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Living inside the racist Israeli state

by Danny Rabinowitz
Arab citizens have been troubled recently by an issue that had not been discussed in past decades: does the creeping entry of transfer in Israel's legitimate public domain reflect a genuine danger? It is important to recognize that beyond the fear involved in discussing this question, there is another dimension. Arab citizens have lost the sense that they understand the Jewish majority and are able to readily discern processes which it undergoes. Many view Israeli society as being more extremist, unpredictable and dangerous than ever.
From http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=163435&contrassID=2&subContrassID=4&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y

The protest of Arab citizens of Israel in response to the events of Operation Defensive Shield was relatively moderate. There were some demonstrations; organizations and public leaders took part in some of these. But compared to protests in October 2000, these demonstrations were small and restrained.

In October 2000, protests flared in response to events which at the time were perceived as being highly disturbing (Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount, the killing of demonstrators at the site, the death of the boy Mohammed Dura), whose import seems reduced when viewed today. The demonstrations of April 2002, which were staged in protest against much greater levels of suffering and damage, were far more restrained. Despite the hundreds of Palestinians killed in the territories, the devastating blow to infrastructure and homes, the systematic destruction of civil institutions, the curfews, the starvation, the obstruction of emergency services and the disruption of the lives of hundreds of thousands while Defensive Shield was being carried out, the inclination of Arabs in Israel to refrain from violence and stick to a repertoire characteristic of legitimate demonstrations was conspicuous.

...

Fear felt today by Arab citizens of Israel was born in late 2000 in response to a police force that did not refrain from pointing its rifles at Arab citizens. Since the end of 2000, this unease has transformed into grave fear in response to the increasingly frequent allusions of transfer in Israeli discourse. Arab citizens have been troubled recently by an issue that had not been discussed in past decades: does the creeping entry of transfer in Israel's legitimate public domain reflect a genuine danger? It is important to recognize that beyond the fear involved in discussing this question, there is another dimension. Arab citizens have lost the sense that they understand the Jewish majority and are able to readily discern processes which it undergoes. Many view Israeli society as being more extremist, unpredictable and dangerous than ever.

Many among Israel's Jewish majority will be tempted to endorse the paternalist claim that the relative quiet proves that policies of force work. They will claim that actions undertaken by the police in late 2000 made borders of the permissible and the forbidden very clear to Arabs, and thereby restored the deterrence factor. What proponents of this view fail to understand is that the imposition of fear, which appears to be a solution in the short term, is a moral abomination and an inept policy for the middle and long terms.
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