Subscribe to Print Edition | Thu., March 20, 2008 Adar2 14, 5768 | | Israel Time: 13:33 (EST+7)
Haaretz israel news English
web haaretz.com
  Back to Homepage
Rosner's Domain
Diplomacy
Defense Jewish World Opinion National
Print Edition
Advertising
Books Arts & Leisure Business Real Estate Easy Start Travel Week's End Anglo File
Last update - 17:50 09/12/2006
This means war
By Avraham Tal

One after another lately, various Israeli-Arab organizations have been publishing papers dealing with the future of the Arab public in Israel and its relations with the state authorities. The papers present the problems encountered by Israeli Arabs in their contact with Israeli law, with the state authorities and state institutions, and call for a fundamental change in the relationship between the Jewish majority and the Arab minority.

What led to this recent flurry of efforts to spell out "visions" of problems and solutions for the Arab public? The standard explanation: The worsening breakdown of trust between this public and the state institutions in wake of the events of October 2000. Yet there can be no ignoring the fact that these visions are blossoming just when Israel has come out of a difficult war in Lebanon, is still facing a possible war in the North, is in a fragile state of cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, is dealing daily with terror cells in the West Bank, and has an existential threat from Iran hovering over it.

This week, the leaders of the Arab minority in Israel declared war in their own way on the Jewish national state in the Land of Israel.
Advertisement
Some of the demands presented in the "visions" are new, such as the outrageous calls for granting veto power to the Arab minority on decisions of national import, and for separate representation at international institutions, and more in that vein. There are also calls for changing the flag and the national anthem, for a return to abandoned villages and equality in immigration rights to Israel.

Equality in immigration rights means the annulment of the Law of Return, or the legislation of a Law of Return for Arabs; in other words, opening the country's gates to hundreds of thousands of descendents of residents of 1948 Palestine, so that the country will have a Palestinian majority. A return to abandoned villages means situating a quarter of a million Israeli Arabs (as one "vision" estimates) in hundreds of rebuilt villages, something that would alter Israel's demography, create hundreds of new friction points and foster ongoing internal intra-ethnic conflict even after the external conflict is resolved. Changing the flag and the national anthem, to make them express the national uniqueness of the Arab minority, would abolish - on the symbolic level - Israel as the Jewish national state; the next stage would have to be changing the name of the state.

Every Arab knows that the Jewish majority in Israel could never consent to any one of these demands (or several others not cited here). If they nonetheless go on raising them with increasing vehemence, the intention is clear: to bolster the Palestinian narrative whose origins lie in the Nakba (catastrophe) of 1948 and to ensure that the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians does not abate even after peace agreements are signed and an independent Palestinian state arises alongside the State of Israel.

Even if Israel one day arrives at an understanding with the leaders of the Palestinian Authority and all of the Arab states about taking the demand for the right of return off the agenda, the demands of Israeli Arab citizens for a right of return for descendants of the uprooted to their forefathers' villages and their other nationalistic demands will ensure that the flames of the conflict are not extinguished. The tension between the Jewish population and the Arab population within Israel would only continue and even worsen over the years in the wake of demographic developments, until the aim of the elimination of the Jewish state is finally achieved.

It cannot be repeated often enough: In 1947-48, the Arabs were given an opportunity to establish an independent state on part of the territory of Palestine. Their leaders passed up this opportunity and instead tried to drown the Jewish state in blood and fire. 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.

It's no wonder, then, that Israeli readiness to undo the discriminations of the past is not that strong. All these "visions" herald a much bleaker future for relations between Jews and Arabs in Israel.
Bookmark to del.icio.us  
 
