ISRAELI-ARAB CIVIC LEADERS SAY THEY ARE ON CUTTING

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 TEL AVIV 002644

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON IS KDEM PHUM SCUL ISRAELI SOCIETY GOI INTERNAL
SUBJECT: ISRAELI-ARAB CIVIC LEADERS SAY THEY ARE ON CUTTING
EDGE OF DEMOCRACY-BUILDING IN ISRAEL


1. Summary: Israeli-Arab civil rights representatives
stressed to the Ambassador in a June 28 luncheon their
commitment to achieving greater equality within Israel as
they strive for increasing cooperation with their Jewish
compatriots. While they discussed the various problems
facing Israel's 1.2 million Arab minority, including
socio-economic inequalities and institutional and societal
discrimination, they shared thoughts about their desire to
rebuild trust between Israeli Jews and Arabs and to counter
what they referred to as a trend to delegitimize their status
as Israeli citizens. They agreed with the Ambassador's point
that successful Jewish-Arab cooperation in Israel could serve
as a model for the Middle East. End Summary.


2. Representatives of six Israeli-Arab NGOS, plus two
Israeli-Arab academics participated in a luncheon June 28
hosted by the Ambassador to discuss issues and concerns of
Israel's Arab citizens. Most of the participants were either
alumni of the State Department's International Visitor
Program or associated with organizations that have been
beneficiaries of the Department's MEPI program. The guests,
in a frank discussion, all referred to themselves as
Palestinian citizens of Israel, rather than as "Israeli
Arabs." They agreed on many of the main concerns facing the
Israeli-Arab community, including societal and institutional
discrimination, rising distrust between Jews and Arabs, and
government neglect of the Arab sector. The following are
some of the main points that were raised.

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Include Bedouin in Negev Development Plans
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3. All attendees expressed strong concern over the GOI's
policy regarding Israel's 140,000 Bedouin, most of whom live
in 37 so-called "unrecognized villages" in the Negev. They
criticized the GOI's policy of demolishing Bedouin houses in
these unrecognized villages, which are built without the
necessary permits -- which the GOI rarely issues -- and are
therefore considered illegal by the GOI. The attendees
asserted that no procedure exists for residents to obtain the
building permits. (Note: See Israeli Human Rights Report
for full details on this decades-long issue. End note.)
Sonia Boulos, attorney for the Association for Civil Rights
in Israel (ACRI),began the discussion with an impassioned
plea to the Ambassador to intervene to prevent the GOI's
demolition of the house of a Bedouin child who is suffering
from cancer. Boulos said that the Supreme Court recently
denied ACRI's petition in a long-standing case to require
that the GOI connect the child's house to the national
electric grid so that her medications could be refrigerated.


4. In response to the Ambassador's query, Faisal Sawalha,
director for The Regional Council for the Arab Unrecognized
Villages in the Negev, said that the GOI does not compensate
those whose houses are demolished, nor does it find them
other housing. He said that his council or the Bedouin
community itself usually helps those affected to rebuild
their meager houses -- which he characterized as metal shacks
worth on the average about NIS 20,000 (USD 4,400). Dr. Aref
Abu-Rabia, chairman of the Department of Middle East Studies
of the Negev's Ben Gurion University, and also an IVP alumni,
added that he himself lives in an unrecognized Bedouin
village and his house lacks running water and electricity.
(Note: The GOI offers Bedouin in unrecognized villages the
option of moving to one of the eight GOI-sponsored
"townships" for Bedouin resettlement. Many Bedouin, however,
do not wish to leave their native villages. End note.)
Salwaha said that many of these unrecognized villages
pre-date not only the 1965 planning laws of Israel, but the
establishment of the State itself.


5. Most of the attendees voiced concern about the GOI's
exclusion of Bedouin representatives from its planning
process to develop the Negev and Galilee regions. Sawalha
said that Israel's National Security Council (NSC) published
recommendations for this plan in January 2006 in which, he
claimed, the NSC compared the status of the Bedouin living in
unrecognized villages to that of the settlers who were
evacuated from the Gaza settlement of Gush Katif, even though
the Bedouin are indigenous to the Negev. Sawalha asserted
that Minister for the Development of the Negev and Galilee
Shimon Peres on the one hand criticizes the demolition of
Bedouin homes, but, on the other, has not acted to change
this government policy. Sawalha and Amal Elsana-Alhjooj, a
Bedouin activist and founder of the Forum of Negev Arab
Women's Organizations and Initiatives, both made the point
that the USG should pressure Israel to include the Bedouin
community in its planning process for Negev development.
Jafah Farah, director of the Mossawa Advocacy Center for Arab
Citizens of Israel, asked the Ambassador to consider that
when the GOI asks for assistance for its Negev and Galilee
plan, that the USG require that 20 percent of those in the
planning process be Arabs.

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Promote Civil Rights, Socio-Economic Equality, Education
-------------- --------------


6. Invitees highlighted the need for greater protection of
minority rights and socio-economic equality, including in
education. Farah noted that the GOI has yet to implement any
of the Orr Commission's 2003 recommendations for addressing
the historical socio-economic and societal discrimination
that has confronted the Israeli-Arab community and that
formed the backdrop to the October 2000 demonstrations in
which 12 Israeli-Arab citizens were killed by Israeli police.
Farah added that in 2000, the GOI approved a plan to
dedicate some NIS four billion (USD 850 million) to the
Israeli-Arab sector over several years, but that to date,
little of this money has actually been allocated. He claimed
that less than four percent of the state's development budget
has been allocated to the Arab sector, which comprises 20
percent of the population. This situation, he said, has
added to a sense of frustration in the Arab community, which
has been manifested by a decreasing voter turnout rate. In
the March 28 election, Farah said, only 54 percent of Arabs
voted, the lowest turnout rate ever, he said. (Note: The
reason the Arab parties did not lose seats in the Knesset was
that a smaller percentage of Arab voters cast their ballots
for non-Arab parties than in years past. End note.)


