Dear Sikkuy Friends,
We were very pleased that so many of you
came to New York City for the Sikkuy Seminar, from as far away as Toronto
and San Antonio, demonstrating how deep your commitment is to learning
about the very complex issue of equality between the Jewish and Arab
citizens of Israel and then doing something about it. We also see in the
impressive attendance (more than 30 of you), a vote of confidence in
Sikkuy's work.
For those of you who could not attend,
allow us to give you a brief rundown of the seminar program and content.
In the absence of Terry Rubenstein (seminar chair), who was ill, Sikkuy
board member, Dr. Muhammad Amara, ran the entire "show" by himself. He
began by reading a message from Terry:
"I am so disappointed
not to be there. Our family has supported Sikkuy's operating budget since
its inception and founding by Alouph Hareven nearly 20 years ago. It has
been hard and steadfast work to bring the issue of the status and
treatment of Israeli Arabs to the mainstream of Israeli dialogue. Through
the steady, but relentless intervention of Sikkuy and the creation of the
Or Commission, real tangible progress is being made. But more needs to be
done. I urge you to continue your funding or to begin funding so that
during our lifetime we can see a just Israeli society living the fully
democratic principles that all of us hold dear..."
The opening talk by Bob
Bernstein (founder of Human Rights Watch) was really stimulating
and gave food for discussion for the rest of the day, raising the question
of "What is an open society?" - Is free speech enough to define an open
society? And - what should be the degree of intervention of world NGOs in
opening "closed societies"? In other words, Bob claimed that Israel does
not need an HRW office since it is viably monitored by local NGOs such as
Sikkuy. Later, Shuli Dichter argued that Israel cannot be
considered completely open until it ensures full participation for Arab
citizens in all walks of life, and that local NGOs, even in "open
societies," need the hands-on contact with international civil society
organizations for ongoing learning and perspective.
Ali Haider stated in his
opening comments that there is a pronounced gap between the image of
Israel as an open society and the reality of the Arab minority as an
excluded group.
We were pleased that Bob stayed with us
for the entire seminar and continued to share his perspectives with
us.
Carl Perkal presented
the new Equality Index developed by Sikkuy to serve as an objective tool
to measure inequality in Israel and monitor its increase or decrease from
year to year. Ali detailed Sikkuy's activities at all
levels, and Shuli gave details about the new Sikkuy
initiative, endorsed by the Prime Minister's Office, of mapping obstacles
for equality in government ministries and establishing viable links
between them and the Arab local government.
Professor Ilan Peleg
discussed his new book that reviews 14 different divided democratic
societies in the world and focused on Northern Ireland and Quebec. He
claimed that, contrary to popular belief, the minority-majority conflict
in Israel is not unique and not even the most extreme of similar such
conflicts. Israel, he said, can and should make the steps towards closing
the gap and, in turn, can meet the criteria of being an "open society", or
a full democracy. He did not state unequivocally, but indirectly he
suggested that Israel can get close enough to that without having to
change its definition as a Jewish State. This is certainly a question that
will continue to be addressed in the ongoing dialogue between the Jewish
and Arab citizens of Israel. The session was chaired by Sikkuy board
member, Mary Schweitzer.
Then, after Q&A, (oh boy..) we had
lunch. It was a very pleasant atmosphere, with lively discussions around
the table.
In order to keep to the schedule, we had
to spoil the party and ask the people to return to the seminar. As the
chair of the session on the "Future Vision of the Palestinian Citizens of
Israel," Shuli opened with a brief review of the last 15 years of
developments in the relations between the Arab minority and the state,
focusing of the Arab attempt to respond positively to Yitzhak Rabin's
initiative toward inclusion of the Arab citizens in the early-mid 1990s
and their desire to be involved citizens until the (rather symbolic)
candidacy of Azmi Bishara for prime minister in 1999. This was followed by
the "earthquake" of October 2000 with demonstrations and riots by Arab
citizens as a demand for civic inclusion and the military response of the
state and the police. Afterwards, and following the release of the Or
Commission recommendations (for the state to implement full civic
equality), it took the Arab leaders in Israel four to five years! to get
over the shock and start to formulate their future vision as another
attempt to say "we are here, do not ignore us".
