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July 16, 1999/3 Av 5759, Vol. 51, No.41
Are Israeli Arabs second-class citizens?
GIL SEDAN
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
A controversial appointment backed by Prime Minister Ehud Barak has raised questions about whether Israeli Arabs are treated as second-class citizens and whether Israel's government is fully representative of its Arab population.
The Barak government has named Hashem Mahmeed of the United Arab List to the Knesset's security-sensitive Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. Now there is the new question of whether such an appointee would be loyal enough to his country to sit on the prestigious panel.
The appointment, the first of its kind in Israel's history, is seriously being considered by Barak, who is well aware of his political debt to the Arab electorate.
In the May elections, Israel's Arabs voted overwhelmingly for Barak over former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after legislator Azmi Beshara, Israel's first Arab citizen to run for premier, dropped out of the race.
But although the three Arab parties represented in the new Knesset hold 10 seats - the same as the leftist Meretz Party, which is represented in Barak's Cabinet - the premier did not bring any of their members into his government.
It was little wonder, then, that Arab legislators, smarting from what they felt were repeated slights, abstained from the Knesset's July 6 vote confirming Barak's new government.
Meanwhile, the planned appointment to the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee has elicited some surprising reactions. Ami Ayalon, the head of the Shin Bet domestic security service, said he sees no problems with the appointment.
The opposition, more predictably, reacted angrily. Likud legislator Gideon Ezra, a former deputy head of the Shin Bet, declared that he would boycott committee meetings attended by any Arab member.
Another Likud lawmaker, Uzi Landau, outgoing chairman of the committee, said he opposes the proposal because he objects to having anyone sit on the panel who has not served in the army. The army service qualification he mentioned would exclude virtually all Arab legislators from the committee, since only one has a military background - Saleh Tarif of the Labor Party, a Druse who served as an army officer.
Tarif expressed satisfaction that the barrier of appointing Arabs to the committee is being removed. Just the same, he regretted that no Druse - meaning himself - had been appointed to Barak's Cabinet.
Oddly enough, Beshara, who demanded that Israel be a "state of all its citizens" during his campaign for prime minister, opposes the idea of an Arab legislator serving on the committee. While conceding that the move is a positive one, he is nonetheless concerned that it will give legitimacy to the demand that Israeli Arabs serve in the military.
Moreover, he added, delicate security issues that come up during committee proceedings could put any Arab Knesset member serving on the committee "in a difficult situation."
At the same time, the legislator who serves alongside Beshara as a member of the National Democratic Alliance, Dr. Ahmed Tibi - formerly the adviser on Israeli affairs to Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat - enthusiastically supports the initiative.
The current favorite to be named to the committee is Bedouin legislator Talab El-Sana, a member of the largest Arab party, the United Arab List, whose main supporters are members of the Islamic Movement. The party is likely to elect him.
The idea of appointing an Arab to the committee may have little effect on the negative attitudes of Israeli Arabs toward the Jewish state. Recent opinion polls have shown a sharp rise in the level of Arab alienation. Moreover, the number of Arabs who deny Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state increased to 18.4 percent, compared to 6.8 percent in 1995.
Arab legislators recently announced that they would seek admission to the Arab League. Since the 22-member league accepts only independent countries, the announcement was largely an act of protest. But it reflected a growing trend that Barak would be wise not to ignore.
Gil Sedan writes from Jerusalem.
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