The
consensus among experts on the Israeli Arab community is that the suicide
(martyrdom) bombing in Nahariya on Sunday - the first such incident carried out
by an Israeli Arab - signified more than just a warning about the
possibility of others following this path. More importantly, they say, the
attack by Mohammed Shaker Habeishi from the town of Abu Snan reflected the
difficult plight of the Arab community one year into the intifada and the
feelings of despair that could lead the entire Arab public into a popular
uprising.
"The past year was a miserable one for the the Arabs in
Israel, perhaps the most difficult one they've experienced," says Dr.
Eli Reches of Tel Aviv University. "It was a wretched year of backtracking
in every possible area related to the lives of the Arabs in the state."
According to Reches, the growing despair has produced some
expressions of extremism, but these are relatively marginal and are of less
concern that the prospect of a general uprising by the Arabs in Israel.
"In my view, the question is not "Will this happen?" but rather
"When will this happen?"
Dr. Danny Rabinowitz of Hebrew University says he is
especially worried by the fact that extremism among the Arabs in Israel is
not generated - like among the Palestinians in the territories - by "the
despair of people who have nothing to lose." He says that some feel that
they gradually have less to lose and are particularly worried about an erosion
of their rights as citizens. "The existential threat of expulsion is
becoming real in their eyes," he said. "The fact that this is
happening presents a clear and very troubling writing on the wall."
The growing frustration among the Arabs of Israel is
partly due to a feeling of hopelessness in regard to the escalating
Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but also stems from a feeling that the
Israeli establishment is indifferent to their special needs. As part of
this atmosphere, the feeling of Palestinian national identity is strengthening
(especially among the youth) and Israeli Arabs are adopting a more
assertive approach to exercising their civil rights in Israel.
"The message of the events of last October, the eyes of
the Arabs, is" `If you go out to demonstrate, you're liable to get
killed,'" says Dr. Asad Ganam, a co-director of the Sikkuy non-governmental
organization and a lecturer at Haifa University. As a result, he says, the
leaders of the Arab public have become wary of mass demonstrations and do not
dare to initiate such protests.
"This silence causes more rage to boil up, especially
among the youth." Seeking an outlet for this rage, some are ready to take
violent action against Jews, Ganam explains.
This feeling of frustration among Israeli Arabs is not
only due to the security policy of the Sharon government, but also to its
domestic policies, Ganam notes. "As the Arabs view things, this coalition
of ministers is the worst of the past 20 years. One minister in the government
for whom the transfer of the Arabs of Israel is the centerpiece of his
ideology; there is a minister who only last week proposed evacuating settlements
in return for the evacuation of the Arab citizens of Israel; there is a
minister who announced that she would make financial support for Arab education
conditional on expressions of loyalty from the Arab schools; and above all, the
prime minister enjoys very wide support among the Jewish public."
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has failed to follow through on
promises made to the Arabs of Israel. A four-year plan for the Arab sector
has joined other grandiose plans on the back shelf. The impact of the five-year
plan initiated by the former education minister, Yossi Sarid, is barely
discernible. Plans to bring Arab academics into government service and on to the
boards of government companies have made little headway and the plans for
developing the Bedouin sector have not been implemented at all.
In addition, the Arabs of Israel are witness to a
hardening of the views of Israeli Jews, including increasing expressions
of racism and hatred toward Arabs by both elected leaders and the man in the
street.
"The intifada of Palestinians in Israel last
October occurred, among other reasons, due to a hard feeling of being pushed to
the margins," says journalist Wadia Awada. "Today this feeling has
only strengthened and is pushing us to develop a separate identity. The
bitterness accumulates and leads to a profound feeling of alienation; this
effectively cuts off the Arabs from the state and the Jewish public."
Beyond the political and civic aspects, the intifada has also
taken an economic toll on the Arab citizens of Israel. According to a
survey conducted by the Arab-Jewish Center for Economic Development earlier this
year, the number of Jews visiting Arab communities has dropped by 50 percent
since last October. In some place, such as Nazareth, visits by Jews are some
80-90 percent off their pre-intifada level.
Haaretz,
11-9-2001.