THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Study finds many Israeli Arabs
accepting Israel's legitimacy
Haifa — Between the
years 1976 and 1980 the
percentage of Israeli Arabs
who accept Israel's legiti-
macy without reservation
grew from 50 percent to 59
percent. These figures re-
present the results of two
surveys undertaken in 1976
and 1980 by Dr. Sammy
Smooha of the department
of sociology and anthropol-
ogy at the University of
Haifa.
The results of 'Dr. Smoo-
ha's studies recently ap-
peared in a reprint of an In-
stitute for Middle Eastern
Studies monograph pub-
lished by the University of
Haifa. The reprint itself is of
the 1976 study. However,
the introduction reveals
small portions of the 1980
results, including the fact
that the percentage of Is-
raeli Arabs who deny the
country's right to exist has
dropped to 11 percent. In the
1976 study, 21 percent de-
nied Israel's legitimacy.
This change in attitude is
also coupled, according to
Dr. Smooha, with evidence
that Arab radicalization is
being moderated by Israeli-
zation. According to the re-
sults in the University of
Haifa publication, Israel's
Arab population is becom-
ing bilingual and bicul-
tural.
Within the sample popu-
lation surveyed by Dr.
Smooha, Arabs have con-
tacts with Jews, adopt
Jewish standards and aspi-
rations, accept Israel as a
state and seek solutions to
their problems within the
state.
Additional data compiled
in the 1980 University of
Haifa survey points out that
although 49 percent of Is-
raeli Arabs considered the
PLO as the true representa-
tive of Israel's Arabs, "only
12 percent favored the idea
of a democratic-secular
state in all of Palestine."
Dr. Smooha stresses in
his report that "contrary to
Jewish misconceptions the
popularity of the PLO
among the Arab masses in
Israel, including the fre-
quent display of the Pales-
tinian flag at public meet-
ings, should not be inter-
preted as a declared intent
to do away with the state
and hence as prima-facie
evidence of disloyalty."
Forty-nine percent of the
Arabs polled in Dr. Smoo-
ha's 1980 University of
Haifa study "believed that
Arabs could be equal citi-
zens in Israel as a Jewish-
Zionist state and could iden-
tify themselves with it."
This is an increase of 19 per-
cent over the 1976 survey.
Another significant fac-
tor illustrated by the 1980
results was that "only 12
percent of the sample Arab
•
population failed to urge the
PLO to recognize Israel."
The survey was based on
interviews with 1,185 Arab
citizens living within Israel
— excluding the occupied
territories. Dr. Smooha is
chairman of the department
of sociology and anthropol-
ogy at the University of
Haifa. He also holds the post
of head of the Arabs in Is-
rael section for the Univer-
sity's Arab-Jewish Center.
In a March 29 symposium
about "Jews and Arabs in
the Galilee" Dr. Smooha
cited studies showing that
Galilee Arabs are more
loyal to Israel than Israeli
Arabs as a whole, and there
is no danger of the Galilee
being separated from Israel.
This, he said, is contrary to
the popular belief that
Galilee Arabs are a
"homogeneous hostile bloc"
that must be contained.
During the symposium,
figures were presented that
show 67 percent of the
Galilee Moslems, Chris-
tians, Druze and Bedouin
see Israeli Arabs as having
reconciled themselves to Is-
rael's existence. "The
majority consider them-
selves to be an integral part
of Israel," Smooha said.
The symposium was held
at the University of Haifa to
mark Land Day.
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Report of aid for Nicaragua rebels
denied by the Israel embassy
New York (JTA) — A
spokesman for Israel's Em-
bassy in Washington has
denied any knowledge of a
reported request from the
largest Nicaraguan rebel
group for funding to help
fight the Nicaraguan gov-
ernment.
The report, carried in the
Los Angeles Times this
week, quoted an uniden-
tified official of the Nicara-
guan Democratic Front as
saying that the Front's
leader, Adolfo Calero Por-
tocarrera, had begun
searching for alternative
sources of funding because
of the Congressional moves
to limit further CIA expen-
ditures for the rebel forces
fighting the Sandinista
government.
"We have looked for pri-
vate money, but there isn't
enough," the unidentified
rebel official reportedly
said. "We need a govern-
ment. We think the Israelis
would be the best, because
they have the technical ex-
perience."
According to the account
by the Times, Israel has
supplied arms in the past to
other Nicaraguan rebel
groups and "might be will-
ing to provide funding as a
favor to the Reagan Ad-
ministration which is pro-
viding more than $2.6 bil-
lion in aid to Is-rael this
year, and to punish the
Sandinistas for their ties
with the Palestine Libera-
tion Organization," the
rebel official said.
The Israeli spokesman,
Victor Harel, denied that
Israel was currently provid-
ing aid to rebel groups fight-
ing the Nicaraguan gov-
•
ernment.
Friday, April 20, 1984
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