Israeli Arabs
Last week there was a minor but telling incident that many of you may have missed, a bus carrying Israelis crashed off the road in southern Sinai and turned over. Eleven were killed, one an Egyptian, and many were wounded. The difference was that these were Israeli Arabs returning from a vacation in Sinai, which is a favorite location for them.
Egyptian facilties are not up to Western standards. First, it took three hours before any emergency vehicles reached the accident scene. Then, athough the location was within 3 hours drive from the Israeli border at Eilat, the Egyptian authorities refused permission for Israeli ambulances to enter Egypt and the wounded were taken to Egyptian hospitals that were inadequate to treat them. Finally the wounded were taken to the Israeli border where a fleet of ambulances awaited them and took them to Eilat's Josephson Hospital, where emergency services were alerted for their arrival. As is well known the emergency services in Israel are among the best in the world. The crucial point is that many of the wounded and their families who were interviewed gave thanks for being back in Israel and showered Israel with praise for their reception and their treatment.
This is the positive face of the Israeli Arabs, who know that they are better off in Israel than in any other country in the Arab world, both materially and in terms of freedom of expression.
During the rocketing of northern Israel, where a large proportion of the Israeli Arab population lives, many Arabs were killed and wounded in the Hizbollah barrage. When reminded that his rockets were also targeting Arabs (some of them Christian or Druse) Sheikh Nasrullah said "never mind, they die as martyrs for the cause." While many Israeli Arabs were sympathetic to Hizbollah's cause, many were nevertheless quite opposed. They were angry because they too were indiscriminate victims, in one case two young children, a brother and sister playing in a Nazareth alley, were killed. At first the Arabs thought that somehow the rockets would not harm them so they mostly ignored the calls for citizens to stay in protected rooms. So while Jewish children and adults were underground for a month, most of the Arabs were pretending that they were immune.
When the Arab casualties began to mount, they started complaining that they did not have protected rooms. But that is largely their own fault. When a new building is built in Israel it is required to have a "safe room" added to each apartment. This is since the Gulf War of 1999 and the bombardment of Israel by Saddam Hussein's missiles. But, this is considered part of the cost of the apartment, and needless to say most of the Arabs did not add this feature to their houses.
Also, in most municipalities, central underground shelters were constructed for the safety of residents who did not have a protected basement in their building or a saferoom. But, the cost of this is funded out of the municipal taxes, which many Arabs refuse to pay on principle to the Jewish State (or because it is cheaper not to). So their municipalities had neither the money nor the interest to constuct such public facilities. Only when they unexpectedly came under fire did they protest that they did not have the same protection as the Jewish citizenry. Many of the Jews who were killed would not have been if they had remained off the streets or in shelters.
During the War, the Israeli Arab representatives in the Knesset (there are 6 of them) mostly behaved in a disgusting manner, siding with Hizbollah and attacking Israel for causing the war and deliberately killing Lebanese civilians. At one point several of them were forced out of the Knesset chamber due to rowdy behavior, and a Bill was introduced to expel them from the Knesset as traitors. This was not acted upon, but in most countries in time of war they would have been arrested and shot.
In Israel we are used to this open level of political hatred expressed by the Arab representatives, but ask Israeli Arabs if they prefer to be Israelis or Palestinians, and you will receive a definite answer. Although they support the rights of the Palestinians, they themselves prefer to remain Israelis. When the right wing party the National Union under Avigdor Lieberman proposed during the last election campaign that some Israeli Arabs be transferred to the PA, there was a big uproar in the Arab community, and they were totally against this themselves. So there are a lot of complaints, but overall the Israeli Arab community is basically loyal and well off, but I wouldn't trust them with my life.
Egyptian facilties are not up to Western standards. First, it took three hours before any emergency vehicles reached the accident scene. Then, athough the location was within 3 hours drive from the Israeli border at Eilat, the Egyptian authorities refused permission for Israeli ambulances to enter Egypt and the wounded were taken to Egyptian hospitals that were inadequate to treat them. Finally the wounded were taken to the Israeli border where a fleet of ambulances awaited them and took them to Eilat's Josephson Hospital, where emergency services were alerted for their arrival. As is well known the emergency services in Israel are among the best in the world. The crucial point is that many of the wounded and their families who were interviewed gave thanks for being back in Israel and showered Israel with praise for their reception and their treatment.
This is the positive face of the Israeli Arabs, who know that they are better off in Israel than in any other country in the Arab world, both materially and in terms of freedom of expression.
During the rocketing of northern Israel, where a large proportion of the Israeli Arab population lives, many Arabs were killed and wounded in the Hizbollah barrage. When reminded that his rockets were also targeting Arabs (some of them Christian or Druse) Sheikh Nasrullah said "never mind, they die as martyrs for the cause." While many Israeli Arabs were sympathetic to Hizbollah's cause, many were nevertheless quite opposed. They were angry because they too were indiscriminate victims, in one case two young children, a brother and sister playing in a Nazareth alley, were killed. At first the Arabs thought that somehow the rockets would not harm them so they mostly ignored the calls for citizens to stay in protected rooms. So while Jewish children and adults were underground for a month, most of the Arabs were pretending that they were immune.
When the Arab casualties began to mount, they started complaining that they did not have protected rooms. But that is largely their own fault. When a new building is built in Israel it is required to have a "safe room" added to each apartment. This is since the Gulf War of 1999 and the bombardment of Israel by Saddam Hussein's missiles. But, this is considered part of the cost of the apartment, and needless to say most of the Arabs did not add this feature to their houses.
Also, in most municipalities, central underground shelters were constructed for the safety of residents who did not have a protected basement in their building or a saferoom. But, the cost of this is funded out of the municipal taxes, which many Arabs refuse to pay on principle to the Jewish State (or because it is cheaper not to). So their municipalities had neither the money nor the interest to constuct such public facilities. Only when they unexpectedly came under fire did they protest that they did not have the same protection as the Jewish citizenry. Many of the Jews who were killed would not have been if they had remained off the streets or in shelters.
During the War, the Israeli Arab representatives in the Knesset (there are 6 of them) mostly behaved in a disgusting manner, siding with Hizbollah and attacking Israel for causing the war and deliberately killing Lebanese civilians. At one point several of them were forced out of the Knesset chamber due to rowdy behavior, and a Bill was introduced to expel them from the Knesset as traitors. This was not acted upon, but in most countries in time of war they would have been arrested and shot.
In Israel we are used to this open level of political hatred expressed by the Arab representatives, but ask Israeli Arabs if they prefer to be Israelis or Palestinians, and you will receive a definite answer. Although they support the rights of the Palestinians, they themselves prefer to remain Israelis. When the right wing party the National Union under Avigdor Lieberman proposed during the last election campaign that some Israeli Arabs be transferred to the PA, there was a big uproar in the Arab community, and they were totally against this themselves. So there are a lot of complaints, but overall the Israeli Arab community is basically loyal and well off, but I wouldn't trust them with my life.
posted by Jack Cohen at 3:04 PM
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