Arab citizens of Israel
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| Arab citizens of Israel عرب إسرائيل (العرب الإسرائيليون) ערבים אזרחי ישראל |
|---|
| Total population |
|
1,144,000 plus |
| Regions with significant populations |
 Israel |
| Languages |
| Arabic and Hebrew |
| Religion |
| Islam 83% (mostly Sunni), Christianity 8.5% and Druzism 8.3%[1] |
Arab citizens of Israel[2] refers to Arabs or Arabic-speaking people who are citizens of Israel who are not Jewish.[3][4] Arab citizens of Israel are often called Arab Israelis or Israeli Arabs, a term with which some identify but the majority reject. (See notes on terminology below.)
Arab citizens comprise almost 20% of the population of Israel. The majority identify themselves as Palestinian by nationality and Israeli by citizenship.[5] The overwhelming majority of Arab citizens of Israel would choose to remain Israeli citizens rather than become citizens of a future Palestinian state.[6][7][8] Many Arab citizens hold a range of ties, including family ties, to Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. There has been relatively greater emphasis on Israeli identity among the Bedouin[9] and Druze, with all of the Druze drafted into compulsory military service[10][11] and a dwindling number of Bedouin volunteering.[12]
Special cases are Arabs living in East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, occupied and administered by Israel since the Six-Day War of 1967. The residents of East Jerusalem became permanent residents of Israel shortly after the war. Although they hold Israeli ID cards, only a few of them applied for Israeli citizenship, to which they are entitled, and most of them keep close ties with the West Bank.[13] However, as permanent residents, they are entitled to vote for Jerusalem municipal elections, although a low percentage does so. The mostly Druze residents of the Golan Heights are considered permanent residents under the Golan Heights Law of 1981. Few of them have accepted full Israeli citizenship, and the vast majority consider themselves to be citizens of Syria.[14]
[edit] Terminology
| Arab العرب al-ʿarab |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
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| Philip the Arab • John of Damascus • Al-Kindi • Al-Khansa Faisal I of Iraq • Gamal Abdel Nasser • Asmahan • May Ziade |
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| Total population | |||||||||||||||
|
approx. 350 to 422 million[15] |
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| Regions with significant populations | |||||||||||||||
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| Languages | |||||||||||||||
| Arabic, Modern South Arabian[19][20] | |||||||||||||||
| Religion | |||||||||||||||
| Predominantly Islam; largest minority: Christianity; other religions |
Terms used to refer to Arab citizens of Israel in the Arab media or Arabic cultural lexicon are "the Arabs of '48", "the Palestinians of '48"[21] or "the Arabs within" (عرب الداخل). These terms do not include the East Jerusalem Arab population or the Druze in the Golan Heights since these territories are considered to have been occupied by Israel since 1967. Many Arab citizens of Israel prefer to call themselves simply "Palestinians in Israel" or "Palestinian citizens of Israel."
"Arabs of Israel", "Arab Israelis", "Israeli Arabs", "Arab population of Israel", "Arab inhabitants" or the "Arab sector" are terms used by Israeli authorities, Jewish population of Israel and by the Hebrew-speaking media in Israel, to refer to Arabs that are citizens and/or residents of the State of Israel.[22][23][24]
The Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, for example, therefore includes Arab permanent residents of Israel who do not hold Israeli citizenship in its census figures. As a result, the number of Arabs in Israel is calculated as 1,413,300 people or 19.7% of the Israeli population (2006).[1] These figures include about 250,000 Arabs in East Jerusalem, and about 19,000 Druze in the Golan Heights.
Generally Jews who emigrated or were expelled from their historic homes throughout the Arab world following the establishment of Israel in 1948, as well as their Israeli-born sabra descendants, do not identify as Arabs, though they and their ancestors were traditionally Arabic-speaking Jews and a minority of Mizrahi Jews still identify today as Arab Jews. According to Israel's official demographic dichotomy between "Arabs" and Jews, Jews of all backgrounds are officially accounted for, collectively and without distinction solely as Jews, while persons of Arab cultural and/or linguistic heritage of any faith other than Jewish, are accounted for as "Arabs".
