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What does a "Jewish State" really mean?
- 1. What does a “Jewish State” really mean? Peter Larson Chair, Education Committee on Israel/Palestine NATIONAL COUNCIL ON CANADA-ARAB RELATIONS
- 2. Two conflicting narratives: “Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East” “Israel is an apartheid state”
- 3. A little geography reminder….. Haifa Acre Presentation Outline European Anti-Semitism and the Zionist idea The creation of Israel Modern Israel Palestinian Israelis (or Israeli Arabs) Citizenship rights vs. national rights Consequences: Land Education Employment Conclusions
- 4. The spread of Judaism
- 5. • European anti- Semitism has a long history
- 6. Evolution of the Zionist idea •1895 Theodor Herzl proposes the idea of a Jewish State as the only way to protect Jews •1914 – WWI – opposes Britain/France against Germany/Ottoman empire •1917 Britain promises to create a “homeland” for Jews in Palestine “Balfour declaration” •1921 – League of Nations gives Britain a “mandate” for Palestine
- 7. States and borders created by imperial powers after WWI
- 8. Jewish immigration into “mandate Palestine” • Population of Palestine (1914)* • 657,000 Muslim • 81,000 Christian • 59,000 Jews _____________ TOTAL 800,000 * est. J. McCarthy •Population 1931 •760,000 Muslim •91,000 Christian •174,610 Jews •____________ •1,026,000 •* British Census, 1931
- 9. 1937 – ‘45 The holocaust ‘38 – ‘47 Massive immigration of European Jews ‘31 -48” Jewish population triples (to estimated 650,000) Nov. ‘47 – UN vote to partition Palestine the “Nakba” – expulsion of 750,000 Palestinians May 15 1948 - Israel Declaration of Independence May 1949 – Israel admitted to UN
- 10. The “Naqba” (Dec. ‘47 – Dec. ‘48) Starting immediately after UN vote, in December ‘47, Jewish militias move to “liberate” Israel by May 15th , 400,000 Palestinians expelled the operation continues another 6 months - in total about 750,000 flee Resulting in a Jewish majority
- 11. 1947/48 - Palestinians driven out of most arable land
- 12. But the “Judaisation” was not complete • Jewish troops only got 78% of former Mandate Palestine • they couldn’t get West Bank or Gaza • About 100,000 Palestinians remained inside Israel Why? Jewish militias limited – too many Palestinians After May 15th Arab countries intervened Hesitations of western powers Nazareth an interesting special case In the end: They became citizens of Israel For 20 years lived under military rule (1948 – 1967)
- 13. Where are the Palestinians today? 1. Refugee Camps (Lebanon, Jordan, Syria)* 3.7 M 2. West Bank 2.4 M 3. Gaza 1.8 M 4. Israel 1.5 M 5. Diaspora 2.0 M Total 11.4 M * - there are also refugee camps in Gaza and the WB Israel 1.4 M Gaza 1.8 M West Bank 2.4 M
- 14. Israel • a booming, high tech, modern, European-type country • “start up nation” • GDP/capita $32K
- 15. Palestinian Israelis (or Arab Israelis) • About 20% of Israeli population (1.4 million) • 90% Muslim, 10% Christian • Citizens of Israel • Passport • Right to vote • Represented in Knesset • State supplied education • Elect own mayors of towns and villages • Eligible for Supreme Court • Arabic officially recognized • Religious freedom • Surveys show they prefer to live in Israel > OPT or Egypt Israeli Knesset – 13 of 120 Knesset members are Arab Israelis
- 16. Furthermore: • Palestinian Israelis can: travel wherever they want inside Israel shop at the same stores, go to the same beaches, eat in the same restaurants as Jewish Israelis go to the same universities
- 17. But Israel is a “Jewish State” •i.e. the State of Jews around the world, NOT the State of its Citizens Implications: any Jew anywhere in the world can immigrate to Israel and automatically gain citizenship Most of the land of Israel (97%) is held “in perpetuity’ for Jews Israel makes great efforts to recruit Jews No possibility for the refugees to return to their homes While Israel actively recruits Jews
- 18. Laws supporting “the Jewish State of Israel” • Laws explicitly based on race/religion • Laws that permit official discrimination on the basis of race/religion • Administrative practices based on race/religion House building permits Employment Education Government services, etc. Lack of laws that make discrimination on the basis of race/religion illegal
- 20. Citizenship vs. ‘Nationality’ By law – every Israeli citizen has both ‘citizenship’ and ‘nationality’ (e.g. ‘Jewish’, Arab, Druze, etc. etc.)’ • some rights come from citizenship • other rights flow from ‘nationality’ • 75% of the citizens of Israel have the ‘jewish’ nationality
- 21. Some citizenship rights: • legal equality • the right to vote • the right to be elected • the right to be named a judge • the right to a passport and to travel • the right to travel anywhere inside Israel • free education K- 12 Some rights that flow from ‘nationality’ • the right to own property on 97% of the land • where one can live • various state subsidies • Immigration law • quality of school system • access to best jobs
- 22. Israeli basic law defines Israel as "A Jewish and Democratic State” “The State of Israel will affirm complete social and political equality for all its citizens, regardless of religion, race, or gender." - Israeli Declaration of Independence But there is little legal foundation for equality or human rights. These two notions are often in conflict and the High Court often has to balance them.
