[Part one of this article can be read at http://www.israelnn.com/article.php3?id=4498.]
The Oslo War, its terrorism, death and destruction, have hardened Jewish attitudes toward both the "Palestinians" and "Israeli Arabs".
A recent study by Haifa University's National Security Studies Center shows that nearly half of the Jewish public - 47.7% - opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state, even in the framework of a peace agreement. Also, a majority of the Jewish public in Israel - 63.7 percent - believes that the government should encourage Israeli Arabs to emigrate from Israel. The survey also found that 48.6 percent of the Israeli Jews polled said the government was overly sympathetic to the Arab population, and that if national elections were held today, close to 30% of the public would support a Kach-like party (whose platform was to expel Arabs from Israel, icluding Judea, Samaria and Gaza). Over 55% of the Jewish public feels that Israeli Arabs are a threat to national security, and there is widespread Jewish support for Israel's counter-terror methods, with nearly 80% of Jews supporting Israel's policy of killing terrorist leaders.
So, with over four years of the Oslo War, and the growing "Palestinization" of Israeli Arabs, more than 60% of Israeli Jews think the government should "transfer" Israeli Arabs, and almost 30% support a Kach-like party to implement it. Even "Palestinians" are having second thoughts about living in the Land of Israel.
The results of a survey by the Maagar Mohot Interdisciplinary Research and Consulting Institute Ltd., in collaboration with the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion, were presented at the recent Jerusalem Summit conference. In it, they found that over 70% of Arabs in Judea, Samaria and Gaza could be induced to permanently leave.
According to the study, almost 2/3 of the Palestinian population is dissatisfied with their quality of life. Only about one-third of the population believes that the chances of improving their quality of life are good. Most the population (60%) believes otherwise. Most Arabs (53%) believe that the Palestinian Authority is not dong enough to improve their quality of life. Almost half of the Arabs surveyed (46%) believe that the PA is corrupt and 42% state that they have considered emigrating permanently to some other country. Half the population (50%) state they do not discount the possibility of emigrating permanently to another country, if they had the means to do so, while 17% stated explicitly that they would emigrate permanently. In answer to the question "What would induce you to emigrate permanently, only 15% stated that nothing would induce them, while 71% specified one or more material factors that would induce them to emigrate permanently (such as substantial financial compensation, a guarantee of a good job abroad, or good level of housing).
Several elements on the Israeli political right, including the National Union, with Knesset Member Benny Elon's "Peace Plan," Dr. Paul Eidelberg's Yamin Yisrael Party and his "Jewish Constitution" movement, some in the National Religious Party and Moshe Feiglin's Manhigut Yehudit (Jewish Leadership faction in Likud), are thinking in this direction. Yet, this idea of financial incentives most directly corresponds to the proposal put forward by the former Kach Party leader, the late Rabbi Meir Kahane, over 20 years ago.
Was Kahane right?
Interestingly, in an October 2004 survey commissioned by Israel's Channel 2 TV, it was revealed that 58% of adults aged 18-22 support "transfer" (the expulsion of Arabs from Israel), 26.4% believe the slain Kach Party founder, Rabbi Meir Kahane, was correct in his call to expel the Arabs, while one-third believe the Kach Party should be declared a legal organization once again. According to a concurrent Maariv report, a survey questioning 500 Israelis (representing a cross-section of society) revealed that 13.1% favor a national leader like Rabbi Meir Kahane (pro-Jewish, strong and consistent).
Armed with the knowledge of popular support, Kach activists have recently launched a campaign to annul the decision to ban their political party as a terror organization and to reinstate it to full legal status. Rabbi Kahane was first elected to the Knesset in 1984. His party was later banned from running in the 1988 elections, after the passage of anti-racism and anti-democracy legislation aimed at disqualifying the Kach party. Kach had been polling 10-12 Knesset seats, before the disqualification. Rabbi Kahane was assassinated two years later, in 1990, by an Egyptian terrorist while on a speaking tour in New York.