[edit] History
[edit] 1948 Arab-Israeli War
- See also: Palestinian Exodus
- See also: List of villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war
Most Israelis refer to the 1948 Arab-Israeli War as the War of Independence, while most Arab citizens refer to it as the Nakba (catastrophe), a reflection of differences in perception of the purpose and outcomes of the war.[25][26]
In the aftermath of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, British Mandate Palestine was de facto divided into three parts: State of Israel, Jordanian-held West Bank, and Egyptian-held Gaza Strip. Of the estimated 950,000 Arabs that lived in the territory that became Israel before the war,[21] most were expelled or fled; some 156,000 remained.[27] Arab citizens of Israel are largely composed of these people and their descendants. Others include some from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank who procured Israeli citizenship under family-unification provisions that were recently made significantly more stringent.[28]
Arabs who had left their homes during the period of armed conflict, but remained in what had become Israeli territory, were considered to be "present absentees". In some cases, they were refused permission to return to their original homes, which were expropriated and turned over to state ownership, as was the property of other Palestinian refugees.[29][30] Some 274,000, or 1 of every 4 Arab citizens of Israel are "present absentees" or internally displaced Palestinians.[31][32] Notable cases of "present absentees" include the residents of Saffuriyya and the Galilee villages of Kafr Bir'im and Iqrit.[33] The legal efforts by residents of Kafr Bir'im and Iqrit to be allowed to return to their homes have continued into the 21st century.
Arab citizens of Israel generally hold separate marches on Israel's Independence Day, commemorating instead Nakba day, or the "day of the catastrophe". In Israel, Independence Day takes place on 5 Iyar according to the Hebrew calendar, which means it falls on different dates every year under the Gregorian calendar. Arab citizens of Israel generally mark al-Nakba both on this day, and on May 15th, as do other Palestinians.[34] Druze soldiers, however, were present at Israel's first Independence Day Parade in 1949,[35] and there have since been parades for Druze and Circassians, as well as special events for Bedouins on Independence Day.[36]
[edit] Martial law (1949-1966)
While most Arabs who remained inside what became Israel were granted citizenship, this population was subject to a number of controlling measures, beginning in 1949, that amounted to martial law.[37] This required that they apply for permission from the military governor to travel more than a given distance from their registered residence. It also included the use of curfew, administrative detentions, expulsions, and other activities. Martial law was lifted from the Arab population living in predominantly-Jewish cities some years later, but remained in place in Arab areas until 1966.
A variety of legal measures in effect during this period facilitated the transfer of land abandoned by Arabs to state ownership. These included the Absentee Property Law of 1950 which allowed the state to take control of land belonging to land owners who emigrated to other countries, and the Land Acquisition Law of 1953 which authorized the Ministry of Finance to transfer expropriated land to the state. Other common legal expedients included the use of emergency regulations to declare land belonging to Arab citizens a closed military zone, followed by the use of Ottoman legislation on abandoned land to take control of the land.[38]
In 1965, the first attempt was made to stand an independent Arab list for Knesset elections, with the radical group al-Ard forming the United Arab List. The list was, however, banned by the Israeli Central Elections Committee.
In 1966, martial law was lifted completely, and the government set about dismantling most of the discriminatory laws, while Arab citizens were, theoretically if not always in practice, granted the same rights as Jewish citizens.[39]
[edit] 1967-2000
The Six Day War marked a dramatic turning point in the lives of Israel's Arab citizens. For the first time since Israel's establishment, Arab citizens now had contact with Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. This along with the lifting of military rule, led to increased political activism among Arab citizens.[40]
In 1974, a committee of Arab mayors and municipal council chairmen was established which was able to play an important role in representing the community and bringing its pressure to bear on the Israeli government.[41] This was followed in 1975 by the formation of the Committee for the Defense of the Land, which sought to prevent continuing land expropriations.[42] That same year, a political breakthrough took place with the election of Arab poet Tawfiq Ziad, a Maki member, as mayor of Nazareth, accompanied by a strong communist presence in the town council.[43] In 1976, six Arab citizens of Israel were killed by Israeli security forces at a protest against land expropriations and house demolitions. The date of the protest, March 30, has since been commemorated annually as Land Day.
