Arab citizens of Israel

Arab citizens of Israel, Arabs of Israel or Arab population of Israel are terms used by Israeli authorities and Israeli Hebrew-speaking media to refer to non-Jewish Arabs who are citizens of the State of Israel. .

The common equivalent terms used in the Arab media, particularly outside Israel, are "the Arabs of '48", "the Palestinians of '48" or "the Arabs within" (عرب الداخل).

All of the above terms downplay the distinctions between different Arabic-speaking sub-groups in Israel, e.g. These terms are commonly used to refer to the Druze population as well, even though some of them do not regard themselves as Arabs.

The term "Arab citizens of Israel" is often used by Israeli government bodies, like the Central Bureau of Statistics, to refer to Arab permanent residents of Israel who do not hold Israeli citizenship, e.g. the Arab population of East Jerusalem. Conversely, the term "Arabs of '48" does not include the East-Jerusalem Arab population or the Druze in the Golan Heights since these territories are viewed as areas illegitimately occupied by Israel in 1967.

Arab citizens of Israel are largely the descendants of the 156,000 Palestinian and Bedouin Arabs, as well as Druze, who remained within what became Israel shortly after the end of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War , or of Arab refugees who managed to return to this territory before 1952. Others include some from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank who procured Israeli citizenship under family-unification provisions that were recently made significantly more stringent.

The Israeli Nationality Law did not come into effect until 14 July 1952, after prolonged debate. Between Israel's declaration of independence on 14 May 1948 and the passage of this bill four years later, there technically were no Israeli citizens. For the purposes of this article, the term Arab citizens or Jewish citizens will be used even in events mentioned before the passage of the bill, bearing in mind that this is short-hand.

Many Arab citizens of Israel have continued to identify themselves as Palestinian and hold many ties, including family ties, to Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Jordan. Many Bedouin citizens hold family ties with Bedouins in Sinai (Egypt). Arab residents of East Jerusalem were governed by Jordan until the Six Days War in 1967. They became permanent residents of Israel shortly after the war, when Israel unilaterally annexed East Jerusalem. Only few of them hold full Israeli citizenship, and most of them keep close ties with the West Bank, however they are allowed to vote for municipal services. The status of the Druze residents of the Golan Heights is similar - Israel has granted them permanent residency status when it unilaterally annexed the territory, and few of them accepted full Israeli citizenship. Many of them keep ties with Syria. Other Arab citizens are drafted or volunteer as IDF soldiers and proudly identify as Israeli.

The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics states the number of Arabs in Israel as 1,404,500 people or 19.8% of the Israeli population (2006) . 82% of them are Sunni Muslims. There are 111,000 Druze and 116,000 Christian Arabs. These figures include about 250,000 Arabs in East Jerusalem, and about 19,000 Druze in the Golan Heights.

The relationship of Arab citizens to the State of Israel is often fraught with tension. This tension can be regarded in the context of relations between indigenous minority populations and newly established authorities elsewhere in the world. This tension was famously described by an Arab public figure as, "My state is at war with my nation" .

Terms used by others or Arab citizens of Israel to describe themselves include “Arab Israelis", "Arab citizens of Israel", "Palestinians of 1948", and "Palestinian Arabs in Israel". . In the Arab worlds they are usually referred to as "The '48 Arabs" or "The '48 Palestinians", and sometimes as "Arabs of the interior" (i.e. "the interior of Palestine").

Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews, who left or were expelled from Arab countries, mostly after 1948, or who are the descendants of those immigrants and refugees, are not usually identified as Arabs, though many of them and their ancestors were traditionally Arabic-speaking. Still, there are some Mizhari and Sephardi Jews that do self-identify as Arab Jews.

