Subscribe to Print Edition | Tue., June 17, 2008 Sivan 14, 5768 | | Israel Time: 11:28 (EST+7) web haaretz.com   Back to Homepage Rosner's Domain Diplomacy Defense Jewish World Opinion National Print Edition Car Rental Books Peres Conference Business Real Estate Easy Start Travel Week's End Anglo File

Last update - 11:26 17/06/2008 Israel Affairs Their willful and continued exclusion By Sarah Ozacky-Lazar Yair Bauml's book is important for understanding the state's policies toward its Arab citizens in the so-called 'good old days' for which we tend to wax nostalgic Tzel kakhol lavan (A Blue and White Shadow: The Israeli Establishment's Policy and Actions Amid among Its Arab Citizens: The Formative Years, 1958-1968), by Yair Bauml, Pardes Publishing (Hebrew), 448 pages, NIS 96 In early 1966, nearly two decades after the establishment of the state, Israel Defense Forces chief of staff Moshe Dayan said, "the time has come to consider and decide whether we are prepared to see Israeli Arabs as a loyal and organic element that is ready to serve in the army, or as something temporary." Yigal Allon, a government minister who was known for his good relations with the Arabs, expressed disappointment that "there was no policy that would have been likely to get most of the Arab citizens to think that it would be better to transfer from here to another country." And in a similar vein, the commander of the military administration that oversaw the Arab sector said at a Mapai party committee meeting on Arab affairs that "there was the thought that they would draw conclusions. But it has become clear that they will not draw conclusions, because even in Arab countries they're not accepted ... In addition, their situation in Israel is outstanding, and so they won't leave without an extraordinary tempest taking place." Advertisement These are only a few from among a large collection of similar comments made by Israeli leaders during the first two decades of statehood. Yair Bauml, a historian at both the University of Haifa and Oranim College (with whom, I should note, I have worked together in the past), dredged them up from the depths of the archives and put them together in a chapter entitled "Unimplemented Policy: Aspirations for Transfer." Bauml wants to reinforce the argument that behind the highfalutin' declarations of equality and integration, the granting of Israeli citizenship and the right to vote, the hope prevailed among many in the young State of Israel that the 155,000 Arabs who remained here after the war would leave of their own volition, exempting the Jewish and democratic state of the need to actually treat them as equal citizens. This hope, of course, was dashed. In a comprehensive survey of the second decade of statehood, during which the country's Arab citizens were still subject to martial law, which maintained close surveillance of them and limited their ability to move freely around the country, Bauml argues with the claim that the governments of Israel had no consistent, clear policy or even attitude regarding the status of the Arab minority. Aside from the discussion about the military administration, the matter was not the subject of extensive, open public discourse at the time. Bauml, however, identifies several characteristic principles that were in play, and in this way paints a picture of the willful and continued exclusion of the Arabs from all aspects of life in the state -- economic, political and social - as well as of a massive expropriation of their lands, close security monitoring, non-recruitment into the army, budgetary discrimination, and prevention of the Arabs from establishing a leadership and political parties. All these steps were taken to realize the two higher objectives that Bauml claims the state set for itself when it became clear after the Sinai Campaign that the Arabs were staying put: placing the Arab sector on the margins of the Jewish state, and utilizing the human resources and financial potential of that population to strengthen the state and its economy. Bauml puts particular emphasis on the role of the Arabs in the Israeli economy, and on analyzing the economic processes that affected them in the period in question, primarily the transition from agricultural work to employment in the Jewish economy. The Arabs may have indirectly benefited from the growth and prosperity of the Israeli economy in those days, but less than 1 percent of the masses of funds that Israel received in the first half of the 1960s - some $4 billion was provided by Germany, the United States and Jews from around the world - and invested in development, reached them. Thus did the financial, educational and job-related gaps between Jews and Arabs only grow, something Bauml says worsened relations between the two groups, since the awareness of the gap intensified Arabs' hatred and nationalistic feelings. Bauml also criticizes the activities of the Histadrut labor federation, which during this period was actually an operational arm of the government. The Histadrut did accept Arab workers into its membership rolls and its professional unions during the 1950s, and even changed its name from the "Hebrew Histadrut" to the "General Histadrut" - a step that can be seen as egalitarian and progressive - but he argues that its real goal was to prevent the emergence of an independent Arab economy, to regulate the entry of Arabs into the Jewish economy, to protect