The 1980s saw the birth of the Islamic Movement. As part of a larger trend seen throughout the Arab World, the Islamic Movement emphasized moving Islam into the political realm. The Islamic movement built schools, provided other essential social services, constructed mosques, and encouraged both prayer and conservative Islamic dress. The Islamic Movement also began to have an impact on electoral politics particularly at the local level.[44]
Many Arab citizens supported the First Intifada and assisted Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, providing them with money, food, and clothes. A number of strikes were also held by Arab citizens in solidarity with Palestinians in the occupied territories.[44]
The years surrounding the Oslo Peace Process were a time of optimism for Arab citizens. During the time of Yitzhak Rabin's government, Arab parties played an important role in the formation of a governing coalition for the first time ever. Increased participation of Arab citizens was also seen at the civil society level. However, tension continued to exist with many Arabs calling for Israel to become a "state of all its citizens", thereby challenging the state's Jewish identity. During the 1999 elections for Prime Minister 94% of all Arabs voted for Ehud Barak partly due to the hope that an Arab party would be included in the coalition agreement for Barak's government as a continuation of what had started with Yitzhak Rabin. However, Barak chose to form a broad left-right-center government without consulting any Arab parties, a decision that deeply disappointed Israel's Arab community.[40]
[edit] 2000-Present
- See also: October 2000 events
Tensions between Arabs and the state rose to a boiling point in October 2000 when 12 Arab citizens of Israel and one man from Gaza were killed while protesting the government's response to the Second Intifada. In response to these events the government established the Or Commission to investigate the causes of the protests and the subsequent police response to them. The events of October 2000 were a major turning point in the consciousness of the Arab community in Israel, causing many to question the nature of their citizenship. Many Arabs chose to boycott the 2001 Israeli Elections as a means of protest.[40] Furthermore, IDF enlistment by Bedouin citizens of Israel dropped significantly.[45]
During the 2006 Israel Lebanon Conflict, lingering tensions revealed themselves again. Arab advocacy organizations complained that the Israeli government had invested significant funds and energy into protecting Jewish citizens from Hezbollah attacks, but had neglected Arab citizens. They pointed to a dearth of bomb shelters in Arab towns and villages and a lack of basic emergency information in Arabic, in conjunction with political and public incitement against them.[46] Large elements within Israel's Jewish population viewed the Arab population's opposition to government policy and sympathy with the Lebanese as a sign of disloyalty.[47]
Later that year, in October 2006, tensions between the Jewish and Arab communities were further inflamed when Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert decided to include the right wing political party Yisrael Beitenu in his coalition government. The Yisrael Beitenu Party leader, Avigdor Lieberman, had long advocated transfer of a heavily populated Arab area (such as Umm al-Fahm, the center of the Islamic Party) to the Palestinian Authority as part of a peace proposal.[48]
Several months later in January 2007 the first non-Druze Arab minister in Israel's history, Raleb Majadele, was appointed a minister without portfolio. (Salah Tarif, a Druze, had been appointed a minister without portfolio in 2001). The appointment received criticism from both left wing members of Knesset, who felt it was an attempt to cover up the Labor Party's decision to sit with Yisrael Beitenu in the government, and from right wing members, who felt that it threatened Israel's status as a Jewish state.[49][50]
[edit] Ethnic and religious groupings
In 2006, the official number of Arab residents in Israel - including East Jerusalem permanent residents many of whom are not citizens - was 1,413,500 people, about 20% of Israel’s population.[51] According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics (May 2003), Muslims, including Bedouins, make up 82% of the entire Arab population in Israel, with around 9% Druze, and 9% Christians.[52]
The national language and mother tongue of Arab citizens, including the Druze, is Arabic and the colloquial spoken language is of the Palestinian Arabic dialect. Knowledge and command of Modern Standard Arabic varies.[53]
[edit] Muslims
Outside of the Bedouin population, traditionally settled communities of Muslim Arabs comprise about 70% of the Arab population in Israel.
