, new Jewish immigrants
from Arab countries were sent to live in mixed cities, or border-line
areas, so that they would serve as a barrier stopping Arab population
growth. And in the 1990s new immigrants from the former Soviet Union
replaced their 1950s forerunners, and were dispatched to
neighborhoods abutting Arab areas in mixed cities.
Israel's government has a new plan to support the Arab minority, one
which calls for investments on its behalf that would total around $4
billion over a number of years. At first glance, this program is full
of potential for social and economic progress for the country's Arab
population. Yet if it isn't accompanied by a new, comprehensive
change of attitude whereby Israeli Arabs are seen as full partners
who have equal rights, this program is not likely to alleviate the
feelings of alienation that plague the Arab community.
