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Israeli Arab

Israeli Arab

Introduction

Israeli Arabs, also referred to as Arab-Israelis, Arab citizens of Israel or Palestinian citizens of Israel, are Arabs who are citizens of Israel. Israeli Arabs are full citizens of the State of Israel, with equal protection under the law, and full rights of due process. Apart from the Druze (who are Arabs but form a distinct minority group) most Israeli Arabs are descendants of the roughly 150,000 Palestinians who remained within Israel borders during and after the Palestinian Exodus which resulted from the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, as many as 200,000 have emigrated into Israel from the Gaza Strip and West Bank [http://www.ngo-monitor.org/editions/v1n12/v1n12-1.htm]. Many Israeli Arabs share family and other ties with the Palestinians in these areas and in other Arab countries. Israel also has a large population of Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews who fled or were expelled from Arab countries, mostly after 1948, or who are the descendants of those refugees. They are Israeli but are usually not identified as Arabs (although many of them are traditionally Arabic-speaking and hold on to Arab culture, tradition, cuisine,...). Arabic, which is mostly spoken by the Arab minority, is one of Israel's official languages. In 2004, Israeli Arab citizens made up about 19.5% of Israel's population [http://www1.cbs.gov.il/popisr/table2.pdf]. It is estimated that an additional 170,000 Palestinians live illegally in Israel [http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=34357] amongst the Israeli Arab population. Israeli Arabs sometimes consider themselves Palestinian, sometimes Israeli, and sometimes both. The majority of Israeli Arabs are Muslim and a minority are Christian. There are two additional distinct subgroups: followers of the Druze religion (about 120,000), and the Bedouin (170,000), who are predominantly Muslim [http://www.nswjbd.org/MintDigital.NET/NSWJBD.aspx?XmlNode=/MainNav/Israel]. Most Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem (about 250,000) are not Israeli citizens, but hold legal permanent resident status to live and travel within Israel. According to 1988 Israeli Supreme court ruling, this status also makes them eligible for Israel Social Security benefits and state-provided health care [http://www.meforum.org/article/702]. Well-known Israeli Arabs include the politician and novelist Emile Habibi, film directors Elie Suleiman and Hany Abu-Assad, and the politician Azmi Bishara. There are ten Israeli Arabs sitting as members of the 16th Knesset (there are a total of 120 seats), and there is currently an Arab judge (Justice Salim Jubran) sitting in the Israeli Supreme Court. The 1999 Miss Israel, Rana Raslan, was also an Israeli Arab. Ariel Sharon's 2001 cabinet included as a minister an Israeli Arab, Salah Tarif, and in March of 2005 Oscar Abu Razaq was appointed Director General of the Ministry of Interior. Organisations representing Israeli Arabs allege that the population faces discrimination in a number of respects, arising from legislation and government policy. However, since the mid 1990s the government has adopted affirmative action policies in recruiting Israeli Arabs to the civil service. Apart from the Druze, Israeli Arabs are not required to serve in the Israel Defense Forces, although some, notably among the Bedouin, volunteer to serve.

Demographics and Subdivisions

The number of Muslim legal residents (Including East Jerusalem permanent residents) in Israel at the start of 2004 stands at around 1,350,000, about 19.5% of Israel’s population. Muslims (including Bedouins) make up 82% of the entire Israeli Arab population. About 9% are Druze, and the rest are Christians. Roughly 25% of the children born in Israel today are Muslim, and as result, Israel’s Muslim population is mostly young: 42% of Muslims are children under the age of 15, compared with 26% of the Jewish population. The percentage of people over 65 is less than 3% for Muslims, compared with 12% for the Jewish population.

Population growth

The Israel Central Bureau of Statistics reported that Israeli Muslims have a natural reproduction rate that is more than double that of the Jewish population (their rate of increase being 3.3% compared to 1.4%). According to forecasts, the Muslim population will rise to over 2,000,000 people, or 24-26% of the population within the next 15 years. They will also comprise 85% of the Israeli Arab population in 2020 (3% up from 2005). Since more than 50% of the Arab population is under nineteen years old, demographers expect the population growth trend to continue since most of the Arab population in Israel will only reach reporduction age over the next 20 years. Dr. Wahid Abd Al-Magid, the editor of Al-Ahram's "Arab Strategic Report" suggested that "The way to end the Arab-Israeli conflict is through changing the demographic balance within Israel" [http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP24801], he predicts that "...The Arabs of 1948 (i.e. Israeli Arabs) may become a majority in Israel in 2035, and they will certainly be the majority in 2048."

Muslim Israeli Arabs

Muslim Arabs, excluding Bedouins, comprise about 70% of the Israeli Arab population. They live predominantly in the north, although a sizable amount resides in East Jerusalem and some towns in the south. They are not required to serve in the Israeli military, and few volunteer. In addition, of all Israeli Arab subgroups, they have probably the largest portion of people who identify themselves as Palestinian, often in addition to Israeli.

Christian Israeli Arabs

Christian Israeli Arabs comprise about 9% of the Israeli Arab population, and reside mostly in the north, Nazareth having the largest Christian Arab population. They are active in Israeli politics and civil life, and have a judge on the Israeli Supreme Court.

Bedouins

The Bedouins are an ethnicity spanning from the western Sahara desert to the Middle East. They are traditionally a nomadic people, although many of them have settled permanently and become fellaheen (land workers). The largest Bedouin locality in Israel is Rahat. The Israeli government encourages Bedouins to settle as permanent residents of towns, for many reasons, including security. A large portion of Bedouins volunteers for the Israeli army, although they are generally not required to.

Druze

The Druze are an ethnicity residing in many countries, although predominantly in Israel, Lebanon and Syria. Israeli Druze mainly live in northern Israel, notably in Daliyat Al-Karmel near Haifa. There are also Druze localities in the Golan Heights, which are claimed by Syria. Most Druze identify themselves as Israelis and are required to serve in the IDF per a request from their leaders. The Israeli Druze, like all Druze, follow a unique Druze religion which stemmed from Islam, although unlike Syrian Druze for instance, Israeli Druze generally resent being referred to as Muslim. Many of them do not even identify as Arabs and claim to have nothing in common with Arabs other than language. However, some, notably Salman Natur and sheikh Jamal Mu'addi, identify as Palestinian Arabs.

Location/geography

In total, 71% of the Arab population lives in 116 different localities throughout Israel. In these localities, Arabs are a heavy majority. Only nine of the 116 Arab localities are cities. The other localities are ruled by an Arab local authority or else they are strictly rural areas. Almost 40% of the country’s Muslims (400,000 people) live in various predominently-Arab communities in the north, the biggest of which is the city of Nazareth, which has 40,000 Muslim residents. Nazareth has the largest Arab population of the cities which are mainly Arab. 24% of Arabs live in cities that have a Jewish majority. These cities are Jerusalem, Haifa, Tel Aviv-Yaffo, Akko (Acre), Lod, Ramla, Ma'alot-Tarshiha, and Nazerat Illit. Of the remaining 5%, approximately 4% live in Bedouin communities in the Negev, and 1% live in areas that are almost completely Jewish.

Health

Infant death rates per thousand live births decreased significantly during a 35-year (1961-1996) period. In the Muslim population, the rate dropped from 46.4 per thousand births to 10.0; among Christians the decrease was from 42.1 to 6.7; among the Druze it dropped from 50.4 to 8.9 deaths. Healthcare improvements have also led to a lower infant mortality rate. In 1970, the infant mortality rate for Arabs was 32 deaths for every thousand births. In 2000, the rate had significantly decreased to 8.6 per every thousand. Out of the Arab population, Muslims have the highest rate of infant mortality with 9.1 per every thousand. Improved living standard, an improvement in environmental conditions and an increase in years of schooling also contributed to the decrease in infant mortality. Improvements in medicine have largely contributed to the increase in the Arab population, as life expectancy has increased 27 years since 1948. Life expectancy in Israel is 74.6 years for men. The most common health-related causes of death are heart disease and cancer. Diabetes is also common among the Arab population with 14% diagnosed with the disease in 2000.

Education

Improvement in education has also had significant benefits for the Arab community in Israel. The average number of years of education has doubled from five years in 1970 to ten years in 2000. Arab women, in particular, have improved their education. By the year 2000, 59% of Arab women had obtained at least eight years of education. Women also made up 51% of the Arab school system in Israel. Christian Arabs continue to receive more education than Muslims or Druze. While 27% of Christian Arabs had gone through twelve years of schooling, only 14% of Muslims and Druze completed that same number. The rate of graduation from high school for Arabs was comparable to that of Jews in Israel. In 1999, 46% of Arab students in 12th grade graduated from high school. In that same year, 52% of Jewish students graduated. Twenty-six percent of those Arab students who graduated went on to receive some kind of secondary education. Arabs comprised approximately 7% of all students at Israeli universities. The rate of female literacy in Israel is 88% among Arabs. The median years of schooling of Arab Israelis rose over a 35-year period (1961-1996) from 1.2 to 10.4 years. Education levels in the Arab sector are relatively lower than those in the Jewish sector, often leading to lower incomes.