Muslims in Israel have the highest birthrate of any group: 4.0 children per woman, as opposed to 2.7 for Jewish Israelis, a natural reproduction rate of 3% compared to 1.5%.[54] Around 25% of the children in Israel today were born to Muslim parents. The Muslim population is mostly young: 42% of Muslims are children under the age of 15, compared with 26% of the Jewish population. The median age of Muslim Israelis is 18, while the median age of Jewish Israelis is 30. The percentage of people over 65 is less than 3% for Muslims, compared with 12% for the Jewish population.[52] According to forecasts, the Muslim population will grow to over 2,000,000 people, or 24-26% of the population within the next 15 years. They will also comprise 85% of the Arab population in Israeli in 2020 (Up 3% from 2005).[55] (See the section on Demographics below for more on this issue.)
[edit] Bedouin
- See also: Negev Bedouins and Unrecognized villages
According to the Foreign Affairs Minister of Israel, 110,000 Bedouins live in the Negev, 50,000 in the Galilee and 10,000 in the central region of Israel.[56]
The term "Bedouin" ("Badawi" in Arabic) defines a range of nomadic desert-dwelling ethnic groups spanning from the western Sahara desert to the Najd desert including one of its arms, the Negev ("Naqab" in Arabic). Through the latter half of the 19th century, the traditionally pastoral nomadic Bedouin in Palestine began transitioning to a semi-nomadic pastoral agricultural community, with an emphasis on agricultural production and the privatization of tribal lands.[57]
Prior to the establishment of Israel in 1948, there were an estimated 65,000-90,000 Bedouin living in the Negev.[57] The 11,000 who remained were relocated by the Israeli government in the 1950s and 1960s to an area called the siyag ("enclosure" or, "fence") made up of relatively infertile land in the northeastern Negev comprising 10% of the Negev desert.[57] Negev Bedouins, like the rest of the Arab population in Israel, lived under military rule up to 1966, after which restrictions were lifted and they were free to move outside the siyag as well. However, even after 1966 they were not free to reside outside of the siyag; they came to reside within 2% of the Negev[58] and never returned to their former range. Seven government-built townships were established in the siyag area where roughly half of Israel's Bedouin population live today,[57]centered around the largest legal Bedouin locality in Israel, Rahat. The Israeli government encourages Bedouin to settle as permanent residents in these development towns, but the other half of the Negev Bedouin population continues to live in 45 "unrecognized villages," some of which pre-date the existence of Israel.[57] These villages do not appear on any commercial maps, and are denied basic services like water, electricity and schools. It is forbidden by the Israeli authorities for the residents of these villages to build permanent structures, though many do, risking fines and home demolition.[57]
[edit] Druze
The Druze are members of a sect residing in many countries, although predominantly in mountainous regions in Israel, Lebanon and Syria. Druze in Israel live mainly in the north, notably in Carmel City, near Haifa. There are also Druze localities in the Golan Heights, such as Majdal Shams, which were captured in 1967 from Syria and annexed to Israel in 1981.
