This Week
Violence fOrecatt,
obgarrei,rs say
United Way
MICHAEL J. JORDAN
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Jewish federations consider funding Israel's Arab population.
JULIE WIENER
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
New York
N
orth America's Jewish federations, long
sources of funding for Israel and its
Jewish citizens, now are considering
devoting money to Israel's Arab sector.
In the half-century since Israel's founding, Jews
around the world have raised billions of dollars for
Israeli Jews.
Only in the past two decades have a handful of
left-leaning Jewish groups, like the New Israel Fund
and the Abraham Fund, sought to improve the status
of the state's Arab citizens and Arab-Jewish relations.
Now, with Israeli leaders describing the discontent
Announced shortly after Israeli Arabs rioted in sol-
idarity with the Palestinians' uprising erupted in late
September, the program is described by many in
Israel as a sort of "affirmative action" for Arabs.
Arabs comprise 18 percent of the Israeli popula-
tion, but generally are poorer and less educated than
their Jewish counterparts.
Many say they feel like second-class citizens. They
say they face various forms of discrimination and that
their villages and institutions historically have not
received as much government funding as Jewish ones.
According to the Abraham Fund, government fund-
ing to Arab and Druse municipalities was less than
one-half the funding per person given to Jewish locales
in 1994, the latest figures available from the group.
For now, plans to fund Israeli Arab programs still
Supporting the Arab
sector could alienate
donors, but "sometimes
you have to lead and try
to bring those people
along with you."
— Stephen Solender, UJC president
among Arab citizens as a potential threat to the
country's future, mainstream Jewish groups, such as
the United Jewish Communities, the New York-
based federation's umbrella organization, are dis-
cussing the possibility of raising funds to improve
social and economic conditions for Israeli Arabs.
A delegation of UJC leaders is currently in Israel
on a fact-finding mission to determine how best to
address new Israeli needs, including programs for
Israeli Arabs.
The discussions are preliminary. But the fact that
mainstream Jewish leaders are openly discussing the pos-
sibility of investing in Israeli Arabs — particularly at a
time when the prospects for peace between Israel and the
larger Arab world are dim — is a significant, some say
"revolutionary," shift for American Jewish federations.
Triggered By Riots
The discussion comes as the Israeli government is prepar-
ing to implement a $1 billion project addressing various
educational and infrastructure needs for the Arab sector.
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are in the "embryo" stage, said Robert Schrayer, the
UJC's national chair for campaign and financial
resource development.
A number of mainstream Jewish leaders — including
the chairman of the executive of the Jewish Agency for
Israel — have expressed discomfort with the concept,
saying that funding for Israeli Arabs is the responsibility
of the Israeli government, not world Jewry.
As part of a larger effort to respond to Israeli needs
in light of the current violence and dimmed
prospects for peace, UJC leaders are currently "try-
ing to find ways of improving the standard of living
for Arab Israelis," Schrayer said. Funding possibili-
ties include "infrastructure, housing, social welfare
programs and economic development," he said.
Leadership Pitch
In the past two months, several Israeli officials have
spoken to American Jewish leaders about the need to
invest in the Arab sector.
In an October speech to UJA-Federation of
New York
he recent spasm of violence among Israeli
Arabs was not entirely unexpected, say those
whose work folcuses on Arab-Jewish coexistence.
Groups like Givat Haviva, the Abraham Fund and
the New Israel Fund (NIF) long had known that
unrest was simmering among Israeli Arabs, who felt
their plight was neglected by the government.
Since the state's creation 52 years ago, observers
say, the Israeli Arab question has been relegated
to the back burner of Israeli politics. More exis-
tential issues have dominated the landscape.
If there is any silver lining to the Israeli Arab riots
that accompanied the first few days of the
Palestinians ongoing uprising, some analysts suggest,
it's that the hot-button issue of Jewish-Arab relations
within Israel will have to be confronted head-on.
Even. if Israel and the Palestinian Authority
return to the negotiating table, the stark fact will
remain that some Israeli citizens took up arms
against the state and, in response, security forces
killed citizens they had sworn to protect.
In some way-s, the genie is out of the bottle,
and there'll be no way to stuff it back in said
Staci Light, director of development for The
Abraham Fund, which is devoted to Arab-Jewish
co-existence projects in Israel.
"If we want a Jewish state, and want it to be a
democratic state, we need to pay attention to the
minority,' Light said. "We, as Jews who lived as
a minority for 2,000 years, need to be more sen-
sitive to their needs."
This, she said, should not come at the expense of
Israel's identity as a Jewish state, or the security of
the Jewish state.
Light's sentiment of "no alternative" is echoed
by leaders of the New Israel Fund and Givat
Haviva, two institutions that promote democracy
and civil rights in Israel.
But it's been a tougher sell to some of their
supporters. NU, for example, supports hundreds
of Israeli Arab nongovernmental organizations.
Some NIF members express concern that the
Israeli Arabs "crossed a red line by resorting to
violence," said Norman Rosenberg, the group's
executive director.
They feel Israel is again under siege, and the
focus at this time should be on the Jewish com-
munity, not on the rights of Arabs." While "one
or two significant donors" have indicated they
intend to cut or halt their support to the group,
Rosenberg said they have been far outweighed
by increased donations from established sources
and a surge in first-time donations.
NIF will contribute an extra $1 million to $2
million next year to the Israeli Arab projects it sup-
ports in Israel, more than double the usual sum.
The Abraham Fund reports a similar pattern. On
one recent day, the fund received a $25,000 first-
time gift from a private family foundation, then a
$5 check from an indigent Jewish grandmother in
Brooklyn, Light said.
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