During the past five years, the Knesset has passed two laws aimed at increasing the representation of Arab citizens in the civil service and on the boards of directors of government corporations. These laws reflect the recognition that there is no justification for the low proportion of Arab representation in government administration and that it is impossible to continue with the entrenched patterns of discrimination that exist today.

At the beginning of 2004, the ministerial committee for Arab affairs, headed by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, set a goal that Arab citizens would comprise at least 8% of state employees by the beginning of 2007 and 10% by the end of 2009. Pursuant to this goal, the ministerial committee set an interim target: by 2005, Arabs would comprise 8% of new employees accepted into the civil service and 15% the following year.

But decisions are one thing and actions are another: According to the Civil Service Commission's annual report, Arabs comprised only 5.3% of the new employees hired in 2004, a percentage that is even less than their current representation. Some 90% of Arab workers in the civil service are employed in just six government ministries. About 56% of them work for the Health Ministry, including government hospitals. In the rest of the government ministries, the representation of Arabs is still marginal or negligible.

Unlike most civil service workers, Arab citizens are mainly employed in jobs serving the Arab community or in positions that can only be filled by Arabs. Their absence is most obvious in important government ministries like the Industry, Trade and Labor Ministry, the Housing Ministry, the National Infrastructures Ministry, the Communications Ministry, the Finance Ministry, the Tourism Ministry and subordinate units such as the Public Works Department, Israel Lands Administration, Water Commission, and Firefighting and Rescue Commission.

In May 2000, the Knesset approved an amendment to the Government Companies Law that promised suitable representation for the Arab population on the boards of directors of government companies. Three years later, the ministerial committee on Arab affairs decided that by August 2004 at least one Arab would serve on each of the 105 governmental boards of directors. Along with this government decision, the prime minister instructed the panel for vetting appointments to defer other appointments to the boards of directors as long as this condition was not fulfilled. Five years after the approval of this amendment and two years after the government decision and prime minister's declaration, Arab directors comprise only 9% of the directors in government companies, including 10 Arab women, who constitute about 5% of all women directors.

The significant gap between the declarations and actions creates the impression that the government does not really want to change the reality when it pertains to the rights of Arab citizens. It seems when the prime minister is determined to implement a certain matter, he creates the mechanisms, allocates budgets for them and makes sure that they “get to work” – as he did with the disengagement plan. But when it comes to the affairs of Arab citizens, the government makes promises and takes symbolic steps, but fails to provide an effective solution to the problem.

The price is high: contempt for the law and government decisions; forgoing an entire group of professional personnel who could contribute to improving the quality of the public service; and intensifying the ongoing frustration among the Arab population in general and among those with academic degrees in particular in light of the many difficulties they encounter in seeking to translate their abilities and training into relevant employment.

There is something that can be done: The direct and active involvement of the Prime Minister's Office is needed. The structural and psychological barriers that make it difficult for Arab candidates to be accepted into the civil service should be examined and identified, with an emphasis on recruiting personnel for all of the government bodies and mechanisms for selecting new candidates.

An additional essential step is to establish a commission for equality in employment whose operations, status and independence are anchored in law. Countries that have recognized the discrimination that exists against its minority groups have established this type of mechanism and its results are considerable. This type of commission was formed in Northern Ireland and focuses on eliminating discrimination, promoting equal opportunity and affirmative action.

A strike by the leaders of Arab local authorities recently ended with the transfer of NIS 46 million. That amounts to a holiday gift worth about NIS 500,000 per local authority on average, a sum that will barely cover the salaries of municipal workers this month. This is a handout of candy for the holiday, but in case you do not know - the recently concluded Feast of Sacrifice (Eid al-Adha) is a holiday of meats, not sweets.

Everyone already knows that the Arab local authorities suffer discrimination in Interior Ministry allocations. There is already no need to prove this. There is also no longer any need to argue that the wide gaps between Jews and Arabs constitute a time bomb placed between the two populations comprising Israeli society. But the significant distinction is between those who claim that this is the way things should be, versus those who support rectifying this situation.

In private conversation, every government official and serious politician will tell you that it is impossible to continue discriminating against Arabs, and that this situation portends disaster for the very existence of the state. In the upcoming elections, there is no sane political party that would justify institutional discrimination against 20% of the citizens of the state in allocating state resources on the basis of ethnic affiliation, because all of the parties want to appear normal and radiate normality. But, paradoxically, there are some leaders who think that it does not pay for them to appear normal in the eyes of their voters. Therefore, they hide this message, which is so vital for the state.

Even when the state is defined as a democracy, the line that determines its character runs between racist policy and democratic policy, and the test case for this is equality between Jews and Arabs. All of the party leaders should put their hand on their heart, take a good look at themselves in the mirror and ask whether their party is in favor of equality in resource allocation without distinction of religion, race or ethnic affiliation. If the answer is "no" - it is clear that the leader has chosen a racist path. If the answer is "yes" - he has the obligation to express this to his potential voters, not half-heartedly, but with courage and candor. And now is just the right time to do so, when the election process is honing its messages and the agenda is being set for the coming years.

Perhaps there are brave and frank leaders in the political arena in Israel, but we need to help them to be like this and to encourage them to place equality between Jews and Arabs at the center of their election platform and public discourse - as a choice in democracy. Every voter who understands that equality between Jews and Arabs is essential for the existence of the state should make sure that the following articles are included in the platform of the party they are considering voting for:

1. A government we join will be committed to equality between the Jewish and Arab citizens of Israel and will establish a special mechanism for instituting equal patterns of allocation in all government ministries.
2. A government we join will provide special assistance to local authorities in rehabilitating infrastructure in Arab communities - water, electricity, drainage and sewage, safe roads for children within the communities, and more.
3. A government we join will bring Arab local authorities onto the directorates of regional industrial zones during the next Knesset term, thus enabling these authorities to enjoy local tax revenues.
4. A government we join will close the gap between the Arab and Jewish populations in the accessibility to all government services from the National Insurance Institute, Interior Ministry bureaus, and so on.
5. The education budget per Arab pupil is only 85% of the amount budgeted for each Jewish pupil. A government we join will bring educational infrastructure in Arab schools up to a par with Jewish schools. The allotted classroom hours will be made equal and the shortage of 1,800 classrooms in Arab schools will be eliminated within four years.

All voters should scrutinize the leaders of the parties they are considering voting for, and demand that they commit themselves to these platform articles at least. This, in order to defend themselves against racist backlash and to ensure that their party is following a democratic path. The parties themselves should make a commitment to implement effective equality in the allocation of resources between Jews and Arabs, already during the next Knesset term - and not just hand out sweets.

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Shalom (Shuli) Dichter is the Co-Executive Director of Sikkuy - The Association for the Advancement of Civic Equality.