the wages of Jewish workers and to increase its own income, by way of dues paid by its Arab members. In one chapter, the author describes the birth of the policy of "Judaizing the Galilee," which aimed to reverse the demographic reality in the region, set up Jewish wedges in the heart of Arab population centers, grab open spaces and make the Arabs economically dependent on both the state and the Jewish population. There were numerous official bodies responsible for dealing with the Arabs at the time, and in many cases there was no coordination between them. They ranged from the military administration and the prime minister's adviser on Arab affairs, to Arab departments in the various government ministries and political parties - along with the Histadrut, police and Shin Bet security service, and the "central committee for security," a secret body that was charged with managing "Arab affairs" - all the way to the heart of the political establishment: the Mapai committee for Arab affairs. This organ, which was established in April 1957, did not have official authority, but had a great influence on the shaping of government policy. Political awakening Israel's second decade was characterized by many vicissitudes in the Arab world -- the rise of revolutionary anti-colonial regimes, pan-Arab enthusiasm for the leadership of Gamal Abdel Nasser (who is admired to this day by many Arabs in Israel), and by a new ideological spirit in our region. This context helps explain the political awakening within the Arab community in Israel, despite the discrimination and subjugation, and perhaps that is precisely why militant extra-parliamentary organizations arose to complement the determined activity of the Israeli Communist parties Maki and Rakah. A case in point is the story of the Al-Arad movement, which was the first political grouping among the Arabs in Israel to call for their national unification as Palestinians, and for a struggle to achieve full and equal citizenship for themselves, and the "right of return" for their brothers, the refugees. Its efforts to register as a political party and run candidates for the Knesset were banned by the Supreme Court. Many aspects of Al-Arad's publications and platform from the '60s recall the "Future Vision" documents released over the past year and a half by groups of intellectuals and Arab activists in Israel. Alongside the state's eventual recognition that the Arab minority was indeed an existing fact that must be dealt with, the Arabs themselves came to understand that Israel's existence was not in question, and to accept the fact they were a minority in it. What they were not able to accept was the policy toward them, "which they saw as a characteristic, but changeable, product of the Zionist concept and the Jewish state." The conclusion they drew from this was that they had to find ways to integrate into the state as citizens, while struggling to achieve civic equality in it. On its 60th anniversary, the State of Israel can pride itself on many various accomplishments, but its treatment of its Arab minority is not one of them. Many mistakes have been made along the way, and, unfortunately, continue to be made. To my mind, the biggest of these is the tendency to look at a large civilian populace - a native population that is an inseparable part of this land, and has forcibly become part of the state - from a security-oriented perspective, "through the sights of a gun." There were a few Israeli leaders who suggested a different approach, as early as the 1950s, but their voices were suppressed. Fears that may have been understandable in the early years should have disappeared in the face of the way the Arabs actually behaved toward the state, but that is not what happened. Bauml's book is an important contribution to understanding the State of Israel's mechanisms of thought and action in relation to its Arab citizens in the good old days of the "small, nice and just" Israel for which we tend to wax nostalgic. Despite the decisiveness with which the book was written, leaving almost no place for doubt even when dealing with such a complex and multifaceted issue - and despite Bauml's tendency to reach unequivocal conclusions even when gray is preferable to black and white - his diligence, his dogged collection of thousands of documents, his brave exposure of those documents, and his analysis of establishment policy in a critical area are praiseworthy. "Blue and White Shadow" places a mirror before the state, showing it several deep wrinkles and unsightly stains that are difficult to remove or conceal. Many nations have learned to deal courageously with difficult chapters in their past. Hasn't the time come for some joint soul-searching by Jews and Arabs in Israel, so that they can acknowledge injustice and errors, to try to fix them, to change preconceptions and to plan the next 60 years differently? Dr. Sarah Ozacky-Lazar is a research fellow at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute. The book "Between Vision and Reality: The Vision Documents of the Arabs in Israel 2006-2007," which she is editing with Dr. Mustafa Kabha, will be published shortly by the Citizens' Accord Forum between Jews and Arabs in Israel. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Nazi hunted Nazi sheltered by Austria seen enjoying Euro 2008 games. Battle of the attitude An 'Israeli au pair' seems to be the ultimate oxymoron.

