|
|
March 16, 2007
Narrowing the population divide
Israel's mixed cities are in need of urgent guiding policy, say
participants at conference.
GAIL LICHTMAN ISRAEL PRESS SERVICE
The physical and social conditions in Israel's mixed Arab-Jewish
cities constitute a powder keg in need of immediate attention. This
was one of the main conclusions of the conference Mixed Cities:
Setting Policy Guidelines for Multiculturalism and Equality in Israel,
which took place in February at the Knesset in Jerusalem.
Organized by the Knesset Caucus for Mixed Cities, the conference
was chaired by Member of the Knesset (MK) Nadia Hilou (Labor) and
the Abraham Fund Initiatives, a not-for-profit organization dedicated
to promoting co-existence and equality between the Jewish and Arab
citizens of
Israel through advocacy, awareness campaigns and co-existence projects.
Participants included MKs, representatives of nongovernmental organizations
(NGOs) and local governments, as well as residents of mixed cities.
The conference looked at the myriad problems and challenges characterizing
mixed cities in Israel, such as poverty, unemployment, housing,
infrastructure, illegal building, education, pollution, crime and
discrimination – and issued recommendations on how to work
towards overcoming them.
Approximately 20 per cent of Israel's citizens are Arabs. While
the majority live in Arab communities, some 10 per cent live in
five historic mixed cities – Akko, Haifa, Jaffa, Lod and Ramle.
In these cities, the Arab minority ranges from between 9.3 per cent
of the overall population in Haifa to 34 per cent in Jaffa.
Beyond this, there exist a number of mixed residential mosaics and
mixed regional councils, mainly in northern Israel, which, while
generally thought of as Jewish, actually contain a significant Arab
minority. Additionally, there has been a growing trend of Arab citizens
moving into previously all-Jewish cities such as Nahariya, Beersheba
and Nazareth Ilit. This trend, stemming from the severe housing
problems and poor municipal services in Arab communities, explains
the growing phenomenon of de facto mixed cities.
One of the more pressing problems of mixed cities is the socio-economic
gap between their Arab and Jewish populations. Hilou, a lifelong
resident of Jaffa and the Knesset's first Christian Arab woman MK,
called on the government to change its policy toward mixed cities
and on local government heads in mixed cities to act to correct
the dismal situation of Arab minorities in their towns.
"Mixed cities also reflect the potential we have for co-existence
and co-operation," she noted. "They can serve as a model
for relations between Jews and Arabs in Israel and possess potential
that has not been fulfilled. We have to change the situation and
learn to utilize the human resources in these cities."
Another pressing problem is the lack of adequate physical planning
and development of infrastructure in Arab neighborhoods. This has
led to housing shortages and the phenomenon of illegal building
and even illegal, unrecognized neighborhoods. These neighborhoods
do not appear on official maps and do not receive municipal services
such as garbage collection, street cleaning, sewage, electricity
and roads.
Architect Buthayna Dabit, director of the Mixed Cities Project for
Shatil (the New Israel Fund's empowerment and training centre) and
a resident of Ramle, presented a grim picture of life in unrecognized
neighborhoods and noted that in Lod alone, some 500 illegal residential
units are currently slated for demolition.
"People do not build illegally because they enjoy doing so,"
said MK Yoram Marciano (Labor), a former deputy mayor of Lod. "They
do so because it is difficult for them to get legal building permits."
He called for the government not only to develop plans for housing
and physical development in these areas but also to follow up and
make sure these plans are implemented. What is needed to equalize
conditions between Jews and Arabs in mixed cities, he said, is wide-scale
government investment. "Over the years, the Arab residents
of mixed cities repeatedly have been given false promises that have
not been realized," said Marciano. "I, as a proud Jew,
am ashamed [by] the insufferable reality of life in Arab neighborhoods
in mixed cities."
Educational problems, including overcrowding in Arab schools, were
also discussed. MK Abas Zkoor (United Arab List), a resident of
Akko, noted that even though one-third of the population of Akko
is Arab, there is only one elementary school in the Arab sector,
which serves 1,500 children. In the Jewish sector, there are 11.
"How can we speak of co-existence in a situation like this?"
he asked.
Crime is another problem in mixed cities. Amnon Be'eri Sulitzeanu,
executive director of the Abraham Fund Initiatives, presented data
from the Association for the Rehabilitation of Prisoners showing
that the number of prisoners per 10,000 residents is greater in
mixed cities than in all-Arab or all-Jewish communities. In the
Arab town of Um el Fahm, the rate was 12 prisoners per 10,000 residents.
In the Jewish city of Bat Yam, that rate was about 17 per 10,000.
But in the mixed city of Lod, the figure rose to 40 prisoners per
10,000 residents.
But not all is negative. Be'eri Sulitzeanu noted that political
representation for the Arab minority in mixed cities generally meets
or exceeds its percentage in the population. For example, in Ramle,
where the Arab population is some 21 per cent, Arab representatives
hold 33 per cent of the city council seats. In Akko, the figures
are 25.9 per cent of the population and 29.4 per cent of the city
council, while in Haifa they are 9.3 per cent of the population
and 18.8 per cent of the city council.
Of all the mixed cities, Haifa seems to represent the most promising
ray of light. "The municipality of Haifa is focusing efforts
on creating policies of Jewish-Arab co-operation, in particular
in the area of education," said Shlomo Gilboa, head of the
opposition in the Haifa city council. Unlike many other cities,
he said, "in Haifa, we have an Arab who is the deputy director
of education and who holds the portfolio for Arab education."
Gilboa also spoke about the efforts Haifa has made to advance affirmative
action in city hall, promote multiculturalism and invest in improving
infrastructure in the city's Arab neighborhoods. However, "The
problems of mixed cities are national problems and cannot be left
to the local level to solve," opined media expert Zuhir Bahlul,
a resident of Akko.
The conference presented a platform that called for the Israeli
government to begin an interdisciplinary planning process for the
development and design of mixed cities with respect to infrastructure,
allocation of resources, education, economic development and employment
opportunities, as well as recognizing multiculturalism as the main
asset and potential for developing mixed cities.
The platform also called on local authorities to strengthen and
budget organizations promoting Arab-Jewish co-operation and multicultural
activities, and for NGOs to develop models and intervention plans
for promoting co-existence in mixed cities and regions.
"There is no 'too late' for this subject," said Dan Patir,
a senior advisor to the Abraham Fund Initiatives. "If there
can be no co-existence in mixed cities, there can be no co-existence
anywhere in Israel."
^TOP
|
|