It is in keeping with Druze religious practice to always serve the country in which they live.[59] So while the Druze population in Israel are Arabic speakers like their counterparts in Syria and Lebanon, they often consider themselves Israeli and unlike the Arab Muslims and Arab Christians in Israel they rarely identify themselves as Palestinians.[60] As early as 1939, the leadership of one Druze village formally allied itself with pre-Israeli militias, like the Haganah.[10] A separate "Israeli Druze" identity was encouraged by the Israeli government who formally recognized the Druze religious community as independent of the Muslim religious community in Israeli law as early as 1957.[61]
The Druze are defined as a distinct ethnic group in the Israeli Ministry of Interior's census registration. While the Israeli education system is basically divided into Hebrew and Arabic speaking schools, the Druze have autonomy within the Arabic speaking branch.[61]
The Druze of British Mandate Palestine showed little interest in Arab nationalism that was on the rise in the 20th century, and did not take part in the early Arab-Jewish skirmishes of the era either. By 1948, many young Druze volunteered for the Israeli army and actively fought on their side. Unlike their Christian and Muslim counterparts, no Druze villages were destroyed in the 1948 war and no Druze left their settlements permanently.[32] Unlike most other Arab citizens of Israel, right-wing Israeli political parties have appealed to many Druze. Ayoob Kara, for example, represented the conservative Likud in the Knesset, and other parties such as Shas and Yisrael Beiteinu have likewise attracted Druze voters. Currently, a Druze MK, Majalli Wahabi of the centrist Kadima, as Deputy Speaker of the Knesset, is next in line to the acting presidency.[62]
[edit] Christians
- See also: Palestinian Christian
Christian Arabs comprise about 9% of the Arab population in Israel, and approximately 70% reside in the North District (Israel) in the towns of Jish, Eilabun, Kafr Yasif, Kafr Kanna, I'billin, Shefa-'Amr and many reside in Nazareth. Several other villages, including a number of Druze villages such as Hurfeish, Maghar, are inhabited by Christian Arabs.[52] Nazareth has the largest Christian Arab population. There are 117,000 or more Christian Arabs in Israel.[63] Christian Arabs have been prominent in Arab political parties in Israel and these leaders have included Archbishop George Hakim, Emile Toma, Tawfik Toubi, Emile Habibi and Azmi Bishara.
Notable Christian religious figures in Israel include the Melkite Archbishops of the Galilee Elias Chacour and Boutros Mouallem, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Michel Sabbah, and Munib Younan of the Lutheran Church of Palestine and Jordan.
The only non-Jewish Arab judge to receive a permanent appointment to preside over Israel's Supreme Court is a Christian Arab, Salim Jubran.
[edit] Self-identification of Muslims, Christians and Druze
The relationship of Arab citizens to the State of Israel is often fraught with tension and can be regarded in the context of relations between minority populations and state authorities elsewhere in the world.[64] Arab citizens consider themselves to be an indigenous people,[65] though this has been disputed by some pro-Israel advocates, like Joan Peters in her book From Time Immemorial. The tension between their Palestinian Arab national identity and their identity as citizens of Israel was famously described by an Arab public figure as, "My state is at war with my nation".[66]
According to the 2008 National Resilience Survey, conducted by Tel Aviv University, 43% of Muslims refer to themselves as "Palestinian-Arabs"; only 15% defined themselves as "Arab-Israelis" and four percent of those surveyed said they considered themselves "Muslim-Israelis". According to the same survey, 24% of Christians in Israel said they defined themselves as "Arab-Palestinians", 24% referred to themselves as "Arab-Israelis" and an equal number of respondents said they considered themselves "Christian-Israelis". In 2008 more than 94% of Druze youngsters classified themselves as "Druze-Israelis" in the religious and national context. (The Ynet article reporting the findings does not mention self-identification as "Arab citizens of Israel" or "Palestinian citizens of Israel" as an option.)
[edit] Military conscription by ethnicity
Muslims are not required to serve in the Israeli military, and outside the Bedouin community, very few (around 120 a year) volunteer.[52] Until 2000, each year between 5%-10% of the Bedouin population of draft age volunteered for the Israeli army, and Bedouin were well-known for their unique status as volunteers. The legendary Israeli soldier, Amos Yarkoni, first commander of the Shaked Reconnaissance Battalion in the Givati Brigade, was a Bedouin (born Abd el-Majid Hidr). However today the number of Bedouin in the army may be less than 1%.[67] As over half of the Bedouin population (80,000 out of 160,000) lives in villages unrecognized by the Israeli government and threatened demolition of these 45 villages has become increasingly acute, and as the Israeli government has failed to fulfill promises of equal service provision to Bedouin citizens, willingness among Bedouin to serve in the army has drastically dropped in recent years.[12]
