The Arabs in Israel

A Political Study

Jacob M. Landau

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN:
  9781138930018
• eBook ISBN:
  9781317397649
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Regional Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

This book, first published in 1969, presents a comprehensive survey and analysis of the political behaviour of the Arabs in Israel, covering the period from the founding of the State to the Six-Day War in 1967. While the socio-economic background is outlined, the chief emphasis is on the political attitudes of this minority and its reactions to the modernization of political structures. The main chapters deal with adaptation versus alienation; cultural change and its reflection in politics; political organizations; voting behaviour in parliamentary, local, and trade union elections; leadership and the foci of political activity. Materials used for research included the Israeli press, both in Arabic and Hebrew, the literature produced by the Arabs in Israel, official publications and private reports, as well as interviews conducted with Arabs from all over the country.

1

INTRODUCTION: SOME BASIC DATA

SOME basic data are needed for understanding the development of political consciousness and the main patterns of political behaviour of the Arabs in Israel. These may be divided into historical, demographic, and religious.

HISTORICAL DATA

The historical presentation is brief, since it is related only in part to the situation in the State of Israel. Besides, in 1947 (just when the British Mandate was approaching its end) two books appeared, summing–up the history of Palestinian Arabs during that period.¹ Later several other works were published,² dealing with a number of aspects concerning Palestinian Arabs. It might well be said that the most significant factor, which led to tragic complications, both in Israel and the Middle East, was the fact that two national movements arose simultaneously and progressed rapidly in the period between the two world wars, within the borders of one land. The World Zionist movement, encouraged by the Balfour Declaration (2 November 1917), made considerable efforts to encourage Jewish immigration and prepare political, economic, and later even military conditions, for establishing a Jewish State in Israel. The Arab national movement in Palestine, although less widespread in character and centred within an influential socio-economic group, had no less extremist demands. From the very start, the role of the British administration was very difficult, not to say well-nigh impossible: whenever it leaned towards either of the two national groups, it was accused by the other; if it tried to remain neutral, it was denounced by both. True, the British did not attempt to bring Jews and Arabs nearer to one another. However, their attitude was generally based on two factors: a well-conceived Realpolitik—following their own point of view—and the fact that Jewish efforts to reach political understanding with the local Arabs, in order to establish a bi-national State, did not gain much backing from either side.³ The political cleavage between Jews and Arabs in Palestine was highlighted by the almost complete lack of social contact, since each of the two communities lived almost wholly by itself—even in mixed towns.

The Arab riots in Palestine in 1920 and 1929 were brief and local; but the 1936 riots broke out all over the country and continued intermittently for three years. Throughout these riots in the late 1930s the Palestinian Arabs received help from the Arabs in neighbouring countries. This help was parallel to the aid given the Jews in Palestine by their brethren abroad. Here was yet another indication that the conflict widened and deepened. At the end of the second world war, after a lull, the clashes were renewed, but with a difference: this time Jewish military organizations as well as Arab ones used terror and obstruction against the British authorities. The decision of the United Nations to end the British Mandate in Palestine (29 November 1947) started an armed conflict between Arabs and Jews in Palestine. Both sides tried to occupy strategic positions, to control the main roads and other means of communication, to annex land, to seize abandoned British camps, to import arms, and to train a regular army. The British evacuation (14 May 1948) and the proclamation and establishment of a Jewish State named Israel, on the same day, served as a signal for the regular armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen, to go to war against Israel. The avowed aim of these armies was to crush Israel. They failed in this, but the Gaza Strip came under Egyptian control; and King ‘Abd Allah of Jordan annexed a considerable part of the fertile land on the western bank of the Jordan river. In the rest of Palestine, the State of Israel continued to exist, with a Jewish majority and an Arab minority. The latter not only remembered vividly that it had been a majority in the recent past, but also felt keenly that in the confrontation with the Jews, it was facing a victor, more advanced in material civilization and speaking a different language. Side by side with the political confrontation, a desire for cultural imitation arose and was soon followed by the fear of losing Arab identity through assimilation.

One of the more arduous problems resulting from the Arab-Israeli War was that of the military administration imposed for security reasons in Galilee, the Little Triangle (the region east of the coastal plain, north of Tel-Aviv, near the middle of the Israel-Jordan frontier), and the Negev; namely, in all the areas close to the borders, and inhabited mainly by Arabs. Legally, the military administration was based on the British emergency regulations of 1945–6. Although its authority and scope were restricted, it remained a subject of dispute not only among the Arab, but also among the Jewish, population, until it was abolished in 1966.⁴ The main power vested in the military administration enabled the arrest or deportation of troublesome elements and the defining of closed areas, thus compelling their inhabitants to obtain travel-permits when wishing to enter or leave such areas. These restrictions applied to Jews as well as to Arabs, and, in fact, only a few Arabs and Jews were closely affected. And even they could apply to Israel’s Supreme Court, sitting as a High Court of Justice, for redress. However, it was not only the practical side that annoyed the Arabs, but the principle as well.⁵ From both these points of view the military administration served for years as a target for propaganda and argument, in Israel and abroad.⁶

DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECOLOGIC FACTORS

Upon the establishment of the State of Israel, there were nearly 1,300,000 Arabs and 650,000 Jews in the area defined as Palestine. Among these Arabs, some 700,000 lived in an area which actually became the State of Israel,⁷ while others remained under Arab rule (about 100,000 in the Gaza Strip, and almost 500,000 in the territory annexed by Jordan). When the fighting ended, in the autumn of 1948, there remained some 156,000 Arabs within the borders of Israel.⁸ The others became refugees: nearly 200,000 in the Gaza Strip; others in the territory annexed by Jordan; and the rest in Lebanon.