History

1948 Arab-Israeli War

See also:Palestinian Exodus

In the aftermath of the 1948 war, former British-Mandate Palestine was divided into three parts: the State of Israel, Jordanian-held West Bank, and Egyptian-held Gaza Strip. Most Palestinian Arabs who lived in the territory that became Israel fled or were expelled during the war, and found refuge outside this territory. The Arab leaders attacking Israel encouraged the local population to leave. A few of them managed to return before the borders closed. It is estimated that around 950,000 Arab people lived in the territory that became Israel before the war. Of these only around 156,000 remained within the Israeli borders in 1952, when Israeli authorities organized a census to determine citizenship entitlement. The Palestine Liberation Organization, and other Palestinian academics and people, have repeatedly alleged that more than 400 Palestinian villages "were completely razed to the ground, their homes and buildings bulldozed or blown up, and wiped off the face of the map." . In his 2006 book, "The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine", New Historian Ilan Pappe uses recently alleged declassified Israeli sources, , including the Haganah's Plan Dalet, to support and extend this claim, stating that "In a matter of seven months, 531 villages were destroyed and 11 urban neighborhoods emptied. The alleged mass expulsion was supposedly accompanied by massacres, rape and imprisonment of men ... in labor camps for periods over a year." However, Pappe's book has been extensively criticised by scholars. Efraim Karsh writes: "Even by the skewed standards of this field of studies, Pappé's latest book ranks in a class of its own. Not only does it add no new facts or ideas to the anti-Israel literature, but the sloppiness of its research astounds... More serious is the book's consistent resort to factual misrepresentation, distortion, and outright falsehood. Readers are told of events that never happened". The significant reduction in numbers, the tearing apart of families who found themselves on either side of the newly created borders, and the loss of lands and homes, even for some of those who managed to remain, is referred to by all Palestinians, including those who are now citizens of Israel, as “al-Nakba,” i.e., the Disaster.

To this day, Palestinians around the world commemorate Al-Nakba via marches and rallies on Nakba Day, 15 May. Arab citizens of Israel generally hold a march on on Israel's Independence Day, as well, to underscore their view of Israel's establishment as their catastrophe. This takes place on 5 Iyar according to the Jewish calendar, which means it falls on different dates every year under the Gregorian calendar.

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 other Palestinian refugees. Notable cases of "present absentees" include the residents of Tzippori 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 have continued into the twenty-first century.

Martial Law (1949-1966)

While Palestinian Arabs who remained inside what became Israel were granted citizenship, this population was subject to a number of controlling measures that amounted to martial law. This required that they apply for permission from the military governor to travel more than a given distance from their registered residence. It also included the use of curfew, administrative detentions, expulsions, and other activities. Martial law was lifted from the Arab population living in predominantly-Jewish cities some years later, but remained in place in Arab areas until 1966.

A variety of legal measures in effect during this period 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 belonging to Arab citizens a closed military zone, followed by the use of Ottoman legislation on abandoned land to take control of the land.

Ethnic and religious groupings

In 2004, the official number of Arab residents in Israel - including East Jerusalem permanent residents many of whom are not citizens - 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 Arabs

Muslim Arabs, excluding Bedouins, comprise about 70% of Israel's Arab population. They are not required to serve in the Israeli military, and very few (around 120 a year) volunteer.

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%. Around 25% of the children born in Israel today are Muslim. The Muslim population is mostly young: 42% of Muslims are children under the age of 15, compared with 26% of the Jewish population. The median age of Muslim Israelis is 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 grow 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). (See the section on Demographics below for more on this issue.)

Bedouins

File: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. Through the latter half of the 19th century, the traditionally pastoral nomadic Bedouin in Palestine, began transitioning to a semi-nomadic pastoral agricultural community, with an emphasis on agricultural production and the privatization of tribal lands. Prior to the establishment of Israel in 1948, there were an estimated 65,000-90,000 Bedouins living in the Negev. The 11,000 who remained were relocated by the Israeli government in the 1950s and 1960s to an area called the "siyag" (closure) made up of relatively infertile land in the northeastern Negev comprising 10% of their ancestral lands. Negev Bedouins, like the rest of the indigenous Arab population in Israel, lived under military rule up to 1966. Seven government developed cities and townships were established in the "siyag" area where roughly half of Israel's Bedouin population live today. The largest Bedouin locality in Israel is the city of Rahat. The Israeli government encourages Bedouins to settle as permanent residents in these towns, but some 76,000 continue to live in tens of "unrecognized villages," some of which predate the existence of Israel. These villages do not appear on any Israeli maps, and are denied basic services like water, electricity and schools. It is forbidden to build permanent structures, though many do risking fines and home demolition.