Legal and Political Status

Arab Israelis are citizens of Israel with equal political rights. In 1948, Israel's Declaration of Independence called upon the Arab inhabitants of Israel to "participate in the upbuilding of the State on the basis of full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its provisional and permanent institutions". The political involvement of the Arab sector is manifested in both national and municipal elections. There are several Arab political parties, in addition to the left-wing Hadash party which receives most of its electoral support from the Arab sector. The larger Israeli parties also have a minority of Arab members. A number of Israeli Arabs have been elected as members of the Knesset for Hadash, Labour, Meretz and Likud as well as the Arab parties. Arab citizens run the political and administrative affairs of their own municipalities. Arab Israelis have also held various government positions, including that of deputy minister. At present a member of the Druze community is serving as a government minister. The Declaration also promises that Israel will "ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex" and guarantees "freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture". Israel has extensive anti-discrimination laws. Moreover, since the founding of the State, the status of Arab Israeli women has been significantly improved by legislation stipulating equal rights for women and prohibition of polygamy and child marriage. Since Israel's establishment, Arab citizens have been exempted from compulsory conscription in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). This exemption was made out of consideration for their family, religious and cultural affiliations with the Palestinians and the rest of the Arab world, given the on-going conflict. Still, volunteer military service is encouraged and IDF service was made mandatory for Druze men at the request of their community leaders. On March 3, 1999 Abdel Rahman Zuabi took his seat as the first Arab on the Supreme Court. Zuabi was Deputy President of the Nazareth District Court. He was elevated to the post by Justice Minister Tzahi Hanegbi, who on March 2 said that "[Zuabi's] appointment highlights the successful integration of the Arab community into the life of the state." In May 2004, Salim Jubran was selected as the first Arab to hold a permanent appointment as a Supreme Court Justice. Jubran, 57, is a native of Haifa, born to a Christian family with roots among the Maronites in Lebanon. Jubran's expertise lies in the field of criminal law, and he is known for his tough stand on sex and drug-related crimes.

Political development

The Israeli Communist Party played a major role in mobilising the Israeli Arab community throughout these years and in demanding full equality for Arab citizens. Its newpapers and journals were important outlets for Arab Israeli expression and cultural production. In 1965 the first attempt was made to stand an independent Arab list for Knesset elections, with the radical group al-Ard forming the United Arab List. The list was, however, banned. In 1966 martial law was lifted completely, and the government set about dismantling most of the discriminatory laws, while Arab citizens were, theoretically if not always in practice, granted the same rights as Jewish citizens. The defeat of the Arab forces in the Six Day War the following year was a turning point in the political development of the Israeli Arab community, as it appeared to prove the durability of the state of Israel. The 1970s saw a number of major developments in the political history of the Israeli Arab community. In 1974, a committee of Arab mayors and municipal council chairmen was established which was able to play an important role in representing the community and bringing its pressure to bear on the Israeli government. This was followed in 1975 by the formation of the Committee for the Defence of the Land, which sought to prevent continuing land expropriations. That same year, a political breakthrough took place with the election of Israeli Arab poet Tawfiq Zayad, a Communist Party member, as mayor of Nazareth, and the election of a strong communist presence to the town council. The next year was marked for the Israeli Arab community by the killing of six demonstrators at a protest against land expropriations and house demolitions. The date of the protest, 30 March, has since been commemorated annually as Land Day.

Recent developments

The political face of the Israeli Arab community has continued to change, with a more active participation of Israeli Arabs in the Labour Party in the 1992 elections but a large-scale alienation of them from that party after the Qana massacre of 1996 and the harsh response of the Israeli government to the second Intifada in 2000. Meanwhile, nationalist parties such as Balad (Israel) have continued to gain support, as has the Islamic Movement, divided between a conciliatory and a radical faction. Hadash, the left-wing coalition based around the Communist Party, still gains strong support in the Israeli Arab community, while Likud has made considerable inroads in the Druze vote. To comabt what they call "violent elements in Arab society" Israeli Arab leaders urge police action against weapons in Arab sector, this was after "over 20 Arab municipality heads have been attacked in recent months as part of an attempt to change their positions or in response to decisions they made. "[http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/647637.html]

Work and Economic situation

As of 2001, only 40% of Arab persons fifteen and older were part of the work force in Israel. Jews, on the other hand, were shown to have 60% of their population participating in the labor force. One reason for the lower rate of Arab workers is the extremely low proportion of Arab women in the work force. Only 15% of Arab women participate in the labor force, while Jewish women contribute 53% of their population. In both Jewish and Arab populations, younger women are more likely to work. Seventy-nine percent of Jewish women aged 25-34 are part of the work force, while the Arab percentage is only 22%. Many Arab men work in construction and agriculture. Only seven percent of Jewish men work in construction. Arabs have a much higher unemployment rates that Jews. In 2000, 12% of Arab men were unemployed while 7.6% of Jewish men were out of work. The Arab population in Israel tends to earn less money than the Jewish population. Arabs earn approximately 60% of the yearly wage of Jews. The majority of Arab Israelis live in small communities with limited economic infrastructure. This plays a contributing factor in employment in unskilled or semiskilled fields, as well as the higher overall rates of unemployment. The lack of easy access to places of employment can also prevent employment commensurate with the skill or education level of the job seeker. Participation of women in the work force is still very low in the Arab sector, further reducing the average family income. Minority communities often face developmental challenges, especially when a language different from that spoken by the majority group is used at home and at school. There are several other factors that explain the reason why the gap between economic development in the Arab sector and that of the Jewish sector has yet to be closed, among them: The average family size in the Arab sector is far higher than that of Jewish families, greatly reducing the relative number of financial providers per dependent. Service in the Israeli Defense Forces gives veterans certain economic and other benefits. Although Arab Israeli youth who do not volunteer for army service gain a two-to-three year head start in their higher education or in joining the workforce, this does not always compensate for missing out on the benefits and training enjoyed by veterans.

Economic development of the Israeli Arab community

The predominant feature of the Israeli Arab community's economic development after 1949 was its transformation from a predominantly peasant farming population to, in large degree, a proletarian industrial workforce. It has been suggested that the economic development of the community was marked by distinct stages. The first period, until 1967, was characterised by this process of proletarianisation. From 1967 on, economic development of the population was encouraged and a Palestinian bourgeoisie began to develop on the margin of the Israeli bourgeoisie. From the 1980s on, the community developed its economic and, in particular, industrial potential .

Pluralism and Sectoral Identity

Israel is a melting pot society, yet as a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-religious and multi-lingual society, Israel has a high level of informal segregation patterns. While groups are not separated by official policy, a number of different sectors within the society have chosen to lead a segregated life-style, maintaining their strong cultural, religious, ideological and/or ethnic identity. The vast majority of Arab Israelis have chosen to maintain their distinct identity and not assimilate. The community's separate existence is facilitated through the use of Arabic, Israel's second official language; a separate Arab/Druze school system; Arabic literature, theater and mass media; and maintenance of independent Muslim, Druze and Christian denominational courts which adjudicate matters of personal status. In the chapter "The Question of the Identity of the Citizens of Israel" there is a section entitled: "How do the Arab Citizens of Israel Define Themselves?"((H. Adan, V. Ashkenazi, B. Alperson, To Be Citizens in Israel - A Jewish and Democratic State - Civics Textbook for Upper Grades in General and Religious Schools, 2000): "National Identity ; There are two versions of the national component: Arab - those who stress the Arab national component and give expression to the link to Pan-Arab nationalism in the Middle East. Palestinian - those who stress the Palestinian national component and give expression to the tie to Palestine, that is the Land of Israel in the eyes of the Palestinians. Identity as Citizen. Those, who stress the component of citizenship, define their identity as Israelis and thus emphasize their link to the State of Israel. Religious Identity ; Those who stress the religious component - their belonging to the Muslim or the Christian religion. Among Arab citizens there are those who will, in defining their identity, stress a number of components and there are those who will stress one only. For example: Arab-Israeli, Arab-Palestinian, Palestinian, Palestinian-Israeli, Arab-Palestinian-Israeli" (pp. 42, 5, 23, 27, 35, 40, 42). While the development of inter-group relations between Israel's Arabs and Jews has been hindered by deeply rooted differences in religion, values and political beliefs, the future of the Arab Israeli sector is closely tied to that of the State of Israel. Though they coexist as two self-segregated communities, over the years Jewish and Arab Israelis have come to accept each other, acknowledging the uniqueness and aspirations of each community and participating in a growing number of joint endeavors. These coexistence effort suffered a very serious blow because of the October 2000 riots %28Israel%29#October 2000 Riots An excellent example of such a venture is the Citizen Accord Forum, established last year by the Deputy Foreign Minister, Rabbi Michael Melchior (then Minister of Israeli Society and the World Jewish Community). The goal of the Forum is to reduce the schism existing between Jews and Arabs in Israel and to develop the country's civil society. The Citizen Accord Forum, which has over 500 active volunteers, has encouraged coexistence between Jewish and Arab citizens and the development of a relationship based on values of respect and mutual understanding.

