Israel's Arab problem hits home

The sad fact is that Lieberman might not be entirely wrong about their loyalty. It is not unreasonable to believe that, despite their citizenship, many Israeli Arabs don't feel much of an allegiance to Israel these days. Many of them have relatives among the Palestinians in the occupied territories, or at least identify with their plight, and although they themselves do in theory have full rights in Israel, they still face a great deal of discrimination from their Israeli Jewish neighbors, and frequently unofficial bias from various arms of the government.

They are expected to be loyal citizens of a country whose flag and national anthem, steeped in Jewish imagery, explicitly exclude them. A country in which a recent poll found that 68 percent of Jews would refuse to live in the same building as an Arab. A country in which Israeli-Arab villages are often refused official permits by the government -- and then sometimes even demolished because they are deemed "unrecognized." In December, for example, a small riot ensued in the Bedouin Arab village of Al-Twayil in Israel's south, when Israeli Arabs protested a government decision to demolish some of the buildings in their village -- buildings they had just repaired after a demolition a few weeks earlier.

Perhaps as a result of the disenfranchisement that inevitably results from all this, there has been an increasing number of Israeli Arabs linked to Palestinian terrorism in Israel over the past few years. Israeli intelligence recently reported that 14 percent of all suicide bombings perpetrated in Israel have been the work of terrorists who gained citizenship through marriage with Israeli Arabs, or "family reunification." As a result, the Shin Bet -- Israel's internal intelligence service -- has repeatedly petitioned for an extension on a law that bans such "reunification."

In November, Jaris Jaris, a 59-year-old Israeli Arab, was convicted of spying for Iran. His mission, reportedly, was to infiltrate the left-wing Israeli political party Meretz and get elected to the Israeli parliament on its ticket. This followed an incident during the Hezbollah-Israel war, in which an Israeli Arab was arrested for spying on Israeli military targets on behalf of Hezbollah.

Yet, the renewed fears and accusations from the Israeli political right are way overblown. The vast majority of Israeli Arabs simply want to go about their lives, free from discrimination. It is hard to believe that given a choice they would want to live in any nearby Arab country. In Israel, they enjoy one of the highest standards of living in the Middle East. They have high levels of education and literacy, and they enjoy far more freedom of religion and speech than those in the rest of the region.

Their representatives are a growing force in the Israeli parliament, and have occasionally served in important roles in government. In early January, for example, Raleb Majadele, an Arab member of the Labor Party, was appointed science and technology minister -- the first Arab cabinet minister in Israeli history.

In fact, partially because of the relatively good situation that Israeli Arabs are in compared with the Palestinians, the latter are not always particularly fond of them. Although Al-Sana, the Arab parliamentarian, told me that he sees the two groups as one people -- "some have citizenship, some don't," as he put it -- the peculiar relationship between Israeli Arabs and Palestinians has never been entirely affable, either. Many Palestinians resent Israeli Arabs for their far superior standard of living and see them as traitors, while many Israeli Arabs feel abandoned or forgotten by the Palestinians and the rest of the Arab world.

But the schism between Israeli Arabs and Israeli Jews will be of far greater consequence in terms of Israel's future. Particularly telling was a recent turn of events that exposed the starkly different way each group views the military. Every Jew is required by law to serve in the military, while only an exceedingly tiny fraction of Arabs (who aren't required to serve) choose to do so. For Israeli Jews, the army is the quintessential and universal Israeli experience. It is what makes one Israeli, even what fundamentally separates one from one's Jewish relatives overseas. For Israeli Arabs, by contrast, it is part of what makes one not feel fully accepted into society -- and for some, it is also the vehicle by which the lives of one's Palestinian relatives are made hellish.

One of the small number of Israeli Arabs who chose to serve last year was an 18-year-old who volunteered not just to serve in the army, but to go through the highly elite pilot's training course. The youth, whose name has not been released, passed all of the extremely rigorous tests for entry to the course, and already had a pilot's license. He also submitted a reference letter from his flight instructor, himself a pilot in the Israeli Air Force, who vouched not only for his student's ability but also for his loyalty to the state.

"There is no other way but to include all the State's citizens in running the State and protecting it," the instructor told the Israeli press. "We don't see them as part of the State today, but a large majority of them do see themselves as part of this country."

The 18-year-old himself added, "Of course I am aware of the fact that Israel is still in a state of war with some of the Arab countries, but I see myself as an Israeli in the full sense of the word. My loyalty is to the State of Israel and my duty is to protect it. I will execute any order I receive during my service."

In the end, he was rejected for the pilot's course. The army said that the course was "closed to the Arab sector," and instead drafted him to the paratroopers unit, itself an elite and respected part of the military.

Right or wrong, the idea of an Arab -- even one who is an Israeli citizen -- flying a fighter plane over Israeli airspace would understandably make many Israelis nervous. Still, I was bothered by the story of the teenager's unrequited love for what is, after all, his country.

And I was even more disturbed when I brought it to the attention of some of my colleagues in the prime minister's office. One of my superiors simply shrugged it off, while another colleague had this to say: "Look, this is a Jewish state. And at least we let him into the paratroopers -- that's pretty good for an Arab!"

But if the Israeli government hopes to secure internal stability and the country's future, it will have to do better than that. It will have to make its Arab citizens feel truly at home.

Story finder (3 ways to search Salon)

Search terms:

Salon the Web

Salon Directory (browse by topic)