- 23. Three small examples 1. Can an Arab Israeli live in a ‘Jewish Municipality’? 2 Can an Arab Israeli get a license to produce and sell eggs? 3 Do Arab citizens have a right to have a say in planning?
- 24. Example 1: Can an Arab Israeli live in a Jewish municipality? 93% of the land of Israel belongs to the state Jewish communities have “admissions committees”
- 26. September 14, 2014 Yesterday, Israel’s Supreme Court dismissed a petition by Adalah: The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel. According to Adalah, the court’s decision upholding Israel’s Admissions Committees Law, “entrenches racial segregation; 434 small communities in Israel, or 43% of all residential areas, will be allowed to close their doors to Palestinian Arab citizens of the state.”
- 27. Example 2 Can an Arab Israeli get a licence to produce and sell eggs? For the first time in history, Arab farmers hatch official Israel egg license Six Arab farmers who met the ministry's quality standards have now been chosen; others complain conditions make it financially not worthwhile. By Amiram Cohen and Jack Khoury | Dec. 28, 2011 | 1:50 AM Eggs at a Tel Aviv restaurant, 2010. Photo by Nir Kafri
- 28. Example 3 – Do Arab Citizens have any right to have a say in planning? Court Rules in Favor of Arab Planning Rights Update:June 13, 2013 The District Court for Administrative Matters ruled in favor of the Arab-Israeli residents. Up until now, Arab citizens of Israel have not been represented in the State planning committees and divisions that decide upon planning and building laws. - From ACRI website
- 29. Practical consequences - A tale of two towns: Kufr Qasm and Rosh Haayin
- 30. Introducing Rosh Ha’ayin • Created in 1955 as a new Jewish municipality
- 31. Rosh Haayin is a Jewish municipality in Israel. It could be a gated community in California with checkpoints at the entrances. I was surprised to see how segregated Israel is. Apart from a few “mixed” cities, no Jews live in Arab towns and no Palestinians live in Jewish municipalities
- 32. Arab Israeli village of Kafr Qasim
- 33. KQ appears rather over crowded But not “poverty stricken”
- 34. Two neighbouring towns compared: Kefr Qasm vs. Rosh Ha’ayin • Pop’n: 18,500 • (Cf: 1931 census – 989) • Founded (Ottoman empire) • 100% Arab Palestinian • Area• 9,1 km2 • Av. Income 3663 NIS • Pop’n 35,500 • Founded 1950’s (on site of earlier Arab village) • 99.7% Jewish (many from Yemen) • Area• 24,3 km2 • Av. Income 8408 NIS Figures from Israeli Bureau of Statistics, 2000 census
- 35. Two neighbouring towns compared: Kefr Qassm vs. Rosh Ha’ayin • no • no • no • none • 70% • no • YES • YES • YES • SEVERAL • 100% • Yes • Municipal library • Swimming pool • Cultural centre • Irrigated parks • % paved roads • Train station
- 36. How to explain the striking differences between the two towns? Two neighbouring towns compared: Kefr Qasm vs. Rosh Ha’ayin • Pop’n: 18,500 • (Cf: 1931 census – 989) • Founded (Ottoman empire) • 100% Arab Palestinian • Area• 9,1 km2 • Pop’n density: 2000/km2 • Av. Income 3663 NIS • Pop’n 35,500 • Founded 1950’s (on site of earlier Arab village) • 99.7% Jewish (mostly from Yemen) • Area• 24,3 km2 • Pop’n density: 1440/km2 • Av. Income 8408 NIS Figures from Israeli Bureau of Statistics, 2000 census Rosh Ha’Ayin is designated a “Jewish community” – Admissions committee – Subsidies from Israel – Zoning is in its favour – Government offices, etc.
