Racism in Israel

Susan Nathan is a Jewish woman, raised in England. Her father is South African. About six years ago she moved to Tel Aviv. Soon she did not feel comfortable there living within the racist system of the Israeli government, so she decided to move to Tamra, a Palestinian village in Israel. From her insider's position in the Palestinian community in Israel she describes in her book "The other side of Israel" the different shapes of discrimination that the Palestinian minority in Israel meet daily. "There is a much international attention for Gaza and the West Bank. But about the internal discrimination of Palestinians in Israel nobody speaks. That's why I wrote this book, I am the bridge between the Jewish and Arab world", says Susan Nathan. In October this year she visited Belgium and Holland to promote her book.

QUESTION: What was your motivation to move from England to Israel in the first place?

SUSAN NATHANI made the decision already when I was about twelve years old. I was raised very Zionist and knew from childhood on that I should go to Israel. In England I felt that I belonged to a minority. I had to go to church, always had to explain the meaning and origin of my Jewish name (Levy). I constantly felt that I was different. That's why I developed my Zionist ideology. Many Jews that made aliyah (emigration to Israel) do not speak about the enormous feeling of power this gives to them. The Jews move from a position in a minority group in the diaspora to a country that is designed according especially to their wishes. In Israel there are national holidays, Jews do not need to adapt. The Jews who make aliyah feel like defying the world that used to pursue them.

QUESTION: And why did you decide to move to Tamra, a Palestinian village in Israel?

SUSAN NATHAN: When the intifada started the Jews pointed to the Palestinians: "Look, they disturb our peaceful coexistence. They behave like barbarians". I felt unrest appearing in my quiet middle class soap bubble in which I lived in Tel Aviv. I wanted to investigate if the media was true in its reporting. I work with an NGO called "Mahapach", which means revolution. This NGO aims at supporting poorer communities of Arab and Mizrachi (Arab Jews) origin within Israel. I was asked to support the Arab communities.

When I arrived at first in Tamra, I understood within 10 minutes that the situation here was comparable to the situation I knew from South Africa. At that moment I could not return to my normal life in Tel Aviv, pretending that nothing was happening. I had to speak out about manipulation of reality by the media propaganda machine.

QUESTION: What is your book about?

SUSAN NATHAN: My book is about the status of the Palestinian minority living in Israel. Palestinians in Israel are being discriminated in their lives on every level. The worst form of discrimination is comes from land allocation. 94 per cent of the land in Israel is in the hands of the JNF (Jewish National Fund). This land can be used by Jews from all over the world. Israeli Arabs, who constitute 20 per cent of the Israeli population, are destined to their ghettos. Thus the Israeli state sends a constant message for Arabs to leave Israel. For me it should not be a solution if the Palestinians should obtain more land. I'd rather have the Jewish and Palestinian community mingle. One state for all inhabitants. That unavoidably means the end of the Jewish state.

QUESTION: What other ways of discrimination of Palestinians in Israel do exist?

SUSAN NATHAN: In all layers of society life Palestinians are being discriminated against, from education and employment to land allocation and community subsidy. Illegal houses (built because Palestinians in Israel could not obtain building permits, where Jews from all over the world could) are being demolished. In the meantime Israel is building settlements in the West Bank illegally.

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