IDF figures indicate that in 2002 and 2003, Christians represented 0.1 percent of all recruits. In 2004, the number of recruits had doubled. Altogether, in 2003, the percentage of Christians serving had grown by 16 percent over the year 2000. The IDF does not publish figures on the exact number of recruits by religious denomination, and it is estimated that merely a few dozen Christians currently serve in the IDF.[59]
Druze are required to serve in the IDF in accordance with an agreement between their local religious leaders and the Israeli government in 1956. Opposition to the decision among the Druze populace was evident immediately, but was unsuccessful in reversing the decision.[68] It is estimated that 85% of Druze men in Israel serve in the army.[69] In recent years, a growing minority from within the Druze community have denounced this mandatory enrollment, and refused to serve.[70][71] In 2001, Said Nafa, who identifies as a Palestinian Druze and serves as the head of the Balad party's national council, founded the "Pact of Free Druze", an organization that aims "to stop the conscription of the Druze and claims the community is an inalienable part of the Arabs in Israel and the Palestinian nation at large."[72]
It is commonly felt among Palestinians that Israel's varying treatment of different Arab populations with Israeli citizenship, according to military service, is an extension of the British colonial strategy of 'Divide to Rule.' Druze often play high-ranking roles in elite guards involved in major operations in the Occupied Territories and Lebanon; Bedouin soldiers tend to occupy roles as Border policemen, keeping Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza (some of whom may be members of their extended family) out of Israel. These realities have facilitated a sharpened division between the Druze and Bedouin communities and the rest of the former and current inhabitants of Historic Palestine.[12]
[edit] Spatial distribution and demographics
Arab citizens of Israel form a majority of the population (52%) in Israel's Northern District[1] and about 50% of the Arab population lives in 114 different localities throughout Israel.[73] In total there are 122 primarily if not entirely Arab localities in Israel, 89 of them having populations over two thousand.[74] The seven townships as well as the Abu Basma Regional Council that have been constructed by the government for the Bedouin population of the Negev,[75] are the only Arab localities to have been established since 1948, with the aim of relocating the Arab Bedouin citizens (see above section on Bedouin).
46% of the country’s Arabs (622,400 people) live in predominantly-Arab communities in the north.[1] Nazareth is the largest Arab city, with a population of 65,000, roughly 40,000 of whom are Muslim. Shefa-'Amr has a population of approximately 32,000 and the city is mixed with sizable populations of Muslims, Christians and Druze.
Jerusalem, a mixed city, has the largest overall Arab population. Jerusalem housed 209,000 Arabs in 2000 and they make up some 33% of the city’s residents and together with the local council of Abu Ghosh, some 19% of the country’s entire Arab population.
14% of Arab citizens live in the Haifa District predominantly in the Wadi Ara region. Here is the largest Muslim city, Umm al-Fahm, with a population of 43,000. Baqa-Jatt and Carmel City are the two second largest Arab population centers in the district. The city of Haifa has an Arab population of 9%, much of it in the Wadi Nisnas neighborhood.
10% of the country's Arab population resides in the Center District of Israel, primarily the cities of Tayibe, Tira, and Qalansawe as well as the mixed cities of Lod and Ramla which have mainly Jewish populations.[52]
Of the remaining 11%, 10% live in Bedouin communities in the northwestern Negev Desert. The Bedouin city of Rahat is the only Arab city in the South District and it is the third largest Arab city in Israel.
The remaining 1% of the country's Arab population lives in cities that are almost entirely Jewish such as, Nazaret Illit with an Arab population of 9% and Tel Aviv-Yafo, 4%.[73][52]
In February 2008, the government announced that the first new Arab city would be constructed in Israel. According to Haaretz, "[s]ince the establishment of the State of Israel, not a single new Arab settlement has been established, with the exception of permanent housing projects for Bedouins in the Negev."[76]
[edit] Major Arab localities
Arabs make up the majority of the population of the "heart of the Galilee" and of the areas along the Green Line including the Wadi Ara region. Bedouin Arabs make up the majority of the northeastern section of the Negev Desert.