- 37. 93% of Israel is now “State land”
- 38. Socio-Economic Consequences Jews vs. Arabs inside Israel Some examples: Income (average income $/year) Jewish $31K Arab $21K Poverty rate (families after transfers) Jewish 12.3% Arab 44.9% Education (Qualification for matriculation certificate) Jewish 75.9% Arab 30.8% Unemployment (Unemployment rate) Jewish 6.9% Arab = 10.9% Civil service employment Jewish 94% Arab = 6% All figures from Dirasat (Arab Centre for Law and Policy), ADALAH, and Central Bureau of Statistics, Israel
- 39. Education in Israel • State supplied education K – 12 (“Bagrout”) • Israel fares very well on international tests • But… education is segregated: • Jewish schools (in Hebrew) • Arab schools (in Arabic)
- 40. Education for the Palestinian minority in Israel Four major problems: 1.Inadequate funding 2.Poor outcomes 3.Curriculum 4.Barriers to higher education for Arabs
- 41. Poor quality education for Arabs… • Funding 3 to 4 times more per capita for Jewish schools • Poor outcomes - few graduate
- 42. Arab Israeli Curriculum “The primary objective of education is to preserve the Jewish nature of the state by teaching its history, culture and language”. – Israeli State Education Law 1953 The Arab Israeli school system does not teach Palestinian culture and history – it teaches Jewish culture and history
- 43. Barriers to higher education for Arab Israelis • No Arabic language university in Israel • Hebrew and English test • Few Palestinians on faculty (<2%) • Psychometric exam • Subsidies to those who have done military service • Justified on grounds that Israel is a “Jewish State”
- 44. • Israel tolerant of dissent (e.g. occupy movement) but Arab Israelis seen as ‘5th column • even peaceful Arab demonstrations often violently suppressed • Arab MK’s often attacked by police in demonstrations Peaceful demonstration over Gaza by Israeli Arabs in Nazareth broken up by Israeli police Repression of Arab Israeli dissent
- 45. Objective: to protect the Jewish State of Israel Provides for: •military tribunals to try civilians without appeal, •sweeping searches and seizures, •prohibiting publication of books and newspapers, •detaining individuals administratively for an indefinite period, •sealing off particular territories, and •imposing curfew, etc., etc. • First introduced 1949 • Re-voted every year by Knesset. •Always a potential tool against Arab Israelis •Almost never used against Jews Defense (emergency) regulations (1949) (= The war measures act)
- 46. Suppression of traces of Palestinian culture, history and identity • Above – ruined Palestinian Bedouin cemetery in downtown Be’ersheva • Right – Canada Park – built on ruins of a Palestinian village – all signage in Hebrew and English Elimination of traces of Palestinian culture in Israel
- 47. Pervasive Racism • 50% of Israelis think “Arabs should leave Israel” • Petty exclusions • Professional limitations • No legal remedy because Israel is a “Jewish state”
- 48. Palestinian Israelis (A second look) • About 20% of Israeli population (1.4 million) • Citizens of Israel Israeli passports Right to vote Represented in Knesset State supplied education Elect own mayors of towns and villages Eligible for Supreme Court • Arabic an official language • Religious freedom • Surveys show prefer to live in Israel Store sign: Help wanted “after military service”
- 49. My conclusions Bahai Garden on Mount Carmel, Haifa
- 50. • Israel is a European type country with high level of socio-economic development and a developed political structure and legal framework. • It has some aspects of a liberal democracy • Its declaration of independence declares that there shall be no discrimination on the basis of gender, religion, ethnicity, etc. Conclusion 1
- 51. Conclusion # 2 • But Israel legally defines itself as a “Jewish State”. • This allows preferential treatment for Jews - in education, employment, housing, land ownership and many other areas. • Commonly (but not always) upheld by the courts • This is the basic rationale for the proposed “Nation State” law NOTE: Being Jewish has little to do with religion. Many Israelis are secular. But you are a “Jew” if your document says so, otherwise …
- 52. Conclusion #3 • The Palestinian citizens of Israel struggle against a different form of discrimination than that faced by those who live in the West Bank. • There are no settler only roads, settlements or checkpoints • But it is a legalized, institutionalized discrimination based on race/ethnicity/religion
- 53. Conclusion # 4 • Israel’s Jewish majority can continue to “democratically” vote privileges for itself as long as the refugees are denied their right to return
- 54. Conclusion # 5: Canadian support for the idea of Israel “as a Jewish state” is very problematic for anyone who believes in equality and democracy.
- 55. What does a “Jewish State” really mean? Peter Larson Chair, Education Committee on Israel/Palestine NATIONAL COUNCIL ON CANADA-ARAB RELATIONS
- 56. The “Forgotten Palestinians”: The Israeli-Arab search for democracy and equal rights inside today’s Israel Thank you Peter.Larson@nccar.ca
- 57. UN Proposal – Nov. 1947 Britain out – Palestine partitioned • Accepted by Ben Gurion and Zionist Movement • Rejected by Palestinians • Over next 5 months, armed Jewish groups move to take over the country – several massacres of civilians, Haifa and Jaffa shelled with mortars, etc. • Palestinian civilians begin to flee to the interior or Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt • May 14th , 1948 Ben Gurion declares State of Israel. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians flood into neighbouring states. • Neighbouring states armies attack Israeli forces to defend Palestinians
- 58. Map Source: Encyclopedia Britannica, 1935 Population of Palestine (1931) • 734,000 Muslims • 169,000 Jews • 85,000 Christians 1931 British Census of Palestine • Palestinian population mostly agricultural • About 20% lived in 3 or 4 major towns (Haifa, Jaffa, Lud, Jerusalem) • The rest lived in hundreds of small farming villages
- 61. When the dust settled… • Israel created - controlling 78% of former Mandate Palestine • 85% of Palestinians (750,000) are outside Israel and not allowed to return • Israel now has a majority of Jews (600,000 Jews vs. 150,000 remaining Palestinians) • Israeli Parliament democratically votes a series of “basic laws” including the confiscation of all the land belonging to refugees in the name of Jewish people
- 62. Abandoned, evacuated and/or destroyed Palestinian localities (comparative figures) Reference Towns Villages Tribes Total Morris 10 342 17 369 Khalidi 1 400 17 418 Abu Sitta 13 419 99 531 What happened to their villages?
