Normally I would file a report as the first under ‘militarism in education.’ However that would not sufficiently depict the event, which is rightly described above as “education toward hatred of Arabs.” For not only did a group of 12th graders spend a class trip on an army base, but they also spent it practicing shooting, and not only that, but at targets wearing keffiyahs—a traditional Palestinian headdress. Given such class trips, it is no wonder that in item 2 we learn that “close to half of Israel’s Jewish youth were supportive of the notion of revoking the basic political rights (such as election to the Knesset) of the country’s Arab population.” Item 2 is a longer report of the poll whose results were included in my message a few days ago. It’s main focus is the importance that teenagers and those in their early 20s attach to nationalism. This is frightening. It is reminiscent of the early 1930s in Germany. And the youth holding these ideas will be the ones who determine the future of Israel.
Item 3 informs us that time for a peace offer is rapidly running out, with September coming closer with every passing day.
Item 4 contains 2 brief reports from the West Bank. The first relates that settlement construction is ongoing in the Salfit governate, as is land theft. The settlers and their government are not headed for peace, nor want it, preferring instead expansion and colonization.
The second report of only a few lines reports a killing of a Palestinian by Jews.
Item 5 relates that Israeli authors have joined the campaign against deporting bookseller Munther Fahim, and for his continuing to run his book shop.
Item 6 is properly entitled (in part) “At a loss for words.” It is about “A congressional double standard on incitement,” and brings to the fore congressional denouncement of Palestinian incitement to hatred against Israel, while totally ignoring Israeli incitement to hatred of Israeli Arab citizens. The author reminds us of a number of instances of the latter.
All the best, and perhaps tomorrow will be a better day.
Dorothy
==========================
1. Haaretz,
April 3, 2011
Students on trip to IDF base simulated shooting targets with Arab headdress
Incident took place during at a military base where students were being escorted as part of an ‘IDF preparation’ project, sanctioned by the Education Ministry.
Twelfth-grade students from Herzliya’s Hayovel High School took part in a simulated shooting attack in which the targets were figures decked out with the Arab keffiyeh headdress, Haaretz has learned.
The incident took place at a military base last week during the annual 12th grade trip. The students were being escorted to a commanders’ base in the Negev as part of an “IDF preparation” project, which is sanctioned by the Education Ministry.
According to a person familiar with the details, the event was tantamount to “educating toward hatred of Arabs.”
“Some citizens of the State of Israel wear keffiyehs,” the source said. “Now they are viewed as legitimate targets for a shooting simulation.”
The trip concluded on Thursday. In a notice that was sent to parents, the school said that “the course of the trip is an inseparable part of the educational curriculum in general, and the ‘IDF preparation’ in particular.”
The first day of the trip included “activities with soldiers in commanders’ school,” according to the notice. The students met with soldiers on the base and heard lectures about the army and the importance of conscription.
During one of the discussions, the students were told that whoever does not serve in a combat unit “does not perform meaningful service.”
During the visit to the base, some of the students took part in an “electronic shooting range,” a computer-generated simulation that recreates a setting in which a soldier uses a laser-guided weapon to shoot targets. According to sources, the images in the electronic shooting range were outfitted with keffiyehs.
“From what I understood, the boys were more excited about this visit than the girls, some of whom preferred not to take part,” said the parent of one student on the trip. “I don’t think that it’s the education system’s job to train students to shoot.”
The “IDF preparation” project usually entails the visit of army officers to schools as well as occasional class trips to army bases for educational and instructional activities. This is believed to be one of the first times a visit to an army base has included students’ participation in a military activity. Children who are eligible for conscription usually undergo introductory military training as part of “Gadna Week,” which is not under the purview of the school system.
A school official said that the use of an electronic simulator that depicted a target wearing a keffiyeh “is certainly problematic, but this is a wider and more fundamental issue than our visit to the base. We have no intention of teaching the students to shoot people with keffiyehs.”
The Education Ministry did not issue a comment as of press time.
