Ask me what a Blotnik is. This Blog is my Public Blog. Sometimes in Hebrew. I have found that Books and the Internet have something in common, Life is to Short to read all the books you would like to read, (not those that you do not want). Also 24 Hours a day is not Enough for all you would like to do on the Internet!
Saturday, June 30, 2007
TheJC - Print Article
TheJC - Print Article
Want to help Israel? Help its Arab citizens
28 June 2007
By By Paul Usiskin
Over the past few months, Anglo-Jewry has become increasingly aware of the discrimination against Israeli Arabs — or Palestinian Arabs, as they now prefer to be called. The Abraham Fund, which promotes Israeli-Palestinian Arab dialogue, launched a UK branch earlier this year. The Pears Foundation brought community leaders and Israeli Jewish and Arab experts together in March, to discuss how best to increase funding to Palestinian Arabs. And the UJIA’s CEO, Douglas Krikler, admits there is real urgency about the Palestinian Arabs’ situation.
They are one of the poorest sectors in Israel’s economy and neither contribute to nor benefit from Israel’s consistent growth. The discrimination against them is the culmination of nearly 60 years of betrayal of Palestinian Arabs. Asking “what is this to us?” is rather like the Simple Son at the Passover. It should be a matter of concern to all Anglo Jews.
Israel’s Declaration of Independence included a promise to the Palestinian Arabs that they would “play their part in building the State on the basis of full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its institutions”. Instead, there has been persistent discrimination, the stain of which Israel must remove.
From 1948-66, the bulk of the Arab population lived under Israeli military administration. The Naqba — the tragedy, as Palestinian Arabs call the War of Independence — delivered a national concussion from which they were unable to recover until after military administration ended. Yet even then, higher education, jobs, housing and municipal services all were and are inadequate and hard to access. Mass land expropriations in 1976 only exacerbated matters, and villages — a misnomer for townships of 20,000 plus — were placed under curfew whilst their land was seized.
No one should be surprised that Palestinian Arabs, watching Jewish settlement expansion in the West Bank, fear being squeezed out of what remains of their own land.
Demonstrations in support of the Palestinians lead to the October 2000 tragedy, in which 13 Palestinian Arabs were killed in riots. Seven years later, no Israeli has been sentenced for their part in the loss of lives.
Worst of all, Israel is actively trying to create a Jewish majority in the Galilee, where at the moment, 52 percent of the 1.149 million residents are Palestinian Arabs. The Galilee and Negev redevelopment plan first published in November 2004 totalled £2.09 billion. Palestinian Arabs have not had enough of a voice in this strategy. Over the past year, ex-Gaza settler families were offered £11,220 to resettle in the Negev or the Galilee. In June 2005, a conference in Carmiel discussed the details of the Galilee re-development. No Arabs were invited.
NGOs now lead Palestinian Arab civil society in trying to crystallise the direction of a new Palestinian Arab collective. The first and most significant expression of this was “The Future Vision of the Palestinian Arabs in Israel”, released at the end of 2006. Produced by a committee of heads of local authorities, and specifically not Palestinian Arab Knesset political parties, the Vision stated what the Palestinian Arab community wanted in its relationship with Israel. Every aspect of the life of a national minority was covered, including collective rights; national identity; representative institutions; participating in the peace process; furthering dialogue.
Israeli reaction was dismissive. Israelis are anxious about Hizbollah, Iran, Hamas. The Azmi Bishara case, in which the Arab Israeli MK was accused of spying for Hizbollah during the 2006 Lebanon war, has intensified suspicions that the Palestinian Arabs are a fifth column.
More than tzedakah, Anglo-Jewish engagement with these issues can lead to a vital role in assuaging past agonies and future fears. There is a blatant need for social justice for the Palestinian Arabs, without whom Israel’s democracy is the poorer.
Paul Usiskin is co-chair of Peace Now-UK
Want to help Israel? Help its Arab citizens
28 June 2007
By By Paul Usiskin
Over the past few months, Anglo-Jewry has become increasingly aware of the discrimination against Israeli Arabs — or Palestinian Arabs, as they now prefer to be called. The Abraham Fund, which promotes Israeli-Palestinian Arab dialogue, launched a UK branch earlier this year. The Pears Foundation brought community leaders and Israeli Jewish and Arab experts together in March, to discuss how best to increase funding to Palestinian Arabs. And the UJIA’s CEO, Douglas Krikler, admits there is real urgency about the Palestinian Arabs’ situation.
They are one of the poorest sectors in Israel’s economy and neither contribute to nor benefit from Israel’s consistent growth. The discrimination against them is the culmination of nearly 60 years of betrayal of Palestinian Arabs. Asking “what is this to us?” is rather like the Simple Son at the Passover. It should be a matter of concern to all Anglo Jews.
Israel’s Declaration of Independence included a promise to the Palestinian Arabs that they would “play their part in building the State on the basis of full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its institutions”. Instead, there has been persistent discrimination, the stain of which Israel must remove.
From 1948-66, the bulk of the Arab population lived under Israeli military administration. The Naqba — the tragedy, as Palestinian Arabs call the War of Independence — delivered a national concussion from which they were unable to recover until after military administration ended. Yet even then, higher education, jobs, housing and municipal services all were and are inadequate and hard to access. Mass land expropriations in 1976 only exacerbated matters, and villages — a misnomer for townships of 20,000 plus — were placed under curfew whilst their land was seized.
No one should be surprised that Palestinian Arabs, watching Jewish settlement expansion in the West Bank, fear being squeezed out of what remains of their own land.
Demonstrations in support of the Palestinians lead to the October 2000 tragedy, in which 13 Palestinian Arabs were killed in riots. Seven years later, no Israeli has been sentenced for their part in the loss of lives.
Worst of all, Israel is actively trying to create a Jewish majority in the Galilee, where at the moment, 52 percent of the 1.149 million residents are Palestinian Arabs. The Galilee and Negev redevelopment plan first published in November 2004 totalled £2.09 billion. Palestinian Arabs have not had enough of a voice in this strategy. Over the past year, ex-Gaza settler families were offered £11,220 to resettle in the Negev or the Galilee. In June 2005, a conference in Carmiel discussed the details of the Galilee re-development. No Arabs were invited.
NGOs now lead Palestinian Arab civil society in trying to crystallise the direction of a new Palestinian Arab collective. The first and most significant expression of this was “The Future Vision of the Palestinian Arabs in Israel”, released at the end of 2006. Produced by a committee of heads of local authorities, and specifically not Palestinian Arab Knesset political parties, the Vision stated what the Palestinian Arab community wanted in its relationship with Israel. Every aspect of the life of a national minority was covered, including collective rights; national identity; representative institutions; participating in the peace process; furthering dialogue.
Israeli reaction was dismissive. Israelis are anxious about Hizbollah, Iran, Hamas. The Azmi Bishara case, in which the Arab Israeli MK was accused of spying for Hizbollah during the 2006 Lebanon war, has intensified suspicions that the Palestinian Arabs are a fifth column.
More than tzedakah, Anglo-Jewish engagement with these issues can lead to a vital role in assuaging past agonies and future fears. There is a blatant need for social justice for the Palestinian Arabs, without whom Israel’s democracy is the poorer.
Paul Usiskin is co-chair of Peace Now-UK
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