Read & React UN envoy: Israel has given Syria a 'huge gift' for free Responses: 69 Nazi sheltered by Austria as too ill for trial, seen enjoying Euro 2008 Responses: 43 Israeli sources: Hezbollah deal possible next week Responses: 24 UN official who compared Israel to Nazis turns spotlight on Palestinians Responses: 25 U.S. official: PA security forces fighting terror in West Bank Responses: 24 Rosner's Domain Dovish Jewish lobby endorses seven candidates Obama, McCain aides agree: Israel, U.S. must discuss strike on Iran New Guests: What young Jewish American want World: U.S policy "will change for the better" (WTR) Poll: When should Israel have elections? More Headlines 09:03 Israeli sources: Deal with Hezbollah likely next week 11:28 Report: U.S. urges Israeli pullout from disputed Golan area 08:46 UN envoy: Israel has given Syria a 'huge gift' for free 09:25 U.S. official: PA security forces fighting terror in West Bank 11:14 Nazi sheltered by Austria as too ill for trial, seen enjoying Euro 2008 with soccer fans 09:14 What are the mysterious stones emerging from Kinneret waters? 11:14 Head of Bank Leumi's U.K. operations suspected of embezzlement, fraud 09:15 ANALYSIS / When a single comment raises oil costs, market is in trouble 09:14 Building company CEO who left hundreds homeless jailed for 7 years 23:42 Bush, Musharraf, Ahmadinejad top least-trusted leaders list 02:36 Police ignored murdered lawyer's complaint that his life was in peril Previous Editions Select Day 16 jun 15 jun 13 jun 12 jun 11 jun 10 jun 09 jun 08 jun 06 jun 05 jun 04 jun 03 jun

Special Offers Advertisement In the heart of Tel-Aviv The Meier on Rothschild tower Jerusalem of Gold Luxury apartments in Jerusalem's finest location Your vacation starts here Israel Travel Center Guaranteed Lowest Rates Istudy Learn Hebrew in 3 months Pardes Institute Summer Sessions http://www.pardes.org.il/ Free the Palestinians from: Corrupt Kleptocracy, Tyrannical Theocracy, Abysmal Anarchy Fattal Hotel Chain Perfectly located hotels on best resorts of Israel. ISRAEL BONDS Build Israel Israel bonds - a multi-purpose way to celebrate Israel's 60th Eldan Rent a Car Israel's leading car rental company offers you a 20% discount on all online reservations Junkyard Junk a car - get free towing nationwide and a tax-deductible receipt

Home | TV | Print Edition | Diplomacy | Opinion | Arts & Leisure | Sports | Jewish World | Underground | Site rules |

Real Estate in Israel | Travel to Israel with Haaretz | Hotels Israel | Restaurants Israel | Tourist attractions Israel | Shops Israel

birthright Israel

Haaretz.com, the online edition of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel, offers real-time breaking news, opinions and analysis from Israel and the Middle East. Haaretz.com provides extensive and in-depth coverage of Israel, the Jewish World and the Middle East, including defense, diplomacy, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the peace process, Israeli politics, Jerusalem affairs, international relations, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Israeli business world and Jewish life in Israel and the Diaspora.

© Copyright  Haaretz. All rights reserved