Kach activists sent a formal request to the Prime Minister's office calling on the government to reverse its decision that Kach is a terrorist group. In their letter to Prime Minister Sharon, the prospective Kach leaders stated, "Declaring Kach a terror organization is a sin, since it is clear to everyone that Kach members do not espouse terror and none of our leaders have ever been convicted of terrorist activity. As far as we know, Kach was outlawed due to political considerations, and now that the Jewish people are divided over fateful questions, there is a need to allow for maximum freedom of speech."
Kach activist Itamar Ben-Gvir, who signed the letter to Sharon, pointed out that, "There is no better time than now to reinstate our legal status, since, as seen in the survey, a third of the public believes that Kahane was right and they are with us."
Ben-Gvir added that activists are planning to start hanging posters across the country calling for the party's return to politics.
That most Jews in Israel prefer to live in their own communities should come as no surprise. It was the purpose of re-establishing an independent Jewish State in the first place. After nearly 2,000 years of bitter occupation and exile, Jews desired to return and liberate their ancient homeland. After centuries of Christian and Muslim persecution while in exile, Jews looked forward to re-establishing their own independent national life, without Christian or Muslim interference.
After the rise of the State of Israel, Arabs in Israel, who were part of the enemy population, were given citizenship. But citizenship meant equal civil and economic rights, not equal national rights. Too many Israeli Arabs today identify with and actively work for the Palestinian cause. Israel is a Jewish State. The state's land resources are meant to rectify the 2,000-year-old national tragedy of occupation and exile, promoting the immigration of Jews worldwide, and the building of new Jewish communities. Jewish affirmative action is a national requirement to right a historic wrong against the Jewish people and nation of Israel. Add to the national rivalries on the part of Israeli Arabs toward Jews the crimes perpetrated by Arabs against Jews (i.e., surrounding drugs, prostitution, etc.), and one can understand why may Jews don't want Arabs in their neighborhoods, or in the country at all.
By the way, if it troubles you about Israel contemplating buying the Arabs out, or throwing them out, then ask yourself this:
How much does it bother me that the proposed Palestinian state that George W. Bush, Tony Blair, the Quartet (US, EU, UN and Russia) support establishing is intended to be an 'ethnically pure' Arab state, with no Jews allowed?
[Part 2 of 2]
(c) 2004/5765 Pasko
The Oslo War, its terrorism, death and destruction, have hardened Jewish attitudes toward both the "Palestinians" and "Israeli Arabs".
A recent study by Haifa University's National Security Studies Center shows that nearly half of the Jewish public - 47.7% - opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state, even in the framework of a peace agreement. Also, a majority of the Jewish public in Israel - 63.7 percent - believes that the government should encourage Israeli Arabs to emigrate from Israel. The survey also found that 48.6 percent of the Israeli Jews polled said the government was overly sympathetic to the Arab population, and that if national elections were held today, close to 30% of the public would support a Kach-like party (whose platform was to expel Arabs from Israel, icluding Judea, Samaria and Gaza). Over 55% of the Jewish public feels that Israeli Arabs are a threat to national security, and there is widespread Jewish support for Israel's counter-terror methods, with nearly 80% of Jews supporting Israel's policy of killing terrorist leaders.
So, with over four years of the Oslo War, and the growing "Palestinization" of Israeli Arabs, more than 60% of Israeli Jews think the government should "transfer" Israeli Arabs, and almost 30% support a Kach-like party to implement it. Even "Palestinians" are having second thoughts about living in the Land of Israel.
The results of a survey by the Maagar Mohot Interdisciplinary Research and Consulting Institute Ltd., in collaboration with the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion, were presented at the recent Jerusalem Summit conference. In it, they found that over 70% of Arabs in Judea, Samaria and Gaza could be induced to permanently leave.
According to the study, almost 2/3 of the Palestinian population is dissatisfied with their quality of life. Only about one-third of the population believes that the chances of improving their quality of life are good. Most the population (60%) believes otherwise. Most Arabs (53%) believe that the Palestinian Authority is not dong enough to improve their quality of life. Almost half of the Arabs surveyed (46%) believe that the PA is corrupt and 42% state that they have considered emigrating permanently to some other country. Half the population (50%) state they do not discount the possibility of emigrating permanently to another country, if they had the means to do so, while 17% stated explicitly that they would emigrate permanently. In answer to the question "What would induce you to emigrate permanently, only 15% stated that nothing would induce them, while 71% specified one or more material factors that would induce them to emigrate permanently (such as substantial financial compensation, a guarantee of a good job abroad, or good level of housing).