Each year, between 5%-10% of the Bedouin population of 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

See also: Palestinian Christian

Christian Arabs comprise about 9% of the Arab population in Israel, and reside mostly in the north. Nazareth has the largest Christian Arab population.

Some Christian Arabs, like their Muslim and Druze counterparts, are active in Israeli politics and civil life. The only non-Jewish Arab judge to receive a permanent appointment to preside over Israel's Supreme Court is a Christian Arab, Salim Jubran.

Abuna Elias Chacour is a Palestinian and an Israeli citizen, currently the Archbishop of Galilee, of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church. With his family he was forced from their home in Kafr Bir'im in Galilee in 1948. The villagers of Kafr Bir'im are still fighting for the right to return.

Druze

The Druze are members of a sect residing in many countries, although predominantly in mountainous regions 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 Syrian Golan Heights, which have been occupied by Israel since 1967.

The Druze population are Arabic speakers, but often consider themselves to form a distinct group, and may decline to define themselves as Arabs. Israeli law usually acknowledges this approach. The Druze are defined as a distinct ethnic group in the Israeli Ministry of the Interior's census registration. While the Israeli education system is basically divided into Hebrew and Arabic speaking schools, the Druze have autonomy within the Arabic speaking branch.

Some Druze identify themselves as Israelis and are required to serve in the IDF per an agreement made between their local religious leaders and the Israeli government in the 1960s. In recent years, members of the Druze community have denounced this mandatory enrollment, and refused to serve citing "national reasons", rejecting "the killing of women and children of their people (or national group)"

The Druze in Israel, 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.

Spatial distribution

Arab citizens of Israel form a majority of the population (52%) in Israel's Northern District . The population of the “heart of the Galilee” - i.e. the area inland minus the coastal cities of Haifa, Acre, and Nahariya - is 78% Arab (Muslim, Christian and Druze). Since 1948, Israeli state agencies have built many towns and villages, almost all of which have a predominantly-Jewish population. In 122 localities, Arab residents comprise almost the entire population. Seven towns were established by the government for the Bedouin population of the Negev . Arab sources allege that permission to develop Arab towns is repeatedly denied, an example being a 2005 Knesset decision to refuse a proposal made by Member of the Knesset Dr. Jamal Zahalka for the construction of a new Arab town. About 50% of the Arab population lives in 114 different localities throughout Israel.

46% of the country’s Muslims (460,000 people) live in predominantly-Arab communities in the north. The largest Muslim city is Umm El Fahm, with a population of 43,000. Nazareth is the largest Arab city, with a population of 65,000, roughly 40,000 of whom are Muslim. Jerusalem, a "mixed" city, has the largest overall Arab population. Jerusalem housed 209,000 Arabs in 2000 and they make up some 30% of the city’s residents, and some 20% of the country’s entire Arab population.

Approximately 8% of Arabs live in six other "mixed" cities that have a Jewish majority: Tel Aviv-Yafo, Lod, Ramla, Akko/Acre, Haifa, Nazaret Illit. 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.

Legal and Political Status

Israel does not a have written constitution but the rights of citizens are guaranteed by a set of Basic Laws [13]. Although this set of laws does not explicitly include the term "right to equality", the Israeli Supreme Court has repeatedly and consistently interpreted "Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty" [14] and "Basic Law: Freedom of Occupation (1994)" [15] as guaranteeing equal rights for all Israeli citizens.[16]

Arab citizens of Israel are full citizens under the law and enjoy the same civil rights as other citizens. The Minorities at Risk (MAR) group notes that despite this, Arabs citizens in Israel "suffer political discrimination based on decades of social exclusion." They characterize Israel's system of governance to be an "ethnic democracy" and further note that "the nationalism inherent in Israel’s foundation as a 'Jewish state' is at odds with its political basis of democratic governance vis-à-vis the Arab minority."