| Locality | Population | District |
|---|---|---|
| Nazareth | 64,300 | North |
| Umm al-Fahm | 41,100 | Haifa |
| Rahat | 38,900 | South |
| Tayibe | 33,000 | Center |
| Shefa-'Amr | 32,800 | North |
| Baqa-Jatt | 31,000 | Haifa |
| Shaghur | 28,500 | North |
| Tamra | 26,000 | North |
| Sakhnin | 24,400 | North |
| Carmel City | 24,000 | Haifa |
| Tira | 20,700 | Center |
| Arraba | 19,600 | North |
| Maghar | 18,700 | North |
| Kafr Kanna | 17,600 | North |
| Kafr Qasim | 17,200 | Center |
[edit] Perceived demographic threat
In the Northern Part of Israel the percentage of Jewish population is declining.[77] The increasing population of Arabs within Israel, and the majority status they hold in two major geographic regions — the Galilee and the Triangle — has become a growing point of open political contention in recent years. Dr. Wahid Abd Al-Magid, the editor of Al-Ahram Weekly's "Arab Strategic Report" predicts that "The Arabs of 1948 (i.e. Arabs who stayed within the bounds of Israel and accepted citizenship) may become a majority in Israel in 2035, and they will certainly be the majority in 2048."[78] Among Arabs, Muslims have the highest birth rate, followed by Druze, and then Christians.[79] The phrase demographic threat, (or demographic bomb) is used within the Israeli political sphere to describe the growth of Israel's Arab citizenry as constituting a threat to its maintenance of its status as a Jewish state with a Jewish demographic majority.
[edit] Demographic bomb
Israeli historian Benny Morris states:
The Israeli Arabs are a time bomb. Their slide into complete Palestinization has made them an emissary of the enemy that is among us. They are a potential fifth column. In both demographic and security terms they are liable to undermine the state. So that if Israel again finds itself in a situation of existential threat, as in 1948, it may be forced to act as it did then. If we are attacked by Egypt (after an Islamist revolution in Cairo) and by Syria, and chemical and biological missiles slam into our cities, and at the same time Israeli Palestinians attack us from behind, I can see an expulsion situation. It could happen. If the threat to Israel is existential, expulsion will be justified[...][80]
The term "demographic bomb" was famously used by Benjamin Netanyahu in 2003[81] when he noted that if the percentage of Arab citizens rises above its current level of about 20 percent, Israel will not be able to maintain a Jewish demographic majority. Netanyahu's comments were criticized as racist by Arab Knesset members and a range of civil rights and human rights organizations, such as the Association for Civil Rights in Israel.[82] Even earlier allusions to the "demographic threat" can be found in an internal Israeli government document drafted in 1976 known as The Koenig Memorandum, which laid out a plan for reducing the number and influence of Arab citizens of Israel in the Galilee region.
In 2003, the Israeli daily Ma’ariv published an article entitled, "Special Report: Polygamy is a Security Threat," detailing a report put forth by the Director of the Population Administration at the time, Herzl Gedj; the report described polygamy in the Bedouin sector a “security threat” and advocated means of reducing the birth rate in the Arab sector.[83] The Population Administration is a department of the Demographic Council, whose purpose, according to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics is: “...to increase the Jewish birthrate by encouraging women to have more children using government grants, housing benefits, and other incentives.”[84] In 2008 the Minister of the Interior appointed Yaakov Ganot as new head of the Population Administration, which according to Haaretz is "probably the most important appointment an interior minister can make."[85]
[edit] Land and population exchange, or, 'transfer'
Some Israeli politicians advocate land-swap proposals in order to assure a continued Jewish majority within Israel. A specific proposal is that Israel transfer sovereignty of part of the Arab-populated Wadi Ara area (west of the Green Line) to a future Palestinian state, in return for formal sovereignty over the major Jewish settlement "blocks" that lie inside the West Bank east of the Green Line.)[86]
Avigdor Liberman of Yisrael Beiteinu, the fourth largest faction in the 17th Knesset, is one of the foremost advocates the transfer of large Arab towns located just inside Israel near the border with the West Bank (e.g. Tayibe, Umm al-Fahm, Baqa al-Gharbiyye), to the jurisdiction of the Palestinian National Authority in exchange for Israeli settlements located inside the West Bank.[87][88][89][90][91][92][93][94] As the London Times notes: "Lieberman plans to strengthen Israel’s status as a Jewish state by transferring 500,000 of its minority Arab population to the West Bank, by the simple expedient of redrawing the West Bank to include several Arab Israeli towns in northern Israel. Another 500,000 would be stripped of their right to vote if they failed to pledge loyalty to Zionism."[95]
