This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 TEL AVIV 002644 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON IS KDEM PHUM SCUL ISRAELI SOCIETY GOI INTERNAL
SUBJECT: ISRAELI-ARAB CIVIC LEADERS SAY THEY ARE ON CUTTING 
EDGE OF DEMOCRACY-BUILDING IN ISRAEL 
 
¶1.  Summary: Israeli-Arab civil rights representatives 
stressed to the Ambassador in a June 28 luncheon their 
commitment to achieving greater equality within Israel as 
they strive for increasing cooperation with their Jewish 
compatriots.  While they discussed the various problems 
facing Israel's 1.2 million Arab minority, including 
socio-economic inequalities and institutional and societal 
discrimination, they shared thoughts about their desire to 
rebuild trust between Israeli Jews and Arabs and to counter 
what they referred to as a trend to delegitimize their status 
as Israeli citizens.  They agreed with the Ambassador's point 
that successful Jewish-Arab cooperation in Israel could serve 
as a model for the Middle East.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  Representatives of six Israeli-Arab NGOS, plus two 
Israeli-Arab academics participated in a luncheon June 28 
hosted by the Ambassador to discuss issues and concerns of 
Israel's Arab citizens.  Most of the participants were either 
alumni of the State Department's International Visitor 
Program or associated with organizations that have been 
beneficiaries of the Department's MEPI program.  The guests, 
in a frank discussion, all referred to themselves as 
Palestinian citizens of Israel, rather than as "Israeli 
Arabs."  They agreed on many of the main concerns facing the 
Israeli-Arab community, including societal and institutional 
discrimination, rising distrust between Jews and Arabs, and 
government neglect of the Arab sector.  The following are 
some of the main points that were raised. 
 
------------------------------------------ 
Include Bedouin in Negev Development Plans 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶3.  All attendees expressed strong concern over the GOI's 
policy regarding Israel's 140,000 Bedouin, most of whom live 
in 37 so-called "unrecognized villages" in the Negev.  They 
criticized the GOI's policy of demolishing Bedouin houses in 
these unrecognized villages, which are built without the 
necessary permits -- which the GOI rarely issues -- and are 
therefore considered illegal by the GOI.  The attendees 
asserted that no procedure exists for residents to obtain the 
building permits.  (Note:  See Israeli Human Rights Report 
for full details on this decades-long issue.  End note.) 
Sonia Boulos, attorney for the Association for Civil Rights 
in Israel (ACRI), began the discussion with an impassioned 
plea to the Ambassador to intervene to prevent the GOI's 
demolition of the house of a Bedouin child who is suffering 
from cancer.  Boulos said that the Supreme Court recently 
denied ACRI's petition in a long-standing case to require 
that the GOI connect the child's house to the national 
electric grid so that her medications could be refrigerated. 
 
¶4.  In response to the Ambassador's query, Faisal Sawalha, 
director for The Regional Council for the Arab Unrecognized 
Villages in the Negev, said that the GOI does not compensate 
those whose houses are demolished, nor does it find them 
other housing.  He said that his council or the Bedouin 
community itself usually helps those affected to rebuild 
their meager houses -- which he characterized as metal shacks 
worth on the average about NIS 20,000 (USD 4,400).  Dr. Aref 
Abu-Rabia, chairman of the Department of Middle East Studies 
of the Negev's Ben Gurion University, and also an IVP alumni, 
added that he himself lives in an unrecognized Bedouin 
village and his house lacks running water and electricity. 
(Note: The GOI offers Bedouin in unrecognized villages the 
option of moving to one of the eight GOI-sponsored 
"townships" for Bedouin resettlement.  Many Bedouin, however, 
do not wish to leave their native villages.  End note.) 
Salwaha said that many of these unrecognized villages 
pre-date not only the 1965 planning laws of Israel, but the 
establishment of the State itself. 
 
