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Last update - 00:54 06/04/2007
Dramatic rise in number of Arab volunteers for national service
By Yoav stern, Haaretz Correspondent

Data published Thursday by a national service placement organization indicates a dramatic rise in the number of Arabs who volunteer for national service. According to the data, the number of volunteers in the first months of 2007 exceeded by far the total number of volunteers in 2006.

Shlomit, the non-profit organization that arranges placements for secular national service volunteers, registered 213 young Arab volunteers between December and March, compared with 130 volunteers who began their national service last year.

If this trend continues, the total number of volunteers for 2007 is expected to double the registered number for 2006.
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This is the first year that men - both Jewish and Arab - can officially volunteer for national service. Prior to 2007, men were only able to volunteer through a trial program for male volunteers.

Approximately half of the new Arab volunteers are Muslims, including many Bedouin, and the other half are Christians, mostly from the western Galilee.

The legitimacy of national service is widely debated among Israeli Arabs, with many community leaders claiming that providing service to the state constitutes support of its military actions.

According to a proposal currently being drafted by the Prime Minister's Office, young Arabs would in the future be allowed to volunteer for a separate "community service" within their own communities.

According to Haya Shmuel, director of Shlomit, many of the local Arab leaders make a point of insuring that the people volunteering for national service serve in their own communities, even though the volunteers themselves often prefer to ventures outside their hometowns.

Education Minister Yuli Tamir has increased the number of positions open to volunteers within Arab schools, and it will be doubled next year
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  1.   I`d refer Yoav Stern to a sup kitchen,he must be really hungry 23:22  |  Absolute Sweden 05/04/07
  2.   National Service 23:57  |  Joseph 05/04/07
  3.   Arabs national service 00:00  |  Ben Azai 06/04/07
  4.   Arabs national service 00:00  |  Ben Azai 06/04/07
  5.   Absolute sweeden 00:28  |  Danite 06/04/07
  6.   #1 Absolute Extremist 00:29  |  Yonatan 06/04/07
  7.   A step in the right direction 00:32  |  Yonatan 06/04/07
  8.   out, out ,out!!!!!! 00:38  |  yishay banatz 06/04/07
  9.   maybe they see an answer to their problems 00:55  |  Joe 06/04/07
  10.   good news again on Haaretz 00:56  |  Leon Rosgarten 06/04/07
  11.   #7 Yonatan - Kfar Sava 01:01  |  * BEN JABO 06/04/07
  12.   Yonatan agreed 01:28  |  Danite 06/04/07
  13.   Arabs imprisoned by their "leaders" 01:36  |  McQueen 06/04/07
  14.   National Service 01:39  |  Daniel Abrams 06/04/07
  15.   Good early steps. I hope it continues. 02:07  |  David 06/04/07
  16.   Haaretz 02:23  |  Danite 06/04/07
  17.   #11 Watch out, your ignorance is showing! 02:39  |  lizz 06/04/07
  18.   Ben Jabo the paranoid fool 02:40  |  Danite 06/04/07
  19.   Yonatan you are correct 02:44  |  Danite 06/04/07
  20.   #10 - For once I almost agree with you 02:46  |  * BEN JABO 06/04/07
  21.   #9 Jose - Indianapolis 02:49  |  * BEN JABO 06/04/07
  22.   How to lie with statistics 02:55  |  sk 06/04/07
  23.   Arabs in IDR 03:39  |  KT 06/04/07
  24.   National Service 03:49  |  Samaritan 06/04/07
  25.   National Service 2 03:51  |  Samaritan 06/04/07
  26.   Yonatan # 6 04:28  |  Philippe 06/04/07
  27.   The Christians Won`t Try To Blow Us Up 04:39  |  Efox 06/04/07
  28.   re: lizz 04:42  |  Efox 06/04/07
  29.   re: KT 04:48  |  Efox 06/04/07
  30.   re: Samaritan 05:04  |  Efox 06/04/07
  31.   Expel Muslim Arabs - Survival is more imprtant than Democracy 06:32  |  David 06/04/07
  32.   How to lie with statistics 06:49  |  simon 06/04/07
  33.   Leon rosgrden =aka khalid 07:51  |  Danite 06/04/07
  34.   # 20 ben jabo; a day will come when israel disowns you 08:08  |  eric 06/04/07
  35.   ballistic 09:23  |  eric 06/04/07
  36.   For #31"Houston (David) we have a problem" 10:14  |  Ari ben Yisrael 06/04/07
  37.   About time too 10:15  |  sh 06/04/07
  38.   To Danite @33 I have been known to be wrong before :) 10:22  |  Ari ben Yisrael 06/04/07
  39.   #34 drec You gotta stop describing yourself 10:41  |  Ari ben Yisrael 06/04/07
  40.   Israeli Christians arent "Arabs" 11:16  |  Hal 06/04/07
  41.   Israel must help Druz and Christian communities who enlist 11:48  |  Hal 06/04/07
  42.   national service apartheid 11:49  |  mehmet 06/04/07
  43.   m3hmet - Apartheid 19:36  |  * BEN JABO 06/04/07
  44.   #34 Eric - You`re confused, you`re talking about yourself. 19:49  |  * BEN JABO 06/04/07
  45.   re: Hal 22:14  |  Efox 06/04/07
  46.   da 23:03  |  george 06/04/07
  47.   # 39 hey ari, i`ll tell you what... 07:33  |  eric 07/04/07
  48.   # 44 you know what, ben jabo? 07:48  |  nm 07/04/07
  49.   arab christians 09:35  |  eva 07/04/07
  50.   Arabic was not used in Israel before Islamic invasion 13:30  |  Zaher 07/04/07
  51.   Per DNA, Arab Muslims DONT descend from Canaanites 13:52  |  Hal 07/04/07
  52.   Israeli Christians are absolutely NOT Arabs 14:25  |  Hal 07/04/07
  53.   #47 hey drec read #39 again I said you described YOSELF boyo 14:50  |  Ari ben Yisrael 07/04/07
  54.   #48 to44, the infantile drec so consumed with HATRED 14:58  |  Ari ben Yisrael 07/04/07
  55.   National Service 18:43  |  Nemesis 07/04/07
  56.   Eric - SECOND TRY 18:52  |  * BEN JABO 07/04/07
  57.   Arabs and christians...to Hal :-)) 18:57  |  eva 07/04/07
  58.   In Acts 2:11, Arabs DONT live in Israel! 20:41  |  Hal 07/04/07
  59.   # 53 spare me your pity, ari 21:59  |  eric 07/04/07
  60.   # 54 to ari 22:08  |  eric 07/04/07
  61.   re: eva 22:12  |  Efox 07/04/07
  62.   # 56 hey ben jabo... 22:22  |  eric 07/04/07
  63.   There are no Christian Arabs in Israel 22:39  |  Hal 07/04/07
  64.   Jews (Yhudim) are the aborigines of Judea (Yhuda) 22:45  |  Hal 07/04/07
  65.   Leon in Rishon? 23:23  |  R 07/04/07
  66.   Mehmet 23:24  |  Aznavour 07/04/07
  67.   #51 Arabs in Israel 01:11  |  Sherlock Holmes 08/04/07
  68.   63 - tell that to my israeli arab christian wife 10:54  |  mike 08/04/07
  69.   Mike and your Israeli Christian wife 17:36  |  Hal 08/04/07
  70.   Christians Arabs and Culture 08:49  |  Arab 15/04/07
  71.   I can only commend those Arabs, regardless of their religion and 08:43  |  Nadav 16/04/07
  72.   To Hal 23:36  |  Sven 13/11/07
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