- 64. Sabra Jews (born in Israel) Jews from Europe and America Jews from Asia/Africa Palestinian Arab Others Israel is a complex society of 7.6 million people – about 76% are Jewish
Notes de l'éditeur
- Hello My name is Peter Larson. I have called my talk tonight “The Forgotten Palestinians”: the Israeli Arab Search for democracy and equal rights inside today’s Israel. It seems that Israel and the Palestinians are in the news almost every other day. Most of the talk is about the West Bank, or the Wall, or Gaza. But I would like to talk a bit about the Palestinians who live inside Israel. Israel prefers to call them “Israeli Arabs”, which they are of course. They are Arabs and they have Israeli citizenship. And when you are talking to them, sometimes they refer to themselves that way. As you know, in the last few years, Israel has started insisting that it be recognized as a “Jewish State”. In fact, when Prime Minister Stephen Harper met Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu in March, he reiterated that Canada recognizes Israel’s right to exist “as a Jewish State”. Tonight I am going to examine the lives of the 1.4 million Palestinians – mostly Muslim, but also some Christians, who live in the “Jewish state” of Israel.
- I know that many of you know quite a bit about the area, but in case you are fuzzy on your geography here is a map of the region today. The purple area is what is called Israel. Its borders are the ones recognized by the international community – including Canada, the US etc. Around Israel you have Egypt on the left, a very long border with Jordan on the East, and in the North Lebanon and Syria. Today Israel controls not only the purple, but also the yellow areas. There are 3 areas – Gaza, the West Bank and the Golan heights. Israel took them over in the 67 war, and has occupied those territories for the last 40 years or so. By the way the “West Bank” is called the “West Bank” because it is the west bank of the Jordan River which flows from the Sea of Galilea to the Dead Sea. If you had looked at this map in, say 1935, all of the area in purple and yellow would have been labeled “Palestine”. In fact I have a 1935 Encyclopedia Britannica article which does just that. But when Israel was created in 1948, Palestine was wiped off the map and most of the Palestinians were forced to leave.
- There have been Jews, Muslims and Christians living in Palestine for centuries. The Jews tended to be concentrated in the cities – especially Jerusalem, In 1867 an American Missionary reported an estimated population of Jerusalem of about 15,000, of whom 6,000 were Muslims, 5,000 Jews and about 2000 Christians. All were Palestinians. All spoke Arabic. At the time, of the British Census of 1931, Jews comprised about 20% of the population. In 1914 Palestine had a population of 657,000 Muslim Arabs, 81,000 Christian Arabs, and 59,000 Jews. http://lostislamichistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/mandate.jpg Estimated by US demographer Justin McCarthy British Census 1931759,717 Muslims, 174,610 Jews, 91,398 Christians,
- The Jewish/Israeli takeover of Palestine was not like the German invasion of France, or the Allied conquest of Germany. In those cases, the conquering power left the local populations in place. But the Jewish/Israeli forces wanted to take over the land of Palestine and make it into a Jewish state. This was an actual plan – it was called the Plan Dalet. It was approved by Ben Gurion. Any Palestinian village that resisted the Jewish takeover would be destroyed and its population expelled. An estimated 750,000 Palestinians fled from their homeland. Despite repeated UN resolutions, Israel has never let them return. Where did they go??
- So where are the Palestinians today? Estimates vary. Israeli sources tend to lowball, the Palestinian sources tend to do the opposite. According to Wikipedia there are between 11 and 20 million Palestinians in the world today. I have used the lower number of 11 million. I do not try to defend these numbers exactly. But they are pretty good approximations. About 2.4 million live in the West Bank. On my first trip to the region I spent most of my time here – in Bethlehem, Hebron, Jericho, the Jordan Valley and East Jerusalem. This is where the fight is over the wall, the settlements, the house demolitions and so on that are so much in the news. Another 1.6 million live in Gaza. I have never been there, but we do hear quite a bit about the difficult conditions for people in Gaza, especially after the Israeli attack on Gaza in 2009. According to the UN, there are 4.7 million refugees. Of these about 1.2 million live in refugee camps in Gaza and the West bank, but the rest, about 3.5 million live in Lebanon, Jordan and Syria). About 1.4 million Palestinians live inside Israel Finally, there are approximately 2 million Palestinians in the diaspora. This number is the least clear. (e.g. Should a Palestinian who has lived in Canada for 20 years be counted or not??. Should a Palestinian who was in a refugee camp in Jordan, but who became a Jordanian citizen, be included, or not??) . I have taken the smallest number used by any independent sources.)
