The court Arabs

The court Arabs

By Gideon Levy

When a distinguished foreign delegation would come to Israel, Shimon Peres would ask us, his aides, to make sure also to invite sheikhs Jabr Moade and Hamad Abu-Rabiah. Peres wanted his guests "to see some kaffiyehs in the audience." That was a long time ago. Many words and much blood, too, has flowed since them. Abu-Rabiah was murdered by Moade's sons over a Knesset seat and Israel's Arabs established their own nationalist parties. Nevertheless, 13,000 Israeli Arabs joined Kadima - entire clans - who yesterday chose the country's next prime minister. Like the court Jews of the Diaspora, they are our court Arabs. They give a bad name to opportunism and a worse name to their own people. A good Arab is not an Arab who joins Kadima, Likud or even Labor. Most of Kadima's Arab voters have already been in all of them; such is the relationship between national minorities and the government. A good Arab cannot support those parties that are directly responsible for discrimination, occupation and the killing of their people. However, it turns out that distress leads to disgrace: election corruption instead of struggle, collaboration instead of national pride. One can believe in coexistence without being ingratiating; one can promote the issues of the community without acting in a corrupt manner, and one can even work toward equal rights without ridiculous photo ops with Shaul Mofaz and Avi Dichter.

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