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Last update - 12:01 10/08/2009
State panel on Arab representation has no Arab members
By Jack Khoury, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Israel, Israel news 

A Bedouin forum on education has recently filed a complaint with the Prime Minister's Office inquiring why the government committee tasked with promoting the representation of Arab citizens in government offices did not include a single Arab member.

The forum's coordinator, Dr. Awad Abu-Freih, demanded that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appoint Arab representatives to the committee.

According to the government's Civil Service Commission, the number of Israeli Arabs employed by the government does not exceed 6.8 percent of the employees. Last week, the cabinet decided to establish a committee to promote proper representation of Arabs in government offices.
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The members of the Bedouin education forum were dismayed to find that the 11-member committee did not include a single Arab member. The committee includes Civil Service Commissioner Shmuel Hollander, Prime Minister's Office Director Eyal Gabbai and Welfare Ministry Director Nahum Itzkovitch.

"There is no doubt that in the absence of Arab citizens on the committee, the commission may continue to give unfair preference to Jews in appointments, in promotions, and in handing out key positions," Abu-Freih said in his complaint to the prime minister.

"The promises on fair representation still sound hollow and empty," he went on to say. "Again and again we will be told that 'no qualified Arabs could be found for the job.'"

"The services offered to Arab citizens will also continue to be discriminatory," he continued. "For example, the education services offered to the Arab community in the Negev are neglected and deprived."

"Out of 20 percent of the population of the state, not one Arab could be found who would be qualified to be honored with serving on the committee?" Abu-Freih asked.

The office of Minister of Minority Affairs Avishay Braverman, who pushed for the establishment of the committee, said that the "Civil Service Commission does not appoint government employees, but rather makes recommendations to the government regarding the running of the country. The committee is comprised of five active ministry directors and five non- government employees. Its members have been approved by legal bodies. In two years' time, one ministry director and one non-government worker will complete their tenure, and at that time the Prime Minister's Office will consider the need to appoint a member of a minority."

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