bitterlemons-international.org
Middle East Roundtable /
Edition 38
An Israeli View:
More trouble ahead
by Yossi Alpher
Arab-Jewish relations in Israel are
extremely problematic. They are linked in a variety of ways to the broader
issues of Israel-Arab relations and specifically the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict. Somewhere alongside the heavy political issues, we also confront
the day-to-day problems of Arab-Jewish coexistence "on the ground". In
Israel there are Jewish towns, Arab towns and a variety of mixed-population
towns, each with its own history and specific demographic make-up.
Earlier this month, the public-at-large was given a close-up view of the
volatile state of Arab-Jewish relations in mixed towns when riots broke out
in Acre, an ancient port town north of Haifa. Everyone agrees the
disturbances began when an Arab drove his car into a predominantly Jewish
neighborhood on Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement when all vehicle
traffic ceases for 24 hours. From that point on, no one can quite agree on
the specific motivation or "choreography" of events. Nor are these details
particularly important: it's clear that Arab-Jewish relations in Acre must
have been extremely problematic even before Yom Kippur in order for dozens
of people to be injured, homes torched and entire families displaced as the
outcome of a single unfortunate incident.
Two obvious and immediate background factors to the Acre events, one Arab
and one Jewish, come to mind. On one side, over the past two years much of
the Arab intellectual and political mainstream in Israel has embraced
demands for a full-fledged bi-national state ("consociational democracy")
that would give Arabs a veto over Israel's Jewish content and symbols.
That Israel's Arabs require and deserve equal land rights and economic and
educational opportunity goes without saying. But their demands now go much
further. Most disturbing of all--and here even the years of mainstream
Jewish neglect of legitimate Arab socio-economic needs cannot be blamed--the
bi-national state demands can be understood to bring their authors into line
with those in the Arab and Islamic world who refuse to accept the existence
of a Jewish people at all, much less one with legitimate roots in the Middle
East.
These positions adopted by prominent leaders of the Arab citizens of Israel
in effect reject the principle of a democratic Jewish state that lies at the
heart of the Oslo solution of two states for two peoples. They position the
Israeli Arab community as very much a part of the broader Palestinian
problem. They send a message that the Oslo process of discussing Palestinian
political independence in the West Bank and Gaza--wherein the Palestinian
citizens of Israel were once seen as a potential bridge between Israelis and
Palestinians--has radicalized Israeli Arab views.
But in parallel, the failed Oslo process has also radicalized the views of
Israeli Jews on the political right who are in any case predisposed to be
hostile toward the Arab population of Israel. Thus in Acre, as in East
Jerusalem and Peki'in in Upper Galilee, Jews who basically oppose
coexistence are seeking ways to establish neighborhoods in the midst of Arab
and even Druze population concentrations and push Arabs out. This would
effectively expand the West Bank Arab-Jewish confrontation into all of
Israel, thereby serving the settlers' political goal of erasing the green
line boundary between the State of Israel and the West Bank and preventing
the emergence of a Palestinian state.
But even moderate Israeli actors are contributing to Arab-Jewish alienation
in Israel. The fence/wall that so mindlessly cuts off East Jerusalem Arabs
from their brethren in the West Bank is radicalizing them--witness the
series of suicidal attacks launched in West Jerusalem by frustrated
Palestinians from the outlying villages of East Jerusalem. Meanwhile,
Israeli governmental refusal to create new Arab towns or an Arab university
exacerbates the pressures generated by the increasingly crowded Arab living
space in Israel.
Perhaps, if and when there is a viable two-state solution to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Arabs and Jews in Israel will be able to
contemplate quietly whether they wish to live in mixed or separate towns and
cities. Apparently, it is only when the conflict is resolved that Israelis
will seriously address the heavy issue of the Jewish nature of their
state--an issue that must be resolved before the status of non-Jews in
Israel can be dealt with substantively.
Until that time, three political/demographic dynamics will continue to
operate and to clash. For one, Israeli Arabs will refuse to be pushed out of
their traditional dwellings by Jewish extremists. On the other hand,
economic factors will impel Arabs who are denied legitimate development
opportunities to move into Jewish towns and neighborhoods in the simple and
justified hope of bettering their lot. Finally, tensions will flare up
periodically between Arabs and Jews, spearheaded by nationalist and racist
extremists on both sides and nourished by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The short-term outlook is not good.- Published 27/10/2008 ©
bitterlemons.org
Yossi Alpher is coeditor of the bitterlemons family of internet publications.
He is former director of the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv
University.
Bitterlemons-international.org is an internet
forum for an array of world perspectives on the Middle East and its
specific concerns. It aspires to engender greater understanding about
the Middle East region and open a new common space for world thinkers
and political leaders to present their viewpoints and initiatives on the
region. Editors Ghassan Khatib and Yossi Alpher can be reached at
ghassan@bitterlemons-international.org
and
yossi@bitterlemons-international.org, respectively.
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29-10-2008 |