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Palestinian State
Of Matrimony
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here are a great many
Arabs in east Jerusalem
and the territories who
fervently support the es-
tablishment of a Palestinian
state but would personally pre-
fer to live in the Jewish state be-
cause there are likely to be more
jobs and higher wages in Israel.
Where east Jerusalem is con-
cerned, this is reflected in the
daily crush at the Ministry of In-
terior office in the Old City,
where hundreds of Arabs re-
cently have applied for Israeli
identity cards (and thus for Is-
raeli citizenship).
They could have made their
applications from the moment
that their section of the city was
incorporated into the State of Is-
rael after the Six Day War, yet
they didn't for fear that they
would be branded as traitors in
their own community.
But with a Palestinian state
— or something similar — like-
ly to be created soon, they have
to act now if they are to remain
on the Israeli side of whatever
border is decided upon.
In the territories, this option
doesn't exist. So the only way to
acquire an Israeli identity card
is to marry an Israeli, and that
is precisely what many are do-
ing.
According to Ministry of In-
terior statistics, the number of
Arabs from the territories who
"married an identity card" dou-
bled year by year in the 1990s.
In 1991 such cards were issued
to 86 residents of the territories
who wed Israeli Arabs. The
number rose to 154 in 1992 and
to 325 in 1993, the last year for
which final figures are ava il able.
But it is clear that the upward
trend continued in 1994 and ear-
ly 1995.
In the '70s and '80s, it was pri-
marily a case of girls from the
territories who were "imported"
by Israeli-Arab men (at least
partially because a relatively low
"bride price" was demanded by
their parents). Now, however,
the situation is reversed, with
far more Arab men being
brought into this country. For
example, during the first nine
months of 1994, no fewer than
40 men from Kalkilya — a small
town at the edge of pre-1967 Is-
rael — notified the local religious
authorities of their intention to
marry Israeli girls.
A rather cynical explanation
of this phenomenon recently was
Nechemia Meyers is a free-lance
writer based in Israel.
offered to a Ha'aretz correspon-
dent by Muhammed, the pro-
prietor of a cafe in the
Israeli-Arab town of Taibe.
"After all," he declared, "it is
pretty hard for an unmarried
girl over the age of 20 to catch a
man in Israel. But the situation
is easier with a guy from the ter-
ritories, who is seeking money,
a home and an Israeli identity
card."
Some Palestinians
finally are making
the move toward
Israeli citizenship.
Once the marriage has taken
place, that card is easy to ac-
quire. For instance, soon after
Assad Bushara married a Taibe
girl, he went to the local Min-
istry of Interior office, filled out
a number of forms, attached his
marriage certificate and under-
went a security check.
Six months later he was offi-
cially an Israeli.
When Ha'aretz subsequently
asked him about his feelings on
becoming a citizen, he replied:
"I don't really believe that I have
changed my identity. Israeli-
Arabs, after all, are also Pales-
tinians."
Azmi Azam, another former
resident of the territories who
wed a young woman from Taibe,
says his friends "back there" see
nothing wrong in his having be-
come an Israeli.
"Once upon a time, anyone ac-
quiring Israeli citizenship was
suspected of being a collabora-
tor. Now, however, it is seen as
quite an ordinary matter. And
I'm not personally bothered by
the fact that my children will
have to stand at attention when
the Israeli flag is raised. Flags
don't mean anything to me," Mr.
Azam concluded. ❑
Publicity
Deadlines
The normal deadline for local
news and publicity items is
noon Thursday, eight days pri-
or to issue date. The deadline
for birth announcements is 10
a.m. Monday, four days prior to
issue date; out-of-town obitu-
aries, 10 a.m. Tuesday, three
days prior to issue date.