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2.Jerusalem Post,
April 3, 2011 15:43 IST
Jewish nationalism is top priority for Israeli youth
New book shows democracy not the most important objective for youth, reveals radically opposing views among Israeli Arabs and Jews.
Jewish nationalism – and not democracy – emerged as the most important objective for Israel’s youth in 2010, according to research featured in a new book by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, published last week.
Entitled All of the Above – Israeli Youth: Identity Paradoxes, the book, written in cooperation with the Macro Center for Political Economics, includes in-depth Dahaf Institute research carried out last summer on the attitudes and beliefs of some 1,600 young people – “both Arabs and Jews” – living here.
Among the questions addressed to the 800 teens (aged 15 to 18), and 800 youths (21 to 24), was a series relating directly to the rule of law and governance in this country.
Asked to rate what was important and unimportant in terms of running the country, democracy came in only third place, with 14.3 percent seeing it as essential to the state; while 26% of Jewish respondents said that Jewish nationality was the most important factor.
The majority of Jewish youths questioned by the poll also emphasized the need for a strong leadership, over the rule of law.
In addition to examining attitudes and values regarding Zionism, democracy and national institutions, the study also probed opinions and values regarding the treatment of minorities in Israel, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Holocaust.
“The results show the near future of Israeli society,” said the publishers in a statement.
“The opinions and values of the youth can be used as a seismometer for detecting social change and future developments.”
Examining attitudes of young Jewish Israelis toward Arab-Israelis, and vice versa, the study found that close to half of Israel’s Jewish youth were supportive of the notion of revoking the basic political rights (such as election to the Knesset) of the country’s Arab population.
Asked whether they believed the statement “Most Arabs do not accept Israel’s right to exist and would destroy us if they could,” close to half said that it was “highly likely.”
Within the Arab-Israeli community, attitudes were equally disparaging, with the majority of Arab teens and youths saying they did not feel in any way part of Israeli society. Indeed, only 18% of the 15-18 age group, and 19% among the 21-24 yearolds, felt otherwise.
On the question of whether Jews and Arabs could live side by side in the same neighborhoods, both communities said it was not desirable, and not important. Only a handful of respondents showed a willingness to do so.
On a positive note, most of the youths surveyed said they supported peace negotiations with the Palestinians – but rejected compromises, preferring the existing situation.
“These positions of theyouth in Israel are not optimistic regarding the prospects of peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors, or regarding the future of Israel as a democratic and pluralistic society,” co-publisher of the book Dr. Ralf Hexel said in a statement.
“It is evident that the values and opinions described present a real challenge to those social and political forces committed to the values and goals of Israel’s founding fathers.”
His publishing partner, Dr. Roby Nathanson, added: “The results of the study are unpleasant, but we, and the youth surveyed, do not live in a black-and-white world, but in a world characterized by constant change. The most important thing is that Israel must increase significantly the investment in democratic education.
“The unequivocal result of the study shows that the youth in Israel are not conscious enough of democracy as a value, and of democratic values.
Democracy is not merely voting every four years, but includes values such as tolerance and consideration of the rights of minorities, of the weak and of the different.”
The book, which will be published in English in May, also contains a comparison to previous studies on Israeli youth conducted in 2004 and 1998, as well as a series of essays and opinion pieces by some of the country’s top commentators, political figures and other celebrities.
JERUSALEM — With revolutionary fervor sweeping the Middle East, Israel is under mounting pressure to make a far-reaching offer to the Palestinians or face a United Nations vote welcoming the State of Palestine as a member whose territory includes all of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.
The Palestinian Authority has been steadily building support for such a resolution in September, a move that could place Israel into a diplomatic vise. Israel would be occupying land belonging to a fellow United Nations member, land it has controlled and settled for more than four decades and some of which it expects to keep in any two-state solution.
“We are facing a diplomatic-political tsunami that the majority of the public is unaware of and that will peak in September,” said Ehud Barak, Israel’s defense minister, at a conference in Tel Aviv last month. “It is a very dangerous situation, one that requires action.” He added, “Paralysis, rhetoric, inaction will deepen the isolation of Israel.”