Additionally, some pro-Palestinian sources allege that not all rights in Israel are based on citizenship, or "ezrahut" in Hebrew, and claim that some rights are defined by nationality, or "le'om, and are reserved for Jews only. [17][18]. The Israeli government denies these charges[19], and pro-Israeli advocacy groups have addressed the allegations regarding "le'om" rights. [20][21].

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."[22]

By the end of 2002, Arabs comprised 6.1% of the civil service workers in Israel; that is, of a total of 56,362 civil servants in Israel, only 3,440 were Arab.

Unlike Jewish citizens, Arab citizens (with the exception of the Druze and Circassians) are currently exempt from being drafted into the Israeli army, but they may serve voluntarily.

Arabic is one of Israel's official languages. There are currently twelve Israeli Arabs sitting as members of the 17th Knesset out of a total of 120 seats.

Amendment #9 to the 'Basic Law: The Knesset and the Law of Political Parties' passed on July 31, 1985, changed section 7(a) to state that a political party "may not participate in the elections if there is in its goals or actions a denial of the existence of the State of Israel as the state of the Jewish people, a denial of the democratic nature of the state, or incitement to racism." [23] [24] (The only party currently banned under this law is the right-wing Jewish Kach party.)

An Israeli Central Elections Committee ruling which allowed the Progressive List for Peace to run for the Knesset in 1988 was challenged based on this amendment, but the committee's decision was upheld by the Israeli Supreme Court, which ruled that the PLP's platform calling for Israel to become "a state of all its citizens" does not violate the ideology of Israel as the State of the Jewish people, and thus section 7(a) does not apply.

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." [25]. Bishara, at the time a member of the Knesset, and his party were banned by the Israeli Central Elections Committee in December 2002, for refusing to recognize Israel as a "Jewish democratic state" [26] and promoting armed struggle against it. The Supreme Court overruled the decision in January 2003. [27]

Inequality in funding between Jewish and Arab towns, and widespread discrimination present significant hurdles for Arab citizens of Israel [28].

History of Political Developments

The Communist Party of Israel played a major role in mobilising the Arab Palestinian community throughout these years and in demanding full equality for Arab citizens. Its newspapers and journals provided an important outlet for Arab Palestinian political and cultural expression.

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 by the Israeli Central Elections Committee.

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 Arab Palestinian community in Israel, 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 Arab Palestinian community in Israel. 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 Defense of the Land, which sought to prevent continuing land expropriations.

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

In 1976, six Arab citizens of Israel were killed by Israeli security forces at a protest against land expropriations and house demolitions. The date of the protest, March 30, has since been commemorated annually as Land Day.

The United Arab List was established in 1996.

Recent Political Developments

The political face of the Arab Palestinian community in Israel has continued to change, with a more active participation of Arab citizens in the Labour Party in the 1992 elections, with large-scale alienation from that party after the Qana massacre of 1996 and the harsh response of the Israeli government to the al-Aqsa 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 from among the Arab Palestinian community, while Likud and Kadima have made considerable inroads in the Druze community.

Abnaa al-Balad is a political movement that grew out of organizing by Arab university youth, beginning in 1969, that has experienced harassment by the Israeli authorities. It is not affiliated with the Arab Knesset party Balad. Indeed, Abnaa al-Balad firmly reject any participation in the Israeli Knesset . Political demands include " the return of all Palestinian refugees to their homes and lands, [an] end [to] the Israeli occupation and Zionist apartheid and the establishment [of] a democratic secular state in Palestine as the ultimate solution to the Arab-Zionist conflict." Conversely, Ta'ayush is "a grassroots movement of Arabs and Jews working to break down the walls of racism and segregation by constructing a true Arab-Jewish partnership" [29].

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."

