The Invitation

The Arab citizens of Israel make up 20 per cent of its population; they became citizens in 1948 following an invitation contained in the Declaration of Independence of the State of Israel, which promised social, economic and political equality. It also spoke of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, which is a far cry from the opinions of some of today’s right-wing political parties in Israel who are trying to say that democracy means democracy for Jews only. In my view, those political parties are acting against Israel’s Declaration of Independence. Israel also passed five Basic Laws which substitute for a written constitution; they talk about human rights, human dignity, freedom of expression, movement and so on. Unfortunately, many actions taken by successive governments over the past 66 years negate those Basic Laws.

Over those past 66 years, 67 unfulfilled government decisions have called for the creation of structures to end the discrimination against Arab citizens. Many other decisions have been fulfilled, but these 67 unfulfilled decisions could have probably solved 90 per cent of the discrimination.

The problem is not that we are lacking proper analysis of the situation; Israel understands that there is a problem of discrimination against its Arab citizens. For example, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said: ‘We the State of Israel have institutionally, deliberately discriminated against our Arab citizens.’ So it is not ‘Israel bashing’ to suggest that Israel has been discriminating against its Arab citizens – Israel came out of its denial and assumed responsibility for the discrimination. Olmert continued by saying, ‘this has to stop because this is in Israel’s national interest.’ This was the first time in Israel’s history that the end of discrimination was seen to be in the national interest of the state. Until that moment, the term ‘national interest’ was synonymous with the Jewish national interest, not the Israeli national interest; Arabs were excluded. This maturity represented a significant transformation in the state’s view of its Arab citizens.

Israel used to have a completely different view of its Arab citizens: between 1948 and 1966, despite the Declaration of Independence and the five Basic Laws, Israel imposed a military administration on its Arab citizens, who were viewed as a security and political problem rather than a civilian one. However, when the military administration was lifted in 1966, Israel essentially ‘kosher stamped’ Arab citizenship and accepted that the homeland for the Jewish people will always include a significant non-Jewish/Arab minority. This was a Knesset decision – with no international pressure – it was a result of the maturity of Israel’s political system.

Read the article in full at Fathom Journal.