With aides to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thrashing out proposals to the Palestinians, President Shimon Peres is due at the White House on Tuesday to meet with President Obama and explore ways out of the bind. The United States is still uncertain how to move the process forward, according to diplomats here.
Israel’s offer is expected to include transfer of some West Bank territory outside its settlements to Palestinian control and may suggest a regional component — an international conference to serve as a response to the Arab League peace initiatives.
But Palestinian leaders, emboldened by support for their statehood bid, dismiss the expected offer as insufficient and continue to demand an end to settlement building before talks can begin.
“We want to generate pressure on Israel to make it feel isolated and help it understand that there can be no talks without a stop to settlements,” said Nabil Shaath, who leads the foreign affairs department of Fatah, the main party of the Palestinian Authority. “Without that, our goal is membership in the United Nations General Assembly in September.”
Israeli, Palestinian and Western officials interviewed on the current impasse, most of them requesting anonymity, expressed an unusual degree of pessimism about a peaceful resolution. All agreed that the turmoil across the Middle East had prompted opposing responses from Israel and much of the world.
Israel, seeing the prospect of even more hostile governments as its neighbors, is insisting on caution and time before taking any significant steps. It also wants to build in extensive long-term security guarantees in any two-state solution, but those inevitably infringe the sovereignty of a Palestinian state.
The international community tends to draw the opposite conclusion. Foreign Secretary William Hague of Britain, for example, said last week that one of the most important lessons to be learned from the Arab Spring was that “legitimate aspirations cannot be ignored and must be addressed.” He added, referring to Israeli-Palestinian talks, “It cannot be in anyone’s interests if the new order of the region is determined at a time of minimum hope in the peace process.”
The Palestinian focus on September stems not only from the fact that the General Assembly holds its annual meeting then. It is also because Prime Minister Salam Fayyad announced in September 2009 that his government would be ready for independent statehood in two years and that Mr. Obama said last September that he expected the framework for an independent Palestinian state to be declared in a year.
Mr. Obama did not indicate what the borders of that state would be, assuming they would be determined through direct negotiations. But with Israeli-Palestinian talks broken off months ago and the Middle East in the process of profound change, many argue that outside pressure is needed.
Germany, France and Britain say negotiations should be based on the 1967 lines with equivalent land swaps, exactly what the Netanyahu government rejects because it says it predetermines the outcome.
“Does the world think it is going to force Israel to declare the 1967 lines and giving up Jerusalem as a basis for negotiation?” asked a top Israeli official who spoke on condition of anonymity. “That will never happen.”
While the Obama administration has referred in the past to the 1967 lines as a basis for talks, it has not decided whether to back the European Union, the United Nations and Russia — the other members of the so-called quartet — in declaring them the starting point, diplomats said. The quartet meets on April 15 in Berlin.
Israel, which has settled hundreds of thousands of Jews inside the West Bank and East Jerusalem, acknowledges that it will have to withdraw from much of the land it now occupies there. But it hopes to hold onto the largest settlement blocs and much of East Jerusalem as well as the border to the east with Jordan and does not want to enter into talks with the other side’s position as the starting point.
That was true even before its closest ally in the Arab world, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, was driven from power, helping fuel protest movements that now roil other countries, including Jordan, which has its own peace agreement with Israel.
“Whatever we put forward has to be grounded in security arrangements because of what is going on regionally,” said Zalman Shoval, one of a handful of Netanyahu aides drawing up the Israeli proposal that may be delivered as a speech to the United States Congress in May. “We are facing the rebirth of the eastern front as Iran grows strong. We have to secure the Jordan Valley. And no Israeli government is going to move tens of thousands of Israelis from their homes quickly.”
Those Israelis live in West Bank settlements, the source of much of the disagreement not only with the Palestinians but with the world. Not a single government supports Israel’s settlements. The Palestinians say the settlements are proof that the Israelis do not really want a Palestinian state to arise since they are built on land that should go to that state.