Some Arab Members of the Knesset (MKs), past and present, are under police investigation for their visits to countries designated as "enemy countries" by Israeli law. This law was amended following MK Mohammad Barakeh's trip to Syria in 2001, such that MKs must explicitly request permission to visit these countries from the Minister of the Interior. In August 2006, Balad MKs Azmi Bishara, Jamal Zahalka and Wasil Taha visited Syria without requesting nor receiving such permission, and a criminal investigation of thier actions was launched. Former Arab Member of Knesset Muhammed Miari was questioned 18 September 2006 by police on suspicion of having entered an "enemy country" without official permission. He was questioned "under caution" for 2.5 hours in the Petah Tikva station about his recent visit to Syria. Another former Arab Member of Knesset, Muhammed Kanaan, has also been summoned for police questioning regarding the same trip. The Arab Association of Human Rights has described these investigations as "a pure political decision not a legal decision ... part of the political policy by the State towards the Arab minority and their representatives." [30]

While the questioning of some Arab Knesset members who visit enemy countries without obtaining permission may be perceived negatively in the pubic eye, in retrospect one must acknowledge that any country would react in the same fashion. Enemy countries of Israel are those that do not recognize the State of Israel. Arab members of the Knesset who visit these countries without obtaining permission from the Knesset would be questioned, just like their Jewish counterparts because such travel would spark suspicion. It would appear suspicious in the same way as if any government employee or political figure traveled to an enemy country without permission, such as an American official traveling to Cuba, or a North Korean official traveling to South Korea.

According to a study commissioned by the Arab Association of Human Rights entitled "Silencing Dissent," over the past three years, eight of nine of these Arab Knesset members have been beaten by Israeli forces during demonstrations. Most recently according to the report, legislation has been passed, including three election laws [e.g., banning political parties], and two Knesset related laws aimed to "significantly curb the minority [Arab population] right to choose a public representative and for those representatives to develop independent political platforms and carry out their duties" Silencing Dissent Report

Examples of Political & Governmental Representatives

Although Arabs have been elected to the Knesset, no Arabs have ever served as ministers in an Israeli government.

Nawaf Massalha has served in the Knesset since 1988. In August 1999, Massalha was appointed Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.[31]

Hussniya Jabara a Muslim Arab woman from central Israel, is a prominent feminist who served as a member of the Knesset.[32]

On March 3, 1999 Abdel Rahman Zuabi took his seat as the first Arab on the Supreme Court, a post he held for nine months. Zuabi was Deputy President of the Nazareth District Court and was elevated to the temporary posting 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 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.

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

Israeli ambassadorships are held by Ali Yahya, Walid Mansour, and Mohammed Masarwa.

Arab IDF Generals

Major General Hussain Fares, commander of Israel's border police and Major General Yosef Mishlav, head of the Israeli Home Front Command, current Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories [33].

Demographic Threat

Israeli politicians have used the term "demographic threat" (also "demographic bomb") to describe the potential threat the growing Arab population poses to the maintenance of a Jewish majority in Israel. The term was famously used by Benjamin Netanyahu in 2003 when he noted 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. Even earlier allusions to the "demographic threat" can be found in an internal Israeli government document authored in 1976, and known as The Koenig Memorandum.

The increasing population of Arabs within Israel, and the majority status they hold in two major geographic regions - the Galilee and the Triangle - has become a growing point of open 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."

Some Israeli politicians advocate land-swap proposals in order to assure a continued Jewish majority within Israel. A specific proposal is that Israel transfer sovereignty of part of the Arab-populated Wadi Ara area (west of the Green Line) to a future Palestinian state, in return for formal sovereignty over the major Jewish settlement "blocks" that lie inside the West Bank east of 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."

Avigdor Liberman of Yisrael Beytenu, the 4th largest faction in the 17th Knesset) is one of the foremost advocates the transfer of large Arab towns located just inside Israel near the border with the West Bank (e.g. Tayibe, Umm al-Fahm, Baqa al-Gharbiyye), to the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority in exchange for Israeli settlements located inside the West Bank. As the London Times notes: "Lieberman plans to strengthen Israel’s status as a Jewish state by transferring 500,000 of its minority Arab population to the West Bank, by the simple expedient of redrawing the West Bank to include several Arab Israeli towns in northern Israel. Another 500,000 would be stripped of their right to vote if they failed to pledge loyalty to Zionism."