7. Ali Haider, co-chair of the NGO "Sikkuy" (Hebrew for
"chance, or opportunity") The Association for the Advancement
of Civic Equality, highlighted the problem of equality in
government employment, adding that Israeli Arabs comprise
only 5.5% of the civil service. Several attendees pointed to
the need to establish an equal employment opportunity
commission in Israel similar to that in the U.S. and noted
that the 2004 visit of U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity
(EEO) Commissioner Stuart Ishimaru served as the catalyst for
the Israeli parliament's (Knesset) action to establish an
EEOC. Dr. Faisal Azaiza, director of the Jewish-Arab Center
at Haifa University, said that monthly surveys that his
center conducts within the Arab population show that Israeli
Arabs are mainly concerned about achieving socio-economic
equality with the Jewish population, particularly in land
allocation and education opportunities. He noted a trend of
more Arab women seeking higher education, with some 55
percent of the Arab student population at Haifa University
now being female. He also highlighted progress in
educational equality, noting that until 1995, only 17 Arabs
were lecturers at Israeli universities and that between
1995-2005 some 50 Arabs became tenured professors at Israeli
universities. Several attendees emphasized the importance of
USG study programs for Israeli Arabs. Mohammed Darawshe,
director of development at the Abraham Fund, who received a
2006 MEPI grant for a job placement project for Arab women,
noted the benefits of the U.S. Arab Scholarship Fund and
stressed the need to expand the fund to include more
recipients.


8. Attendees also echoed their concern about the Supreme
Court's May 14 decision upholding Israel's Citizenship and
Entry into Israel law, which bars many Palestinians from the
occupied territories from acquiring residency or citizenship
rights through marriage to Israelis. Farah claimed that this
law has led to the division of some 21,000 families, mainly
Israeli Arabs married to Palestinians from the West Bank and
Gaza. Farah also claimed that the State sponsors three
Jewish NGOs that are actively campaigning against marriages
between Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs. Farah asked that the
Ambassador apply his personal influence and raise concerns
over these inequalities with the GOI, and specifically with
the Attorney General. Farah and several other attendees made
the point during the discussion that the USG should ensure
that some of the USD three billion in annual assistance to
Israel is allocated to the Israeli-Arab sector. A/DCM Finn
described the USG-funded Arab-Israeli Scholarship Fund as one
way in which the USG directs assistance specifically to this
sector. D/Econ Counselor noted that the U.S. directs many of
its environmental and science grants to this sector as well.

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Make Israel a Testing Ground for
Jewish-Arab Co-existence
--------------


9. Attendees discussed the need for Israeli Jews and Arabs
to address what it means to share citizenship and be treated
as equals in Israel. Darawshe expressed concern about what
he and other guests described as growing racism by Israeli
Jews against Israeli Arabs. Sikkuy's Haider said that
Israeli Jews increasingly favor a GOI policy to encourage
Israeli Arabs to emigrate from Israel. He pointed to a
recent poll (conducted by the Israel Democracy Institute)
that showed 62 percent of Israeli Jewish respondents favoring
this policy compared with 42 percent in a similar poll
conducted two years ago. Farah criticized government
ministers for making prejudicial comments about Israeli
Arabs. He cited as an example Likud leader Binyamin
Netanyahu, who, Farah said, in a major speech in 2003,
referred to Israeli Arabs as a "demographic problem."
Darawshe warned against "sweeping this problem under the
carpet" and said that this trend is leading toward a
delegitimation of Israeli-Arab citizenship. He also referred
to a "huge lack of trust" between Jews and Arabs in Israel.


10. Darawshe and other attendees emphasized the importance
of Israeli Arabs and Jews finding a "working formula" for
cooperating and respecting each other's identity. He said
that Israel could serve as a model for Jewish-Arab
coexistence in the Middle East. Bedouin activist and
feminist Elsana-Alhjooj said that she has been working to
create a way of communication for Jews and Arabs so that they
can speak with each other while recognizing each other's
different identities. She referred to this as a "third
space" or "narrative." She said that she has met with groups
of Jewish religious girls from settlements to educate them
about Bedouin culture. She said that one girl asked her why
the Bedouin do not leave Israel and settle in an Arab country
if they want to be treated as equals. Elsana-Alhjooj said
she explained to her that the Bedouin are indigenous to
Israel and do not want to leave.

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Untapped Internal Arab Market
--------------


11. Sikkuy Co-Chair Haider agreed with the Ambassador that
Israel's Arab community could be viewed as an asset to
Israel. According to Darawshe, Israeli Arabs generate some
7.8 percent of Israel's GNP, and that this represents an
amount greater than the level of Israeli trade with Egypt and
Jordan. Farah added that at least 4,000 Israeli Arabs attend
university in Jordan every year. He said that the GOI has
resisted establishing an Israeli-Arab university in Israel
and is therefore losing the revenue that this could generate.
The Ambassador raised the importance of involving the
Israeli-Arab community in the tourism industry.

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American Jewish Groups Supporting Israeli Arabs
-------------- --


12. Several attendees noted that they have received support
from American Jewish organizations, both monetary and
political. Elsana Alhjooj said that she met in New York City
with Jewish fund-raisers -- whom she described as
"heavy-hitters" -- who have been receptive to providing
funding to the Israeli-Arab community. Farah said that
American Jewish groups have shown more sensitivity to
Israeli-Arab concerns because they understand better than
Israeli Jews what it means to be a minority and are more
willing to listen to Israeli Arabs' concerns.

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