Discrimination

According to the 2004 U.S. State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for Israel and the occupied territories, the Israeli government "did little to reduce institutional, legal, and societal discrimination against the country's Arab citizens."[http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2004/41723.htm] Examples of what the State Department report found include the following:
- According to the report, Muslims enjoy full freedom of religion and government "did not affect the rights of Muslims to practice their faith" according to "Legislation enacted in 1961 afforded the Muslim courts exclusive jurisdiction to rule in matters of personal status concerning Muslims. Secular courts have primacy over questions of inheritance, but parties, by mutual agreement, may bring cases to religious courts. Muslims, since 2001, also have the right to bring matters such as alimony and property division associated with divorce cases to civil courts in family-status matters."
- "According to a 2003 Haifa University study, a tendency existed to impose heavier prison terms to Arab citizens than to Jewish citizens. Human rights advocates claimed that Arab citizens were more likely to be convicted of murder and to have been denied bail."
- "government spending on children was proportionally lower in predominantly Arab areas than in Jewish areas. ... According to the Government's February 2002 report to the U.N., government investment per Arab pupil was approximately 60 percent of investment per Jewish pupil. ... According to Human Rights Watch, during the year, the Government provided 1 teacher for every 16 Jewish primary school children compared to 1 teacher for every 19.7 Arab children."
- "The Orr Commission of Inquiry's report ... stated that the 'Government handling of the Arab sector has been primarily neglectful and discriminatory,' that the Government 'did not show sufficient sensitivity to the needs of the Arab population, and did not take enough action to allocate state resources in an equal manner.' As a result, 'serious distress prevailed in the Arab sector in various areas. Evidence of distress included poverty, unemployment, a shortage of land, serious problems in the education system, and substantially defective infrastructure.'"
- "In November, the Israeli-Arab advocacy NGO Sikkuy's annual report stated that 45 percent of Arab families were poor, in contrast to 15 percent of Jewish families, and that the rate of infant mortality in the Arab sector was 8 out of 1,000 births--twice that of the Jewish population."
- "According to a report by Mossawa, racist violence against Arab citizens has increased, and the Government has not done enough to prevent this problem. The annual report cited 17 acts of violence by Jewish citizens against Arab citizens. ... A Haifa University poll released in June revealed that over 63 percent of Jews believed that the Government should encourage Israeli Arabs to emigrate."
- "Approximately 93 percent of land in the country was public domain, including that owned by the state and some 12.5 percent owned by the Jewish National Fund (JNF). All public land by law may only be leased, not sold. The JNF's statutes prohibit the sale or lease of land to non-Jews. In October, civil rights groups petitioned the High Court of Justice claiming that a bid announcement by the Israel Land Administration (ILA) involving JNF land was discriminatory in that it banned Arabs from bidding."
- "Israeli-Arab advocacy organizations have challenged the Government's policy of demolishing illegal buildings in the Arab sector, and claimed that the Government was more restrictive in issuing building permits in Arab communities than in Jewish communities, thereby not accommodating natural growth. In February, security forces demolished several homes allegedly built without authorization in the Arab village of Beineh."
- "In June, the Supreme Court ruled that omitting Arab towns from specific government social and economic plans is discriminatory. This judgment builds on previous assessments of disadvantages suffered by Arab Israelis."
- "Israeli-Arab organizations have challenged as discriminatory the 1996 "Master Plan for the Northern Areas of Israel," which listed as priority goals increasing the Galilee's Jewish population and blocking the territorial contiguity of Arab towns."
- "Israeli Arabs were underrepresented in the student bodies and faculties of most universities and in higher professional and business ranks. The Bureau of Statistics noted that the median number of school years for the Jewish population is 3 years more than for the Arab population. Well educated Arabs often were unable to find jobs commensurate with their level of education. According to Sikkuy, Arab citizens held approximately 60 to 70 of the country's 5,000 university faculty positions."
- "Israeli Arabs were not required to perform mandatory military service and, in practice, only a small percentage of Israeli Arabs served in the military. Those who did not serve in the army had less access than other citizens to social and economic benefits for which military service was a prerequisite or an advantage, such as housing, new-household subsidies, and employment, especially government or security-related industrial employment. Regarding the latter, for security reasons, Israeli Arabs generally were restricted from working in companies with defense contracts or in security-related fields. In December, the Ivri Committee on National Service issued official recommendations to the Government that Israel Arabs not be compelled to perform national or "civic" service, but be afforded an opportunity to perform such service".

Initial measures taken by the Israeli government

The Israeli-Arab population was subject to a number of controlling measures and, in particular, Israeli Arabs were subject to martial law , which required, inter alia, that they apply for permission from the military governor to travel more than a given distance from their registered residence. Martial law was lifted from the Arab population of predominantly-Jewish cities some years later, but remained in place in Arab areas until 1966. A variety of legal measures facilitated the transfer of land abandoned by Arabs to state ownership. These included the Absentee Property Law of 1950 which allowed the state to take control of land belonging to land owners who emigrated to other countries and the Land Acquisition Law of 1953 which authorised the Ministry of Finance to transfer expropriated land to the state. Other common legal expedients included the use of emergency regulations to declare land a closed military zone, followed by the use of Ottoman legislation on abandoned land to take control of the land. . Palestinians who had left their homes during the period of armed conflict but remained in what had become Israeli territory were considered to be "present absentees", and in some cases refused permission to return to their original homes, which were expropriated and turned over to state ownership as was the property of Palestinian refugees. Notable cases of "present absentees" included the residents of Sepphoris and the Galilee villages of Bir'am and Ekrit. The legal efforts by residents of Bir'am and Ekrit to be allowed to return to their homes continued into the twenty-first century.

Modifications to Citizenship and Entry law

On July 31, 2003 Israel enacted the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law (Temporary Provision), 5763-2003, a one year amendment to Israel's Citizenship Law denying citizenship and Israeli residence to Palestinians who reside in the West Bank or Gaza Strip and who marry Israelis, though this rule is waived for any Palestinian "who identifies with the State of Israel and its goals, when he or a member of his family has taken concrete action to advance the security, economy or any other matter important to the State." Upon expiry the law was extended for six months in August 2004, and again for 4 months in February 2005.[http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/hrpa.html] Although this law affected all Israelis, it disproportionately affected Israeli Arabs, and was considered by many to be highly discriminatory.[http://www.hanitzotz.com/challenge/82/citizenship.htm]. On May 8, 2005, The Israeli ministerial committee for issues of legislation once again amended the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law, to restrict citizenship and residence in Israel only to Palestinian men of up to age of 35, and Palestinian women of up to age of 25. The new bill was formulated in accordance with Shin Bet statistics showing that involvement in terror attacks declines with age. This newest amendment, in practice, removes restrictions from half of the Palestinian population requesting legal status through marriage in Israel. Furthermore, Palestinian children under the age of 16 who have one parent who married an Israeli can now obtain citizenship.[http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/573767.html].

Participation in acts of terror against Israeli citizens

Since 2001, a growing number of Israeli Arabs have participated in terror acts against Israeli civilians: On September 9, 2001 the first Israeli Arab suicide bomber detonated in the Nahariyya train station in Israel killing 5 people and wounding 62. [http://www.hrw.org/reports/2002/isrl-pa/ISRAELPA1002-08.htm] Over the next few years, Israeli Arabs and residents of East Jerusalem took part in many attacks and assisted Palestinian suicide bombers reach cities in Israel. Several Israeli Arabs have been convicted of espionage for the Iranian- and Syrian-led terrorist organization Hezbollah. [http://www.littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=5082], [http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3157274,00.html],[http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/643653.html],[http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=280844&contrassID=2&subContrassID=4&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y],[http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/objects/pages/PrintArticleEn.jhtml?itemNo=636473],[http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/objects/pages/PrintArticleEn.jhtml?itemNo=643653] On November 20, 2005 two Israeli Arab men were charged with the murder of a female security guard Kati David, 27, whose body was found dead (stabbed) in Hadera earlier that month. The two men, Mohammed Hashan, 26, and Samir Abu Moch, 21, are said to have committed the murder out of political motives. [http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/648234.html]

Trivia

In 1999, an Arab woman was named Miss Israel for the first time in the nation's history. "I am totally Israeli, and I do not think about whether I am an Arab or a Jew," 21-year-old Rana Raslan, from Haifa, said at the pageant. "They wanted a beauty queen, not a political queen." News of her victory made headlines across Israel and the world. In January 2005, The Palestinian Football Association signed Israeli Arab Azmi Nassar as their new national team coach for a two-year contract. [http://www.neurotribe.net/footballblog/2005/01/israeli-nassar-appointed-palestine.html]

Footnotes

# Féron, p. 38Kodmani-Darwish, p. 126, Féron, pp. 37 and 40 #Féron, p. 94 #Féron, pp. 94, 97-99 #Féron, p. 105 #Kodmani, p. 128 #Féron, pp. 40-41, see also Kodmani, p. 127 # Kodmani, p. 126 #Kodmani, p. 129 #Féron, p. 41 #Féron, p. 106 #Schenk, p. 87-88

Bibliography

- Féron, Valerie, Palestine(s): Les déchirures, Paris, Editions du Felin, 2001. ISBN 2866453913
- Kodmani-Darwish, Bassma, La Diaspora Palestinienne, Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1997. ISBN 2130484867
- Schenk, Bernadette "Druze Identity in the Middle East", in Salibi, Kamal, ed, The Druze: Realities and Perceptions, London, Druze Heritage Foundation, 2005