In October of 2006, Yisrael Beytenu formally joined in the ruling government's parliamentary coalition, headed by Kadima and also made up of the Labour Party and the Pensioner's Party. After the Israeli Cabinet confirmed Avigdor Lieberman's appointment to the position of Minister for Strategic Threats, Labour Party representative and Science, Sport and Culture Minister Ophir Pines-Paz, resigned his post. In his resignation letter to Ehud Olmert, Pines-Paz wrote, "I couldn't sit in a government with a minister who preaches racism"

A January 2006 study by the American-Israel Demographic Research Group rejects the "demographic time bomb" threat based on statistical data collected since 1995 that shows that Jewish Israeli births have increased rapidly while Arab Israeli births have begun to drop. The study noted shortcomings in earlier demographic predictions (for example, in the 1960s, predictions suggested that Arabs would be the majority in 1990). The study also demonstrated that Christian Arab and Druze birth rates were actually below those of Jewish birth rates in Israel. The study used data from a Gallup poll to demonstrate that the desired family size for Arab and Jewish Israelis were the same. The study's population forecast for 2025 predicted that Arabs would comprise only 25.0% of the Israeli population.

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.[34] 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 [35] [36]. 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.

Economy

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.

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[37]

Current Economic Situation

One-half of all Arab families in Israel live under the poverty line (49.9% in 2004). This rate is three times that of comparable poverty data for Jewish families and does not include "the enclaves of deep poverty among Bedouins"

Of the 40 towns in Israel with the highest unemployment rates, 36 are Arab towns. Difficulties in procuring employment have been attributed to a comparatively low level of education vis-a-vis their Jewish counterparts, insufficient employment opportunities in the vicinity of their towns, discrimination by Jewish employers, and competition with foreign workers in fields, such as construction, agriculture, etc.

According to the Central Bank of Israel statistics for 2003, for those Arabs citizens who are employed, salary averages are 29% lower than salary averages for Jewish workers.

A major factor in the situation of some of the Arab towns can be traced to statistical figures showing that Israeli Arab towns are reluctant to collect city taxes from their residents. "The Arab authorities demand equal rights, but they forget that first of all they have to fulfill the same duties that the Jewish authorities do, first and foremost, to collect tax from the residents," complain Jerusalem circles. Without tax collection, the Arab towns are in a state of perpetual crisis, and all plans and programs to better their lot go nowhere. They can't pay their workers and the distance from there to a nationwide strike is short indeed.

Health

Due largely to improvements in health care, the infant mortality rate for Arabs, dropped from 32 deaths per thousand births in 1970 to 8.6 per thousand in 2000 [38]. In 2003, the infant mortality rate in the Arab sector was 8.4 per thousand, more than twice as high as the rate 3.6 per thousand among the Jewish population. [39]

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. [40]

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. [41]

Bildung

The Israeli government regulates and finances most of the schools operating in the country, including the majority of those run by private organizations. The national school system has two major branches - a Hebrew-speaking branch and an Arabic-speaking branch. The curricula for the two systems are almost identical in mathematics, sciences and English. It is different in humanities (history, litterature etc.). While Hebrew is taught as a second language in Arab schools since the third grade and obligatory for Arabic-speaking school's matriculation exams, only basic knowledge of Arabic is taught in Hebrew-speaking schools, usually from the 7th to the 9th grade. Arabic is not obligatory for Hebrew speaking school's matriculation exams. The schooling language split operate from preschool, up through to the end of the high school. At the university level, they merge into a single system, which operates mostly in Hebrew and in English. [42]

The Follow-Up Committee for Arab Education notes that the Israeli government spends an average of $192 per year on each Arab student compared to $1,100 per Jewish student. The drop-out rate for Arab citizens of Israel is twice as high as that of their Jewish counterparts (12 percent versus 6 percent). The same group also notes that there is a 5,000-classroom shortage in the Arab sector.