In October 2006, Yisrael Beiteinu formally joined in the ruling government's parliamentary coalition, headed by Kadima and also made up of the Labour Party and Gil. After the Israeli Cabinet confirmed Avigdor Lieberman's appointment to the position of Minister for Strategic Threats, Labour Party representative and Science, Sport and Culture Minister Ophir Pines-Paz, resigned his post.[96][48] In his resignation letter to Ehud Olmert, Pines-Paz wrote, "I couldn't sit in a government with a minister who preaches racism"[97]
The Lieberman Plan caused a stir among Arab citizens of Israel, which explicitly treats them as an enemy within. On the one hand, with very few exceptions, Arabs in Israel argue that they are native to the region and should not have to renounce the villages and cities in which they, their parents, and their grandparents, if not their ancestors, were born. Others insist that as Israeli citizens, they deserve equal rights within the State, and should not be singled out as a fifth column according to their ethnic or religious background. Various polls show that Arabs in Israel in general do not wish to move to the West Bank or Gaza if a Palestinian state is created there.[98]
Right-wing Jewish critics of the Wadi Ara land swap plan have argued that this measure will not be enough since "The number of Arab Israelis would drop by 116,000-148,000, or a total of 8.2-10.5 percent of the Arab population of Israel, and just 2.1 percent of the population in general,"[citation needed] rather than emptying Israel of all Arabs.
[edit] Changing birth rates
A January 2006 study by the American-Israel Demographic Research Group rejects the "demographic time bomb" threat based on statistical data collected since 1995 that shows that Jewish births have increased rapidly while Arab births have begun to drop.[99] The study noted shortcomings in earlier demographic predictions (for example, in the 1960s, predictions suggested that Arabs would be the majority in 1990). The study also demonstrated that Christian Arab and Druze birth rates were actually below those of Jewish birth rates in Israel. The study used data from a Gallup poll to demonstrate that the desired family size for Arabs in Israel and Jewish Israelis were the same. The study's population forecast for 2025 predicted that Arabs would comprise only 25.0% of the Israeli population.
Nevertheless, the Bedouin population in particular, with its extremely high birth rates, continues to be perceived as a threat to the Jewish demographic majority in the south, and a variety of Jewish-only development plans such as the Blueprint Negev compete to address these concerns.[100]
[edit] Legal and political status
- See also: Arab members of the Knesset
[edit] Legal status in Israeli law
Israel's Declaration of Independence called for the establishment of a Jewish state with equality of social and political rights, irrespective of religion, race or sex.[101]
The rights of citizens are guaranteed by a set of Basic Laws (Israel does not have a written constitution).[102] Although this set of laws does not explicitly include the term "right to equality", the Israeli Supreme Court has consistently interpreted "Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty"[103] and "Basic Law: Freedom of Occupation (1994)"[104] as guaranteeing equal rights for all Israeli citizens.[105]
The website for the Israeli government's Ministry of Foreign Affairs states that "Arab Israelis are citizens of the Israel with equal rights" and states that "The only legal distinction between Arab and Jewish citizens is not one of rights, but rather of civic duty. Since Israel's establishment, Arab citizens have been exempted from compulsory service in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF)." [106] Druze and Circassians are drafted into the Israeli army, while other Arabs may serve voluntarily; however, only a very small number of Arabs choose to volunteer for the Israeli army.
[edit] Arab perceptions of citizenship status
Many Arab citizens feel that the state, as well as society at large, not only actively limits them to second-class citizenship, but treats them as enemies, impacting their perception of the de jure versus de facto quality of their citizenship.[107] The joint document The Future Vision of the Palestinian Arabs in Israel, asserts: "Defining the Israeli State as a Jewish State and exploiting democracy in the service of its Jewishness excludes us, and creates tension between us and the nature and essence of the State." The document explains that by definition the "Jewish State" concept is based on ethnically preferential treatment towards Jews enshrined in immigration (the Law of Return) and land policy (the Jewish National Fund), and calls for the establishment of minority rights protections enforced by an independent anti-discrimination commission.[108]