{"id":3741,"date":"2016-09-26T18:36:00","date_gmt":"2016-09-26T15:36:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-04-01T19:32:29","modified_gmt":"2025-04-01T17:32:29","slug":"epalestine-haaretz-dont-call-us-israeli","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/2016\/09\/epalestine-haaretz-dont-call-us-israeli\/","title":{"rendered":"Haaretz: Don’t Call Us ‘Israeli Arabs’: Palestinians in Israel Speak Out"},"content":{"rendered":"

Haaretz – Sep 26, 2016<\/p>\n

Don’t Call Us ‘Israeli Arabs’: Palestinians in Israel Speak Out<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n


\n“Palestinian citizens of Israel are its Achilles’ heel; they refuse to become Zionists, refuse to leave Israel, and refuse to vanish into thin air. And, increasingly, they are refusing to remain silent.”<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/Palestinians-in-Israel-Speak-Out\"<\/a><\/p>\n

READ ONLINE AT: http:\/\/bit.ly\/Palestinians-in-Israel-Speak-Out<\/a><\/p>\n

Opinion<\/p>\n

Don’t Call Us ‘Israeli Arabs’: Palestinians in Israel Speak Out<\/strong><\/span>
\nPalestinian citizens of Israel are its Achilles\u2019 heel; they refuse to become Zionists, refuse to leave Israel, and refuse to vanish into thin air. And, increasingly, they are refusing to remain silent.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sam Bahour Sep 26, 2016 3:20 PM<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Arab Israeli protesters march to commemorate Nakba Day, Rahat, Israel, May 12, 2016.Ahmad Gharabli, AFP<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

When Israel\u2019s founding fathers removed by force the native Palestinian Arab population living where they intended to establish their state, they murdered or displaced more than 80% of that population.<\/p>\n

This act of ethnic cleansing \u2014 to borrow one of Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s newly found phrases<\/a> \u2014 was given a name in Arabic: the Nakba, or catastrophe. The Palestinian Muslims, Druze and Christians who remained in what became Israel have been, and are today, approximately 20% of the population. These are indigenous Palestinians and their descendants, who have had Israeli citizenship imposed upon them.<\/p>\n

’48ers, Palestinian Arabs, ‘insiders’ \u2013 just not ‘Israeli Arabs’<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

For over half a century, Israel has preferred the designation Israeli Arabs, focusing on their Israeliness and attempting to obliterate any trace of Palestinian from their identity. Among Palestinians in exile or the West Bank, they\u2019re referred to as \u201848ers, referring to the year of the Nakba, or as those living \u201con the inside,\u201d meaning inside the 1949 armistice line, better known as the Green Line. Now, a new cohort of Palestinian thinkers inside Israel writing 68 years after the Nakba reaffirm that they are not just Arabs, but Palestinian Arabs, and that while they may be \u201cin Israel,\u201d they are not Israel\u2019s: they are their own masters.<\/p>\n

These Palestinian citizens of Israel are its Achilles\u2019 heel; they refuse to become Zionists, refuse to leave Israel, and refuse to vanish into thin air. And, increasingly, they are refusing to remain a silent, or passive, player.<\/p>\n

This increasingly assertive minority in Israel spoke out in a new think tank report published this month by The Palestinian Arab Citizens in Israel hosted by the Oxford Research Group<\/a> and supported by the I’LAM Arab Center for Media Freedom Development and Research<\/a> in Nazareth and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. [Full disclosure: While completely independent, this project is also a sister project of the Palestine Strategy Group<\/a>, of which I\u2019m a secretariat member.]<\/p>\n

Four futures for Palestinians in Israel, from chaos to a binational state<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The report is unequivocal about the need for the state of Israel to wholly accept these Palestinian citizens as full and equal citizens. Israeli Jewish citizens who think they have quashed any impetus for collective action by their Palestinian neighbors in Israel would be well advised to read, not just this report in its entirety, but also the biographies of those responsible for its production. Some of the sharpest political and academic minds in Israel are exposing the historical misjudgments and internal contradictions in the Israeli state and offering a way out, if anyone is interested in pursuing it.<\/p>\n

The report highlights three possible scenarios \u2013 four futures for the Palestinian citizens of Israel and their relationship with the State of Israel.
\n
\nScenario 1 assumes the continuation of the status quo<\/strong>, which could proceed along two different paths: Israel could embark on attempting to better the quality of life of its Palestinian citizens, as individuals, without addressing the core political or collective issues, or could simply attempt to perpetuate the status quo, without the emergence of a Palestinian state, a combination that would inevitably become less status quo and more a continuous downward spiral.<\/p>\n

Scenario 2 envisions chaos on Israel\u2019s borders<\/strong> as regional Islamic fundamentalism in bordering states spills over into Israel, provoking redeployment of the Israeli military and greater potential instability.<\/p>\n

Scenario 3 assumes the creation of an independent Palestinian state<\/strong> (as defined by the UN General Assembly Resolution passed on November 29, 2012) living side by side with Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thousands of people participated in a march to commemorate ‘Nakba Day’
\nnear the ruins of the village Al-Lajoon near Megiddo in northern Israel,
\n Tuesday April 24, 2007. Tomer Neuberg \/ Jini<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

And scenario 4 projects Israel\u2019s transition into a binational state<\/strong>, in effect a one-state solution, but with a very different social contract with Jewish Israelis: one that ensures constitutional equality between Jews and Arabs and re-envisions all of the state\u2019s trappings, such as the flag, national anthem, etc.<\/p>\n

Recognizing the collective rights of Palestinians in Israel<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