“All these years, the main obstacle to peace has been the settlements,” Nimer Hammad, a political adviser to President Abbas, said. “They always say, ‘but you never made it a condition of negotiations before.’ And we say, ‘that was a mistake.’ ”
The Israelis counter that the real problem is Palestinian refusal to accept openly a Jewish state here and ongoing anti-Israeli incitement and praise of violence on Palestinian airwaves.
Another central obstacle to the establishment of a State of Palestine has been the division between the West Bank and Gaza, the first run by the Palestinian Authority and the second by Hamas. Lately, President Abbas has sought to bridge the gap, asking to go to Gaza to seek reconciliation through an agreed interim government that would set up parliamentary and presidential elections.
But Hamas, worried it would lose such elections and hopeful that the regional turmoil could work in its favor — that Egypt, for example, might be taken over by its ally, the Muslim Brotherhood — has reacted coolly.
Efforts are still under way to restart peace talks but if, as expected, negotiations do not resume, come September the Palestinian Authority seems set to go ahead with plans to ask the General Assembly to accept it as a member. Diplomats involved in the issue say most countries — more than 100 — are expected to vote yes, meaning it will pass. (There are no vetoes in the General Assembly so the United States cannot save Israel as it often has in the Security Council.)
What happens then?
Some Palestinian leaders say relations with Israel would change.
“We will re-examine our commitments toward Israel, especially our security commitments,” suggested Hanna Amireh, who is on the 18-member ruling board of the Palestine Liberation Organization, referring to cooperation between Palestinian and Israeli troops. “The main sense about Israel is that we are fed up.”
Mr. Shaath said Israel would then be in daily violation of the rights of a fellow member state and diplomatic and legal consequences could follow, all of which would be painful for Israel.
In the Haaretz newspaper on Thursday, Ari Shavit, who is a political centrist, drew a comparison between 2011 and the biggest military setback Israel ever faced, the 1973 war.
He wrote that “2011 is going to be a diplomatic 1973,” because a Palestinian state will be recognized internationally. “Every military base in the West Bank will be contravening the sovereignty of an independent U.N. member state.” He added, “A diplomatic siege from without and a civil uprising from within will grip Israel in a stranglehold.”
=========================
4. SALFIT,
April 3, 2011
(WAFA) – Settlers from (Etz Efraim) settlement Sunday escalated settlements’ construction and land razing around the settlement, in Baat abo rezeiq area, in Mas-ha, a town west of Salfit city, north of Nablus.
Coordinator of the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlement in Salfit, Nasfat Khuffash ,told WAFA that Israeli ‘Peace Now’ sources monitored construction of settlements in the West Bank which aims to build 62 new settlements’ units, in ‘Etz efraim’ settlement; of which six have been already built and four are under construction.
These constructions threaten hundreds of dunums located between ‘Etz Efraim’ settlement and the new razed land which are all behind the Separation Wall, he added.
‘Etz Efraim’ settlement was established in 1981. It is located between Ariel and Rosh HaAyin settlements, within the settlements’ regional grouping which includes ‘Elqana’ settlement, ‘Sha’are Tikva’ settlement located at an elevation of 200 meters north-east of ‘Rosh HaAyin’ and east the green line near ‘Elkana’ in north-western West Bank, and ‘Ornit’ settlement.
Settlers of these settlements had razed Palestinian land for the expansion of settlements after the establishment of the Separation Wall ; which has isolated thousands of dunums of Masha, Al Sawyeh villages, in west Salfit, Beit Amin, Azun Sanniriya and Atma villages, south of Qalqilya.
W.S./F.R.
================================
Jewish Extremists Severely Attack Palestinian in West Jerusalem Date : 3/4/2011 Time : 19:36
JERUSALEM, April3, 2011 (WAFA) – A group of Jewish extremists in West Jerusalem Sunday attacked a 23 year old Palestinian, Sa’id al-Mughrabi, and severely beaten him.
