by Boris Shusteff

"There has to be a way to fulfill both important principles of settling the Land of Israel and not ruling over a foreign nation." (Member of Knesset Alex Lubozky, interview on Arutz-7, September, 13, 1998).

While everyone is preoccupied with the question of how much more land Israel is going to surrender to the Palestinian Arabs, the real issue of Israel's existence keeps being swept under the carpet. People are afraid to talk about it. They are ashamed to bring it up. They try to tackle it from different angles by comparing Jewish and democratic values. Anyone who approaches it is immediately labeled a "racist." The description above is sufficient to identify the issue at hand as the relations between the Jews and the Arabs living in Israel and in Judea, Samaria and Gaza (Yesha). It should be noted that this issue is closely related to the question of the "disputed" territories themselves. By resolving this main issue we should immediately get an answer to the question of how Israel can spread her sovereignty to Yesha and still remain a Jewish state. Since the establishment of the state, Israel has desperately tried to unite two principles that were included in her Declaration of Independence. She wants to simultaneously be a Jewish and a democratic state. By attempting to be a little bit of both, Israel arrived at a situation when she is neither Jewish nor democratic. One cannot call a state Jewish if it does not allow Jewish prayers at the holiest place for the Jews the Temple Mount. One cannot call a state democratic if it

has a Law of Return according to which only a Jew from any corner of the world can immediately become an Israeli citizen if he decides to do so. Nevertheless, many Israeli ills can be cured if the country defines its internal status and position towards the Arabs. Everything will be determined by an honest answer to the question whether Israel wants to be a Jewish state. Of course, answering "no' makes the whole discussion irrelevant. If Israel rejects her Jewish identity, she loses any theological, historical and political reasons to remain where she is now. Only as a Jewish state does Israel make sense on the Middle-Eastern map. By answering "yes' Israel will say that to be a Jewish state means that it is based on Jewish values, the majority of its citizens are Jews, and its polices are directed towards strengthening its Jewish essence. Israel is a unique state. It is the only state in the world that is surrounded by its sworn enemies whose goal is its destruction. It is the only state in the world that rejoined the world community after two thousand years of existing dormant in a people's memory. While residing in the Jewish state the Israeli Arabs make no secret about their allegiance. On November 5, 1998 Darawshe Rabi, a candidate for Jaljulia Town Council Head was quoted in the Gaza daily Al Hayat Al-Jadida, saying that, "the identity of the Palestinian nation within the Green line is Arab and Palestinian in character, but because of our geographic location, we are considered residents of Israel." If one thinks that this Arab affiliation is a new development caused by Arafat's Palestinian Authority (PA), one should scan the pages of Newsview, an Israeli weekly, from October 16, 1984 and read an interview with a Christian Arab attorney from a prosperous village in the Gallilee. This Israeli Arab said, "First of all I am a Palestinian. Then I am Arab. Last I am a Christian. I also happen to live in Israel but I don't feel I am an Israeli citizen. I can't be a real citizen of Israel as long as it is a Jewish state." On February 2, 1999 Laila Khaled, one of the leaders of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in an interview conducted for the Free Arab Voice explaining the role of the Israeli Arabs in the overall Arab struggle against Israel said, "We have a goal that unites us all, which is to liberate Palestine. But there's about a million Palestinians right now living in the land occupied in 1948. Those will have [different] tasks After fifty years of "Israeli" rule, nationalist feelings among the Arabs of "Israel", as they call them, are on the rise. It's true there are a couple there that call themselves "Israelis", but the Palestinians of 1948 have overall preserved their Palestinian Arab national identity. Within the framework of the overall objective, these people have the local objective of achieving equality before the law in "Israel."

To put it differently, Khaled wants the Israeli Arabs to exploit the democratic clause of the Israeli Declaration of Independence. The Arabs have long ago figured out that they can wrest power from the Jews through Israeli democratic institutions. On May 28, 1976 N'ama Saud, an Israeli Arab teacher, said in an interview with Israeli daily Ma'ariv, "Now we are a minority. The state is democratic Today, I accept the fact that this is a Jewish state. When we will be the majority, I will not accept a Jewish state with an Arab majority." In 1976 the Arabs constituted 15% of Israels population. If not for the Russian migration, that has brought more than 800,000 Jews to Israel in ast ten years, the number of Arabs today would be close to 25% of the overall Israeli population. What is extremely disturbing that, already in 1986, according to Davar editor Hana Zemer's article published in spring of 1986, "the number of young Arab and Jewish youngsters below the age of 14 was the same." That the Arabs are gaining more influence in Israeli institutions is indisputable. The fact that there is a room in Knesset that is used as a mosque speaks volumes. The nomination of Salih Salim, an Israeli Arab, as a deputy speaker of the Israeli Knesset should sound a loud alarm to everybody who still thinks that the Arabs are not serious in their "democratic" intentions. This is especially clear if one listens to Salim's telephone interview with the London Al-Sharq al-Aswat that happened on October 28, 1998, when he said, that while today there are 12 Arab members of Knesset, "the ratio of our representation is not sufficient, for we should have at least 22 Arab members in the Knesset so as to truly represent that ratio of the Arabs to the whole population in Israel."