External links

- [http://www.adalah.org Adalah, the Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel]
- [http://www.assoc40.org The Association of Forty - the association for the recognition of the Arab Unrecognized Villages in Israel]
- [http://countrystudies.us/israel/23.htm Israeli Arabs] (Israel Country Study, US Dept. of the Army)
- [http://www.islamonline.net/english/views/2002/07/article06.shtml Inside 1948 Palestine] (Islamonline.net)
- [http://www.gal-soc.org The Galilee Society: The Arab National Society for Health Research and Services]
- [http://www.ittijah.org Ittijah, Union of Arab-based Community Organisations]
- [http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Society_&_Culture/arabs2.html Arab Israelis] (Jewish Virtual Library)
- [http://www.mossawacenter.org Mossawa, The Advocacy Center for Arab Citizens of Israel]
- [http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2004/41723.htm Israel and the occupied territories] (U.S. State Department 2004 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices)
- [http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=432222& "The demographics point to a binational state" - an haaretz article suggesting "swapping heavily populated areas" as a solution to the Israeli-Arab conflict]
- [http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=14762 I Am a Lucky Arab] (anonymous article, purportedly by an Israeli Arab, in FrontPageMag.com) Category:Israeli society Category:Arab

Arab

The Arabs ((Arabic: عرب ʻarab) are a large ethnic group widespread in the Middle East and North Africa, originating in the Arabian Peninsula of southwest Asia.

Who is an Arab?

The definition of who an Arab is has several aspects:
- Ethnic identity: someone who considers himself to be an Arab (regardless of racial or ethnic origin) and is recognized as such by others.
- Linguistic: someone whose first language is Arabic (including any of its varieties); this definition covers more than 200 million people.
- Genealogical: someone who can trace his or her ancestry back to the original inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula.
- Political: someone who is a resident or citizen of a country where Arabic is an official or national language, or is a member of the Arab League or is part of the wider Arab world; this definition would cover more than 300 million people, but it is rather simplistic and rigid in that it excludes the entire Diaspora but includes indigenous or migrant minorities The relative importance of these factors is estimated differently by different groups. Most people who consider themselves Arabs do so on the basis of the overlap of the political and linguistic definitions. However, some members of groups which fulfill both criteria reject the identity on the basis of the genealogical definition; Lebanese Maronites, for example, may reject the Arab label in favor of a narrower Phoenecian-Lebanese national identity. Groups which use a non-Arabic liturgical language - such as Copts in Egypt - are especially likely to be considered non-Arab. Not many people consider themselves Arab on the basis of the political definition without the linguistic one—thus, Kurds or Berbers do not usually identify themselves as Arab—but some do (for instance, some Berbers do consider themselves Arabs, and Kurds were in some historical circumstances seen as Arabs or Turks or Persians). In addition, a majority of the population of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates is made up of non-citizen non-Arab immigrants and so the political definition does not apply there either. A hadith of questionable authenticity[http://www.islamtoday.com/show_detail_section.cfm?q_id=266&main_cat_id=11], related by Ibn Asakir in Târîkh Dimashq and attributed by its narrator Salmân b. `Abd Allah to Islam's prophet Muhammad, expresses a common sentiment in declaring that: :"Being an Arab is not because of your father or mother, but being an Arab is on account of your tongue. Whoever learns Arabic is an Arab." According to Habib Hassan Touma (1996, p.xviii), "An 'Arab', in the modern sense of the word, is one who is a national of an Arab state, has command of the Arabic language, and possesses a fundamental knowledge of Arabian tradition, that is, of the manners, customs, and political and social systems of the culture." On its formation in 1946, the Arab League defined an "Arab" as follows: :"An Arab is a person whose language is Arabic, who lives in an Arabic speaking country, who is in sympathy with the aspirations of the Arabic speaking peoples." As a number of the Prophet companions were of non-Arab descent, Salman the Persian, Suhaib the Roman and Bilal from Abisinia. The genealogical definition was widely used in medieval times (Ibn Khaldun, for instance, does not use the word Arab to refer to "Arabized" peoples, but only to those of originally Arabian descent), but is usually no longer considered to be particularly significant.

Religions

Before the coming of Islam, most Arabs followed a religion featuring the worship of a number of deities, including Hubal, Wadd, Al-Lat, Manat, and Uzza, while some tribes had converted to Christianity or Judaism, and a few individuals, the hanifs, had apparently rejected polytheism in favor of a vague monotheism. The most prominent Arab Christian kingdoms were the Ghassanid and Lakhmid kingdoms. With the expansion of Islam, the majority of Arabs rapidly became Muslim, and the pre-Islamic polytheistic traditions disappeared. At present, most Arabs are Muslims. Sunni Islam dominates in most areas, overwhelmingly so in North Africa; Shia Islam is prevalent in Bahrain, southern Iraq and adjacent parts of Saudi Arabia, northern Yemen, and southern Lebanon, as well as parts of Syria. The tiny Druze community, belonging to a secretive offshoot of Islam, is usually considered Arab, but sometimes considered an ethnicity in its own right. Reliable estimates of the number of Arab Christians, which in any case depends on the definition of "Arab" used, vary. According to [http://arabworld.nitle.org/texts.php?module_id=6&reading_id=63&sequence=4 Fargues 1998], "Today Christians only make up 9.2 per cent of the population of the Near East". In Lebanon they now number only about 40 per cent of the population, in Syria they make up about 10 to 15 per cent, in the Palestinian territories the figure is 3.8 per cent, and in Israel Arab Christians constitute 2.1 per cent. In Egypt, they constitute 5.9 per cent of the population, and in Iraq they presumably comprise 2.9 per cent of the populace. Most North and South American Arabs (about two-thirds) are Arab Christians, particularly from Syria, Palestine, and Lebanon. Arabic-speaking Jews - mainly Mizrahi Jews and Yemenite Jews - are today usually not categorised as Arab. Prior to the emergence of the term Mizrahi, the term "Arab Jews" (Yehudim ‘Áravim, יהודים ערבים) was used to describe Jews of Arab world. The term is rarely used today. The few remaining Jews in the Arab countries reside mostly in Morocco. Between the late 1940s and early 1960s, following the creation of the state of Israel, most Arabic-speaking Jews left their countries of birth. Most are now concentrated in Israel, but many also live in France (see Jewish exodus from Arab lands).

History

The first written attestation of the ethnonym "Arab" occurs in an Assyrian inscription of 853 BC, where Shalmaneser III lists a King Gindibu of mâtu arbâi (Arab land) as among the people he defeated at the Battle of Karkar. Some of the names given in these texts are Aramaic, while others are the first attestations of Proto-Arabic dialects. The Hebrew Bible likewise refers occasionally to peoples called `Arvi (or variants thereof), translated as "Arab" or "Arabian". The scope of the Hebrew term at this early stage is unclear, but it seems to have referred to various desert-dwelling tribes in the Syrian Desert and Arabia. Its earliest attested use referring to the southern "Qahtanite" Arabs is much later. Proto-Arabic, or Ancient North Arabian, texts give a clearer picture of the Arabs' emergence into history. The earliest such texts are written not in the modern Arabic alphabet, nor in its Nabataean ancestor, but in variants of the Epigraphic South Arabian musnad, beginning in the 8th century BC with the Hasaean inscriptions of eastern Saudi Arabia, and continuing from the 6th century BC on with the Lihyanite texts (in southeastern Saudi Arabia) and the Thamudic texts (found throughout Arabia and the Sinai, and not in reality connected with Thamud). Later come the Safaitic inscriptions (beginning in the 1st century BC) and the many Arabic personal names attested in Nabataean inscriptions (which are, however, written in Aramaic.) From about the 2nd century BC, a few inscriptions from Qaryat al-Faw (near Sulayyil) reveal a dialect which is no longer considered "Proto-Arabic", but Pre-Classical Arabic. By the fourth century AD, the Arab kingdoms of the Lakhmids in southern Iraq and Ghassanids in southern Syria had emerged just south of the Fertile Crescent and ended up allying respectively with the Sassanid and Byzantine Empires. Thus they were constantly at war with each other on behalf of their imperial patrons. However, their courts were responsible for some notable examples of pre-Islamic Arabic poetry, and for some of the few surviving pre-Islamic Arabic inscriptions in the Arabic alphabet. The Lakhmid kingdom was dissolved by the Sassanids in 602, while the Ghassanids would hold out until engulfed by the expansion of Islam. During the 8th and 9th centuries, the Arabs (specifically the Umayyads, and later Abbasids) forged an empire whose borders touched southern France in the west, China in the east, Asia Minor in the north, and the Sudan in the south. This was one of the largest land empires in history. Throughout much of this area, the Arabs spread the religion of Islam and the Arabic language (the language of the Qur'an) through conversion and assimilation. Many groups came to be known as "Arabs" not through descent but through Arabization. Thus, over time, the term Arab came to carry a broader meaning than the original ethnic term. Many Arabs in Sudan, Morocco, Algeria and elsewhere became Arab through Arabization. Arab nationalism declares that Arabs are united in a shared history, culture and language. Arab nationalists believe that Arab identity encompasses more than outward physical characteristics, race or religion. A related ideology, Pan-Arabism, calls for all Arab lands to be united as one state. Anti-Arabism is hate or prejudice against Arabs. It is usually also associated with anti-Muslim hatred.