Mughrabi’s family said that “early this morning, while Sai’d was heading to his work, in the western part of Jerusalem, specifically in Jaffa Street’s sub road, one of the group stepped towards him, asked about a direction of a street, and when he was sure that he is a Palestinian, he gave a signal to the group, who started beating him with truncheons and sharp tools till he fainted”, adding that his injuries are moderate.
Recently many young Palestinians from Jerusalem were subjected to similar attacks, one of these attacks, caused the death of Hussam al-Ruweidi. However, Israeli police usually registers these crimes against unknown.
Israeli authors join campaign to keep Arab bookseller in the country
For years Munther Fahmi has been living in the city of his birth on a series of tourist visas after his permanent residency lapsed. Now the authorities have warned they may not issue any more
Michael Palin and Munther Fahmi at the Palestine Festival of Literature. Photograph by Raoof Hajj Yehia.
On the edge of the busy forecourt of Jerusalem’s world-famous American Colony hotel, Munther Fahmi is in his usual spot; sitting in the bookshop that has become a haven of tolerance for scholars in a bitterly divided city. For 13 years, Fahmi has lined his shelves with works of history and literature, written by Arabs, Jews and scholars from around the world. Over that time, he has created what has been described as “the only decent English-language bookshop in the country”.
“It’s the most enjoyable thing I have ever done in my life. It has been such a part of the life of Jerusalem,” he told the Observer. “I really did not fully appreciate how much until it was under threat.”
The threat is real and imminent. Fahmi is due to find out in the next few days whether the Israeli ministry of the interior will order him to leave the city where he was born because, like many Israelis and Palestinians, he spent an extended period of his life abroad and his residency lapsed. Since returning from America in the 1990s, the 56-year-old has been living in Jerusalem on a succession of temporary tourist visas, which 18 months ago the authorities warned that they would not renew. His predicament has outraged two of Israel’s most celebrated novelists, Amos Oz and David Grossman, who have signed a petition asking the authorities to allow Fahmi to stay. From the British Isles, Ian McEwan, Roddy Doyle and John Banville have also offered their support.
Simon Sebag Montefiore, the author of Jerusalem: The Biography, came across Fahmi and his bookshop while working in Jerusalem. “For me a bookshop is a sacred place, a temple which should be above politics,” he said. “Some bookshops have an agenda; Munther’s does not. He simply celebrates books about the Middle East, Israeli writers, Palestinian writers. He’s exactly the kind of person a country needs to be staying and running this kind of business.”
Grossman said that Fahmi was one of many Palestinians whose residence in Jerusalem was threatened by Israeli laws. “He was born in Jerusalem, he has lived most of his life in Jerusalem and his family lives in Jerusalem. What is being done to him is an outrage. It’s part of an attempt to embitter the lives of Palestinians so that they leave.”
Fahmi was born in the Old City of Jerusalem in 1954, when it was under Jordanian military control. After the six-day war in 1967, Israel annexed east Jerusalem. Like most Arab residents, Fahmi’s family chose not to acquire Israeli citizenship. Instead they were granted permanent residency.
As Israeli-Palestinian tensions grew, Fahmi decided, at the age of 21, to go to business college in New York and later set up his own insurance company in St Louis, Missouri. In order to maintain his “residency” in Jerusalem, Fahmi returned regularly but, in 1983, pressure of work kept him in the US and his permit expired. As he possessed a US passport, it didn’t seem to matter, but 10 years later times had changed.
In 1993 the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, and the Israeli prime minister, Yitzak Rabin, shook hands in front of the White House. Palestinians and Israelis believed that decades of strife was at an end. Munther recalled: “I was so optimistic, like so many people. We thought that peace was finally here. I didn’t know what I would do, I thought I would just go to Jerusalem and figure it out.”
Fahmi noticed how hard it was to get English-language books. Many Israeli authors who wrote in English could not sell their books in their own country. “I bought a selection of books and hosted a book fair in Tel Aviv. When that succeeded I took it to the American Colony hotel and fell in love with the place,” he said. He opened the shop there in 1998.