¶5.  Most of the attendees voiced concern about the GOI's 
exclusion of Bedouin representatives from its planning 
process to develop the Negev and Galilee regions.  Sawalha 
said that Israel's National Security Council (NSC) published 
recommendations for this plan in January 2006 in which, he 
claimed, the NSC compared the status of the Bedouin living in 
unrecognized villages to that of the settlers who were 
evacuated from the Gaza settlement of Gush Katif, even though 
the Bedouin are indigenous to the Negev.  Sawalha asserted 
that Minister for the Development of the Negev and Galilee 
Shimon Peres on the one hand criticizes the demolition of 
Bedouin homes, but, on the other, has not acted to change 
this government policy.  Sawalha and Amal Elsana-Alhjooj, a 
Bedouin activist and founder of the Forum of Negev Arab 
Women's Organizations and Initiatives, both made the point 
that the USG should pressure Israel to include the Bedouin 
community in its planning process for Negev development. 
Jafah Farah, director of the Mossawa Advocacy Center for Arab 
Citizens of Israel, asked the Ambassador to consider that 
when the GOI asks for assistance for its Negev and Galilee 
plan, that the USG require that 20 percent of those in the 
planning process be Arabs. 
 
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Promote Civil Rights, Socio-Economic Equality, Education 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
 
¶6.  Invitees highlighted the need for greater protection of 
minority rights and socio-economic equality, including in 
education.  Farah noted that the GOI has yet to implement any 
of the Orr Commission's 2003 recommendations for addressing 
the historical socio-economic and societal discrimination 
that has confronted the Israeli-Arab community and that 
formed the backdrop to the October 2000 demonstrations in 
which 12 Israeli-Arab citizens were killed by Israeli police. 
 Farah added that in 2000, the GOI approved a plan to 
dedicate some NIS four billion (USD 850 million) to the 
Israeli-Arab sector over several years, but that to date, 
little of this money has actually been allocated.  He claimed 
that less than four percent of the state's development budget 
has been allocated to the Arab sector, which comprises 20 
percent of the population.  This situation, he said, has 
added to a sense of frustration in the Arab community, which 
has been manifested by a decreasing voter turnout rate.  In 
the March 28 election, Farah said, only 54 percent of Arabs 
voted, the lowest turnout rate ever, he said.  (Note: The 
reason the Arab parties did not lose seats in the Knesset was 
that a smaller percentage of Arab voters cast their ballots 
for non-Arab parties than in years past.  End note.) 
 
¶7.  Ali Haider, co-chair of the NGO "Sikkuy" (Hebrew for 
"chance, or opportunity") The Association for the Advancement 
of Civic Equality, highlighted the problem of equality in 
government employment, adding that Israeli Arabs comprise 
only 5.5% of the civil service.  Several attendees pointed to 
the need to establish an equal employment opportunity 
commission in Israel similar to that in the U.S. and noted 
that the 2004 visit of U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity 
(EEO) Commissioner Stuart Ishimaru served as the catalyst for 
the Israeli parliament's (Knesset) action to establish an 
EEOC.  Dr. Faisal Azaiza, director of the Jewish-Arab Center 
at Haifa University, said that monthly surveys that his 
center conducts within the Arab population show that Israeli 
Arabs are mainly concerned about achieving socio-economic 
equality with the Jewish population, particularly in land 
allocation and education opportunities.  He noted a trend of 
more Arab women seeking higher education, with some 55 
percent of the Arab student population at Haifa University 
now being female.  He also highlighted progress in 
educational equality, noting that until 1995, only 17 Arabs 
were lecturers at Israeli universities and that between 
1995-2005 some 50 Arabs became tenured professors at Israeli 
universities.  Several attendees emphasized the importance of 
USG study programs for Israeli Arabs.  Mohammed Darawshe, 
director of development at the Abraham Fund, who received a 
2006 MEPI grant for a job placement project for Arab women, 
noted the benefits of the U.S. Arab Scholarship Fund and 
stressed the need to expand the fund to include more 
recipients. 
 
