An Unfinished Tapestry

When it comes to Jewish and Arab Israelis, finding a common thread has proven elusive.

Sheik Mohammed Kiwan and Rabbi Gavriel Va’aknin, who have worked together on coexistence projects. Courtesy of the Abraham Fund

by Ami Nahshon and Mohammad Darawshe

There is a quiet change taking hold in the north of Israel. Among the region’s neighboring Arab and Jewish towns, the “Mirkam in the Galilee” initiative has been working to construct a tapestry (“mirkam”) of trust and cooperation. Municipal officials who, only a few years ago, resisted being in the same room together are today working on collaborative solutions to transportation problems, environmental clean-up, tourism development and job creation.

In cities and regions throughout the country, thousands of Jewish youngsters are — for the first time — studying conversational Arabic language and culture, getting to know their Arab neighbors and finding common ground, even at their young age. These young pioneers are demonstrating that a bilingual society is an achievable goal, and a

key to building a shared future.

The founders of the state declared, in 1948, that:
“The State of Israel will...foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex...”
But 60 years after these words proclaimed the establishment of the state of Israel, the promise of full social and political equality is still illusive for Israel’s 1.4 million Arab citizens.

One in five Israelis living within the pre-1967 borders is Palestinian-Arab. Arab citizens of Israel face dramatically higher unemployment and poverty rates, are underrepresented in civil service, and receive a grossly unequal share of government allocations and services.

Although living standards for Arab citizens of Israel have increased over the years, socioeconomic gaps are growing, and Arabs lag far behind their Jewish peers. Infant mortality is twice as high and average wages are 40 percent lower. While comprising 20 percent of the population, only 5 percent of Israeli college graduates are Arab. And of this cohort of Arab graduates, a large percentage find themselves under-employed and shut out of jobs in the knowledge economy for which they have been trained.
In the face of longstanding inequalities and the failure of successive governments to adopt inclusive policies, it should not be surprising that substantial segments of the Arab public have lost confidence that government will address its needs, and are despairing of the vision of a coexistence society.

At the same time, growing segments of the Jewish population are also losing faith in the vision of coexistence. A growing minority is expressing support for anti-democratic measures, most notably the transfer of major Arab population centers in the Triangle region to a future Palestinian state, and even withholding voting rights from Israel’s Arab citizens.

Engaged for decades in building a national home for the Jewish people, the American and world Jewish community has failed to take into account that both ideology and philanthropy have left Israel’s indigenous Arab minority far behind.

Today, many Israelis — both Jewish and Arab — still struggle with the fundamental question of whether Israel can be both a Jewish and a democratic state, as promised in its Declaration of Independence. In a landmark 1995 ruling, former Supreme Court President Aharon Barak wrote: “It is true that the Jewish people established the Jewish state ... and that a special key was given to members of the Jewish people to enter the home. But once someone is inside the home as a citizen, he enjoys the same rights as all other members of the household.”

Constructing a welcoming home for all of Israel’s citizens will require no less than building a new civil culture among Jewish and Arab Israelis. But, as we learned from the American civil rights movement, we cannot wait for culture to change behavior; we must also change behavior to help re-shape culture.

That is the conclusion already reached by more than 200 Israeli NGOs now working in the field of coexistence and equality, a conclusion that is finally beginning to take root among growing numbers of diaspora leaders as well.

Last year, more than 70 major American Jewish organizations from across the political and religious spectrum formed a powerful new coalition to tackle these issues and build a movement for action. The Abraham Fund Initiatives, which runs the “Mirkam in the Galilee” project, and other coalition partners — joined by a growing number of Israeli philanthropists and Jewish and Arab opinion leaders — are determined to advance the vision of an inclusive society in Israel, one in which all citizens enjoy equal opportunity and feel equally at home.

Until recently, few diaspora Jews — single-mindedly focused on the building and survival of the Jewish state — recognized the importance of strengthening Jewish-Arab cooperation, narrowing the socioeconomic chasm between the two communities and developing a sustainable framework for majority-minority relations in Israel. Just as developing the Negev and the Galilee, constructing hospitals and universities, and absorbing waves of Jewish immigrants were top priorities for Israel during its first 60 years, so too must be the creation of a just and inclusive society for the decades ahead.
Promoting social and political inclusion and civic equality, raising the standard of living and providing a fair share of public services to Israel’s Arab citizens is both morally just and absolutely critical for insuring a secure and sustainable Israel.

Such a society must reject a faltering educational system and declining academic achievement seen most acutely within Arab schools, shortages of social services and few programs for Arab youth at risk, and employment practices that prevent Arab workers from realizing their potential.
Israeli society must address the crushing pressure on Arab municipalities to provide basic infrastructure needs for their communities, issues of land allocation and planning — most pressing within the Negev Bedouin communities — and the long-standing exclusion of Arab citizens from meaningful participation in Israel’s governing processes.
While government must play the leading role in implementing solutions, civil society and philanthropists have a meaningful part to play in advancing the vision of an inclusive, equal society of coexistence. By drawing on international experience in majority-minority relations, by demonstrating viable models for addressing critical issues, by using our influence to advocate for government action, and by providing support and resources to both Jewish and Arab non-profits, we believe that we can make a difference, and be a stimulus for lasting change.

This is a time of great urgency and opportunity for Israel and for the future of Jewish-Arab relations. For those committed to coexistence and equality, the vision of a safe and just Israel remains clear and focused: an inclusive Israel in which all her citizens — Jews and Arabs alike — benefit equally from and contribute together to the development of the Israeli society, economy and culture.

Learning to live with our next-door neighbor is a precondition for learning to live with our neighbors across the border. Investing in building a culture of coexistence and equality among Israel’s Jewish and Arab citizens is an investment in Israel’s future, and needs to matter to all Israelis and her diaspora friends.
From a deep and fundamental commitment to Israel’s welfare, we have embarked on an irrevocable path to address what we believe is the central domestic challenge facing Israel as it enters its seventh decade. We invite Jewish and Arab Israelis, and friends abroad, to join us in this critical undertaking.

Ami Nahshon is president and CEO and Mohammad
Darawshe is director of external relations of The Abraham Fund Initiatives, a New York- and Jerusalem-based nonprofit working on Jewish-Arab coexistence issues. For more information, visit www.abrahamfund.org.

Westchester Jewish Conference

Westchester’s Jewish Community Relations Organization