The American Colony is one of the few 19th-century landmarks of Jerusalem. The building was bought from a local nobleman by American pilgrims who eventually turned it into a hotel. For years, Fahmi had travelled to Jerusalem on a three-month tourist visa, leaving before it expired. “I needed to travel for work regularly so it was easy to manage,” he said.
The authorities appeared content to let the arrangement continue, but have recently refused to renew his visa. Last year Fahmi lost a bid to win back his residency rights. An appeal was rejected, but he was given 30 days to ask the interior ministry to stay in Jerusalem on humanitarian grounds. The ministry is now considering his request.
A spokesman said: “We do not just decide to cancel someone’s residency. They do it. If he makes an application to the ministry for residency on humanitarian grounds, we will consider it.”
Avi Shlaim, professor of international relations at Oxford University, described the treatment of Jerusalem’s most famous bookseller as symptomatic of the “chauvinistic and intolerant” behaviour of Israel’s current government under Binyamin Netanyahu: “Things have come to a pretty pass when a Palestinian, born in Palestine, who has a business, who has done no harm to anyone, is hounded out of his bookshop because he does not toe the party line.”
Now Fahmi must wait. “I have made no plans. I can’t envisage leaving. I have a very sick mother who depends on me. I’m 56; I can’t start my life all over again. I’m just hoping that this government will look favourably on me,” he said.
· Middle East BooksBooksellers · David Grossman · Ian McEwan · Roddy Doyle · John Banville More news
Posted By Matthew Berkman Friday, April 1, 2011 – 2:32 PM Share
This week, in response to the highly publicized murder of a Jewish family in the West Bank settlement of Itamar, a group of 27 U.S. senators signed a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urging her to press Palestinian leaders to end “incitement directed against Jews and Israel within the Palestinian media, mosques, and schools.” According to the letter, the grisly killings in Itamar (for which no suspects, Palestinian or otherwise, have been identified), “is a sobering reminder that words matter, and that Palestinian incitement against Jews and Israel can lead to violence and terror.”
As evidence for the allegation of pervasive anti-Jewish incitement in Palestinian society, the letter cites a recent, official ceremony honoring Delal Mughrabi, a perpetrator of the 1978 coastal road massacre in Israel, as well as a payment of financial compensation made by the Palestinian Authority to the family of a deceased terror suspect.
Such actions are deserving of condemnation. But if it is indeed the case that “words matter” -and if the elimination of violent and dehumanizing rhetoric is, as the letter says, “critical to establishing the conditions [for] a secure and lasting peace”-then what can explain the senators’ silence on the veritable carnival of hate and racist incitement against Arabs and Palestinians that has lately engulfed Israeli society?
Anyone who reads Israel’s press these days will find it difficult to do so without chancing upon yet another outrageous example of such incitement. Be it the declaration of Rabbi Dov Lior, a senior authority on Jewish law in the Religious Zionism movement, that the offspring of non-Jews possess “genetic traits” of “cruelty and barbarism”; or an open letter signed by dozens of Israel’s municipal chief rabbis calling on Jews “to refrain from renting or selling apartments to non-Jews”; or the wives of those state-sponsored rabbis urging Jewish girls not to date, work with, or perform national service in the company of Arabs; or even news of the publication of “The King’s Torah,” a theological text widely endorsed by settler rabbis that authorizes the killing of non-Jewish children and babies, since “it is clear that they will grow to harm us.”
Could it be that the senators who so rightfully condemn the glorification of violence when it issues from an obscure Palestinian official are simply unaware of the multiple proclamations of such a prominent figure as Ovadia Yosef, the spiritual leader of the Shas party (a member of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s governing coalition) and a former Chief Rabbi of Israel’s Sephardi Jewish community? “It is forbidden to be merciful to [Arabs],” Yosef was quoted as saying in 2001, “You must send missiles to them and annihilate them. They are evil and damnable.” More recently, Yosef sermonized that “Abu Mazen [Mahmoud Abbas] and all these evil people should perish from this world.” “God should strike them with a plague, them and these Palestinians,” he said.