¶8.  Attendees also echoed their concern about the Supreme 
Court's May 14 decision upholding Israel's Citizenship and 
Entry into Israel law, which bars many Palestinians from the 
occupied territories from acquiring residency or citizenship 
rights through marriage to Israelis.  Farah claimed that this 
law has led to the division of some 21,000 families, mainly 
Israeli Arabs married to Palestinians from the West Bank and 
Gaza.  Farah also claimed that the State sponsors three 
Jewish NGOs that are actively campaigning against marriages 
between Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs.  Farah asked that the 
Ambassador apply his personal influence and raise concerns 
over these inequalities with the GOI, and specifically with 
the Attorney General.  Farah and several other attendees made 
the point during the discussion that the USG should ensure 
that some of the USD three billion in annual assistance to 
Israel is allocated to the Israeli-Arab sector.  A/DCM Finn 
described the USG-funded Arab-Israeli Scholarship Fund as one 
way in which the USG directs assistance specifically to this 
sector.  D/Econ Counselor noted that the U.S. directs many of 
its environmental and science grants to this sector as well. 
 
--------------------------------- 
Make Israel a Testing Ground for 
Jewish-Arab Co-existence 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶9.  Attendees discussed the need for Israeli Jews and Arabs 
to address what it means to share citizenship and be treated 
as equals in Israel.  Darawshe expressed concern about what 
he and other guests described as growing racism by Israeli 
Jews against Israeli Arabs.  Sikkuy's Haider said that 
Israeli Jews increasingly favor a GOI policy to encourage 
Israeli Arabs to emigrate from Israel.  He pointed to a 
recent poll (conducted by the Israel Democracy Institute) 
that showed 62 percent of Israeli Jewish respondents favoring 
this policy compared with 42 percent in a similar poll 
conducted two years ago.  Farah criticized government 
ministers for making prejudicial comments about Israeli 
Arabs.  He cited as an example Likud leader Binyamin 
Netanyahu, who, Farah said, in a major speech in 2003, 
referred to Israeli Arabs as a "demographic problem." 
Darawshe warned against "sweeping this problem under the 
carpet" and said that this trend is leading toward a 
delegitimation of Israeli-Arab citizenship.  He also referred 
to a "huge lack of trust" between Jews and Arabs in Israel. 
 
¶10.  Darawshe and other attendees emphasized the importance 
of Israeli Arabs and Jews finding a "working formula" for 
cooperating and respecting each other's identity.  He said 
that Israel could serve as a model for Jewish-Arab 
coexistence in the Middle East.  Bedouin activist and 
feminist Elsana-Alhjooj said that she has been working to 
create a way of communication for Jews and Arabs so that they 
can speak with each other while recognizing each other's 
different identities.  She referred to this as a "third 
space" or "narrative."  She said that she has met with groups 
of Jewish religious girls from settlements to educate them 
about Bedouin culture.  She said that one girl asked her why 
the Bedouin do not leave Israel and settle in an Arab country 
if they want to be treated as equals.  Elsana-Alhjooj said 
she explained to her that the Bedouin are indigenous to 
Israel and do not want to leave. 
 
----------------------------- 
Untapped Internal Arab Market 
----------------------------- 
 
¶11.  Sikkuy Co-Chair Haider agreed with the Ambassador that 
Israel's Arab community could be viewed as an asset to 
Israel.  According to Darawshe, Israeli Arabs generate some 
7.8 percent of Israel's GNP, and that this represents an 
amount greater than the level of Israeli trade with Egypt and 
Jordan.  Farah added that at least 4,000 Israeli Arabs attend 
university in Jordan every year.  He said that the GOI has 
resisted establishing an Israeli-Arab university in Israel 
and is therefore losing the revenue that this could generate. 
 The Ambassador raised the importance of involving the 
Israeli-Arab community in the tourism industry. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
American Jewish Groups Supporting Israeli Arabs 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶12.  Several attendees noted that they have received support 
from American Jewish organizations, both monetary and 
political.  Elsana Alhjooj said that she met in New York City 
with Jewish fund-raisers -- whom she described as 
"heavy-hitters" -- who have been receptive to providing 
funding to the Israeli-Arab community.  Farah said that 
American Jewish groups have shown more sensitivity to 
Israeli-Arab concerns because they understand better than 
Israeli Jews what it means to be a minority and are more 
willing to listen to Israeli Arabs' concerns. 
 
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