Minority treatment discussed

VICKY TOBIANAH

It’s essential to improve the socioeconomic status of Israel’s Arab minorities and incorporate them more fully into Israeli life, participants at the second Irwin Green Conference in Toronto were told.

“There is a significant deficit of resource allocation, of public attention.... There is a profound under-representation in fields of higher education and in various sectors of Israel’s minorities. This is a drag on the economy, on our society, a potential time bomb and we have to address these inequalities,” said D.J. Schneeweiss, Israeli consul general for Toronto and Western Canada, at the conference organized by the Israeli Arab issues committee of UJA Federation of Greater Toronto. The theme of the conference, held at the Lipa Green Centre March 3, was “Israel’s untapped potential.”

Amal Elsana Ahl’jooj, a Bedouin woman living in Israel, said Israel’s minorities must have access to the same education and basic necessities as does everyone else. She’s the fifth of 13 children, and she grew up with no water, no schools, no health clinics and no infrastructure. At age five, she was the family shepherd, but there was one bright side, she said: “I had the great opportunity not to be raised in the kitchen. I was raised in the mountains, by myself.”

Her grandmother was the one who encouraged her to change their way of living, Ahl’jooj said. “She taught me you don’t have to cry and see yourself as a victim. You have to see yourself as someone who’s able to change her own situation, take the lead and do things you believe in.”

Even at five years old, Ahl’jooj was aware that women were not equal in her society, she said. “Seeing your mother giving your brother a nice piece of chicken and not you, only because you are a girl. And they got a new coat, and you did not, only because you are a girl. This is very painful for a child,” she said.

Ahl’jooj also noticed very early on that she was a second-class citizen in Israel. “I remember the day when the police forces came to destroy my aunt’s house. I asked my father why and he said, ‘Because we are Arabs.’”

While Arab Bedouins and Druze make up a small percentage of Israel’s minorities, Ahl’jooj said she came to the conference to describe her situation and offer hope. At 14, she explained, she started teaching women in her village how to read and write – her mother was one of her first students. At 17, Ahl’jooj established the first Bedouin women’s organization dealing with women’s rights in a patriarchal society. The Arab Jewish Centre for Equality, Empowerment and Cooperation, which she founded in 2000, focuses on strengthening Jewish-Arab relations.

One of the biggest challenges, she said, is that there is “no connection between democracy and minority rights. The average person will travel from his own city to Eilat, passing through the Bedouin villages and not asking himself a single question [about] why these people [are] living without water, without electricity.”

Raya and Maimoon Azmi, a Druze couple who also spoke at the conference, believe the Israeli government needs to create more inter-communal cooperation. “The first time you meet a Druze is in the army,” Raya Azmi said. “Why don’t [Jewish Israelis] have trips to our villages, and not only to eat pita?”

The conference is named for philanthropist Irwin Green, who believed that more equality could strengthen the future of Israel. In 2000, at age 90, he became aware of Jewish-Arab inequalities and he established a development centre for Arab kids, two computer centres, a soccer field, a community centre and a youth centre, his son, Don Green said.

“His last project was a vocational school for Arab women,” Green said. “He passed away in Israel, a few months before he turned 100. He firmly believed in the importance of education [as] the key for people to advance themselves in Israel.”

Vicky Tobianah is a freelance writer and editor based in Toronto and a recent McGill University graduate. Connect with her on Twitter, @vicktob, or by e-mail to [email protected]. A version of this article previously appeared in the Canadian Jewish News.

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