Signs of Rising Israeli Plotting against its Significant “Palestinian Authority”
Prof. As’ad Abdul Rahman
Israel’s greed goes further with more Arab Palestinian lands stolen, and towns and villages uprooted. Al-Naqab southern region offers the best example of Israel’s practices and the struggle of its people against them. The largest part of the area has been confiscated with arbitrary measures since 1948. Moreover, Israeli successive governments did not only grab lands of Palestinian refugees but went further, seizing those of Palestinians who held on to their land in face of all crimes committed by the Zionist armed groups during the 1948 war. Moreover, a debate began following the declaration of the state of Israel on the status of Palestinian citizens within its borders. The Jewish majority viewed the Arab Palestinians as people whose loyalty was in doubt, thus presuming they cooperate with hostile parties, which reflected negatively on socio-economic development of the 1948 Palestinians, limiting their integration with the Israeli society. With such Israeli designs persisting, Palestinians of today chose to focus on halting the policy of land seizure and homes demolition, while seeking to live enjoying equality as full not second class citizens and pursuing efforts to restore their stolen rights.
A report issued recently by Adalah (justice) Legal Center shed light on Israel’s discriminatory policies in the housing and construction projects. During 2016, the report revealed that “Israel’s Land Authority published tenders for the construction of 49,903 housing units in Jewish towns (not including 5,528 in mixed towns). In addition, tenders were announced for the construction of 4,524 housing units in the illegal “settlements”/ colonies in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, while tenders were announced for only 4151 similar units in Arab towns. By contrast, the report indicated, the Land Authority “published tenders for only 4,151 housing units in Arab communities in Israel (6.4 percent), although the number of inhabitants in these towns and villages is more than double the number of settlers living in the 1967 Occupied Territories (approximately 1.5 million Arab citizens of Israel, 90 percent of whom live in Arab localities as compared with over 606,000 Jewish settlers). Furthermore and in the course of 2016 “42 tenders for the sale of properties belonging to Palestinian refugees were also published, in contravention of international law”.
A recent opinion poll conducted inside the 1948 lands, revealed that Arab Palestinians are showing increased interest in the issues of services and living standards (related to education, labour, health and welfare, etc). It is true that demands for services occupy a large part of their priorities, but they originally stem from their suffering as Palestinians targeted by Israel. In the same poll, and as regards national issues and facing up to racism, around 41% of the Palestinians inside Israel have demanded confronting racial discrimination which reflects their concern over the rising apartheid in the Zionist state. Therefore, commitment to civil struggle by the 1948 Palestinians despite its significance does not negate their real struggle as part of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, evidences of which are many. These include the annual Land Day movements which foster the Palestinian identity and presence that form an incubator for national rights and demands as an integral part of the Palestinian people. Moreover, their support to and sympathy with their Palestinian brethren in the 1967 occupied lands including Jerusalem, remain a priority to them, as well as their stand by the Gaza Strip which faced a series of Israeli wars.
The 1948 Palestinians are facing an Israeli society shifting to the extreme right that brought about the most extremist government in the history of Israel, which under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had reinforced its oppression against them. Signs of such policies were reflected in political, economic and social domains, yet within implementation of the Israeli “law”!! It wasn’t strange to see results of an opinion poll by the Israeli Pew Center that specializes in social and religious studies. They showed that “around half of Jews in Israel support expulsion of Palestinians from their homes and lands within the Green Line, and support of 42% of them for settlement expansion in the West Bank including Jerusalem”. Indeed, this is part of Netanyahu’s strategy, as he was the one who incited against the right of the 1948 Palestinians to vote in general elections, accused them of raising ISIS flags and setting fire to the Carrmel mount.
Under such a government and society, there appears some Israeli voices that believe that the extremist right policies against the 1948 Palestinians are the most dangerous facing the Zionist state and that the government should be assured of them not to deal with them as enemies. Yedidia Stern wrote an article entitled “The 1948 Arabs are the Most Balanced and Reasonable”. He said that “their civil identity is Israeli, their national identity is Palestinian. There exists (in the towns of Arab al-Dakhel of 48) a large group with clearly different opinions from either those of the Israeli Jews or the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. These opinions are worthy to note: they send out light instead of darkness. They are the most optimistic towards a common future.” Also, Tamir Pardo former director of the Mossad, believes that the “demographic danger is the only existential threat to Israel, it is like a time bomb working all the time for a long period. Israel’s leaders unusually chose to bury their heads in the sand, preoccupy themselves with alternative facts and flee from reality while creating other various external threats” Since the signing of the Oslo agreements, wrote Haaretz editor-in-chief Aluf Benn,” the epicenter of the conflict with the Palestinians moved to al-Dakhel of Israel (Arab communities). It is a conflict over consciousness and story, the Israelis fear an increased power of the Palestinians of al-Dakhel and their return to their historical story. Remember that the word, Nakba (the 1948 Palestine catastrophe) has not been used in the media for nearly twenty years”. He went to say that “since the strong return of the right to power in 2009, Israeli governments are putting much effort in muting mouths using the carrot and stick but to no avail. We are standing before a strong Palestinian minority in Israel that can tell its story and vision and make it clear that it is not part of the Israeli story, and this is very important” In fact, very serious.