Dr. Amara, a lecturer in
linguistics at Bar Ilan University, gave a brief review of the Arab
minority in Israel and analyzed the "Future Vision" document that he was
involved in formulating. In his analysis, he made a distinction between
"material conflict" and "identity conflict." In cases of "identity
conflict," minorities require not only individual rights but also
collective rights. He claimed that though the opening of the document
contains harsh criticism of the Zionist movement and focuses on
substantial equality (material as well as symbolic equality), the majority
of the document deals with ways to achieve material equality and with the
internal issues facing the Arab community in Israel.
The demand for material equality, he
said, was acceptable to the vast majority of the Jewish responses to the
Vision statement (he reviewed hundreds of responses), but the Jewish
rejection of substantial equality (those aspects related to symbolic and
historical issues) dominated the debate in Israel following the
publication of the Future Vision. Muhammad wondered why not to concentrate
on the agreed upon issues for the time being. He strongly suggested seeing
it as an opening for a continuous dialogue, dealing with controversial
issues.
Sarah Kreimer (a
respected colleague, immediate past chair of ACRI and currently associate
director of "Ir Amim") focused on the pragmatic aspects of the "future
vision" which can serve as a basis for inclusion of the Arab minority in
the economic development of Israel. She stressed the part of the document
that details self-criticism of the Arab society with regard to the status
of women and the dearth of strong social and civil society institutions.
Sarah indicated that it was not easy for her to overcome the political
statements in the beginning but it was worth the effort, to get to the
"constructive part".
We closed the day with an invitation to
next year's Sikkuy Seminar - in Umm al Fahm.
Special thanks to: Sikkuy's two board
members and Sikkuy's San Antonio coordinator, Rachel
Walsh for their participation, guest speakers Bob Bernstein, Ilan
Peleg and Sarah Kreimer, Seth Glickenhaus who generously provided the
fabulous venue for the event at The Princeton Club, Terry Rubenstein for
agreeing to chair the seminar, Edna Fast for her assistance in all of the
logistical arrangements, Eyal Raviv for handling the registration table,
to the staff of the Princeton Club for the lovely venue and superb
catering, and to Sikkuy's director of resource development, Carl Perkal,
for helping to plan the seminar and dealing with the all the "nuts and
bolts" to make it happen.
We are certain that the seminar was a
milestone for Sikkuy at a time when the value-added of our work in Israel
is increasingly recognized in government circles, among the Arab
leadership in Israel, within the Jewish public and by our colleagues in
civil society.
With great enthusiasm for the challenges
ahead, we plan to increase Sikkuy's budget (through expanded
fundraising in Israel and abroad) from $1 million to $1.5 million by the
end of 2008. Your help in achieving this goal is vital.
Sincerely,
Shuli Dichter & Ali
Haider
Co-Executive Directors
Sikkuy
SIKKUY
IN TORONTO
After the seminar, Shuli and Ali flew to
Toronto where they were hosted by Sikkuy friends including: Fred Zemans,
Rivanne Sandler, Joan Garson, president of ARZA Canada, Rabbi Sharon
Sobel, executive director of the Canadian Council for Reform Judaism and
ARZA Canada and Jay Brodbar, executive director of the New Israel Fund
Canada. Our deepest appreciation to them for all of their efforts.
It is now safe to say that Sikkuy is "on
the map" in Toronto with both significant funding reaching us from
individuals and foundations and through NIF Canada, and growing interest
in learning about the vital issue of equality between the Jewish and Arab
citizens of Israel.
We are already planning a return visit in
2008.
Thanks also to Frances Kraft of the
Canadian Jewish News for her comprehensive article about Ali and Shuli's
presentation, sponsored by ARZA Canada at the home of Joan Garson (SEE THE
ARTICLE BELOW).
Israel
organization works to promote Arab equity
Thursday,
6 December 2007
Shalom (Shuli) Dichter
and Ali
Haider
TORONTO - Shalom (Shuli) Dichter sees the Jewish and
Arab populations of Israel as "two tectonic plates" that will determine
the stability of Israeli society for years to come.
His work with Ali Haider - an Israeli
Arab lawyer and his colleague at Sikkuy, The Association for the
Advancement of Civic Equality – is an effort to build that
stability.
