Arabs in Israel Reveal a Loss of Political Faith as Election Day Nears
Just four days before this country's parliamentary elections, Burham Ghanem still could not say precisely which party would get his vote. But he could guarantee this: it would not be one of the Jewish parties.

As Mr. Ghanem, 29, sat listlessly this afternoon outside a cafe in this Israeli Arab village snug beside the boundary of the West Bank, he ticked off the reasons, tapping into a well of profound and deepening resentment.

He was unemployed, he said, because Israeli Jews discriminated against Israeli Arabs like him. He had little contact with relatives in the West Bank, he said, because Israeli Jews had made no progress toward peace with the Palestinians, and now there was a military checkpoint on the edge of the village.

"The last two years have been the worst," Mr. Ghanem said, referring to the period of the current conflict. As a result, he said, he and his friends would not make the mistake that he believed some of their parents did and put any faith in Jewish politicians. "The older generation used to go like cattle to vote, without thinking of whom," he said. "We are more aware."

Mr. Ghanem's bitterness was echoed by many of the roughly 19,000 residents of this northern village, and it outlined what seems to be a new peak in the frustration and sense of alienation among Israeli Arabs, especially younger ones, as the elections draw near.

Many Israeli Arabs, who represent about 1.2 million of the 6.6 million people in Israel, say they have never before felt so much like scorned outsiders. Their sentiments could well manifest themselves on Election Day in several ways.

If the predictions of some political experts and the stated intentions of many Israeli Arabs hold, a larger majority of them than ever will cast votes for one of four main Arab lists on the ballot that are jockeying for their favor.

Or, more of them than usual will stay home, heeding loud calls by some Israeli Arab leaders over recent months to register their disgust by boycotting the process altogether. Some polls in recent months have suggested that Israeli Arabs will do precisely that.

"It is one of the main stories of this election," said Dr. Yitzhak Reiter, a professor of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. "The relationships between Jews and Arabs in Israel are on the brink of a clash."

Dr. Reiter cited, as both an example and catalyst of that, the killing of 13 Israeli Arabs by the Israeli police during a demonstration in support of Palestinians in October 2000, shortly after the latest conflict began.

He said the episode was "only a rehearsal of what might happen in the future," and that Israeli Jews should be concerned, for reasons including the degree to which anger among Israeli Arabs could translate into cooperation with Palestinian militants. In the past year, there have been dozens of cases of suspected terrorist activity involving Israeli Arabs.

Salah Tarif, an Israeli Arab who is a member of Parliament for the mainstream, center-left Labor party, which has only some Arab support, said in a telephone interview that the political distance between Israeli Arabs and Jews was growing.

"Things have been going from bad to worse, and we are separating," said Mr. Tarif, who is Druze. He predicted that predominantly Arab parties would pick up a few more seats than the 10 they currently hold in the 120-member Parliament.

Many said that while Arab parties in Parliament did not have enough votes to help them that much, they did not believe that predominantly Jewish parties with more power had any interest in addressing the wide economic gaps between Arab and Israeli Jews.

In Baqa, Arabs live with constant reminders of the tensions and fighting between the Israeli government and West Bank Palestinians, with whom many Israeli Arabs profess strong solidarity.

Earlier this week, in an area right along the boundary, Israeli forces demolished an entire row of corrugated tin shops run by Palestinians, whom the Israelis said had built without permits.

"When you destroy those stores, what do you think you harvest?" asked Zaki Bulbul, 45, an Arab from Baqa, as he gazed at the heaps of twisted metal where the stores had been.

"You harvest violence," Mr. Bulbul said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/26/international/middleeast/26ARAB.html?pagewanted=all&position=top