Israeli Arabs: Israel is racist

Israeli Arab leaders are drawing up a "blacklist" of grievances, including what they described as fascist and racist phenomena on the part of Israeli society and the establishment towards the country's minority Arab community.

The document is slated to be completed within two weeks and will be submitted to Israeli society, apparently via the Knesset, as well as to international agencies, including the UN and the European Union.

Abed Inbitawi, spokesman for the monitoring committee of the Israeli Arab leadership, said the blacklist would be a compilation that reflected this trend of discrimination, racism and fascism towards the Arab sector.

The decision to draw up the document was taken by the committee after the attack by Jewish terrorist Eden Natan Zada in Shfaram on Thursday in which four local residents, Muslims and Christians, were killed. Zada himself died, apparently after being lynched by an angry mob.

Police are investigating all the circumstances of the incident including the shooting, the lynching, attacks on police and the actions of police involved in the incident.

"This was a planned terror attack and we find it extremely difficult to treat it as an individual action," Inbitawi told The Jerusalem Post. "It marks a certain trend that reflects a growing tendency of fascism and racism in Israeli society generally as well as the establishment towards the minority Arab community," he said.

"We are preparing a blacklist of this phenomena, including laws that we consider to be racist such as the citizenship law that prevents Palestinians who marry Israelis from receiving Israeli citizenship.

"This document will be submitted to Israeli and will also be sent to foreign institutions such as the UN and the European Union. We also intend to raise the issue on the international agenda via the media."

Inbitawi maintained there was no doubt about discrimination towards Arab citizens such as the recent report on health services that showed Arabs received below-average services.

"We are primarily concerned, however, about the trend the exacerbates attitudes of fascism and racism towards the Arab community," said Inbitawi.

"This is something that is directed now against Arabs but which if it is allowed to continue unabated will also affect Jews who believe in democracy and peace.

"We intend to hold a conference at which Jewish peace activists will have a dialogue within us over the issues and how they affect the democratic nature of the State," said Inbitawi.

A senior government official said the pain of Israeli Arabs and the heartache resulting from the attacks in Shfaram was perfectly understandable to Israelis who, unfortunately, had suffered from terrorist atrocities.

"Israeli Arab leaders have the freedom and right to express their concerns, complaints and grievances to the executive and legislative branches of Israeli government as well as to the justice system," a senior official told The Jerusalem Post. "I am proud to say that Israel is a democracy and that Israelis from all walks of life and regardless of their ethnicity can openly express their grievances. This cannot be said for most of Israel?s neighbors."

Israel is one of the most open societies in the world. Out of a population of 6.7 million, about 1.3 million — 20 percent of the population — are non-Jews (approximately 1.1 million Muslims, 130,000 Christians and 100,000 Druze).

Arabs in Israel have equal voting rights; in fact, it is one of the few places in the Middle East where Arab women may vote. Arabs currently hold 8 seats in the 120-seat Knesset. Israeli Arabs have also held various government posts, including one who served as Israel's ambassador to Finland and the current deputy mayor of Tel Aviv. Ariel Sharon's original cabinet included the first Arab minister, Salah Tarif, a Druze who served as a minister without portfolio. An Arab is also a Supreme Court justice.

Arabic, like Hebrew, is an official language in Israel. More than 300,000 Arab children attend Israeli schools. At the time of Israel's founding, there was one Arab high school in the country. Today, there are hundreds of Arab schools.

In 2002, the Israeli Supreme Court also ruled that the government cannot allocate land based on religion or ethnicity, and may not prevent Arab citizens from living wherever they choose.

The sole legal distinction between Jewish and Arab citizens of Israel is that the latter are not required to serve in the Israeli army. This is to spare Arab citizens the need to take up arms against their brethren. Nevertheless, Bedouins have served in paratroop units and other Arabs have volunteered for military duty. Compulsory military service is applied to the Druze and Circassian communities at their own request.

Some economic and social gaps between Israeli Jews and Arabs result from the latter not serving in the military. Veterans qualify for many benefits not available to non-veterans. Moreover, the army aids in the socialization process.

On the other hand, Arabs do have an advantage in obtaining some jobs during the years Israelis are in the military. In addition, industries like construction and trucking have come to be dominated by Israeli Arabs.

Although Israeli Arabs have occasionally been involved in terrorist activities, they have generally behaved as loyal citizens. During the 1967, 1973 and 1982 wars, none engaged in any acts of sabotage or disloyalty. Sometimes, in fact, Arabs volunteered to take over civilian functions for reservists. During the outbreak of violence in the territories that began in September 2000, Israeli Arabs for the first time engaged in widespread protests with some violence.

The United States has been independent for almost 230 years and still has not integrated all of its diverse communities. Even today, 60 years after civil rights legislation was adopted, discrimination has not been eradicated. It should not be surprising that Israel has not solved all of its social problems in only 57 years.

"How about you spill out the facts on Israels immigration laws? I dont BLAME them. Its just that they are a little biased."

.........................

Please fill in the "xxxxx" with the name of this "biased" country.

"The New Laws on Citizenship

There are three ways to become a citizen of xxxxxxx by birth, by naturalization and, for xxxxxx from [area] xxxxx, by claim under the "Right of Return." The most important change in xxxxxx citizenship law is that the principle of jus sanguinis - of defining citizenship by inheritance - has been supplemented with the principle of the jus soli ("right of soil") - of defining citizenship by place of birth.

http://www.xxxxx-info.org/relaunch/info/archives/background/citizenship.html

(The link will work if you fill in the xxxx with the name of the country)

"jus sanguis" is Latin for blood - a rule that is strictly racial. Have you any idea how many countries have a "jus sanguis" immigration policy?

"Jewish" is not a racial "blood" characteristic. One can convert into Judaism.

Of course there are those who believe the US immigration policy is racist too.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.