In 2001, Human Rights Watch issued a report that 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." [43] The report found striking differences in virtually every aspect of the education system. [44]

According to the 2004 U.S. State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for Israel and the occupied territories, "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." [45]

Discrimination

While formally equal according to Israeli law, Arabs are discriminated against in many aspects of life. This is recognised by the Israeli establishment. Judge (Ret.) Theodor Or wrote in The Report by the State Commission of Inquiry into the Events of October 2000:

+

The Arab citizens of Israel live in a reality in which they experience discrimination as Arabs. This inequality has been documented in a large number of professional surveys and studies, has been confirmed in court judgments and government resolutions, and has also found expression in reports by the state comptroller and in other official documents. Although the Jewish majority’s awareness of this discrimination is often quite low, it plays a central role in the sensibilities and attitudes of Arab citizens. This discrimination is widely accepted, both within the Arab sector and outside it, and by official assessments, as a chief cause of agitation.

 + .  

The 2004 U.S. State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices [46] notes that:

• "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."

• "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.'"

• "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 demolished several homes allegedly 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 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. The Ivri Committee on National Service has 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".

Other examples include:

• 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."

Pro-Israeli advocacy groups claim that Arabs in Israel have even more rights than Israeli Jews since they are not required to serve in military still have all the rights, plus various cases of Israeli courts favoring Arabs' cases over Jews (including land issues).

One of the controversies has been the request of some Arab politicans to change the Israeli flag and National Anthem. The Arab politicians believe that the flag only resembles a Jewish symbol. Opponents of this claim say that many Flags in Europe bear crosses such as the flags of Sweden, Finland, Norway, United Kingdom, Scotland, England, Switzerland and more. Countries like Iraq and Saudi Arabia express Islamic writing, and yet the Jewish population of other countries never complained. These claims by the Arab leaders often leads to criticism:

The leaders of the descendants of the 1948 refugees who are scattered in the Arab states and elsewhere, and of the Arabs who remained and became Israeli citizens, are trying to repeat in a different way the failed attempt of the 1948 generation, with terror from outside and by nurturing a separatist Palestinian narrative from within. The result will be a deepening of the rift and a heightening of the hostility between Jews and Arabs in Israel. The leadership and the liberal Jewish public accept Israeli Arabs as citizens with equal rights, with the exception of certain areas that touch on Israel's essence as a Jewish state (such as the Law of Return and the Law of Citizenship). All would agree that, over the years, the Arab minority has suffered discrimination in certain areas and that this must be remedied. But the leaders of the Arabs in Israel are trying to show that their loyalty is not given to the State of Israel in its present incarnation, but only to a binational Jewish-Arab state on the territory of Israel, or to a Palestinian state on all the territory of the Land of Israel.

See also: anti-Arabism in Israel

Intercommunal Relations

There is significant tension between Arab citizens and their Jewish counterparts. A 2006 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. Though the group points to such attitudes as evidence of racism in Israeli society, many Israeli Jews will counter that these attitudes are attributable to the security situation, as there have been some cases where Arabs inside Israel have been arrested for aiding terrorists.

Arab Citizens Killed by Israeli Security Forces

• Kafr Qasim massacre (October 1956): 48 killed
  
• Land Day (March 1976) : 6 killed
  
• October 2000 riots : 12 killed
  

Arab Citizens Killed by Palestinians or other Arabs

Palestinian, Arab, or Islamist attacks on Israel and Israelis have also affected the Arab citizens. Incidents include:

• Ma'alot massacre (May 1974): Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine kills 2 Israeli Arabs
  
