On Arab-Jewish Relations in Israel

By Ira Sharkansky, Ph.D

Ira Sharkansky

JERUSALEM, Israel — It’s a Jewish country, but:–

About 21 percent of the population is Arab.

Now, 70 plus years after Independence, the Arabs of Israel are well integrated, but:–

A high incidence of the crime is Arab. And most of that is Arab against Arab.

The murder rate for Arab men and women has been five or six times that for Jewish men and women.

Lots of the Arabs have guns. They’re smuggled into the country from all sides: Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Egypt. And some are stolen from the IDF, by Jewish soldiers, and sold to Arabs.

The South and North are problematic areas, each with their high incidence of Arab Israelis. The Bedouin of the Negev spread over the landscape with their rough and not so rough homes. And now, with an Arab party aligned with the government, it’s difficult to rein in the spread and remove the “illegal” dwellings.

For some time, there have been substantial indications of positive movement. Very many–perhaps most–of the pharmacists and many of the hospital nurses and physicians are Arabs. Lots of Arabs in the media. And questions about others: are they Arabs or Jews?

The Palestinians are close. More than 100,000 work in Israel on a daily basis. Not all legally. We get on reasonably well with the West Bankers, but there are frequent incidents of violence. And Gaza is a different story, With occasional fire balloons, and rocket attacks. Followed by strong Israeli retaliation. And tense relations, involving limits on the fishermen’s rights to fish, and limitations on the aid going into Gaza and its trade with Israel.

For some years there’s been an annual renewal of a law against granting citizenship to Palestinians who marry Israeli Arabs. But not now. The law failed, as Likudniks voted against renewing it in order to embarrass the government. Some revision, meant to attract the Arabs supporting the government, is being negotiated.

Recently there have been outbursts of violence in mixed cities: Arabs against Jews; Jews against Arabs. Plenty of extremists in both communities who are tense about those who differ from them..

There’s tough commentary about the Arabs of Israel. An article that summarizes it begins with noting that Arabs are responsible for 82 percent of the country’s murders, and that Arabs have some 400,000 illegal weapons. It goes on to describe a number of killings of Arab women spurred by the Arab sense of family unity and women’s responsibility for purity. Arab views of the Israeli police emphasize their sense of hopelessness. Few police stations and limited police work against Arab violence. And a limited Israeli infrastructure in Arab communities, reflecting their place somewhere close to the bottom of Israeli concerns.

There have been positive openings with Arab and Muslim countries. Relations on top of or below the table with the Gulf states, Saudi Arabia. Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, Morocco, and countries of Central Asia. A friendly chat between Turkey’s Erdogan and Israel’s President Herzog. Many, perhaps most of our household goods and cars are manufactured in Turkey. Very close commercial ties along with occasional nastiness from Turkish politicians.

There is widespread concern in the Muslim world, and in much of the West, for the Palestinians. But occasional indications that individual Palestinians are not highly valued among other Arabs. There’s lots of tension, and no end of politics within the Arab and Muslim communities. It’s by no means a solid block. Especially tense are relations between several countries and Iran.

We’re living in a Muslim sea, isolated geographically on the distant shore of the Mediterranean Sea, far above our neighbors in terms of economic and social indicators. And strong enough to have survived decades of hostility, including several wars. With lots of reasons for distrusting the Jews, or using the Jews as leverage in inter-Muslim conflict.

Currently Iran is the major worry, but we seem to have done more to them than they have done to us. So far.

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Ira Sharkansky, Ph.D., is professor emeritus of political science at Hebrew University.  he may be contacted via ira.sharkansky@sdjewishworld.com