The poisonous effects of these statements are no less publically available than the statements themselves, and of equal concern to anyone seeking “to establish the conditions for a secure and lasting peace.” Polling has routinely documented the explosion of anti-democratic and militaristic sentiment in Israel, particularly among the youth population. In a Tel Aviv University poll released last year, 49.5 percent of Israeli high school students responded in the negative when asked whether “Arab citizens should be granted rights equal to that of Jews,” while a majority of 56 percent said that Israel’s Arab citizens should be ineligible to serve in the country’s parliament. “While an overwhelming majority (91 percent) expressed a desire to enlist in the Israel Defense Forces,” reported Haaretz, “48 percent said they would not obey an order to evacuate outposts and settlements in the West Bank.” As recently as this week, a new poll was released attesting to the diminished importance of “democracy” among Israeli teens (only 14 percent of whom consider it a national priority), as well as unprecedented levels of reverence for Israel’s military and a marked desire for “strong leadership” at the expense of minority rights.
Not surprisingly, this rising tide of racism in Israeli society has translated into both discriminatory legislation directed against Israel’s Arab citizens and into violent hate crimes which, while not as gruesome as the massacre in Itamar, are more pervasive, bordering on quotidian.
As the New York Times reported last week, a law passed by Israel’s Knesset on March 23 allows “that communities with 400 or fewer families [in the Negev and Galilee, areas with large Arab populations] may set up committees to screen potential residents for whether they fit in socially” – a statute intended to legitimize the barring of Israeli Arabs from Jewish villages. Yet another law, passed during the same legislative session, imposes financial penalties on state-subsidized organizations that would publicly mourn the losses incurred by Palestinians during Israel’s 1948 war of independence. This flurry of anti-democratic legislation follows the successful attempt last year by Israel’s foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman (who supports a form of ethnic population transfer), to establish a “loyalty oath” requiring non-Jews seeking Israeli citizenship to pledge allegiance to the “Jewishness” of the state.
Such legislation promotes the sense among Jewish Israelis that Arab citizens of Israel present a threat to the body politic, and to the physical security of Jews. It is therefore no coincidence that Israel has recently witnessed a spate of violent attacks on its Arab population. According to the Israeli news website Ynet, a gang of seven Israeli youth, including a fourteen-year old girl, were arrested in December for reportedly “luring” young Arab men to Jerusalem’s Independence Park, where the Arabs were “brutally attacked by the teens with stones, glass bottles and tear gas.” Earlier this week, four Palestinian laborers were assaulted in the middle of the night by police after being falsely accused of raping an 11-year-old boy (the boy later admitted he had fabricated the story). “The police treated us like dogs, not like human beings,” one of the Palestinians told Israeli Army Radio in an interview on Thursday.
But it should be made clear that the routine acts of violence against Arabs within Israel – and even the daily pogroms, or “price-tag” attacks, inflicted on West Bank Palestinians by rogue settler bands – are only the tip of the iceberg. The whole wide-ranging system of occupation in the West Bank, and the hardhearted policies that promote the economic asphyxiation of the entire civilian population in Gaza – themselves the most deadly form of “incitement” – are underwritten on the ethical and cultural plain by the growing disdain and racial animus against Arabs in Israeli society. On Thursday, Ynet reported that when “Asked how they feel when they think of Arabs, 25% [of Israelis polled] responded with ‘hate’ and 12% responded with ‘fear.'” Is it any surprise, then, that Israelis have grown increasingly tolerant and supportive of government policies that undermine not only the prospect of peace and coexistence with their neighbors, but also their country’s own, much vaunted democratic character?
The senators are correct to inveigh against Palestinian incitement. But doing so in the conspicuous absence of any assessment of Israel’s own rampant and destructive incitement speaks to an agenda driven less by a genuine concern for the physical and moral well-being of Israelis and Palestinians than by domestic politics. Leadership – and peace – demands more than that.
Matt Berkman is a Research Associate at the U.S./Middle East Project, a policy institute in New York City.
