Israeli-Arabs Don’t Want to Live in a Palestinian-Arab State
© David Burton 2020
Israeli-Arabs Don’t Want to Live in a Palestinian-Arab State© David Burton 2020 |
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| Don't believe the hype pushed by Israel's detractors. And definitely reconsider the notion that Israel is an "apartheid" state. Far from feeling marginalized or oppressed, a firm majority of local Arabs are actually proud to be Israeli. This was reported on in the November 23, 2017 Israeli newspaper, Israel Hayom which conducted a survey that asked a random sampling of Arab citizens of Israel their attitude toward the State of Israel. An overwhelming 73% majority said that they felt a sense of belonging in Israeli society. 60% went so far as to say they were proud citizens of Israel. Even so, just 3% said they would identify solely as Israeli, with a 46% plurality preferring the label "Arab Israeli." 42% identified as "Palestinian Arab." A strong majority said they accepted that the Jews have a historical and religious connection to this land. Just as many said they prefer to live in a Jewish-dominated state, as opposed to a “Palestinian” Arab state. The respondents also said they don't feel particularly well-represented by most of the Arab members of Knesset, who generally act as advocates for the Palestinian cause. The results of the survey provide overwhelming evidence that Israel has lived up to the promise of David ben Gurion when he formally proclaimed the establishment of the State of Israel on 14 May 1948. In his proclamation, Ben Gurion announced: ”THE STATE OF ISRAEL . . . will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations”. (Ref. 1) Now in 2020, “Arab citizens of Israel, who number nearly two million, are up in arms about U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan for Middle East peace, which proposes including some of their communities in a future Palestinian{-Arab} state. “Since the unveiling of the plan, thousands of Arabs have been demonstrating to express their rejection of the idea of placing them under the sovereignty of a Palestinian{-Arab} state. [Emphasis mine] “Trump’s ‘Peace to Prosperity’ plan proposes land swaps that could include both populated and unpopulated areas. It suggests that the so-called Triangle area in Israel, consisting of several Arab communities ‘which largely self-identify as Palestinian{-Arab}, become part of the State of Palestine.’ “The plan points out that the Arab communities ‘were originally designated to fall under Jordanian control during the negotiations of the Armistice Line of 1949, but ultimately were retained by Israel for military reasons that have since been mitigated.’ “Why are the 250,000 Arab Israelis living in the Triangle area strongly opposed to the idea of becoming part of a Palestinian{-Arab} state? “The main reason Arabs in Israel are afraid of becoming Palestinian-Arab} citizens is because they know that the Palestinian{-Arab} state will be anything but democratic. Many Arab citizens of Israel see how Palestinian{-Arabs} living under the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank and Hamas in the Gaza Strip are subject to human rights violations on a daily basis. “In Israel, Arab citizens participate in the general elections and have their own representatives in the Knesset. In the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, Palestinian{-Arabs} have been deprived of free and fair elections since January 2006. [Emphasis mine] “The continued power struggle between the PA and Hamas has denied Palestinian{-Arabs} the right to vote for new members of their parliament, the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC). “In addition, Palestinian{-Arabs} have been denied the right to vote for a new president since January 2005, when Mahmoud Abbas was elected for a four-year term of office. Last month, Abbas entered the 16th year of the same term. [Emphasis mine] “In light of the ongoing dispute between the PA and Hamas, the prospects of holding new presidential or parliamentary elections remain zero. “While Palestinian{-Arabs} have not had a functioning parliament since 2007, when Hamas violently seized control of the Gaza Strip after overthrowing Abbas’s PA regime, Israel’s Arab citizens continue to run in elections for the Knesset. The current Knesset has 14 Arab parliamentarians. [Emphasis mine] “Apart from the issue of elections, though, Arab citizens of Israel are mainly worried about having to live in a Palestinian{-Arab} state that suppresses public freedoms, including freedom of speech and the media. “Hardly a day passes without the Arab citizens of Israel hearing about the harsh conditions the Palestinian{-Arabs} face under the PA in the West Bank and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Palestinian{-Arab} journalists, human rights activists, political activists and university students are targeted by the PA and Hamas on a regular basis. “That is what Israel’s Arab citizens are afraid of. “A recent report by the West Bank-based Committee of the Families of Political Prisoners revealed that the PA security forces have arrested dozens of university students in the past few months because of their political activities. The report documented at least 619 violations against university students by the PA security forces in the past two years. “Arab students who are citizens of Israel, meanwhile, are free to hold protests on campuses there without having to worry about being arrested or summoned for interrogation. . . “Palestinian Arab university students, however, who are not citizens of Israel, and who live in the Palestinian{-Arab} areas of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, can only envy the Arab Israeli students who are free to hold political activities on campus. “Another recently published report revealed that several students arrested by the PA security forces have been brutally tortured. Most of the arrests took place at An-Najah University, the largest university in the West Bank city of Nablus, according to the report. “Palestinian{-Arab} students living in the Gaza Strip under Hamas, where virtually everyone is Arab and not a citizen of Israel, have fared no better. Hamas security forces have been regularly raiding university campuses and arresting students and teachers because of their political activities. - - - “. . . in Israel, Arab citizens are free to criticize the Israeli government and leaders, Palestinian{-Arabs} in the West Bank and Gaza Strip who speak out against the PA or Hamas often find themselves behind bars. - - - “It is no wonder, then, that Israel’s Arab citizens are extremely concerned about the prospect of living under a Palestinian{-Arab} state controlled by the PA and Hamas under some potential land transfer. “These Arab citizens of Israel know that once they become citizens of a Palestinian{-Arab} state, they will meet the same fate of the Palestinian{-Arabs} living under the PA and Hamas. Some of the leaders of the Arab community in Israel are even calling the idea of having to live under a Palestinian{-Arab} state as a ‘nightmare that cannot be implemented.’ “The Arab Israelis’ protests are seen as a message to the world that they prefer to continue living in Israel and not under another Arab dictatorship. A survey conducted by The Israel Democracy Institute in 2017 showed that 66% of Arab Israelis see Israel’s overall situation as ‘good’ or ‘very good.’ " (Ref. 2) With regard to Israel-Arab representation in Israel’s Knesset (parliament), there have been Israeli Arab members of the Knesset ever since the first Knesset elections in 1949. After Israel’s most recent 2020 election, some 15 members are Israeli-Arabs, “an unprecedented number for an Arab party.” (Ref. 3) Israeli-Arabs know that they are infinitely better off living in the State of Israel than in the make-believe “Palestinian State”. They have a voice in Israeli politics that is growing in importance. While the anti-Semites, BDS fanatics, anti-Zionists, and “useful idiots” of the world do everything in their power to work toward the elimination of the one Jewish nation in the world, the actions of Israel’s Arabs show that they know better than Israel’s enemies and detractors how much better off they are than their Arab brethren who are forced to live in the hell of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip under the brutal tyranny of the PA, Fatah and Hamas. Let Israel’s detractors turn their blind hatred of Jews and Israel toward the real enemies of peace in the Holy Land – the brutal tyrants who control the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, that imaginary “Palestinian State” that Arabs, who are free to speak their mind, condemn and reject. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- References:
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| 30 April 2020 {Article 411; Islam_39} |