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June 29th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda
The calls to conscript Arabs into national service are part of a broader
overhaul of Israel’s draft law, which the Supreme Court has ordered amended
by Aug. 1. The original aim was to end sweeping exemptions for
ultra-Orthodox Jews, but Netanyahu says national service is a burden that
must be shared by all, including Israeli Arabs. Israeli men are required to
serve three years in the military, and Israeli women about two years.
The parliamentary committee had expected to release its recommendations for a
new draft bill next week. But the panel unleashed a political storm on
Thursday when it said it planned to require 6,000 Arabs to perform community
service by 2016.
This year, 2,400 Arabs have volunteered for such service, of an estimated
60,000 who fall within the 18 to 22 age group that the national service
program would target. Many Israeli Jews think all Arabs, like all Jews,
should be compelled to serve.
On Thursday, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s Israel Beiteinu Party and
another smaller faction quit the committee in protest because Arab service
would not be mandatory.
Arab MPs, on the other hand, were angry that the proposal had a compulsory
element at all.
“Arabs don’t have to be the victims of the war of the Jews between
Lieberman and Netanyahu,” said Arab lawmaker Ahmed Tibi of the
Raam-Taal Party.
Not all Israeli Arabs oppose community service, seeing it as a welcome
opportunity to help people, expand horizons and improve their Hebrew. Like
Jews of draft age who cannot or will not join the military, they would be
able to serve in hospitals, schools and other social service settings as a
civilian alternative.
But the controversy over the proposal reflects a fierce debate within the Arab
community over whether to seek to belong to the Jewish state or be on the
outside.
Israeli Arabs have always been in a precarious position, at once citizens of
Israel and Palestinians identifying with the statehood aspirations of the
West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem. Although they enjoy equal rights
on paper, Israeli Arab communities receive far less government funding for
schools and public services, and Arabs often face bias in employment and
housing.
But many in the community want the government to narrow the gaps between Arabs
and Jews before compelling Arabs to serve.
“Why should I do something for a state that doesn’t give me everything?”
asked Elias Alaa, a 19-year-old aspiring doctor in Nazareth.
His home, the biblical city of 60,000 where tradition says Jesus spent his
childhood, has suffered from years of neglect. Like other Arab towns and
villages, Israel’s largest Arab city is burdened by overcrowding, its
potential hindered by rundown infrastructure.
“For years, we’ve been demanding equal rights. No committee was set up to
discuss the equal distribution of rights,” said Amal Elsana Alh’jooj,
an Arab activist. “So now, when talking about the burden, why are they
remembering the Arabs all of a sudden?”Critics also worry that
compulsory community service could dilute the Israeli Arab community’s
Palestinian identity and open the door toward mandatory service in a
military that fights other Arabs.
Some Arab leaders say they would support a volunteer program if the
administration and budget were turned over to the Arab community, which
would tailor it to Arab culture and the Palestinian national identity. They
don’t want Arab youths, many of whom already pepper their Arabic with Hebrew
phrases and dress like Jewish Israelis, identifying any more strongly with
the Jewish state.
“We insist that this remain volunteer,” said lawmaker Ibrahem Sarsur
of the United Arab Party. “We don’t want this to be a stepping stone to
military service. If the government insists on approving compulsory service,
we will oppose it fiercely, even if we have to go to jail.”
Israeli defence officials have no known plans to draft all Arabs.
Historically, Israel has exempted most of its Arab citizens from the military,
in part because of distrust and in part because compulsory service could
force Israeli Arabs into a position of divided loyalty.
The main exceptions are the Druse, an offshoot of Islam, whose leaders agreed
to the draft decades ago. The military does not release conscription figures
but says thousands of Druse serve each year. Hundreds of Bedouin, Christians
and Muslims also volunteer, mostly in the hope of improving their lot in
Israeli society.
In theory, at least, community service would entitle Israeli Arabs to the same
bonuses a discharged Jewish soldier enjoys: cash grants, discounted
mortgages, preferential treatment for state jobs and access to financial aid
and dormitories at Israeli universities.
But Arab leaders says the Druse loyalty to the state has not paid off: Druse
income, unemployment and educational levels are on a par with that of other
Israeli Arabs, and their villages do not enjoy the same state funding that
Jewish areas do.
“We don’t believe compulsory civilian service can close the gaps between
the Jewish and Arab sectors in all walks of life because we have the example
of the Druse,” Sarsur said.
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