Traditional genealogy

Medieval Arab genealogists divided the Arabs into three groups:
- the "ancient Arabs", tribes that had been destroyed or vanished, such as Ad and Thamud; they are often alluded to in the Qur'an as examples of God's power to destroy wicked peoples.
- the "Pure Arabs" of South Arabia, descending from Qahtan. The Qahtanites (Qahtanis) are said to have migrated the land of Yemen following the destruction of the Ma'rib Dam (sadd Ma'rib). The Qahtanite Arabs were responsible for the ancient civilizations of Yemen, notably including that of the Sabaeans (known in the Bible as Sheba.)
- The "Arabized Arabs" (musta`ribah) of North Arabia, descending from Adnan, supposed to be a descendant of Ishmael (Ismail), the eldest son of Abraham and Hagar. The Arabic language as it is spoken today in its classical Quranic form was the result of a mix between the original Arabic tongue of Qahtan and the northern Arabic which shares a great deal with northern Semitic languages from the Levant. The Arabs take a great pride in their language and it's survival as usable and comprehendable language for over thousand years. In Jewish and Christian traditions, the identification of the Ishmaelites, described in the Bible as a people of the Arabian wilderness, with Arabs began at least by the time of Josephus, and became standard centuries prior to Islam (in which the term "Hagarenes", a pun on the Arabic muhajir and the name of Hagar, was commonly used.) Efforts to reconcile the Biblical and Arab genealogies later led to the identification of Joktan with Qahtan, probably due to his Biblical identification as the ancestor of Hazarmaveth (Hadramawt) and Sheba.

Etymology

The term "Arab" or "Arabian" (and cognates in other languages) has been used to translate several different but similar sounding words in ancient and classical texts which do not necessarily have the same meaning or origin. The etymology of the term is of course closely linked to that of the place name "Arabia". Although the term mâtu arbâi describing Gindibu in Assyrians texts is conventionally translated of Arab land, nothing is known with certainty about the exact location or extent of the land being referred to, nor what literal meaning the name had. In fact several different ethnonyms are found in Assyrian texts that are conventionally translated "Arab": Arabi, Arubu, Aribi and Urbi. The presence of Proto-Arabic names amongst those qualified by the terms arguably justifies the translation "Arab" although it is not certain if they all in fact represent the same group. In Hebrew the words `arav and `aravah literally mean "desert" or "steppe". In the Hebrew Bible the latter feminine form is used exclusively for the Arabah, a region associated with the Nabateans, who spoke Arabic. The former masculine form is used in Isaiah 21:13 and Ezekiel 27:21 for the region of the settlement of Kedar in the Syrian Desert. 2 Chronicles 9:14 contrasts “kings of `arav " with “governers of the country” when listing those who brought tribute to King Solomon. The word is typically translated Arabia and is the name for Arabia in Modern Hebrew. The New Revised Standard Version of the Bible uses instead the literal translation “desert plain” for the verse in Isaiah. The adjectival noun `aravi formed from `arav is used in Isaiah 13:20 and Jeremiah 3:2 for a desert dweller. It is typically translated Arabian or Arab and is the modern Hebrew word for Arab. The New Revised Standard Version uses the translation "nomad" for the verse in Jeremiah. In the Bible, the word `arav is closely associated with the word `erev meaning a "mix of people" which has identical spelling in unvowelled text. Jeremiah 25:24 parallels "kings of `arav " with "kings of the `erev that dwell in the wilderness". The account in 1 Kings 10:15 matching 2 Chronicles 9:14 is traditionally vowellized to read "kings of the `erev ". The people in question are understood to be the early Nabateans who do indeed appear to have been a mix of different tribes. The medieval writer Ibn an-Nadim, in Kitab al-Fihrist, derived the word from a Syriac pun by Abraham on the same root: in his account, Abraham addresses Ishmael and tells him u`rub, from Syriac `rob, "mingle". The early Nabateans are also referred to as `arvim in Nehemiah 4:7 and the singular `arvi is applied to Geshem a leader who opposed Nehemiah. This term is identical to `aravi in unvowelled text but traditionally vowelized differently. It is usually translated "Arabian" or "Arab" and was used in early 20th century Hebrew to mean Arab. However it is unclear if the term related more to `arav or to `erev. On the one hand its vowelization resembles that of the term `arvati (Arbathite) which is understood as an adjective formed from `aravah; thus it is plausibly a variant of `aravi. On the other hand it is used in 2 Chronicles 21:16 for a seemingly different people located in Africa plausibly the same Africans referred to as an `erev (mix of people) in Ezekiel 30:5. The words `aravim (plural of `aravi) and `arvim appear the same in unvowelled texts as the word `orvim meaning ravens. The occurrences of the word in 1 Kings 17:4-6 are traditionally vowellized to read `orvim. In the Talmud (Chullin 5a) a debate is recorded as to whether the passage refers to birds or to a people so named, noting a Midianite chieftain named Oreb (`orev: raven) and the place of his death, the Rock of Oreb. Jerome understood the term as the name of a people of a town which he described as being in the confines of the Arabians. (Genesis Rabba mentions a town named Orbo near Beth Shean.) One meaning of the root `-r-b in Hebrew is "exchange/trade" (la'arov: "to exchange", ma`arav: "merchandise") whence `orvim can also be understood to mean "exchangers" or "merchants", a usage attested in the construct form in Ezekiel 27:27 which speaks of `orvei ma`aravekh: "exchangers of thy merchandise". The Ferrar Fenton Bible translates the term as "Arabians" in 1 Kings 17:4-6. In Hebrew, the word `arav has the same triconsonantal root as the root meaning "west" (ma`arav) "setting sun" or "evening" (ma`ariv, `erev). The direct Arabic cognate of this is gharb ("west", etc.) rather than `arab; however, in Ugaritic, a language which normally preserves proto-Semitic gh, this root is found with `ayin, adding confusion. The Assyrian forms may plausibly be borrowings from Aramaic or Canaanite of either root, referring to land lying to the west in the latter case; the latter possibility is perhaps strengthened by the later Greek use of the term Saracen, with the parallel meaning in Arabic of "Easterners" (sharqiyyûn.) One meaning of the word Arab in Arabic is clear; clear as in comprehensible rather than as in pure. Bedouin elders still use this term with the same meaning; those whose speech they comprehend (ie Arabic-speakers) they call Arab, and those whose speech is of unknown meaning to them, they call Ajam (ajam or ajami). This is similar to how the ancient Greeks used the term Barbarian to desribe non-Greeks - Barbarian essentially meant that when they spoke their speech sounded like "Bar Bar Bar", ie. incomprehensible. In the Persian Gulf region, the term Ajam is often used to refer to the Persians. Another explanation derives the word from an old Semitic stem `.R.B., with a metathetical alternative `.B.R., both meaning travelling around the land, that is, nomadic. From that root, the terms Arab(Arabi) and Hebrew(Ebri), meaning nomads, are derived.
References

- Habib Hassan Touma (1996). The Music of the Arabs, trans. Laurie Schwartz. Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press. ISBN 0931340888.
- Edward Lipinski, Semitic Languages: Outlines of a Comparative Grammar, 2nd ed., Orientalia Lovanensia Analecta: Leuven 2001
- [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01663a.htm The Catholic Encyclopedia, Robert Appleton Company, 1907, Online Edition, K. Night 2003: article Arabia]
- http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/le.html#People
See also

- Ababda
- Arabia
- Arab League
- Arab World
- Arabic alphabet
- Arabic language
- Bedouin
- Nabataeans
- Pan-Arabism
- Semitic
External links

- [http://www.aaiusa.org/arab_world.htm Maps of the Arab World]
- [http://www.albawaba.com News from Arabic countries]
- [http://www.ameinfo.com Business news from Arab countries]
- [http://www.bayt.com Jobs and Careers in the Arab World]
- [http://nabataea.net/arabia.html Arabia in ancient history] - with a discussion of the ancient usage of the word Arab
- [http://arabworld.nitle.org An Online Resource on Arab Culture and Civilization]
- [http://www.geocities.com/martinkramerorg/ArabNationalism.htm Arab Nationalism: Mistaken Identity] by Martin Kramer
- [http://www.al-islam.org/al-tawhid/arabnationalism.htm A Criticism of the Idea of Arab Nationalism] als:Araber ko:아랍인 ja:アラブ人

Israel

The State of Israel (Hebrew: , transliteration: Medinat Yisra'el; Arabic: دَوْلَةْ إِسْرَائِيل, transliteration: Dawlat Isrā'īl) is a country in the Middle East on the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea. It is a parliamentary democracy and the world's only Jewish state. The name "Israel" means "One Who Struggles with God," and is rooted in the Biblical passage Genesis 32:28 wherein Jacob is renamed Israel after struggling with an unnamed assailant. Israel is bordered by Lebanon and Syria in the north, Jordan and the West Bank in the east, and Egypt and the Gaza Strip in the south-west, and has coastlines on the Mediterranean in the west and the Gulf of Eilat (also known as the Gulf of Aqaba) in the south. Israel captured the West Bank and the Golan Heights during the Six-Day War of 1967. It withdrew all troops and settlers from the Gaza Strip on September 12 2005. The future status of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights remains to be determined.