- To understand the Palestinians in Israel (or Israeli Arabs, if you want), you have to understand a bit about Israel. Israel is a booming, modern, high tech, European-type country. Its boosters have labelled it “start-up” nation, which alludes to its technological innovation as well as to the fact that it is a “new” country. As you travel around Israel, it is hard not to be impressed by the modern Ben Gurion airport, its super expressways, its light rail system in Jerusalem (light years apparently ahead of Ottawa), and the high tech business parks that seem to be in many areas. Israel feels more like the south of France than it does Egypt or Tunisia. Palestinian Israelis make up 20% of the population, but if you don’t look hard, its rather easy not to notice any Arab presence at all. In fact, I don’t blame tourists who think that the Palestinians are all “over there in the West Bank”. But they aren’t.
- On the face of it, Palestinian Israelis seem to be treated rather well. Certain as well as minorities in many countries of the world.
- Here is a view of KQ from Google Here is KQ. You can see the empty fields on the north and on the east side You can also see the industrial park I referred to. You can also see how KQ is hemmed in by the “Green line” on the east, and a highway on the south and another, important highway running north south on the west. So KQ is hemmed in on all sides. Now if you look south of KQ you can see another city. Compared to KQ it looks better planned – the streets are straighter, etc. This is because it is newer. I was created from nothing in 1955 as a new Jewish municipality. This municipality, called Rosh Ha’Ayin was created in 1955 as a new Jewish municipality. It was created on lands that were confiscated by the State of Israel for “public purposes.” The boundary between the two cities is not what you would expect. The line has been drawn so that the industrial park – and the tax revenues it generates – belong to the Jewish town of RH and NOT to the Arab town of KQ.
- We then drove over to see Rosh Ha’Ayin and Oranit – the two Jewish towns. As far as we could see, Rosh Ha’Ayin was doing very well. At least, that is what is indicated on its website. 1948 – Jews owned 7% of land of Palestine. The rest 93% was owned by Arab Palestinians However, today, the situation is reversed. 93% of all the land is owned by State of Israel and JNF. You can think of it as “crown land”, held in perpetuity for the State of Israel and available only for “Jewish use”. Most of the change took place through confiscation of Palestinian land through various laws between 1948 – 1964. As a result, the land available to Palestinian Israelis now approximately 3.5% of former territory. Much of the confiscated land was leased to new Jewish municipalities. In fact, since 1949, Israel has created 345 new Jewish municipalities. In the same time only 1 new Arab municipality has been created
- But there was something that I couldn’t figure out. Why was one place Arab and the other one Jewish? Why are the towns so segregated? In Canada we have Chinatown, or Greektown, or Little Italy. That is because there are lots of Chinese, or Greeks, or Italians who live there. But in fact, anybody can move there if they want to. This is not the case in Israel. Arabs are not welcome in Jewish towns. Many Jewish communities in Israel are “gated communities” – with barbed wire fences and guards. And many also have “admission committees” that judge those who would be acceptable. They often set Zionist values and “loyalty to the Zionist vision” as conditions for admission. This keeps out Arabs, of course. The Israeli supreme court has ruled that it is illegal to discriminate against Arabs. However, it has also ruled that, because Israel is Jewish state, it is permissible for communities to demand that residents be “loyal to the Zionist vision”. (Haifa, Israel) On 25 January 2012, the Attorney General (AG) submitted the state&apos;s legal response to the Supreme Court of Israel on petitions filed by Adalah and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) demanding the cancellation of the Admissions Committee Law. The law, passed by the Knesset in March 2011, allows small communities in Israel built on &apos;state land&apos; (public land) to reject applicants who &quot;do not suit the lifestyle and social fabric of the community.&quot;
- Finallly, our GPS told us to turn off the highway and we arrived in the Arab village of Kafr Qassim! The contrast with what we had just seen – the high rise buildings, the divided highways, the modernity of Israel was quite stunning. It was almost as if we had landed in an Indian reserve here in Canada. That is a bit of an exaggeration – we didn’t see any old cars or old refrigerators on the front lawn. But it was definitely ‘different”.
- Seems to be some overcrowding. Construction means adding on another storey to existing buildings. You don’t see it very well, but at the left bottom, you see a Palestinian woman, wearing a Chador driving a 4 x 4. In this town, most of the adult women were wearing headscarves – but not all.
- So lets take a look at these two neighbouring towns inside Israel They are neighbouring towns – side by side. Less than a km separates the centres of the two towns. One is Jewish – the other is Palestinian In 1948 KQ had about 2,000 inhabitants. Today it has about 18,000 In 1948 RH did not exist. But it was created in the ’50’s on land confiscated from KQ and another Arab town that today doesn’t exist any more. Today it has almost 35,000 inhabitants. And its average income is more than twice as high. This gives it a much better tax base.
- I inquired a bit more about the levels of service in the two towns. The differences are quite striking.
