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essay
Change Of Heart
A new way of thinking could alter the Arab cause in Israel for the better.
ing behind their Israeli identity to more
Bsharat shared at our lunch
persuasively make their case for equal
arranged by P2G’s Yoav Raban
standing.
sraeli Arabs should identify
and Arda Ribo, who serve out of
“Israeli Arabs don’t like being told they
themselves that way and not
the Central Galilee office of the
live here and have it better than Arabs
as Palestinian Arabs, which
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan
in other countries. But that fact is very
they derivatively are. Such a
Detroit’s Israel & Overseas
important,” Bsharat said. “It has value. It
change in identity as a group
Department.
would elevate their standing in
I met with that ethnically diverse creates respect and that leads to a sense
Robert Sklar
of dignity.”
the Jewish state.
trio to learn more about Naim
Contributing Editor
So says Hesham Bsharat, an
BeYachad, a trail for cyclists, hikers
Israeli Arab with close ties to the
and walkers that ultimately will
PROUD MOMENT
Michigan Jewish community’s
link the three P2G communities
Bsharat recounts when he first attended
Jewish Agency for Israel partner region in
with the Israeli Arab towns of Yafia and
a meeting of P2G communities. He was
Israel’s Central Galilee.
Nazareth as well as two smaller Jewish
there as Yafia sports director. The Naim
villages.
“We need to re-iden-
BeYachad Trail has been a source of
Bsharat, whose two daughters are
tify ourselves,” he says.
Jewish-Arab conversation for more than
studying at the Technion-Israel Institute of two years.
“Communities in Israel
are changing. We cannot Technology in Haifa, is Christian. But he
“I was the only Arab in that meeting of
represents Muslims in Yafia and Nazareth; 25 people representing P2G,” Bsharat said.
be a people that stays
together, the two Israeli Arab towns are 70 “I sat there and didn’t know if I should be
in the past. We have to
think forward.”
percent Muslim and 30 percent Christian. there or not.
About a fifth of Israel’s
“Then the Jewish mayor of the Jezreel
population is Arab,
FIRST
UP
Valley comes up and sits near me and
Hesham Bsharat
no small amount in a
Bsharat doesn’t support all the policies
says, ‘I am very happy and proud that
Middle East land whose
of Israel’s right-leaning prime minister,
Hesham is sitting with us here.’”
total population is 8.3
Benjamin Netanyahu, but he also doesn’t
The implication: Bsharat was there as
million.
believe Israeli Arabs are advancing their
an Israeli first.
Engaging and thoughtful, Bsharat offers cause as their nation’s second-largest eth-
“That is what I mean,” Bsharat told me.
a resonant voice to a politically charged
nic group by clinging to their Palestinian
“You can feel it when you live in Israel as
subject. He’s sports director of Yafia, an
an Arab. There is a problem from both
roots.
Israeli Arab community near Michigan
sides: That we Arabs don’t identify as
“Once Israeli Arabs define themselves
Jewry’s Partnership2Gether (P2G) com-
Israelis first of all and that the Jewish
as being Israelis first, they will have a bet-
munities of Nazareth Illit, Migdal HaEmek ter start point in Israeli society,” Bsharat
people say, ‘First of all, you are Arab and
and the Jezreel Valley.
then you are Israeli.’
said. “We must be better integrated into
But his message during the latter part of society. This is reality. Either we want to
“If Arabs think first of all we are Israeli,
our fall lunch meeting in Migdal HaEmek
then we can talk about everything. It will
be a part of the future of this place or we
transcended sports. It’s a message worth
be easier for everybody.”
want to keep fighting against what hap-
sharing as inspiration for Arabs and Jews
pened in the past.”
seeking a baseline from which to enhance
That’s quite a challenge to the
ELEVATING RELATIONS
coexistence and equality in the ancestral
Israeli Arabs’ narrative of being
Arda Ribo, P2G’s Nazareth Illit-
Jewish homeland.
largely ignored in the Jewish state
based program coordinator,
— a democracy that works in their
meets regularly with Bsharat on
favor.
SHIFTING DYNAMIC
building relations between Jews
Bsharat isn’t suggesting Israeli
“As Israeli Arabs, we need to think dif-
and Arabs in the Central Galilee.
Arabs don’t have legitimate gripes
ferently. We live here. Our life is here.
“He does a lot more than
with the Israeli government, but
That’s what many of our people don’t
coordinate sports,” Ribo said.
he’s urging them to refocus on unit- Arda Ribo
understand. We must live together,”
“He connects people to do good
Migdal HaEmek, Israel
I
things together. He’s there totally.”
She says P2G is on board with
strengthening those connections, espe-
cially among Arab and Jewish teens.
Coexistence programs already are in place
for Jewish and Arab 10th-graders. It has
taken time to build coexistence because
Arab teens weren’t as close as their Jewish
counterparts were at the start of this mul-
ticultural effort.
“Maybe the friendships made on the
Arab side will help move our teens for-
ward alongside the Jewish teens,” Bsharat
said.
VALUE OF FUN
Bsharat underscored his commitment
to changing the cultural synergy in a
small part of Israel that happens to have
improving Jewish-Arab ties nurtured over
22 years in partnership with Michigan
Jewry. For example, he’s bent on having
get-togethers for Arab teens to instill that
comingling with Jewish teens would be
fun.
“I believe in this,” he said. “If Arab teens
feel happy and feel they are having fun,
then I can introduce, little by little, the
values I need to create more opportunities
for sports activities among them and get
them more organized as Arab teens before
they’ll be ready for meeting with Jewish
teens.”
Ever confident, he said, “I think our par-
ents, always supportive, will like to do this
very much — and so will our teens.”
As potential models for coexistence go
in Israel, the one brewing in the Central
Galilee not only may best stand the test
of time, but also may prove the start of
something special in a land so dear to
Israeli Jews, but also home to Israeli Arabs,
who are Israelis first when it comes to
citizenship.
May Hesham Bsharat’s sincere appreci-
ation for Israel rub off on legions of other
Israeli Arabs. •
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