Dichter offered the analogy at a meeting
in a Toronto home during a recent visit here with Haider on behalf of the
organization, whose name means "chance" or "opportunity" in Hebrew.
The two men are co-executive directors of
the non-profit, which was founded in 1991 as a Jewish-Arab advocacy
organization and promotes equal rights for Arabs. Their work together as
Jewish and Arab co-leaders is a rarity, even among a handful of "shared"
organizations in Israel.
The Toronto meeting was hosted by ARZA
Canada, the Zionist arm of the Reform movement in this country.
Sikkuy works on three levels, explained
Haider - with municipal and national government, and with grass roots
groups, to achieve equality for Israel's Arab citizens.
In the Jewish population, which
constitutes 80 per cent of Israeli citizens, Sikkuy works with people "who
believe in liberty, freedom and all those important values," Haider said,
while in the Arab world, Sikkuy works with, among others, "academicians
from the middle class. We empower and motivate them to take responsibility
for the future and rely on themselves as well."
Muslims, Christians and Jews living in
Israel have "a lot of identities, but our shared identity is to be Israeli
citizens," said Haider, adding that he believes public opinion in Israel
today "excludes the Palestinian minority."
Thirty-seven per cent of Jewish
Israelis feel that Arab civilization is inferior, he said. Fifty per cent
feel afraid when they hear Arabic being spoken, and 64 per cent support
the idea of the Israeli government encouraging Arab citizens to emigrate,
he added.
Haider feels the opinions represented in
those statistics, and others like them, threaten Arab citizenship in
Israel.
"In Sikkuy, we try to give hope to the
Palestinians and the Jewish society," he said.
Aside from Sikkuy's work, the fact of its
shared leadership - both lay and professional - plays a part in providing
that hope, he said.
But, said Haider frankly, "we have a lot
of disagreements," referring to himself and Dichter as well as to others
in Sikkuy. Nevertheless, despite differing opinions on such fundamental
issues as whether or not Israel is a democracy, there is an open and
honest dialogue, Haider said.
"I think we have a shared agenda that we
try to promote."
Sikkuy acts, for the most part, as a
catalyst, said Dichter, who was a shaliach in Toronto in the early
1990s. He cited as one example the establishment of a forum for Jewish and
Arab mayors to work together on areas of common interest like tourism and
environmental issues.
Sikkuy's major objectives are to mobilize
government toward equal sharing of resources including water, and to
mobilize public opinion to support such equality, said Dichter.
"The ultimate outcome is the sense of
belonging, of inclusion. On both sides, profound change has to take place
to reach a point that we're an inclusive democracy."
Haider said that Arabs want to be
recognized as a "homeland national minority, and to get collective rights"
including language rights and self-governance of educational and religious
institutions.
"You are familiar with those issues in
Canada," he added.
Arab Israelis also want to be represented
fairly in institutions and to take part in decision making, Haider
said.
Dichter said that "major government
figures agree that there's a gap. We don't have to prove the fact of
discrimination any more. It's common knowledge."
A partnership like Sikkuy's is tough,
said Dichter. Its leaders work together not just "to show a model of
equality and sharing the power, but in order to reach a truly shared
agenda."
Their work did not stop during the
Lebanon war, said Dichter. In fact, the war brought new issues to the
fore, like access to bomb shelters for Arab communities in northern
Israel, and "simple things like a constant insulin supply for
diabetics.
"In Jewish communities, it works like
this," Dichter added, snapping his fingers twice in quick succession to
illustrate the contrast.
He added that Sikkuy was successful in
lobbying for equal distribution of government funds to help Jewish and
Arab communities in the Galilee once the war was over. The area has
equal-sized Jewish and Arab communities, he said.
"One of my neighbours was killed in this
war," Haider noted, adding that there was no public outcry as there was
for Jewish victims.
Jews in Sikkuy come from "very
mainstream" Jewish society, Haider said, adding that he doesn't believe
they "represent" the mainstream. Their Palestinian counterparts come from
mainstream Palestinian society in Israel and are "well connected to the
interests of the Palestinian community.
"Sikkuy must serve both, or else it has
no [basis for] existence."