Since the establishment of Israel⁹ there have been far-reaching statistical and demographic changes among the Arabs in this country.

The most outstanding of those changes was the great increase in the Arab population in Israel, reaching 300,000 by the end of 1965.¹⁰ This increase averages 4 per cent a year and is one of the highest in the world. Some reasons for this appear to be: (1) A high birth-rate (three times higher than that of the Jewish population in Israel). (2) A sharp decline in disease and mortality, as compared to the period of the British Mandate, as well as to some Arab States nowadays. This is a result of efficient health services, particularly in preventive medicine. (3) A reuniting of families, leading to the return of about 40,000 Arabs to Israel in the 1950s. (4) The meagre Arab emigration from Israel, if one does not consider the very small number of Christian families who left Israel¹¹ (as part of a general migration of Christians from the Middle East) and individual students who remained in the countries where they had studied.

As a consequence of this numerical growth, the Arab minority attained a ratio of about 12 per cent of the State’s entire population in December 1966, despite the flow of Jewish immigration into Israel. During recent years there has been a steady increase, percentage-wise, of the Israeli Arabs, and this becomes gradually more evident, due to the decrease in Jewish immigration into Israel.¹² This is shown in the table on p. 5.

Not surprisingly, the growth of the Arab minority in Israel, both in absolute and relative numbers, strengthens its sense of oneness and adds weight to its demands as a unit.¹³ The character of these demands is also influenced by the relatively young age of its members. Because of its high birth-rate it is comprised of a relatively young age-group; more than half the Arabs in Israel were born after the establishment of the State. They cannot remember the British Mandate; therefore much of their political behaviour is conditioned by the dynamics of life in Israel.

Year	Percentage of Arabs in total Israeli population
1957	10.8
1958	10.9
1959	11.0
1960	11.1
1961	11.3
1962	11.3
1963	11.3
1964	11.4
1965	11.3
1966	12.0

The Israeli Arabs’ sense of oneness is further strengthened by the location of their residential areas and their concentration therein. It is true that the Arabs live in 104 towns and villages of their own, and in six mixed towns with a large Jewish majority¹⁴ (Acre, Haifa,¹⁵ Tel-Aviv—Jaffa,¹⁶ Lydda,¹⁷ Ramle, and Jerusalem). Yet almost 60 per cent of the Israeli Arabs live in Galilee, including the two all-Arab towns of Nazareth and Shafā ‘Amr. More than 20 per cent of the Israeli Arabs centre in the Little Triangle. Two smaller centres, each with almost 7 per cent of the Arab population, may be found in the Haifa area and in the Negev (especially to the east of Be’er Sheba).

The Arab centres in Galilee, the Little Triangle, and the Negev present two significant common characteristics: all three centres are very near the land-borders of Israel with the Arab States (prior to the June 1967 war); they are Arab quasi-monolithic groupings with very few Jewish settlements in the area. In view of security risks and political dangers involved, the Israeli authorities maintained the military administration, though gradually reducing its impact and seemingly substituting a planned policy aimed at converting Galilee into a Jewish region. An example of this was adding a Jewish Nazareth near Arab Nazareth, and also founding a new town named Carmiel in the very heart of Upper Galilee, etc. Steps have also been taken to bring about a permanent settlement of the Bedouins. This has already succeeded in Galilee as well as in the Negev.

Another important factor is that the Arabs in Israel are divided into three main ecological groups—towndwellers, villagers, and Bedouins. In fact, almost three-quarters of the Israeli Arab population live in villages (while of the Jewish population, more than 87 per cent is urban). The economy of the Arab villages is chiefly based on agriculture, and aims at being self-sufficient. The mobility of the Arab villagers is relatively small, and very few of them change their residence after marrying and settling down; even those villagers who work in near-by towns, usually return home in the evening, or every weekend.

Of the two all-Arab towns, we may consider Nazareth, with nearly 28,000 inhabitants, as a town, whereas Shafā ‘Amr, with a little over 8,000 inhabitants, still has the character of a large village. Nazareth is the centre of Arab economic and political life. Although part of the Israeli Arabs live in the six mixed towns, those six bear markedly the stamp of Jewish towns, because of the small number of Arabs living in each. A possible exception is Acre, where the Arabs form a quarter of the population in the town. pon account of the political

The Bedouins live in Galilee and in the Negev. ...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Original Title Page
• Original Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Abbreviations
• Preface
• 1 Introduction: Some Basic Data
• 2 Adaptation Or Alienation
• 3 Cultural Change and its Reflection in Politics
• 4 Political organizations
• 5 The Arabs in Parliamentary Elections
• 6 The Arabs in Local and Trade Union Elections
• 7 Leadership and Foci of Political Activity
• 8 Concluding Remarks
• Appendices
• Glossary
• Select Bibliography
• Index
• Map