• December 12, 2004: Five Israeli soldiers (all Arabs) are killed as approximately 1.5 tons of explosives were detonated by Palestinian terrorists in a tunnel under an Israeli military-controlled border crossing on the Egyptian border with Gaza near Rafah, collapsing several structures and damaging others. The explosion destroyed part of the JVT outpost and killed three soldiers. Two Palestinian militants then penetrated the outpost and killed two other Israeli soldiers with gunfire. Due to the explosion, the destroyed Rafah crossing was closed. The Fatah Hawks claimed responsibility.[47]
• Israel-Hezbollah conflict: (2006) 19 Israeli Arab civilians killed due to Hezbollah rocket fire
  

Arab Citizens Killed by Ideologically-Motivated Jewish Citizens

• Gangs of Jewish youth (8 October 2000) from Nazaret Illit kill 2 in Nazareth [48]
• The Shfar'am attack: (Aug. 2005) 4 Israeli Arabs killed
  

Jewish Citizens Killed by Ideologically-Motivated Arab Citizens

• Seven armed Arabs (1 Jaunary 1952) attacked and killed a nineteen year-old girl in her home, in the neighborhood of Beit Yisrael, in Jerusalem.[49]
• The first and only suicide bombing carried out by an Arab citizen of Israel (9 September 2001) against soldiers and civilians disembarking from a train in the Nahariya station killed 3 and wounded 90. [50]

Over the next few years, Arab citizens of Israel played a role in some attacks, assisting Palestinian suicide bombers reach cities in Israel. [51]Several Arab citizens of Israel have been convicted of espionage for Hezbollah.[52],[53],[54], 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 the involvement of Arab citizens of Israel in such attacks to be the exception rather than the rule. The rule is that the vast majority of Israeli Arabs, regardless of their political viewpoints, reject violence as a political option.

Examples of Integration

The only non-Jew owning a business in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City is an Israeli Arab Muslim baker. 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, a first 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 November 2003, the Israeli Christian Arab Firas Houri won the popular Israeli reality-show, the first of its kind, "Project Y".

In January 2005, The Palestinian Football Association signed Israeli Arab Azmi Nassar as their new national team coach for a two-year contract. Arab footballers in Israel regularly play in football teams which are dominantly Jewish and vice-versa.

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

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 injured.[55][56][57]

Well-known Israeli Arabs

Well-known Israeli Arabs include novelist Emile Habibi, film directors Elie Suleiman and Hany Abu-Assad, actor Yousef Sweid, actress Hiam Abbass, politicians Azmi Bishara and Ahmad Tibi, Lt. Col. Amos Yarkoni, football players Salim Tuama, Walid Badir, Abbas Suan.

Books Cited

• 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
• Mazie, Steven. Israel's Higher Law: Religion and Liberal Democracy in the Jewish State. Rowman & Littlefield, 2006. ISBN 0-7391-1485-9
• 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

• Arabs and Muslims in Israel
• THE ARABS IN ISRAEL: A SURGING NEW IDENTITY
• HRA, Arab Association for Human Rights
• Mossawa, The Advocacy Center for Arab Citizens of Israel
• Arab Israelis (Jewish Virtual Library)
• Landmark Survey of Israelis, Israeli-Arabs, & Palestinians
• Palestinian Arab Muslims first class citizens in Israel whereas Israeli Jews are second class citizens
• In honor of Eid ul-Fitr: The Chief of Staff Visits Bedouin Representatives
• SECOND CLASS; Discrimination Against Palestinian Arab Children in Israel's Schools (The full text of the Human Rights Watch 2001 report)
• lectures, reports, news, maps, Books, documentaries a site 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
• `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
• "Injustice and Folly - On the Proposals to Cede Arab Localities from Israel to Palestine"
• Organisation of Israeli Arab workers and unemployed
• I‘ LAM - Media Center for Arab Palestinians in Israel
• No Shelters, Sirens for Israel's Arab citizens
• The undocumented / Fifth in a series - Bedouin trackers: Israeli enough for the IDF, but not for an ID card
• Arabs And Israelis Share Shelters; Arab animosity toward Islamic fascism
• Israel's Arabs shoot themselves in foot
• 'Israeli by choice' may be sent back to Palestinian Authority