Free interpretation
Yesha rabbinical council ruled it is forbidden for Jews to employ Arabs.
Little Africa
Tel Aviv is setting up a tent city to improve the living conditions of African refugees.
  1.   The fact that non-Jews asks for their rights means war? 11:34  |  John 08/12/06
  2.   This Means War 11:34  |  Terry 08/12/06
  3.   Israeli Arabs, the Sudeten Germans of the Middle East ? 11:38  |  Paul Henzen 08/12/06
  4.   War! wolf! fire! 11:42  |  sh 08/12/06
  5.   Israeli Moslems 11:44  |  Naim S. Mahlab 08/12/06
  6.   Separat state from religion 11:51  |  leopold 08/12/06
  7.   Moderates, arise from your slumber!!! 11:56  |  Akiva Patysh 08/12/06
  8.   Well Said! 12:02  |  Ben Israel 08/12/06
  9.   How Long Until We ALL Recognize This 5th Column As Such? 12:06  |  Yishai Kohen 08/12/06
  10.   Storm in a tea cup 12:20  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 08/12/06
  11.   Mogadishu Beach? 12:30  |  FOX 08/12/06
  12.   A FIFTH COLUMN MUST BE DEALT WITH BEFORE ALL OUT WAR WITH ISLAM ? 12:38  |  Bill. 08/12/06
  13.   The apartheid state 12:42  |  Peter 08/12/06
  14.   Avraham tal you are the terrorist 12:44  |  Sam (UK) 08/12/06
  15.   # 13 Peter, you mean `apart hate` ? 13:06  |  Paul Henzen 08/12/06
  16.   WE MUST TRUST IN THE G-D OF ABRAHAM , ISAAC , JACOB ?? 13:13  |  Bill. 08/12/06
  17.   civil rights 13:14  |  dubious 08/12/06
  18.   Bravo Avraham Tal to say the truth! 13:25  |  Jonathan S 08/12/06
  19.   This means war 13:29  |  Sean 08/12/06
  20.   Margie`s tea cup 13:30  |  sh 08/12/06
  21.   twisting by the cesspool 13:31  |  avi says war is not 08/12/06
  22.   The Road to Nowhere 13:34  |  Rod Davies 08/12/06
  23.   to peter 13:50  |  darryn 08/12/06
  24.   apologize 14:12  |  chaim 08/12/06
  25.   Peter - 13 14:20  |  Nik Miller 08/12/06
  26.   To Peter 14:22  |  Mark B. 08/12/06
  27.   The apartheid state - a purely Jewish country 14:25  |  hanoi 08/12/06
  28.   Take Heed, Israel! 14:29  |  Prophetic Words 08/12/06
  29.   #Paul Henzen the Germans in 14:37  |  cool 08/12/06
  30.   No Good Deed Goes Unpunished.... as Mark Twain pointed out! 14:38  |  Klaudia 08/12/06
  31.   The clear Halacha, Rambam 15:02  |  Yosef 08/12/06
  32.   To Paul Henzen (#3) 15:04  |  George 08/12/06
  33.   sam uk 15:12  |  secureisrael 08/12/06
  34.   john you can carry on with your silly mail 15:14  |  secureisrael 08/12/06
  35.   avraham tal is on the button 15:19  |  judith ackerman 08/12/06
  36.   Mr TAL I call you LIAR 15:20  |  John and the truth 08/12/06
  37.   what do we want with kfar qassem? 15:20  |  judith ackerman 08/12/06
  38.   TIME FOR THEM TO CROSS THE JORDAN RIVER 15:22  |  paul harris 08/12/06
  39.   Arabs in Jewish Israel 15:41  |  Ron 08/12/06
  40.   Like I said,should got rid of `em in `48 & `67 15:45  |  SR 08/12/06
  41.   to Darryn from Peter 15:46  |  Peter 08/12/06
  42.   to Nik from Peter 15:48  |  Peter 08/12/06
  43.   I am an Israeli Arab 15:49  |  Rami 08/12/06
  44.   Margie In Tel Aviv 15:50  |  Avihatsira 08/12/06
  45.   Not War But Equal Rights is the Point 15:52  |  Jane 08/12/06
  46.   John and the truth??? 15:55  |  Sarah 08/12/06
  47.   Tal Created the Problem. Teh Deal With It 16:02  |  Yaakov Sullivan 08/12/06
  48.   John, Israel did not declared war on 1948 16:08  |  Aby 08/12/06
  49.   Israeli Arabs should demand equal rights.... 16:09  |  Sherman 08/12/06
  50.   Israel Reaps What it sowed! 16:12  |  Larry Saltzman 08/12/06
  51.   to jane - think of it this way 16:19  |  alef 08/12/06
  52.   to jonathan S from Frankfurt 16:20  |  leopold 08/12/06
  53.   Peter, Completly false logic 16:21  |  Aby 08/12/06
  54.   # 4 Wolves and Fire 16:23  |  Tony Anthony 08/12/06
  55.   Explain Apartheid. 16:24  |  Charlie Benlolo 08/12/06
  56.   yaakov sullivan 47 16:26  |  FOX 08/12/06
  57.   Question is-can our current inept leadership cope with it?... 16:27  |  bat yam 08/12/06
  58.   Lieberman is the answer 16:29  |  George 08/12/06
  59.   to Jane 16:31  |  Sol 08/12/06
  60.   mr. Tal just woke up 16:32  |  Gene 08/12/06
  61.   israeli-arab hypocrisy 16:32  |  george 08/12/06
  62.   Akiva patysh (Hadag) 16:32  |  Gabe1 08/12/06
  63.   # George 32: An F for German history ! 16:33  |  Paul Henzen 08/12/06
  64.   Rabak Avraham Tal 16:35  |  Omri 08/12/06
  65.   The Unfinished Partition 16:36  |  David Erlichman 08/12/06
  66.   DEFINITON OF A CONSERVATIVE: A LIBERAL WHO HAS BEEN MUGGED! 16:37  |  common sense 08/12/06
  67.   # 29 Cool, there is a lesson ! 16:44  |  Paul Henzen 08/12/06
  68.   Alef- What Is Right Is Right 16:44  |  Jane 08/12/06
  69.   50: Hey larry... 16:45  |  bat yam 08/12/06
  70.   Rami #43 16:47  |  Gee 08/12/06
  71.   to Peter 16:48  |  Sol 08/12/06
  72.   What is missing is the inevitable logical conclusion