- The obvious answer is that one is Jewish and the other is Palestinian. But how, exactly does that work??
- In 1949, KQ had a population of about 2000 people – central square. They farmed the land all around it. At that time, RH did not exist. How did the land from KQ become the basis for the new Jewish municipality of RH? Between 1949 and 1965 the Israeli parliament, which had a Jewish majority, voted some 20 laws relating to the ownership of land. Through these laws Israel “nationalized” almost all the land belonging to Palestinians in Israel. Today, about 93% of the land of Israel now belongs to the state or to another agency called the “Jewish National Fund”. As a result, there is virtually no private ownership of land in Israel. You can’t go out and buy a plot of land like you can in Canada or the United States or France. Its kind of like “crown land” here in Canada. As the owner of the land, the state can determine what to do with it. So in 1955, the State of Israel created the Municipality of Rosh Ha’Ayin and attributed the land around KQ to the new municipality. It was to be a home for Jews arriving from Yemen. As a result, of the confiscations, KQ now hemmed in on all sides. Look at where the Industrial Park is. It is legally a part of RH. There is virtually no land in KQ for new houses or for new businesses to start up.
- From our first three days of conversations in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, we began to get a picture of the situation of Palestinian Israelis that was not quite as positive as the one I showed you earlier. Palestinian Israelis are poorer, have a lower level of education, a higher degree of unemployment, and are way under represented in the public service.
- If you go to any website about Education in Israel, you will quickly find that it stacks up pretty well. Israel does well on international tests. It has universal, free education from K- 12. And a very good university system. Israel has 4 parallel school systems. (Somewhat like we do in Canada for English/French school boards, Catholic, etc.) Three of the systems are taught in Hebrew, for Jews, one is in Arabic, for the Palestinian population of Israel. Review the 4. As a result, the Israeli school system is completely segregated along religious/ethnic lines. Less than 1% of Israeli schoolchildren to go “bilingual” (i.e. Arab/Hebrew) schools. The overwhelming majority of Jewish students in Israel have never been in class with an Arab, and few would have any Arab friends.
- The issues came down to 4 main elements Funding levels Outcomes Curriculum, and Barriers to higher education. But to do this I need to take a quick step backward and look at the overall system of Education in Israel.
- This man is now retired and lives in Haifa. He was for 30 years a teacher, principal and inspector in the Arab school system. I spent a whole day with him in Haifa, discussing Education for Palestinian Israelis. He also introduced me to some other educators. Funding – The funding formula is complicated and its hard to get official figures. They are deliberately obscured. School funding is partly done by the municipality and partly by the state. But the net of it is that Arab school system gets about 1/3 resources per student of Jewish system (= larger classes, fewer facilities, older text books, access issues) In addition there are a variety of special programs which favour Jewish school systems, e.g. “schools with high rates of Army enrolment get special budgetary allowances” (= jewish schools,) Also special allowances for “gifted students’ – these are always Jewish. Allowances for “academically weak students from disadvantaged backgrounds”. This all went to immigrants – none to Arab schools. Long legal battle to supreme court. Agreed. Schools have to roll out to Arab schools, but get permission to do it gradually. As of 2010 still no Arab schools get Shahar money
- Curriculum content strictly controlled by State of Israel. No reference to Palestinian history. Any reference to Naqba, massacres, land confiscation “out”. Interpreted as “incitement” against Jews. Palestinian students get very little instruction in Palestinian or Arab history, geography, literature or culture. In fact, they spend more time learning the Torah than the Bible (for Christian Palestinians) or the Koran. In Kufr Quasm, for example, every student knows about the KQ massacre because their parents have talked about it and there is that monument in the centre of town. But no teacher would dare talk about it if he or she wanted to keep his or her job. What’s even more significant, perhaps is that all teachers in the Arab system have to undergo a security screening by the Israeli secret police for “state security purposes”. Tell story of student who asks about PLO – a few days later the teacher gets called in to an interview by principal and agent of secret police. Refer to “the primary objective’ Independence day. Recite poems in class.
- While Israel has 8 very high quality universities – its extremely hard for Palestinian kids to get in. Here are some of the barriers: 1. the baghrout 2. language requirement Hebrew and English NB (= 3rd language for Arabs), 3. No Arabic language university. 4. Few Palestinian Faculty (less than 2% of full-time faculty) 4. Psychometric exam – like IQ test. Supposed to be predictor of success. Jewish students score on average 100 points more than Arab kids. University entrance based on scores. And then there are other obstacles. For example: Engineering, medicine, etc. reserved for students over 20 years of age. In practice this is a discriminatory measure. Most Israeli kids do military service. They can move right into these courses. Special financial support for students who come out of the military The net result is that Palestiinian kids are less than half as likely to go to university as jewish kids. This man – a Palestinian Israeli – found it easier to come to Canada to study in English than to get into an Israeli university.
- State of emergency extended every year. Implemented hundreds of times. Mostly against Palestinians. To justify land seizure, building demolition, arrest without warrant, etc. etc.
