katalog-overlapping voices - Ritesinstitute

the palestinians
in israel
(1948–2008)
adel manna
historical Palestine was dismembered as a result
of the war in 1948. in the armistice agreements,
signed in the following year between the adversaries,
the borders of the war were recognized by israel
and its arab neighbours. Palestine was divided
into three parts. israel was established on about
77% of the country, much beyond the territory allocated
for the Jewish state according to the U.n. partition
plan of november 29, 1947. the second biggest
part of Palestine, the west Bank, was occupied
and annexed by Jordan. the third, the gaza strip,
a tiny portion of less than four hundred square km.,
came under egyptian administration until June
1967. thus, Palestine disappeared from the world
atlas and from the official regional maps. the Palestinians
who lived in their ancestors’ homeland
became homeless and stateless.
the Palestinian society was also shattered into separate
and marginalized communities inside historical
Palestine and outside it. on the territory which
became israel after 1948, about 900,000 Palestinians
lived until the eruption of violence and war. most
of these Palestinians were displaced and became
refugees in the neighbouring arab countries. in the
aftermath of the armistice agreements in summer
1949, an estimated 156,000 Palestinians succeeded
in surviving in israel and turned into the arab
minority of a Jewish state. this paper is focusing
briefly on reviewing the history of Palestinians in israel
and their socio-political status during the past
six decades. furthermore, it will touch upon their
future visions as represented in several documents
published lately in nazareth and haifa.
israel is celebrating this year the 60th anniversary of
its independence, while the Palestinians are commemorating
sixty years of the catastrophe (nakba) which
befell them. in the declaration of independence, in
mid may 1948, the israeli leadership promised the
arab citizens of the newborn Jewish state full citizenship
rights and a fair representation in all its institutions.
these promises were never fulfilled. the his-
tory of Jewish-arab relations in israel has witnessed
ups and downs during the past sixty years. israel is
perceived, particularly in the west, as a democratic
state. this perception is based on true assessment
of the free elections, free press and other freedoms
secured and institutionalized in a fair democratic system.
however, the special experience of the arab minority
since 1948 reveals systematic policies and
practices of discrimination towards them by the state
and its Jewish institutions.
the arab minority in israel numbers currently over
1.2 million citizens (without the 240,000 Palestinians
of east Jerusalem who are residents but not citizens
of israel since June 1967). the significant
demographic growth (from about 150,000 in 1949)
transformed the Palestinian arabs in israel into a
self-confident community. the quantitative and qualitative
changes during the past six decades also increased
needs and raised expectations for equal civil
rights and opportunities. the deferred fulfilment
of these expectations enhanced frustration and bitterness,
particularly among the second and third
generations of this community. what are the main
characteristics of the Palestinian arabs in israel?
what are the repercussions of their experiences as
an arab minority in the Jewish state? what are the
ups and downs in the attitude of the Jewish state
towards its Palestinian citizens? lastly, what are the
main features of their political agenda and their future
visions? those are some of the main questions
that the following pages will try to answer.
Geography and Demography
in 1948 israel was established on the ruins of the
Palestinian society and homeland. over half of the
Palestinian people (about 750,000) became refugees.
they lost homes, lands, villages and towns
and started life from scratch in refugee camps. all
the Palestinian properties were expropriated by the
state and other Jewish agencies for the benefit of
Jews. over 400 villages were demolished and their
lands distributed to old and newly established Jewish
settlements of all kinds. the Palestinian city
disappeared and a few hundred thousand arabs
who lived in Jaffa, haifa, acre, lydda, Ramle and
other cities turned into refugees. nazareth was the
only arab town which survived the war and became
the capital city of the Palestinians in galilee. it is
worth noting also that most of the Palestinians who
survived in israel live in galilee, north of haifa.
the expulsion of most of the arabs from israel and
the demolishing of hundreds of their localities represented
a stark change of the geography and the
demography of the place. those who survived this
disaster (the estimated 156,000 in summer 1949)
became israeli citizens formally. they were kind of
lucky not to face the same lot of their refugee
brethren. the fear of expulsion became one of the
inherent elements which guided the relative acquiescence
of the arabs in israel during the 1950s.
indeed, this fear was not baseless. israel continued
to expel arabs from galilee, ashkelon, the negev
and elsewhere during the early 1950s. furthermore,
many arabs believe that the killing of 49 innocent
citizens in kufr-Qasim on 29th october
1956 was designed to frighten the arabs and to
get rid of many of them by the same methods as
in 1948.
in many areas in israel, particularly those allocated
to the Jewish state according to the U.n. partition
plan, the ethnic cleansing was almost total.
in the seashore area from haifa in the north down
to the gaza strip, only two small arab localities survived.
even north of haifa up to the lebanese border
only one village (mazr‘ah) stayed put. it was
already mentioned that most of the Palestinians in
israel have been living since 1948 and till now in
galilee. however, a few districts of this region faced
a similar lot to that of the seashore area. most of
the arab localities in the safad and tyberias districts
were uprooted and their inhabitants became
refugees in syria and lebanon. only a few Pales-
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