History

Historical roots

Most believe that the land on which the State of Israel now exists was the birthplace of Judaism in the 10th century BCE or earlier, although some scholars dispute this. The earliest mention of the name 'Israel' is in Ancient Egyptian accounts of conquered lands in Asia minor, dating back to about 1500 BCE. For over 3,000 years, Jews have held the Land of Israel to be their homeland, both as a Holy Land and as a Promised Land, while non-Jews have also later maintained similar claims. The Land of Israel holds a special place in Jewish religious obligations, encompassing Judaism's most important sites including the remains of the First and Second Temple. Starting around 1200 BCE, a series of Jewish kingdoms and states existed intermittently in the region for over a millennium until the failure of the Great Jewish Revolt against the Roman Empire resulted in widescale expulsion of Jews (see Destruction of Jerusalem). Under Roman, Byzantine, and (briefly) Persian rule, Jewish presence in the province dwindled, but the Mishnah and Jerusalem Talmud, two of Judaism's most important religious texts, were composed in Palestine during this period. The Arabs conquered the land from the Eastern Roman Empire in 638 CE and the area was ruled by various Arab states before becoming part of the Ottoman Empire in 1517. Throughout the centuries, the size of the Jewish population in the land fluctuated widely, with the population in the region of present day Israel numbering approximately 20-25,000 in 1881 of a total population of 470,000.

Zionism and Aliyah

Ottoman Empire on May 14 1948 in Tel Aviv.]] The first wave of Jewish emigration to Israel, or Aliyah (עלייה) started in the late 1800s as Jews fled persecution. The end of the 19th century saw the founding of Zionism, the national movement to create a Jewish political entity in Palestine, leading to the Second Aliyah during the first two decades of the 20th century with the influx of around 40,000 Jews. In 1917 the British Foreign Secretary Arthur J. Balfour issued the historic Balfour Declaration that "view[ed] with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people". In 1920 Palestine became a League of Nations mandate administered by Britain (see British Mandate of Palestine). Jewish immigration resumed in third and fourth waves after World War I. Later, the rise of Nazism in 1933 led to a fifth wave of Aliyah, and the Jews in the region increased from 11% of the population in 1922 to 30% by 1940. The subsequent Holocaust in Europe led to additional immigration from other parts of Europe. By the end of World War II, the number of Jews in Palestine was approximately 600,000. In 1939 the British abandoned the idea of a Jewish national home, and abandoned partition and negotiations in favour of the unilaterally-imposed White Paper of 1939, which capped Jewish immigration. Its other stated policy was to establish a system under which both Jews and Arabs were to share one government. As a result of impending world war, the plan was never fully implemented, but the White Paper policy was implemented well into the end of WWII, and enforced even when refugees who survived the Holocaust were fleeing from Nazi persecution. (See Struma article.)

Establishment of the State and the War of Independence

In 1947, following increasing levels of violence by militant groups, alongside unsuccessful efforts to reconcile the Jewish and Arab populations, the British government decided to withdraw from the Palestine Mandate. Fulfillment of the 1947 UN Partition Plan would have divided the mandated territory into two states, Jewish and Arab, giving about half the land area to each state. Under this plan, Jerusalem was intended to be an international region under UN administration to avoid conflict over its status. Immediately following the adoption of the Partition Plan by the United Nations General Assembly, the Palestinian Arab leadership rejected the plan to create the as-yet-unnamed Jewish state and launched a guerilla war. On May 14 1948, before the expiring of the British Mandate of Palestine on midnight of the May 15 1948, the State of Israel was proclaimed. The surrounding Arab states supported the Palestinian Arabs in rejecting both the Partition Plan and the establishment of Israel, and the armies of six Arab nations attacked the State of Israel. Over the next 15 months Israel captured an additional 26% of the Mandate territory west of the Jordan river and annexed it to the new state. Most of the Arab population fled or were expelled during the war. The continuing conflict between Israel and the Arab world resulted in a lasting displacement that persists to this day. 1948 edition of Yishuv newspaper The Palestine Post, soon renamed into The Jerusalem Post. In the news: Egyptian Air Force bombs Tel-Aviv, Transjordan shells Jerusalem. 15 May was Shabbat.]] Immigration of Holocaust survivors and Jews from Arab lands doubled Israel's population within a year of independence. Over the following decade approximately 600,000 Mizrahi Jews, who fled or were expelled from surrounding Arab countries, migrated to Israel (with another 300,000 or so settling in France and North America, leaving only a tiny remnant, mostly in Morocco and Tunisia). Israel's Jewish population continued to grow at a very high rate for some years, and was fed by further waves of Jewish immigration following the collapse of the USSR.

Wars

The refusal of Arab countries to recognize the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 has been a source of repeated wars and other conflicts with Arab nations such as Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. The state of war between Egypt and Israel ended with the signing of the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty on March 26, 1979. The state of war with Jordan officially ended with the signing of the Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace on October 26 1994. Sporadic negotiations with Lebanon and Syria have not as yet resulted in peace treaties. Israel is currently also embroiled in an ongoing conflict with Palestinians in the territories controlled since the Six Day War in 1967, despite the signing of the Oslo Accords on September 13 1993, and the ongoing efforts of Israeli, Palestinian and global peacemakers. Palestinians want Gaza and the West Bank to become part of a (preferably contiguous) future state. Israel currently plans on expanding existing large West Bank settlement blocs, and maintains the current impasse in the peace process —negotiations toward a permanent peace treaty featuring a two-state solution— cannot be restarted until the Palestinian government dismantles terrorist groups.

Articles related to the wars

- 1948 Arab-Israeli War "The Independence War" (see also: 1949 Armistice Agreements). Also called "War of Liberation" מלחמת העצמאות או מלחמת השחרור
- 1956 Suez War "Operation Kadesh" מבצע קדש או מלחמת סיני
- 1967 Six Day War מלחמת ששת הימים
- 1970 War of Attrition מלחמת ההתשה
- 1973 Yom Kippur War מלחמת יום כיפור
- 1982 Lebanon War "Operation Peace For Galilee" מבצע שלום הגליל
- First Intifada אינתיפדה
- 1990/1 Gulf War מלחמת המפרץ
- al-Aqsa Intifada אינתיפדת אל-אקצא The Israeli Defense Forces codenamed it "אירועי גיאות ושפל" ("Ebb and Tide events") but it is unofficially referred to as the Oslo War in some Israeli circles.

Politics and law

Israel is a parliamentary democracy based on universal suffrage and proportional representation. Israel's legislative branch is a 120-member parliament known as the Knesset. Membership in the Knesset is allocated to parties based on their proportion of the vote. Elections to the Knesset are normally held every four years, but the Knesset can decide to dissolve itself ahead of time by a simple majority, known as a vote of no-confidence. The President of Israel is head of state, serving as a largely ceremonial figurehead. The President selects the leader of the majority party or ruling coalition in the Knesset as the Prime Minister, who serves as head of government.²

Constitution

Israel has not completed a written constitution. Its government is based on the laws of the Knesset, especially by "Basic Laws of Israel", which are special laws (currently there are 15 of them), by the Knesset legislature which will become the future official constitution. In mid-2003, the Knesset's Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee began [http://www.cfisrael.org drafting a full written Constitution to be proposed to the Knesset floor.] This effort is still underway as of late 2005. The declaration of the State of Israel has a significance in this matter as well. Israel's legal system is a western legal system best classified as "mixed": it has a strong Anglo-American influence, but in some parts has borrowed heavily from civil law tradition. Despite the Anglo-American influence, the jury system was not adopted in Israel, and court cases are decided by professional judges.

Judiciary and Legal System

The Judiciary branch of Israel is made of a three-tier system of courts: at the lowest level are the Magistrate Courts, situated in most cities. Above them, serving both as an appellate court and as a court of first instance are the District Courts (six of them, situated in the six judicial districts of Jerusalem, South, Tel Aviv, Centre, Haifa and Nazareth). At the top of the judicial pyramid is the Supreme Court seated in Jerusalem. The current Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is Aharon Barak. Religious tribunals (Jewish, Sharia'a, Druze and Christian) have exclusive jurisdiction on annulment of marriages. The Israeli Supreme Court serves a dual role as the highest court of appeals and as the body for a separate institution known as the High Court of Justice. The HCOJ has the unique responsibility of addressing petitions presented to the Court by individual citizens. The respondents to these petitions are usually Governmental agencies (including the Israel Defense Forces). The result of such petitions, which are decided by the HCOJ, may be an instruction by the HCOJ to the relevant Governmental agency to act in a manner prescribed by the HCOJ. Judges are elected by a committee made of Members of the Knesset (Parliament), Supreme Courts Judges and Members of the Israeli Bar. According to the Courts Law, judges retire at the age of 70. Registrars to all courts are appointed by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, with the approval of the Minister of Justice. Israel's legal system is part of the Western legal systems. It is a mixed system, influenced by Anglo-American, Continental and Jewish law principles. As for the Anglo-American influence, the Israeli legal system is based on the principle of stare-decisis (precedent). It is an adversarial system, not an inquisitorial one, in the sense that the parties (e.g. plaintiff and defendant) are the ones that bring the evidence before the court. The court does not conduct any independent investigation on the case. There is no jury in Israeli courts, and cases are decided upon by professional judges. As for Civil Law influences, several major Israeli statutes (such as the Contract Law) are based on Civil Law principles. Israeli statute body is not comprised of Codes, but rather of individual statutes. However, a Civil Code draft has been completed recently, and is planned to become a bill.

