World
American Focus
Task force takes up Israeli Arabs' disparity.
Jacob Berkman
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Jerusalem
W
bile the plight of Israeli
Arabs has long been a
cause for the more liberal
groups in Jewish communal life, a task
force started last year has helped push
the issue more into the American Jewish
mainstream.
Nearly one in five Israeli citizens is
Arab, yet this population of 1.2 mil-
lion still is seeking equality in Israeli
life. That creates a potentially explosive
situation, says the executive director
of American Jewish Joint Distribution
Committee's Task Force on Israeli Arab
Issues.
"Jewish-Arab relations in Israel is the
most pressing domestic issue facing
Israel today," Jessica Balaban says. "The
20 percent minority cannot be ignored."
This week, the task force is holding
conferences in New York, Los Angeles
and San Francisco to raise awareness.
Israeli Arabs in the past several years
have become increasingly discontent
with the disparity between Jews and
Israelis in terms of education, social
welfare benefits and representation in
government.
In October 2000, 13 Arabs and one
Jew were killed during riots in Arab
villages. The riots led to a report by the
Or Commission and two subsequent
reports warning that unless Israel works
to create an equal society, the civil
unrest could become rampant and more
violent.
Heightened Alert
Tensions have mounted on both sides.
Jewish Israelis chaff as prominent
Arab Knesset members have met with
Israel's enemies in Syria and Lebanon.
And in recent months, as groups such as
the Israel Democracy Institute push for
Israel to draft a constitution that codi-
fies rights for all Israeli citizens, Israeli
Arab groups have published four sepa-
rate position papers on their rights.
The most eyebrow-raising, titled "The
Future Vision of the Palestinian Arabs:'
was drafted in December by 40 Israeli
Arab intellectuals. It denigrated Israel's
history, and called for the right of return
of Palestinians to Israel and changing
the Israeli flag to feature something less
inherently Jewish than the Star of David.
But Balaban said that paper and
others spurred conversations, which
led Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to
announce last month that he will hold a
conference focused on expanding dia-
logue between Israel's Jewish and non-
Jewish citizens.
Progress has been made by the
Israelis, especially in the months follow-
ing the Lebanon war last summer. The
government and the Jewish Agency for
Israel stepped in to help Arab villages
recover from Hezbollah rocket fire, and
Jewish Israelis recognized that Arabs
also were under attack.
The task force was formed in January
2006. Among its some 66 members
are key American Jewish organiza-
tions and private foundations. They
include the Anti-Defamation League,
the Conference of Presidents of Major
American Jewish Organizations and
the United Jewish Communities; eight
Jewish federations from major cities;
and major private foundations such
as the Andrea and Charles Bronfman
Foundation, the Samuel Bronfman
Foundation, the Everett Foundation and
the Koret Foundation.
It has also been able to enlist the
Reform, Conservative and Modern
Orthodox movements.
"For the first time you have a broad
range of American Jewish organizations
working on addressing minority rights
in Israel, and particularly Israeli Arab
rights:' said Larry Garber, president of
the New Israel Fund and a member of
the task force's steering committee.
"And there are a number of specific
events that have happened as a result:'
A Tough Road
Supporting the Arab Israeli cause has
not been an easy sell in Orthodox
circles. When the Jewish Agency allo-
cated money it received from the UJC's
Israel Emergency Campaign to help
Arab towns rebuild after the Lebanon
war, some of the strongest critics were
Orthodox.
But Nathan Diament, the director of
public policy for the Orthodox Union,
said the modern Orthodox community
generally understands the need to help
Israel's Arab citizens.
"I think people appreciate that the
Jewish community overall raises funds
to help people in need in Israel, and that
part of helping Israeli society be a better
society is dealing with all the segments
of that society and we can't ignore that:'
Diament said.
Despite an annual budget of only
about $400,000, the task force has
made headway in its efforts, according
to Rabbi Brian Lurie, the head of the
Hanna Fromm Foundation and a mem-
ber of the task force steering committee.
"On this side of the ocean:' Garber
said, "there is an appreciation of the
danger Israel faces by not dealing with
the issue and the sense that this is core
to our own Jewish values. "
"We want to see that people are
treated equally and provided the same
opportunities to develop. If Israel is
going to remain a democratic state,
it needs to figure out a way to do the
same:'
❑
Answering
Israel's Critics
The Charge
John Dugard, the United Nations
special rapporteur on human rights
in the Palestinian territories, charged
last week that Israel's actions in Gaza
violate international law. He said
the Israeli army fails to distinguish
between civilians and combatants in
its attacks, applies a disproportionate
use of force, and its arrests and long
incarcerations of terror suspects are
clear acts of collective punishment.
The Answer
Israel removed thousands of Jewish
residents and tens of thousands of
Jewish soldiers in a complete and,
what it thought, was a final with-
drawal from Gaza in 2005. Then
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon chal-
lenged the Palestinians at that time
to take the opportunity provided and
create a peaceful, prosperous soci-
ety. Instead, Hamas came to power
and began a campaign of terror.
The Israeli army's Gaza operations
are a result of the continued terror-
ist activity and rocket fire directed
across the "green line" at the Israeli
community of Sderot and other
towns and agricultural settlements.
- Allan Gale, Jewish Community Relations
Council of Metropolitan Detroit
© copyright June 7, 2007, Jewish Renaissance Media
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June 7 • 2007
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