But in parallel to these high-level strategic scenarios, Palestinian citizens in Israel need tangible goals.<\/p>\n

In the short-medium term (five- to ten-years) framing the aspirations of the collective, building and upgrading the institutional infrastructure of the legitimate minority status of Palestinians in Israel based on pluralism, democracy and equality. Specifically, the umbrella representative organizations \u2013 the Higher Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel and the National Committee of the Heads of Arab Localities \u2013 should be reformed and new associations should be considered.<\/p>\n

A ten- to twenty-year horizon focuses on individual rights and equal opportunities in addition to the attainment of recognition as a collective. This includes efforts to revitalize existing representative bodies and create new ones to work toward achieving formal recognition at all levels of government with the aim of securing first-class citizenship rights and economic and development rights, as well as addressing the various state planning bodies.<\/p>\n

And finally looking forward twenty to forty years: the achievement of a historic reconciliation between the two peoples in historical Palestine as part of reconciliation between the Jewish community and the Palestinians alone, or also with the peoples and countries of the wider region.<\/p>\n

Palestinians: Accept pluralism. Israelis: Right historical injustice<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Such charting of a joint future is difficult to envision today because of the vast ideological diversity with the Palestinian community, with some calling for no separation between religion and state and others calling for total separation. This major disparity in ideologies is a clear potential weakness: the report calls for the universal acceptance of pluralism as the necessary foundation on which to build, with all stakeholders accepted as part of a shared future. The report notes likewise that the need for the state to be a state for all its citizens must be a given in any future scenario.<\/p>\n

It is true that ending the nearly 50-year-old Israeli military occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, although imperative, will not bring total peace to Israel. What could finally accord Israel a normal place among nations, for the first time ever, is for it to come to terms with its history of injustice.<\/p>\n

That means acknowledging its role in the creation of the Palestinian refugee community, taking restorative efforts to right that wrong, and finally accepting its Palestinian citizens as full and equal civic partners in theory and in practice.<\/p>\n

Sam Bahour is a policy adviser to <\/em>Al-Shabaka, the Palestinian Policy Network<\/a>; Chairman of <\/em>Americans for a Vibrant Palestinian Economy<\/a>; Co-editor of <\/em>HOMELAND: Oral History of Palestine and Palestinians<\/a> (Olive Branch Press). He blogs at www.epalestine.com<\/a>. @SamBahour<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Sam Bahour
\nHaaretz Contributor <\/p>\n

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Haaretz – Sep 26, 2016 Don’t Call Us ‘Israeli Arabs’: Palestinians in Israel Speak Out “Palestinian citizens of Israel are its Achilles’ heel; they refuse to become Zionists, refuse to leave Israel, and refuse to vanish into thin air. And, increasingly, they are refusing to remain silent.” READ ONLINE AT: http:\/\/bit.ly\/Palestinians-in-Israel-Speak-Out Opinion Don’t Call Us […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3742,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[96,977,236],"ppma_author":[936],"class_list":["post-3741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-96","tag-haaretz","tag-palestinian-citizens-of-israel"],"authors":[{"term_id":936,"user_id":4,"is_guest":0,"slug":"sambahour","display_name":"Sam Bahour","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bca109c333bf6d8ae807746dd512adde46265d37c923f6cd0fc4aab437f8e9aa?s=96&d=mm&r=g","author_category":"1","first_name":"Sam","last_name":"Bahour","user_url":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour","job_title":"","description":"

Sam Bahour<\/strong> is a Palestinian-American business consultant, writer, and commentator based in Al-Bireh\/Ramallah, Palestine. He is the principal of Applied Information Management (AIM)<\/a>, a consultancy specializing in business development and startup advisory services.<\/p>\r\n

Bahour played a foundational role in establishing two of Palestine\u2019s publicly traded companies: the Palestine Telecommunications Company (PALTEL) and the Arab Palestinian Shopping Centers (APSC). He co-founded Americans for a Vibrant Palestinian Economy (A4VPE), of which he is now an emeritus member, and served as an independent director on the board of Arab Islamic Bank P.L.C. from 2004 to 2025. He currently serves on the board of Just Vision<\/a> and The Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute (MAS)<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n

He frequently gives talks to delegations visiting Palestine on the subjects of Palestine\u2019s political economy, Palestinian Politics 101, and a general orientation to the state of affairs under Israeli military occupation.<\/p>\r\n

A prolific writer on Palestinian affairs, Bahour has been published in major international outlets including The New York Times, The Guardian, Haaretz, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times, Al Jazeera America, Le Monde diplomatique, Al-Monitor, +972 Magazine, The Hill, and Arab News. He has appeared as a commentator on NPR, CNN, BBC, and other broadcast media.<\/p>\r\n

Bahour is the co-editor of Homeland: Oral Histories of Palestine and Palestinians<\/a><\/em> (Olive Branch Press, 1993) and was profiled in the bestselling anthology Kingdom of Olives and Ash<\/a><\/em>, edited by Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman, in a chapter authored by Chabon titled \u201cThe Tallest Man in Ramallah<\/a>.\u201d He holds an Associate\u2019s and Bachelor\u2019s degree in Computer Technology from Youngstown State University, and a Kellogg-Recanati International Executive MBA \u2014 a joint program of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and the Recanati Business School at Tel Aviv University.<\/p>\r\n

He tweets at @SamBahour<\/a>, blogs at www.epalestine.ps<\/a>, and may be reached at sbahour[AT]gmail[DOT]com.<\/p>"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3741"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3741\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9215,"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3741\/revisions\/9215"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3741"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epalestine.ps\/sambahour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=3741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}