Several elements on the Israeli political right, including the National Union, with Knesset Member Benny Elon's "Peace Plan," Dr. Paul Eidelberg's Yamin Yisrael Party and his "Jewish Constitution" movement, some in the National Religious Party and Moshe Feiglin's Manhigut Yehudit (Jewish Leadership faction in Likud), are thinking in this direction. Yet, this idea of financial incentives most directly corresponds to the proposal put forward by the former Kach Party leader, the late Rabbi Meir Kahane, over 20 years ago.
Was Kahane right?
Interestingly, in an October 2004 survey commissioned by Israel's Channel 2 TV, it was revealed that 58% of adults aged 18-22 support "transfer" (the expulsion of Arabs from Israel), 26.4% believe the slain Kach Party founder, Rabbi Meir Kahane, was correct in his call to expel the Arabs, while one-third believe the Kach Party should be declared a legal organization once again. According to a concurrent Maariv report, a survey questioning 500 Israelis (representing a cross-section of society) revealed that 13.1% favor a national leader like Rabbi Meir Kahane (pro-Jewish, strong and consistent).
Armed with the knowledge of popular support, Kach activists have recently launched a campaign to annul the decision to ban their political party as a terror organization and to reinstate it to full legal status. Rabbi Kahane was first elected to the Knesset in 1984. His party was later banned from running in the 1988 elections, after the passage of anti-racism and anti-democracy legislation aimed at disqualifying the Kach party. Kach had been polling 10-12 Knesset seats, before the disqualification. Rabbi Kahane was assassinated two years later, in 1990, by an Egyptian terrorist while on a speaking tour in New York.
Kach activists sent a formal request to the Prime Minister's office calling on the government to reverse its decision that Kach is a terrorist group. In their letter to Prime Minister Sharon, the prospective Kach leaders stated, "Declaring Kach a terror organization is a sin, since it is clear to everyone that Kach members do not espouse terror and none of our leaders have ever been convicted of terrorist activity. As far as we know, Kach was outlawed due to political considerations, and now that the Jewish people are divided over fateful questions, there is a need to allow for maximum freedom of speech."
Kach activist Itamar Ben-Gvir, who signed the letter to Sharon, pointed out that, "There is no better time than now to reinstate our legal status, since, as seen in the survey, a third of the public believes that Kahane was right and they are with us."
Ben-Gvir added that activists are planning to start hanging posters across the country calling for the party's return to politics.
That most Jews in Israel prefer to live in their own communities should come as no surprise. It was the purpose of re-establishing an independent Jewish State in the first place. After nearly 2,000 years of bitter occupation and exile, Jews desired to return and liberate their ancient homeland. After centuries of Christian and Muslim persecution while in exile, Jews looked forward to re-establishing their own independent national life, without Christian or Muslim interference.
After the rise of the State of Israel, Arabs in Israel, who were part of the enemy population, were given citizenship. But citizenship meant equal civil and economic rights, not equal national rights. Too many Israeli Arabs today identify with and actively work for the Palestinian cause. Israel is a Jewish State. The state's land resources are meant to rectify the 2,000-year-old national tragedy of occupation and exile, promoting the immigration of Jews worldwide, and the building of new Jewish communities. Jewish affirmative action is a national requirement to right a historic wrong against the Jewish people and nation of Israel. Add to the national rivalries on the part of Israeli Arabs toward Jews the crimes perpetrated by Arabs against Jews (i.e., surrounding drugs, prostitution, etc.), and one can understand why may Jews don't want Arabs in their neighborhoods, or in the country at all.
By the way, if it troubles you about Israel contemplating buying the Arabs out, or throwing them out, then ask yourself this:
How much does it bother me that the proposed Palestinian state that George W. Bush, Tony Blair, the Quartet (US, EU, UN and Russia) support establishing is intended to be an 'ethnically pure' Arab state, with no Jews allowed?
[Part 2 of 2]
(c) 2004/5765 Pasko