- I said earlier in my presentation that a visitor coming to Israel sees very little signs of any previous Palestinian culture or civilization. This is not an accident. Israel has embarked on a systematic campaign to eliminate signs of Arab life/culture/history in Israel. For example, the Israeli Department of transport has a program to change all street names from their Arabic names to Hebrew names. At major tourist sites, including one I visited in Jaffa signage was in English, German, Russian and Hebrew. Not Arabic. Palestinian history is ignored or suppressed. I already mentioned the KQ massacre. Teachers cannot refer to that in school. I was told that not 1 resident in 10 of the Jewish town next door would have ever heard of it. This picture at left is from a Muslim cemetery in the centre of Be’ersheba which was the Bedouin Palestinian main centre. Half of the cemetery has been turned into a shopping centre. The other half is dug up and abandoned. There is a high fence around it. Palestinians are forbidden from entering. I visited Canada Park which was particularly egregious. Not only did Israel bulldoze 3 Palestinan villages and erase any trace of them to make a park. But its signage is only in English and Arabic. The Palestinian villages were just a mirage!!
- I already mentioned the incident at the Avis counter. It was not significant in itself. There are racists in every society. But what surprised us was how easily the young woman, who was a representative of Avis dealing with a customer she didn’t know, said it. On the issue of daily humiliations – the young man from the family I stayed with wanted to join a gym in the nearby jewish town. When he got there and showed his ID – he was told it was ‘full”. He got his sister who speaks Hebrew with no accent to call and she was told there was lots of room. I met a brilliant young Palestinian Israeli lawyer who graduated from Hebrew University with high marks. She could not get a job with a Jewish law firm. Her Jewish friends all did. They are ashamed because all of think its racism. The Israel Democracy Institute 2011 report says that 32 percent of Israeli society doesn’t recognize or admit that there is discrimination against Arab Israelis. They don’t understand what the Arabs are complaining about. Because Israel is a “Jewish state” they feel its normal that non-Jews be excluded from Jewish towns. 50% of young Israelis don’t think Palestinians should have the right to vote, and an equal number think they should be “encouraged to leave” Israel.
- On the face of it, Palestinian Israelis seem to be treated rather well. Certain as well as minorities in many countries of the world. Abdel Rahman Zuabi took his seat on March 3, 1999, as the first Arab to sit on the Supreme Court. His term was for 9 months. There is currently 1 Arab judge out of 14. Is Arabic truly an official language in Israel? The CEO of the state-owned Israel Railways has rejected calls for announcements of upcoming train stations to be made in Arabic, in addition to Hebrew and English The CEO of Israel Railway has chosen to ignore calls for train stations to be announced in Arabic, claiming it would “make the train ride noisy.” Currently, announcements are in Hebrew and sometimes in English.
- Israel has many of the qualities of a “democratic” state. It has a free press, universaal suffrage, a very competitive political system, rights and freedoms for various minorities. It has a highly developed legal system, separation of the judiciary etc. etc. It also has several basic laws that proclaim equality. But those same laws also declare that Israel is a Jewish state. And when arbitrary or discriminatory measures are challenged in court by the Palesitnian minority – they usually fail before the argument that Israel is a Jewish state. Israel&apos;s practices are far removed from Canadian values as expressed in our Charter of rights and Freedoms. In fact, there is no legal recourse for Palestinians against things like discrmination in housing, or education or employment.
- Hello My name is Peter Larson. I have called my talk tonight “The Forgotten Palestinians”: the Israeli Arab Search for democracy and equal rights inside today’s Israel. It seems that Israel and the Palestinians are in the news almost every other day. Most of the talk is about the West Bank, or the Wall, or Gaza. But I would like to talk a bit about the Palestinians who live inside Israel. Israel prefers to call them “Israeli Arabs”, which they are of course. They are Arabs and they have Israeli citizenship. And when you are talking to them, sometimes they refer to themselves that way. As you know, in the last few years, Israel has started insisting that it be recognized as a “Jewish State”. In fact, when Prime Minister Stephen Harper met Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu in March, he reiterated that Canada recognizes Israel’s right to exist “as a Jewish State”. Tonight I am going to examine the lives of the 1.4 million Palestinians – mostly Muslim, but also some Christians, who live in the “Jewish state” of Israel.
- Hello My name is Peter Larson. I have called my talk tonight “The Forgotten Palestinians”: the Israeli Arab Search for democracy and equal rights inside today’s Israel. It seems that Israel and the Palestinians are in the news almost every other day. Most of the talk is about the West Bank, or the Wall, or Gaza. But I would like to talk a bit about the Palestinians who live inside israel. Israel prefers to call them “Israeli Arabs”, which they are of course. They are Arabs and they have Israeli citizenship. And when you are talking to them, sometimes they refer to themselves that way. But they are also Palestinian. The dilemma was best summed up for me by Catholic Archbisop Chacour, of Nazareth, who told me “ I am a contradiction. I am a Christian by religion. I am an Arab by language. I am a Palestinian by culture. And I am a citizen of Israel.” Those 4 elements define who I am.
