Yousef Juhja (Oren Kessler, Tablet)
...On reaching 18, some form of national service is mandatory for non-ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel, but Arabs are exempt from the requirement. As a rule, members of the Druze and Bedoin communities voluntarily serve in the Israeli Defence Forces, however the vast majority of Israel's Arab population refuses even non-military national service.
[A man in the the Arab settlement of] Arara, however, was breaking the mould. He had sent his three sons to serve in the military, and had unfortunately lost one in combat. While mourning the loss of his son, he had discovered that there was no memorial place in Israel specifically dedicated to the Arab soldiers who had fought and died for their country -- so he determined to build one.
...his memorial still stands in Arara, unharmed. Whatever they may dislike about the rare sight of an Israeli flag in the middle of an Arab village, the people of Arara have shown it enough respect not to vandilise it or tear it down.
... [As Oren Kessler recently noted, inTablet]
... Six in 10 Israeli Arabs accept the country as a
Jewish and democratic state, but an equivalent number described that situation
as unfair. And while seven in 10 said the government treats them as
second-class citizens, a similar proportion said they prefer to live in Israel
over any other country.
... the current Arab-Israeli leadership is extremely antagonistic towards the Israeli state. The Arabs who serve in the Knesset take a very hostile line, vehemently opposing any efforts to integrate the Arab citizens of Israel into Israeli society and sometimes even supporting terrorism against Israeli civilians.
...The tide, however, is turning. A new generation of Israeli Arabs are emerging, better educated and better integrated than their forebears. It is true that Arab citizens suffer from discrimination in Israel, however there have been growing initiatives over the past decade to seriously address those problems in order to promote a more cohesive Israeli society. In the last few years, Arab towns have been added to Israel's list of "priority" towns in need of social development; there have been outreach initiatives to encourage Arabs to do national service, and there is even a new campaign from the Knesset to encourage more Arabs to attend university.
...Ron Gerlitz and Batya Kallus -- two prominent activists for the rights of Arabs in Israel -- have defended these policies and, while noting that there is much left to do, condemned those who claim that there has been no progress:
... the bottom line is that the government of Israel through its professional
staff in government ministries is closing the gaps in many fields. Yet, there
are many voices in Arab society who deny this trend...
... More and more voices are emerging from Israel's Arab community, echoing the call of Gerlitz and Kallus for them to stop rejecting the state and helping to perpetuate their own misery, but to embrace the country in which they live and fight for equality in Israeli society.
In fact, one Israeli Arab, Aatef Karinaoui, has decided to address the disparity between this emerging body of Arab citizens and their political leadership by forming a new political party called El Amal Lat'gir ('Hope for Change') and running for Knesset himself. As he explains:
All the bad things [the current Arab
leaders] say about Israel and its supposed ill-treatment of Arabs is a lie, a
bald-faced lie. Arab members of Knesset are setting a fire. They feed off of
the politics of division and don't represent the Arab public. The Arab Knesset
members do nothing to educate them or advance their situation... But [at
present] there is no alternative to the current leadership. ... "We don't
need the Arab members of Knesset to obsess over marginal matters and foreign
affairs as they've been doing. We have real, pressing concerns -- 15 people
living in a single house, land issues, education problems. We have plenty to
deal with. But [Arab MKs] distance us from the mainstream and don't want
progress. Their leadership is the real failure.
For Juhja, while he recognises the discrimination that he faces, he also sees the solution as democratic participation and societal engagement, not fighting against Israel's existence.
[A cousin of Juhja's said that:]
"I'm proud that I'm an Israeli citizen and that I live in the state of
Israel, but I feel constant discrimination. There are huge gaps between the
Jewish and Arab communities on every level."
"I go to Tel Aviv and hear ‘Death to the Arabs.' Then I go into the [Palestinian] territories, and I'm treated as if I'm half a Jew," he says. "If peace comes in another 10 or 15 years, and if I'm given my rights and made to feel like I belong, I'll be the first to send my sons to enlist."
Juhja, undeterred, dresses down his younger relative.
"You are a minority. Every minority in the world suffers to a certain extent-some more, others less. But you have to express your frustration in an organized, democratic way," he says. "For the past year and a half, young people in Tel Aviv have protested over the lack of housing. If you want to protest discrimination, do so within the framework of the law."
Lighting another smoke, Juhja turns to me and cuts to the heart of the matter. "I'm not a citizen of Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, or even the Palestinian Authority," he says. "I'm a Muslim-Arab Israeli. I received Israeli citizenship the moment I was born."
"I go to Tel Aviv and hear ‘Death to the Arabs.' Then I go into the [Palestinian] territories, and I'm treated as if I'm half a Jew," he says. "If peace comes in another 10 or 15 years, and if I'm given my rights and made to feel like I belong, I'll be the first to send my sons to enlist."
Juhja, undeterred, dresses down his younger relative.
"You are a minority. Every minority in the world suffers to a certain extent-some more, others less. But you have to express your frustration in an organized, democratic way," he says. "For the past year and a half, young people in Tel Aviv have protested over the lack of housing. If you want to protest discrimination, do so within the framework of the law."
Lighting another smoke, Juhja turns to me and cuts to the heart of the matter. "I'm not a citizen of Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, or even the Palestinian Authority," he says. "I'm a Muslim-Arab Israeli. I received Israeli citizenship the moment I was born."
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