Bel Trew - Arab Israelis vow to boycott vote: ‘The elections have never been so racist’
After a particularly
difficult year, and ahead of a general election in Israel on Tuesday,
many members of the country’s Arab minority say they are refusing to vote in a
poll predicted to re-elect Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel’s estimated 1.9
million Arab population makes up around 20 per cent of the country, and
across Druze areas and other Arab communities in Israel, there has been a
growing clamour for a boycott.
In the country’s
north, the mayor of the largest Druze town in the country, Daliyat el-Karmel,
smarts at the differences in services he believes are provided to his town, as
compared to the nearest Jewish-majority city. Driving from his town
to Yokneam Illit, Rafik Halabi says, is like “going from Benghazi to London.” Once a poor
settlement, Yokneam Illit is now a thriving city, with factories, industrial
complexes and major businesses. At the same time, says Halabi, he has been allocated no budget to
provide similar opportunities for his people.
The ruling Likud
Party, meanwhile, says the government’s 15 billion shekel ($4.19 billion)
invest-ment plan for the Arab sector “is the largest such commitment in Israel’s
history,” according to Eli Hazan, Likud’s foreign affairs director. But it is just
one of many grievances the disgruntled Arab-Israeli community are feeling in
the lead up to the elections next week. Halabi predicts that
only half of Daliyat al-Karmel, around 80km north of Tel Aviv, will bother to
vote on Tuesday, which incumbent Netanyahu, leader of the rightwing Likud Party, is now
predicted to win. “We are bitterly
disappointed by the policies of this government, we have paid all our dues and
duties and got nothing back of our rights,” Halabi says.
Netanyahu’s government
ratified the controversial Nation State Law in July which has a
constitution-like status and has been described by critics as “apartheid
legislation”. Halabi, like many in
his town, believe it has relegated Israel’s non-Jewish population to the status
of second class citizens. The law defines Israel
as a Jewish state, promotes the creation of Jewish-only settlements, removes
Arabic as an official language and defines national self-determination as “the
unique right of the Jewish people”. In March the
premier wrote on Instagram that “Israel is not a state of all its
citizens” triggering further anger.
Israel’s Arab minority
comprises mainly descendants of Palestinians who either stayed within their
communities or were internally displaced after the 1948 war that surrounded the
creation of Israel.
But the Druze, a
unique Arabic-speaking religious and ethnic group that practices an off-shoot
of Islam traditionally serve in the army, often identify as Israeli and are
fiercely loyal to the state. Many within the Druze community even dispute the
label of Arab. They particularly felt the blow.
“The insult against
Israeli Arabs is unbelievable,” Halabi says, of the law. “They built the
country, they are in the army, they have jobs in all the hospitals. We are
Israel but the state refuses to acknowledge this.”... read more:
