Israel's One Million Arab Citizens Caught Between Country and Cause
The Washington Post, April 2, 2002

washingtonpost.com

Israel's One Million Arab Citizens Caught Between Country and Cause

By Craig Whitlock
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, April 2, 2002; Page A8

HAIFA, Israel, April 1 – Hundreds mourned the demise of Suheil Adawi at his funeral today, one day after the 32-year-old Israeli man was slain in a restaurant here by a suicide bomber intent on stoking war between Arabs and Jews.
    The blast – which killed 15 people, including the bomber, and wounded 40 – was different from previous suicide bombings in one respect. Adawi was an Israeli Arab, a citizen of Israel who lived in this port city; his killer was also an Arab citizen of Israel who lived in the West Bank.
    Their deaths point to yet another dimension of the intensifying war between Israel and the Palestinians. Often forgotten in the conflict are the 1 million Arabs who are citizens of Israel and make up one-sixth of its population.
    Although many are sympathetic to the Palestinian side, most have retained their allegiance to Israel, and have not actively participated in the violence. Israelis have long worried about the radicalization of their Arab citizens, and the Haifa bombing brought passions to the surface. Two Palestinian flags flanked Adawi's remains during the funeral, indicating his family's support for the cause that inspired the bombing. Indeed, many people present at the ceremony did not blame the assailant for Adawi's death so much as the Israeli government for its treatment of Palestinians.
    When Israel was founded in 1948, many Arabs remained in the new Jewish state. Others fled, and are now among the 3 million Palestinians who live in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. There are family and cultural ties between the two groups.
    The suicide bomber was identified on Sunday as Shadi Abu Tubasi, 22, of the West Bank town of Jenin. Israeli media reported that he was the son of a Palestinian father and an Israeli Arab mother, and that his family said he carried an identity card as an Israeli citizen. He was the fifth suicide bomber to attack Israel in five days. Many such bombers have come from towns and villages in the West Bank.
    "Most of the people who were there do not agree with the actions of suicide bombers," said Azmi Bishara, an Arab who attended the funeral and is a member of the Israeli parliament, the Knesset. "Nobody likes the fact that civilians are killed. But they realize these are desperate, desperate actions by people with their backs to the wall.
    "People did not look at [Adawi] as a victim of the Palestinians. They saw him as a victim of the Israeli occupation."
    "I'm worried about the future," said Hassan Jabareen, an Israeli Arab leader from Nazareth and the leader of a civil-rights group called Adalah. "I'm afraid the situation will lead to more tragedies for everybody."
    Jabareen helped organize a peace vigil in Haifa today that was attended by about 200 people. The demonstrators, about three-quarters of them Arabs, directed their protests against the Israeli government. While Jabareen was careful to say that he and his followers do not condone attacks on civilians, he explained that he could understand the frustrations felt by those who carry them out.
    At the same time, he acknowledged that Israeli Arabs worry as much as Jews that they could fall victim to a suicide bomber. Immediately after the restaurant explosion in Haifa, he said he called his mother to reassure her that he was safe, an emergency routine well rehearsed by all Israelis these days.
    "Of course we have the same fear," Jabareen said. "I also have to be careful about which [public] places I visit."
    Relations between Israeli Arabs and their Jewish neighbors have been a constant source of tension. For years, the Arabs have complained that they are treated as second-class citizens; they are poorer and are much more likely to be unemployed or to hold menial jobs than are Israeli Jews.
    Tensions have mounted since Palestinians began their current uprising in the occupied territories 18 months ago. A month after the revolt began, in September 2000, thousands of Israeli Arabs in the northern part of the country took to the streets on the Palestinians' behalf.
    During the riots and demonstrations, police opened fire on the protesters on several occasions, killing 13 Israeli Arabs. A government commission later determined that the police had overreacted, but resentments linger.
    Even so, several Israeli Arabs in Haifa and towns around the city said in interviews today that their allegiance to Israel had not weakened.
    "I live in this state. I pay my taxes. I obey all the laws of this state," said Ashraf Diab, 28, a member of an Arab family that has lived for generations in Shefaram, a town 12 miles east of Haifa. "The bottom line is, if you're a citizen here, then that's where your loyalty is."
    The Diabs own the Tamra Gardens, a landmark roadside restaurant that caters to both Jews and Arabs but has suffered a steep decline in business recently because of fears that it could become a terrorist target. Diab said the fact that Arabs own the place is no guarantee of anyone's safety.
    "Look at this place," he said, pointing to tables with a total seating capacity of 750 diners. "It could be filled with Jews. A bomber wouldn't care if an Arab owned it, or if a few Arabs got killed."
    Awad Haj, 45, an Israeli Arab who manages a restaurant and wedding hall called the Galil Gardens, said an angry Jewish man stormed into the place a few hours after the attack in Haifa, cursing Arabs and overturning tables.
    Haj shook his head sadly in retelling the story. He said he relies heavily on Jewish customers and is just as upset as they are at the violence that is erupting across the country.
    "We're afraid like everybody else to go to open places," he said. "My kids want to go to the mall in Haifa, but I say, 'No way.' I don't trust anybody. I trust only myself these days."

© 2002 The Washington Post Company

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