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Driven To Distractions©
The Sound of One Hand Clapping©

A rchive Date
[ 23-02-2005 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Israel ]
      [http://www.canoe.ca/Columnists/fisher_feb4.html

      Israel's Arabs abandon Barak


      By MATTHEW FISHER - Sun Columnist at Large
      February 4, 2001

      UMM AL FAHM, Israel - Israel is full of surprises to uninformed outsiders. The golden domed Abu Obaida mosque, which looks like a smaller version of the much more famous Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, is one of them.

      Another surprise to many who do not follow politics in the Middle East closely is that 12% of those eligible to vote in Tuesday's prime ministerial elections are not Jews, but so-called Israeli Arabs. About 40,000 of the one million Arab voters live in this hill town about 60 km north of Tel Aviv.

      Whether they accept the Israeli Arab designation, or call themselves Palestinians, the Arabs here and elsewhere with Israeli citizenship were, until fairly recently, staunch supporters of the Labour party and Prime Minister       Ehud Barak. But just as Barak's support has crumbled among Jews, his support from Israeli Arabs has disappeared, too.

      Both communities regard Barak's attempt to make peace as an abject failure. But while Arab Israelis claim to see no distinction between the policies of Barak and his rival,       Ariel Sharon, who were both highly regarded army generals, most Jewish Israelis see Barak as a failed dove and Sharon as a steely, unrepentant hawk.

      About 75% of Israeli Arabs voted last time, in 1999, and 95% of them voted for Barak. At a guess, no more than 10% of those Arab voters will even show up at polling stations on Tuesday.

      Only a handful of them will vote for Barak or Sharon. Many of those who bother to vote will register their contempt for the peace process by putting a blank ballot in the box.

      The clincher for Asaad Igbaria was the death of three local youths during a street demonstration here last October in the early days of the Intifada. But Asaad had given up on Barak and the peace process long before that.

      "Like almost everyone here I gave Barak my voice two years ago but now, absolutely not," said the 31-year-old Hebrew-speaking accountant, during an informal round table discussion with five Israeli Arabs and three foreign journalists in an Umm Al Fahm kebab house.

      "The big question for us is how we are treated during everyday life. We have no rights and we have few government jobs. Wherever I go in this country, they stop me and search my body as if I had committed a crime. Although my marks were better than some Jews at school, they were the ones who got work, not me. It is as if we are nothing in our own land.

      "How can we be expected to feel like citizens of this country when we are not equal to others including newcomers such as the Ethiopians and Russians?

      "We pay our taxes but our town's infrastructure hasn't received any money for at least 10 years. Yet newcomers are given much more than us because they're Jewish."

      As for       Ariel Sharon, who is the overwhelming favourite to become prime minister, Asaad and the others with him at the table said they were unafraid.

      "At least with Sharon we all know what we're getting," said Mahmood Igbaria, who was handing out 'Don't Vote' leaflets in Arabic script

      Matthew can be e-mailed at 74511.357@CompuServe.com or visit his home page


      World Fact Book (CIA)]


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