During the first week of October 2000, the Arabs in Israel joined the
Intifada. In response, the Israeli regime has returned to its old ways.
"Out" are joint projects between Arabs and Jews, calls for co-existence
and mutual development. "In" are plans to beef up the Jewish presence in
areas with heavy Arab populations. Since the demonstrations of March 30,
1976, Land Day has been a central political event in the life of the Arab
population. This year, as the day approached, Sharon held a number of friendly
meetings with Arab leaders, promising to consider their grievances. This
was a bid to neutralize the expected Arab protests. In recent months, however,
the real shape of Sharon's attitude toward Arab citizens has begun to appear.
The change does not find expression in public pronouncements. The Likud
has learned, it seems, the sound old methods of the Labor Party: Don't
talk about doing it - do it! Nevertheless, the newspapers report on plans
and projects whose gist is the "judaization" of Galilee. Thus, Israel returns
to the very same policy that caused the eruption on March 30, 1976, Land
Day.
An article in the Hebrew daily, Yediot Aharonot (March 13) exposed part
of the truth. According to its author, Ofer Petersburg, the al-Aksa Intifada
deeply shook the small Jewish settlements - called "lookouts" (Heb. mitzpim)
- in Galilee. From tiny communities famous for fresh air and quality of
life, they became, in a flash, outposts under siege. Following their frightening
experience, conclusions were drawn. "In the coming days," wrote Petersburg,
"a drive will begin to expand Jewish settlement in Galilee."
The mayors of the main Jewish cities there (Nazareth Ilit, Carmiel,
Acre and Migdal Ha-Emek) have prepared a document stating the need to bring
half a million Jews to the area. According to the regional newspaper, Kol
Ha-Emek v' Ha-Galil (Feb. 23), the document was prepared in consultation
with the Prime Minister's Office. It provides that Nazareth Ilit and Carmiel,
centers of judaization for the last four decades, are each to expand their
populations from the present 40,000 to 100,000.
The real-estate supplement of Ha'aretz (April 29) reported plans by
the Housing Ministry to develop existing locations, as well as build new
towns in the Negev, in the Gilboa region (on the southern end of Galilee)
and near Haifa. Among the places to be expanded is Harish, located south
of Um al-Fahem. Originally one of the towns in Sharon's Seven Stars Plan
of the nineties, Harish is to become an ultra-orthodox center with 20,000
dwelling units. Housing Minister Natan Sharansky has also proposed building
a new city in the Tefen area (in Upper Galilee, north of Majd al-Krum).
The Spearhead: Misgav
As in the past, the Misgav Local Council spearheads the judaization campaign.
The expansion of its outposts is the government's defiant response to the
protests of the Arab villages, Arabeh and Sakhnin, which lost four sons
during the clashes with police in October. The Ha'aretz real-estate supplement
(April 15) reported the government's approval of a plan to expand one of
the outlooks, Eshkhar (north of Sakhnin) from 70 family units to 600. Y.D.
Millennium, the company that won the tender, will offer three-room villas
at the attractive price of $130,000. The aim is to attract Jewish high-tech
workers and independent professionals. The newspapers report that two leading
Israeli high-tech companies are planning to open research and production
centers in the Misgav outlook settlements.
During the years just preceding the new Intifada, the Misgav Local Council
changed its tactics. In the eighties it had conducted a fear campaign,
full of anti-Arab propaganda, against Sakhnin, Arabeh and Deir Hannah.
(These three towns had earned the title "iron triangle" because of their
central role on Land Day, 1976.) After Oslo, however, the Council spoke
increasingly in terms of cooperation and co-existence. The new tactic found
a willing ear among Arab leaders. They preferred a policy of merger with
the system, rather than confrontation. The Misgav Council initiated projects
in common with them, such as a spring festival, development of tourist
facilities, and even a Jewish-Arab school in one of the lookouts.
In the tourism project, dozens of Arab families built guest rooms in
the hope of hosting Israeli Jews. For a short, happy time the Arab villages
were exotic places, offering tourists the authentic tastes, smells and
sights of days gone by. Now they are back to being, in the eyes of Israeli
Jews, what they were before: centers of hatred and extremism. The guest
rooms remain empty. As for the spring festival of April 2001, no Arabs
took part.