It is worse mentioning that in the same interview Salim said that, "President Arafat is a great friend of mine and I constantly visit him for a chat and an exchange of views." With Arafat's friends sitting in the Knesset Israel does not need enemies at all. It is also good to know that this supposedly loyal, democratically elected deputy speaker of the Israeli parliament views the Israeli army as "an army of occupation and its government [as] a government that usurped the Arab rights inside and outside the country." The deputy speaker's is not a lonely voice in the Arab "Knesset community." Member of Knesset Abdel Darwashe said on November 26, 1998, in an interview with official PA television, "With the help of Allah, when the independent Palestinian state is already established on the entirety of the Palestinian land we will all live as brothers and one family in one Palestinian state." Azmi Bishara, yet another Arab Member of Knesset, leads the National Democratic Alliance party whose election platform for the 1999 elections, according to a translation by IMRA's Director Dr. Aaaron Lerner, "rejects the Jewish character of the State of Israel (article 2), supports the negation of the Law of Return (article 3), and supports the return of the 1948 refugees into Israel (article 13)."

Since the above examples are only a tiny part representing the Arab MK's attitude to the state to which they are supposed to be loyal, one must admit that without drastic institutional changes Israel will cease to exist as a Jewish state. It is obvious that the only way to prevent this is through a Constitution that will legislatively limit the political rights of the Arabs. Any accusations of "racism" regarding this measure should be rejected outright. Using this word as a bugaboo simply obfuscates its real meaning. Racism means "discrimination based on a belief that some races are by nature superior." In the case of the proposed limitations on Arabs' political rights, the idea is based on a belief that this is the only way for the Jewish state to survive. It is

based not on the "superiority" of the Jews but on their vulnerability.

Two thousand years of wandering, persecution, massacres and tragedies have sharpened the Jews' sense of impending danger. They have learned that sometimes they have to use unpleasant and unpopular means in order to save themselves. At present, in order to preserve themselves as a People and as a Nation they must limit the political rights of the people who sojourn with them on their land. If this other people objects it must abandon the Jewish land. Unlike the Jews the Arabs have nearly two dozen Arab countries where they can enjoy full national and political rights. For fifty years the Jewish state has tolerated the ingratitude of the Palestinian Arabs. The time has come to say "enough."

The Arabs "who call themselves Israelis" will understand the situation and accept it. Moreover, the future Constitution should allow these Arabs who serve in the army, honor the Jewish values and feel an attachment to the Jewish state, to participate in the political life of the country. As for the majority of the Arabs, they should carefully read what was written by Professor Abdul Hadi Palazzi, Secretary General of the Italian Muslim Association. In an Internet posting on June 13, 1998 Professor Palazzi, who holds a Ph.D. in Islamic Sciences by decree of the Grand Mufti of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, explained that today "according to the Shari'ah [Islamic law)] no part of this world is "Dar al-Islam" (Territory of Islam). The world is divided into countries were Muslims are either a majority or a minority, and areas were they are a majority are only "Bilad al-Islam" (Islamic countries), and not "Dar al-Islam"(Territory of Islam).

Professor Palazzi explained farther that, "According to a fatwa from Shaykh Sha'rawi (the eminent scholar who came to Jerusalem with Anwar Sadat and prayed in al-Aqsa), a country where Muslims are free to practice their religion - and especially to assemble five times a day for the compulsory prayers - is not "Dar al-harb" (Territory of war), but must be named according to a new category, "Dar al-islah" (Territory of prosperity); Muslims must be loyal citizens of "Dar al-islah" countries."

Since Muslims residing in Israel have their religious freedom granted by Knesset Law, which also admits Shari'ah jurisdiction in matter of personal status, Israel, like America and most European countries, falls in the category of "Dar al-islah." According to Professor Palazzi, Muslims living "in these countries have two options: islah or hijrah." "Islah means, "abiding by the local Law as a loyal citizen, notwithstanding the fact that Muslims are a minority and the ruler is a non-Muslims". The second option is for all those who think that living in a non-Muslim country is a limitation for their religious freedom. Each one who feels so must emigrate from Dar al-islah to Bilad al-Islam. As long as he does not emigrate, disobeying the local Law or committing anti-governmental activities is condemned by the Shari'ah as fitnah, a sin that is regarded as worst than homicide."

Professor Palazzi's explanation allows us to "cross the t's and dot the i's" on this issue. Israel is a Jewish state. In order to preserve her Jewish character she needs a Constitution that will limit the political rights of her Muslim citizens. The Israeli Arabs as well as the Arabs of Yesha will have two options: either to be loyal citizens and abide by the local Law or to emigrate. Those who disobey the Law and commit anti-Israel activities should immediately lose the right to reside in the Jewish state and should be expelled as persons whose "sin is worse than homicide." Then and only then will the Jews be settling the Land of Israel and not ruling over a foreign nation.

1. Unless indicated otherwise, the translations of the Arab press (1998 and 1999) are from Israeli & Global News (http://www.cmep.com).

2. Quotes from Maariv, Davar and Newsview are from Meir Kahane's book Uncomfortable questions for Comfortable Jews.

02/23/99.