Military

Israel's military consists of a unified Israel Defense Forces (IDF), known in Hebrew by the acronym Tzahal (צה"ל). Historically, there have been no separate Israeli military services. The Navy and Air Force are subordinate to the Army. There are other paramilitary government agencies which deal with different aspects of Israel's security (such as MAGAV and the Shin Bet). See further discussion: Israel Security Forces. The IDF is considered one of the strongest military forces in the Middle East and ranks among the most battle-trained armed forces in the world, having had to defend the country in five major wars. The IDF's main resource is the training quality of its soldiers, but it also relies heavily on high-tech weapons systems (both developed and manufactured in Israel for its specific needs, and also largely imported from the United States), and expert manpower, rather than possession of overwhelming manpower. Most Israelis, males and females, are drafted into the military at the age of 18. Exceptions are Israeli Arabs, confirmed pacifists, those who cannot serve due to injury or disability, and women who declare themselves religiously observant. Compulsory service is three years for men, and 20 months for women. Circassians and Bedouin actively enlist in the IDF. Since 1956, Druze men have been conscripted in the same way as Jewish men, at the request of the Druze community. Men studying full-time in religious institutions can get a deferment from conscription; most Haredi Jews extend these deferments until they are too old to be conscripted, a practice that has fueled much controversy in Israel. Following compulsory service, Israeli men become part of the IDF reserve forces, and are usually required to serve several weeks every year as reservists, until their 40's.

Geography

Haredi Jews The total area of the sovereign territory of Israel —excluding all territories captured by Israel in 1967 — is 20,770 (20,330 land) square km; the total area under Israeli law —including East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights — is 22,145 (21,671 land) square km; the total area under Israeli control — including the military-controlled and Palestinian-governed territory of the West Bank — is 28,023 (27,549 land) square km.

Metropolitan areas

As of 2004, The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics defines three metropolitan areas: Tel Aviv (population 2,933,300), Haifa (population 980,600) and Be'er Sheva (population 511,700) [http://www1.cbs.gov.il/shnaton55/st02_15.pdf]. Jerusalem may also be considered a metropolitan area, though its limits are hard to define since it spans communities in Israel proper and the West Bank, both Israeli and Palestinian, and even the boundaries of Jerusalem city itself are disputed. As of 2005, the official population of Jerusalem city is 706,368.

Economy

Israel has a technologically advanced market economy with substantial government participation. It depends on imports of fossil fuels (crude oil, natural gas, and coal), grains, beef, raw materials, and military equipment. Despite limited natural resources, Israel has intensively developed its agricultural and industrial sectors over the past 20 years. Israel is largely self-sufficient in food production except for grains and beef. Diamonds, high-technology, military equipment, software, pharmaceuticals, fine chemicals, and agricultural products (fruits, vegetables, and flowers) are leading exports. Israel usually posts sizable current account deficits, which are covered by large transfer payments from abroad and by foreign loans. Israel possesses extensive facilities for oil refining, diamond polishing, and semiconductor fabrication. Roughly half of the government's external debt is owed to the U.S., which is its major source of economic and military aid. A relatively large fraction of Israel's external debt is held by individual investors, via the Israel Bonds program. The combination of American loan guarantees and direct sales to individual investors, allow the state to borrow at competitive and sometimes below-market rates. The influx of Jewish immigrants from the former USSR topped 750,000 during the period 1989-1999, bringing the population of Israel from the former Soviet Union to 1 million, one-sixth of the total population, and adding scientific and professional expertise of substantial value for the economy's future. The influx, coupled with the opening of new markets at the end of the Cold War, energized Israel's economy, which grew rapidly in the early 1990s. But growth began slowing in 1996 when the government imposed tighter fiscal and monetary policies and the immigration bonus petered out. Those policies brought inflation down to record low levels in 1999.

Demographics

1999 According to Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics, at the end of 2004, of Israel's 6.9 million people, 76.2% were Jews, 19.5% Arabs, and 4.3% "others".[http://www1.cbs.gov.il/shnaton56/st02_01.pdf] Among Jews, 68% were Sabras (Israeli-born), mostly second or third generation Israelis, and the rest are olim — 22% from Europe and the Americas, and 10% from Asia and Africa, including the Arab countries.[http://www1.cbs.gov.il/shnaton56/st02_24.pdf] Israel has two official languages; Hebrew and Arabic (See also: Languages of Israel). Hebrew is the major and primary language of the state and is spoken by the majority of the population. Arabic is spoken by the large Arab minority and by some members of the Mizrahi and Teimani Jewish communities. English is studied in school and is widely understood. Other languages spoken in Israel include Russian, Yiddish, Ladino, Romanian and French. American and European popular television shows are commonly presented. Newspapers can be found in all languages listed above as well as others, such as Farsi. As of 2004, 224,200 Israeli citizens lived in the West Bank in numerous settlements, (including towns such as Ma'ale Adummim and Ariel, and a handful of communities that were present long before the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and were re-established after the Six-Day War such as Hebron and Gush Etzion). Around 180,000 Israelis lived in East Jerusalem [http://fmep.org/settlement_info/stats_data/jerusalem/east_jerusalem_population_area_2000-2002.html], which came under Israeli law following its capture from Jordan during the Six-Day War. About 8,500 Israelis lived in settlements built in the Gaza Strip, prior to their evacuation by the government in the summer of 2005 as part of Israel's unilateral disengagement plan.

Religion in Israel

According to Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics, at the end of 2004, 76.2% of Israelis were Jews by religion. Muslims made up 16.1% of Israelis, 2.1% were Christian, 1.6% were Druze and the remaining 3.9% (including Russian immigrants and some Jews) were not classified by religion.[http://www1.cbs.gov.il/shnaton56/st02_01.pdf] Israel, however, is not a theocracy and religions other than Judaism are supported. Roughly 6% of Israeli Jews define themselves as haredim (ultra-orthodox religious); an additional 9% are "religious" ; 34% consider themselves "traditionalists" (not strictly adhering to Jewish halacha); and 51% are "secular" (termed "hiloni"). Among the seculars, 53% believe in God.[http://www.geocities.com/demokratya/dat/shavit.htm] Israelis tend not to align themselves with a movement of Judaism (such as Reform Judaism or Conservative Judaism) but instead tend to define their religious affiliation by degree of their religious practice. Of the Arab Israelis 82.6% were Muslim, 8.8% were Christian and 8.4% were Druze.[http://www1.cbs.gov.il/shnaton56/st02_01.pdf]

Culture and religion

Footnotes

¹ Jerusalem is Israel's officially designated capital, and the location of its presidential residence, government offices and the Knesset, Israel's Parliament. In 1980, the Israeli Knesset confirmed Jerusalem's status as the nation's "eternal and indivisible capital", by passing the Basic Law: Jerusalem — Capital of Israel. However, many countries dissent from this designation, and consider the status of Jerusalem as an unresolved issue, due to Israel's capture of the eastern half of Jerusalem (and subsequent reunification) from Jordan during the Six Day War. They believe that the final issue of the status of Jerusalem will be determined in future Israeli-Palestinian negotiations; Therefore, those countries locate their embassies in other major cities like Tel-Aviv, Ramat-Gan, Herzliya, etc., instead, to avoid political sensitivities. Moreover, some of the dissenting countries do not recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, due to what they perceive as illegal Israeli action in designating the city to be its capital in the first place (1950), as well as Israel's capture of the eastern half from Jordan, in 1967. These states instead recognize Tel-Aviv, the temporary capital for a time in 1948, when Jerusalem was under Arab control, as the continuous legitimate capital, and as a result keep their embassies there. Other entities maintain that Jerusalem must be internationalized as originally envisioned by the United Nations General Assembly. See the article on Jerusalem for more. ² For a short period in the 1990s the prime minister was directly elected by the electorate. This change was not viewed a success and was abandoned.

