A real threat to Israel

I recently returned from my first visit to Israel in about two years. I could not help but be impressed by the scale and the extent of the public and private building work that is going on. My visit was limited to the centre of the country, from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem, but I am told that what I saw was typical of other areas.


In the last ten years there has been a huge expansion in the country's transport infrastructure, with new suburban railway lines around Tel-Aviv, many hundreds of kilometres of new roads, with vast highway interchanges, and a major new passenger terminal at the principal national airport. New buildings have sprung up in the industrial zones around Tel-Aviv and its dormitory towns, and many of them bear the names and logos of international corporations, including household names in computing and high-tech. In city centres, high quality housing and luxury tower blocks are also prominent, alongside modern office buildings. There can be no doubt that this country is enjoying a wave of economic prosperity, and that it is part of the 21st century's global knowledge economy. As well as a few inevitable millionaires, many ordinary families are benefitting from the generally good salaries and benefits that knowledge workers command. This prosperity fuels more widespread economic growth, as consumer spending rises across the board. It all looks and sounds pretty good.

Take a step back from this rosy picture and a slightly different situation emerges. Critics of Israel frequently highlight the fact that the Palestinian residents of the occupied territories are often badly treated by discriminatory practices. For example, this recent article in the Independent (2nd January 2008) looks at a particular road near Jerusalem which Israelis can travel on but from which Palestinians are banned.

But it is not just the Palestinians who are excluded from Israel's burgeoning prosperity. Non-Jewish Israeli citizens, who make up about 20% of the country's population, can be found working on building sites but miraculously disappear from view when the building work is finished. They do not shop in the malls, work in the offices or live in the apartments and houses they build. Arab Israelis do not enjoy the same potential for social mobility that is available to working class Jews in Israel, or to working class people in other countries.

Excluding the Arab minority from the benefits of development and prosperity means that existing social and ethnic divisions become more and more entrenched, and this is a real threat to Israel's stability, and its security. As Israel approaches the 60th anniversary of its independence, it needs to behave in a more mature way towards its minority population in order to overcome this threat. Israeli Arabs must be treated as equal citizens in all respects, and no longer excluded from the mainstream of political and economic life "for security reasons". Recognising the equality of Israeli Arabs will make it easier to recognise the legitimate rights and aspirations of the Palestinians as well, and will make it easier to achieve a lasting and peaceful settlement.