The change in government policy has sent the local Arab economy tumbling,
with a corresponding upsurge in joblessness.
The Herzlia Document: Toward a New Consensus
At the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies at Herzlia in March, over 300
leading figures in academe and security convened to formulate a new approach.
Among them was Reserve General Shlomo Gazit, former head of Intelligence
in Israel's army. For several years Gazit wrote a regular column for the
Arab newspaper al-Sunara, in which he preached support for Oslo. In an
interview on March 26, however, he voiced the opinion that the time has
come to establish a dictatorship in Israel and take far-reaching steps
against the Arab population. In his view, the principal strategic danger
faced by Israel comes not from Iran or Iraq, but rather from the natural
increase of Palestinians on both sides of the Green Line.
The conference's recommendations weren't far from Gazit's. (See box.)
While they do not represent official policy - not yet, that is - it would
be a mistake to think they come from a bunch of right-wing loonies. Reviewing
the list of participants, conference organizer Dr. Uzi Arad (erstwhile
adviser to Benjamin Netanyahu) was moved to remark, "Whoever wasn't there
may be considered not to belong, as it were, to Israel's top echelon."
Moreover, if the participants' demographic projections are correct, it
is indeed hard to see how Israel can preserve its Jewish and Zionist character
unless it adopts the policies they recommend. We need remember, too, that
62.5% of Israeli voters chose Sharon, who includes in his government Rechavam
Ze'evi, long-time advocate of "transferring" the Arabs.
The Arab leadership courts Sharon
In October 2000, when the Arabs in Israel joined the Palestinian protest,
the establishment took extreme measures. The police fired live ammunition
into the crowds of demonstrators, killing thirteen. The government backed
the bloody deeds and later tried to avoid a serious inquiry. In response,
only 18% of the eligible Arab voters took part in the February elections
for Prime Minister (compared with 70% in 1999). The others resisted the
temptation to support "the lesser evil" - as their leaders had successfully
urged them to do throughout the nineties.
In the face of these developments, one would have expected the Arab
leaders to draw conclusions. They did not. Instead, after Sharon's election,
they began little by little to meet with him. The first to discover the
"new" Sharon was Issam Makhul of Hadash (which includes the Communist Party).
Along with Tamar Gozansky (also Hadash), he began to carry messages between
Sharon and Arafat. On leaving a meeting with Sharon on March 26, Makhul
said he was pleasantly surprised: the new PM had shown understanding for
the problems of the Arab population. On the next day the heads of the Arab
local councils, led by Muhammad Zeidan, Chairperson of the SMC (Supreme
Monitoring Committee of the Arab Population) also had a meeting with Sharon.
They too departed with optimistic pronouncements. They had planned to demonstrate
against discrimination on March 28 in front of the Knesset, but in view
of Sharon's promises, they decided to cancel the affair. They also decided
to take a restrained and "responsible" line on Land Day.
It is the custom on Land Day to erect a stage in one of the Arab towns,
and representatives from all Arab parties speak. This year, given the events
of October and the utter disdain that the government was showing toward
Arab complaints against the police, observers expected the anger to vent
itself in a great show of force. And so, at first, it appeared. To the
main Land Day demonstration, in Sakhnin, came 25,000, eager to hear from
their leaders. They were astonished to discover, however, that no one had
erected a stage. The mayor of Sakhnin made a five-minute speech, and the
demonstrators were then sent home. On this same day, Israel killed five
Palestinians in the Territories.
*The term is of Israeli coinage: in Hebrew,
"yehud ha-galil": "…(Ariel) Sharon regarded the Galilee as his initial
proving ground. To "judaize" this strategic northern region, he promptly
launched into construction of thirty miniature Jewish settlements on hills
overlooking key Arab villages. The project was completed within three years.
Although by 1981 only small numbers of Jews inhabited these Galilee outposts,
they sufficed to block the growth of adjacent Arab communities. Simultaneously,
to obstruct all Arab efforts to relieve their mounting congestion, Sharon
denied their villages permits to construct new homes outside local boundaries."
Howard M. Sachar, A History of Israel, New York, Knopf, 1996, p. 842.
