A Lamb Between Two Wolves

"We are cut in two. For me, a border clash is a clash within me."

--Arab storekeeper in Nazareth

WHAT would happen if Israel suddenly agreed to repatriate a sizable number of Arab refugees? How would the Arabs be received and how would they live? One hint may be found in the status of the Arabs who stayed put when Israel was founded in 1948 and are now full citizens of the predominantly Jewish state.

There are 330,000 Israeli Arabs, and in terms of education and economy they fare considerably better than most of their brethren elsewhere in the Middle East. Though the majority live in exclusively Arab villages or sections of the big cities, that is mostly a matter of preference, not public policy. There are no back-of-the-bus rules, no official apartheid. Their material conditions are constantly improving. Still, the Israeli Arabs are in large measure second-class citizens. They feel that they lack economic equality with the country's Jews. More important is their psychological problem. Referring to 1948, many Arabs say: "We went to sleep a majority --and woke up a minority." They feel like exiles in their own homeland.

Conquered People. For years after 1948, they had ample reason to feel that way. Half a million chose or were forced into exile, including virtually all the educated, urbanized Arabs; 156,000 stayed behind, mostly unlettered villagers. With a birth rate three times that of Israel's Jewish population, the Arab numbers have doubled. Including 30,000 Bedouins of the Negev Desert and 30,000 Druse, one of every eight Israelis is now an Arab. (The 1,000,000 Arabs in the occupied territories do not have citizenship.)

Initially, the Arabs were treated as conquered people. Israel's suspicious government put them under military rule, confiscated half their lands and forced them to obtain special travel permits. The government established an Arab Affairs department, but it included no Arabs and few Arabic-speaking advisers. One high official went so far as to announce publicly that Arabs were to be "hewers of wood and drawers of water." The situation changed drastically after 1963, when Levi Eshkol became Premier. Eshkol gradually ended all restrictions and made no move to re-impose them even during the 1967 war.

So far that decision has paid off. The fedayeen have recruited some young Israeli Arabs, and there have been numerous acts of sabotage. But the government has arrested 200 suspected of terrorism or aiding terrorists and believes the threat has been contained. Though many of Israel's Arabs applaud the fedayeen spirit, they fear that terrorist tactics will bring back the old controls. "Our situation is that of a lamb between two wolves--the Israeli military and the Arab guerrillas," says Abdul Aziz Zuabi, an Arab member of Israel's Knesset (parliament).

Job Discrimination. The result is a feeling of schizophrenia. "Our nation, the Arab people, is opposed to our state, Israel," says Muhammad Hubeishi, a member of Acre's city council. "We can and ought to be like the Jews of America, who are loyal to their state without being disloyal to their people." More Israeli Arabs might heed that advice but for a feeling that the government does not do enough for them.

Israeli Arabs enjoy full citizenship, with all its rights and all but one of its responsibilities--they are not required to serve in the armed forces. The Arab vote in the last general election was a high 80%. Seven Arabs are members of the Knesset. Per capita income among Israeli Arabs is $850 a year v. $200 for most of the 600,000 Arabs of the Jordan River's West Bank who came under Israeli control after the '67 war. The overall Israeli per capita income, on the other hand, is $1,200.

The principal complaint concerns job discrimination. There is almost no unemployment among Israeli Arabs. For security reasons, however, they are barred from the defense ministry and from classified national defense projects. They are also shunned in most other government departments and in the best-paying white-collar jobs. Though primary and secondary Arab educational facilities have more than trebled in 20 years, many young Arabs refuse to try for college; those who do find they must compete with better prepared Jewish classmates. Even if they graduate, opportunities are scarce. The result is that while Arabs represent 12% of the national population, they account for less than 2% of Israel's university population of 35,000.

Fifth Column. Jewish liberals see the Arab citizens as a potential bridge to peace. Conservatives consider them a potential fifth column. Rather akin to some black militants in the U.S., the Arabs themselves say that they want separate but equal status.

"The real challenge," says Samih Kassem, a 30-year-old poet and former schoolteacher, "is to stay here and struggle, not to join the fedayeen." The struggle could be a complicated one. In a 1966 survey, Jerusalem's Hebrew University found that only 18% of Israeli Arabs considered another Israeli-Arab war inevitable. Now 50% of them do.

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