- The land allocated to the Arab state (about 43% of Mandatory Palestine consisted of all of the highlands, except for Jerusalem, plus one third of the coastline. The highlands contain the major aquifers of Palestine, which supplied water to the coastal cities of central Palestine, including Tel Aviv. The Jewish state was to receive 56% of Mandatory Palestine, a slightly larger area to accommodate the increasing numbers of Jews who would immigrate there. The state included three fertile lowland plains — the Sharon on the coast, the Jezreel Valley and the upper Jordan Valley. Jerusalem was to be under international control. At the time, there were about 100,000 Jews living in Jerusalem or about 60% of the Jerusalem population. At the time, Jews accounted for about 1/3 of the total population of Palestine. The Israeli Claim to Jerusalem was that the Holy Temple is the most important religious site in the world. And a significant Jewish population (mostly Sephardic Jews) living in Jerusalem
- We were told that the history of KQ and its neighbouring town RH is not an exception. The story is very common. In 1931, on the eve of the creation of the state of Israel, of about a million people living in Palestine, about 80% were Arab Muslims or Christians. A little less than 20% were Jewish. Most of the Palestinians lived in small agricultural villages like KQ. A minority of Palestinians lived in a few cities – like Haifa, Jerusalem, Jaffa, etc.
- Of course, in 1921 when Britain took over the Palestine mandate, the country was almost all composed of Palestinian Arabs. Some were Muslim, some Christian and some Jewish. There has been continuous Jewish habitation of Palestine for over 3000 years. But under the British mandate, hundreds of thousands of European Jews started immigrating to Palestine. Many bought up land in the most fertile areas. Many moved to Jerusalem. They also started agitating to turn Palestine into a Jewish state and to make Jerusalem its capital. By 1947, there were more than 600,000 European Jews in Palestine (5 times as many as in 1931). Jews now constituted about 1/3 of the total population of Palestine. As their numbers grew, they grew more and more militant – even carrying out a guerilla war against the British authorities in order to get their own state. Finally, at the end of WWII, Britain could no longer hold on. It turned the matter over to the Un, and announced that it would withdraw its troops in May 1948.
- When the dust settled, Israel had the borders that Canada now recognizes. (interestingly, Israel has never declared its own borders) By then 85% of the Palestinians had fled – about 750,000 in total. The new State of Israel, now had a majority of Jews (about 600,000 Jews vs. 150,000 Palestinians). With this overwhelming Jewish majority, the Israeli parliament now voted to confiscate almost all the lands belonging to Palestinians. One law was the “Absentee Property Law”. It confiscated the land formerly owned by the 750,000 Palestinian refugees who fled during the fighting and were now not allowed to return. If they did try to return they were shot by the “Border Police”. But it also included those who were not physically on their property when the “census” was taken. Today over 100,000 Israeli citizens are what are called “present absentees”. That is, they live in Israel, but lost their land to the jewish state because they were not there when the census was taken. All of these are Palestinians, of course. Another law allowed the state to confiscate any lands anywhere for “public” use. For public use means for Jewish use, like the creation of a new Jewish municipality, like RH because Israel is a Jewish state. By the mid ’90’s, Palestinian Israelis now owned less than 3.5% of the land of Israel in which they were the former owners.
- After the Palestinians fled the country, Israel undertook to destroy hundreds of villages. Many were bulldozed. Some were even bombarded by the nascent Israeli air force. The intent was to make it impossible for the refugees to return. There is some debate about how many villages were destroyed. Benny Morris, an Israeli historian claims that the number is 369. Others cite higher numbers. Not all Palestinian villages were destroyed. The new state of Israel recognized about 150 Arab villages. There were dozens of other “unrecognized villages” – some of which were later recognized by the state. Kufr Qassm was one of these.
- Israel is also a complex society sociologically. About 76% of Israelis are Jewish About half of the Israeli population is what are called “Sabra” Jews – that means people who were born in Israel. Most of them are Askenazi – which means their parents came from Eastern Europe – Poland, Romania, etc. Another chunk – about 15% are immigrants from Europe and America. The biggest chunk of these are from the former Soviet Union. They have immigrated to Israel since the end of the cold war and there are more than 1 million so called “Russian” Jews in Israel today. They don’t tend to be very religious, but they are very aggressive. And then there are also Jews from Asia and Africa. The largest number come from Morocco. Finally, there are about 20% of the population which is Palestinian Arab.
- This is part of a long term project. One of the reasons that that part of the Negev is the greenest is because Israel takes a huge amount of water from the Sea of Galilee and ships it by underground pipeline down to the northern Negev. This is called the “National Water Carrier”. Israel is proud to say that it has made the “desert bloom”. Of course it has. But doing so isn’t all that hard if you have water. Israel has taken water from the Palestinians in the Jordan Valley and given it to the settlers of the northern negev.