Annotated List of Israeli Media Sources

General references to the Israeli media:
- [http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/facts%20about%20israel/culture/the%20printed%20media-%20israel-s%20newspapers The Printed Media: Israel's Newspapers] Summary from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- List of Israeli newspapers English-language periodicals:
- Globes [http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/nodeView.asp?fid=942] English-language website of Israel's business and technology daily
- Ha'Aretz [http://www.haaretz.com/] Online English edition of the relatively highbrow Hebrew-language newspaper, Haaretz has a liberal editorial stance similar to that of The Guardian.
- IsraelInsider [http://www.israelinsider.com] - Independent, right wing outlet. Target audience is American Jewry.
- Jerusalem Newswire [http://www.jnewswire.com/ ] Independent, right-wing Christian-run news outlet
- The Jerusalem Post [http://www.jpost.com/] Israel's oldest English-language newspaper, considered to have a right-of-center editorial slant
- Jerusalem Report [http://www.jrep.com/] Left-of-center English weekly newspaper
- Maariv [http://www.maarivintl.com/] English edition of the centrist second largest Hebrew-language newspaper
- YNetNews [http://www.ynetnews.com/] English-language website of Israel's largest newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth Hebrew-language periodicals:
- Globes [http://www.globes.co.il/ ] business and technology daily
- Ha'Aretz [http://www.haaretz.co.il/] Relatively highbrow Israeli newspaper with a liberal editorial stance similar to that of The Guardian
- Hamodia Daily newspaper serving Israel's Haredi community. English editions are also published in the U.S. and the U.K. and serve local Jewish Orthodox communities in those countries. Hamodia is not available online.
- Hazofe [http://www.hazofe.co.il] daily newspaper with a religious Zionist point of view Hebrew-language periodicals (continued):
- Maariv [http://www.maariv.co.il/] Second largest Israeli newspaper, centrist.
- Makor Rishon [http://www.makorrishon.net] Conservative weekly newspaper
- Yated Ne'eman Daily newspaper serving the Haredi community
- Yedioth Ahronoth [http://www.ynet.co.il/], Israel's largest newspaper, centrist Arabic-language periodicals:
- Al-Ittihad Arabic-language daily newspaper Israeli broadcast media:
- [http://www.iba.org.il/ Israel Broadcasting Authority], TV News in Hebrew, some English.
- [http://www.radioisrael.com Radio Israel]
- [http://www.israelnationalnews.com/ Arutz Sheva] news site representing the settler community, right-wing religious (English)
- [http://www.israelradio.org/ Kol Israel - Voice of Israel] Also produced by the IBA. In Hebrew, French, English, Spanish, Ladino, Russian, Persian, Yiddish, etc.
- [http://www.isracast.com IsraCast] - Independent, multimedia broadcast and distribution network that focuses on Israeli foreign affairs and defense issues (English) Important Internet sources:
- Indymedia Israel [http://israel.indymedia.org/], primarily left-wing and anti-zionist, mostly in Hebrew Relevant non-Israeli media:
- Electronic Intifada [http://electronicintifada.net], Independent website covering Palestinian affairs and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
-
- Jewish Telegraphic Agency [http://www.jta.org/], New York-based news agency covering worldwide Jewish news, centrist (English)
- Yahoo News [http://news.yahoo.com/fc/world/israel] news headline links

External links

-
- [http://www.telavivguide.net Tel Aviv travel guide with information about sightseeing and activities in and around Tel Aviv]

General information

- [http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761575008/Israel_(country).html#s1 Encarta Encyclopedia entry on Israel]
- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/middle_east/country_profiles/803257.stm BBC News Country Profile - Israel and Palestinian Territories]
- [http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/israel.html Jewish Virtual Library Israel articles], including information on history, economics, and military issues. From the American-Israel Cooperative Enterprise, an Israel-advocacy group.
- [http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/is.html CIA World Factbook - Israel]
- [http://www.state.gov/p/nea/ci/israel/ US State Department - Israel] includes Background Notes, Country Study and major reports
- [http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/indiv/mideast/cuvlm/Israel.html Columbia University Libraries - Israel] directory category of the WWW-VL
- [http://dmoz.org/Regional/Middle_East/Israel/ Open Directory Project - Israel] directory category
- [http://www.sabranet.com SABRAnet - Where Israel comes alive on the Internet]
- [http://dir.yahoo.com/Regional/Countries/Israel/ Yahoo! - Israel] directory category

Government

- [http://www.gov.il/FirstGov/english Government Portal of Israel]
- [http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel]
- [http://www.president.gov.il/defaults/default_en.asp The President of the state of Israel]
- [http://www.pmo.gov.il/PMOEng Prime Minister's Office]
- [http://www.cbs.gov.il/engindex.htm Bureau of Statistics]
- [http://www.idf.il/ Israel Defence Force site]
- [http://www.seamzone.mod.gov.il/pages/eng/purpose.htm Israel Security Fence Project]

The Knesset (Parliament)

- [http://www.knesset.gov.il/ The Knesset (Parliament)]

Legislation and the Legal System

- [http://62.90.71.124/eng/home/index.html The Courts]
- [http://www.knesset.gov.il/description/eng/eng_mimshal_yesod1.htm Basic Laws], legal code of Israel
- [http://www.israelinsurancelaw.com/ Israeli Commercial, Banking, Tort and Insurance Laws - in English]

History

Please see main article History of Israel
- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/78601.stm The birth of Israel] from the BBC
- [http://www.imj.org.il/ Israel Museum, Jerusalem]
- [http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/2000_2009/2002/7/Israel-s%20Foreign%20Relations-%20Selected%20Documents Historical documents] from the Israeli Ministry of Public Affairs
- [http://www.isracast.com/territories.asp Authentic historical Recordings] - UN Partition Vote of 1947, Arab Rejection, "First" Hatikva, David Ben-Gurion - On Independence, Arab Countdown to Six Day War, Moshe Dayan - Six Day War, Gen. Ariel Sharon - "Move forward!", Nasser's Infamous Phonecall, Gen. Yitzhak Rabin - Six Day War, Abba Eban's "Stalingrad" Speech

Economy, science, and technology

- [http://www.standardpoor.co.il/index.html Standard and Poor's Israel Economic Information]
- [http://duns100.dundb.co.il/ DUNS 100], the hundred largest companies in Israel
- [http://www.science.co.il/ Israel Science and Technology Homepage]
- [http://www.israelinsurancelaw.com/ Translation of Israeli Laws to English]
- [http://www.isracast.com/tech.asp IsraCast: Science and Technology News From Israel] - Updated Weekly (English)
- [http://www.worldwide-tax.com/israel/indexisrael.asp Israel economy and business parameters] Israel key Data on Israeli Taxes, Income Tax, Tax Rates in Israel.

Foreign relations and the current conflicts

For links on the Arab-Israeli conflict and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, see Arab-Israeli Conflict: External Links
- [http://www.mfa.gov.il Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs]
- [http://www.israel21c.com Israel21c: A focus beyond the conflict]
- [http://www.saag.org/papers2/paper131.html India-Israeli Relations: The Imperatives for Enhanced Strategic Cooperation]
- [http://mondediplo.com/focus/mideast/r1276 Le Monde diplomatique report on EU-Israeli relations]
- [http://europa.eu.int/comm/external_relations/israel/intro/ European Union's relations with Israel]
- [http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/ustoc.html US-Israeli Relations] from the Jewish Virtual Library.
- [http://www.cactus48.com/truth.html Jews for Justice in the Middle East] Publication detailing Arab-Israli conflict

Society

- [http://www.iwn.org.il/iwn.asp Israel Women's Network]
- [http://www.gaymiddleeast.com/country/israel Gay Middle East - Israel section]
- [http://www.fmep.org/an

Israeli Arab

Introduction

Demographics and Subdivisions

Population growth

Muslim Israeli Arabs

Christian Israeli Arabs

Bedouins

Druze

Location/geography

Health

Education

Legal and Political Status

Political development

Recent developments

Work and Economic situation

Economic development of the Israeli Arab community

Pluralism and Sectoral Identity

Discrimination

Initial measures taken by the Israeli government

Modifications to Citizenship and Entry law

Participation in acts of terror against Israeli citizens

Trivia

See also

Footnotes

Bibliography

External links

Arab

Who is an Arab?

Religions

History

Traditional genealogy

Etymology

References

See also

External links

Israel

History

Historical roots

Zionism and Aliyah

Establishment of the State and the War of Independence

Wars

Articles related to the wars

Politics and law

Constitution

Judiciary and Legal System

Military

Geography

Metropolitan areas

Economy

Demographics

Religion in Israel

Culture and religion

Footnotes

See also

Annotated List of Israeli Media Sources

External links

General information

Government

The Knesset (Parliament)

- [http://www.knesset.gov.il/ The Knesset (Parliament)]

Legislation and the Legal System

- [http://62.90.71.124/eng/home/index.html The Courts] - [http://www.knesset.gov.il/description/eng/eng_mimshal_yesod1.htm Basic Laws], legal code of Israel - [http://www.israelinsurancelaw.com/ Israeli Commercial, Banking, Tort and Insurance Laws - in English]

History

Economy, science, and technology

Foreign relations and the current conflicts

Society

- [http://www.iwn.org.il/iwn.asp Israel Women's Network] - [http://www.gaymiddleeast.com/country/israel Gay Middle East - Israel section] - [http://www.fmep.org/an

- [http://62.90.71.124/eng/home/index.html The Courts]
- [http://www.knesset.gov.il/description/eng/eng_mimshal_yesod1.htm Basic Laws], legal code of Israel
- [http://www.israelinsurancelaw.com/ Israeli Commercial, Banking, Tort and Insurance Laws - in English]

- [http://www.iwn.org.il/iwn.asp Israel Women's Network]
- [http://www.gaymiddleeast.com/country/israel Gay Middle East - Israel section]
- [http://www.fmep.org/an