US embassy cable - 04TELAVIV2381

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TEL AVIV 002381 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR NEA/IPA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON, EFIN, EIND, PGOV, PHUM, IS, ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN AFFAIRS, ISRAELI SOCIETY, GOI EXTERNAL 
SUBJECT: ISRAELI ARABS SPLIT OVER THE MERITS OF 
PARTICIPATING IN AN ARAB LEAGUE CONFERENCE 
 
 
This message is sensitive but unclassified.  Please protect 
accordingly. 
 
1.  (SBU) Summary:  The Arab League is hosting a conference 
on ties between the Arab world and the Arab citizens of 
Israel in Cairo April 26-27.  Arab League Deputy Secretary 
and PLO Representative Said Kamal, along with mid-level 
diplomats from the Arab League countries, arranged the 
program, which will include an open discussion on 
strengthening relations between Israeli Arabs and the wider 
Arab world as well as lectures by Israeli-Arab participants 
on the social, political, and economic issues they face. 
Twenty-five Israeli-Arab politicians and academics will 
attend, but the community is divided in its view of the 
conference: supporters claim it will prove that Israeli Arabs 
have alternate venues outside of Israel in which to address 
their concerns, detractors fear it will drive a deeper wedge 
between the Arab community and Israeli society as a whole. 
End summary. 
 
2.    (SBU) Two years after unsuccessfully petitioning the 
Arab League to allow an Israeli-Arab representative to attend 
League meetings as an observer, former MK and Arab Democratic 
Party leader Abd Al-Wahab Darwashe will lecture to League 
diplomats this week on the historic connections between 
Israeli Arabs and the Arab states at the "Strategic 
Convention for Connections Between the Arab World and the '48 
Arabs", which takes place at Cairo University April 26-27. 
Darwashe is one of 25 Israeli delegates to the conference, 
including MKs Mohammed Barakeh and Ahmed Tibi (Hadash), Azmi 
Bishara (Balad) and Talab a-Sana (United Arab List), as well 
as one of the leaders of the Islamic Movement, Sheikh Ibrahim 
Sarsour.  Academics and NGO heads will also participate, and 
will follow Darwashe's talk with lectures about participation 
in the political process, land and water concerns of the 
Negev Bedouin, and the tension in the Islamic movement 
between religious obligation and Israeli law.  The conference 
will conclude with an open discussion between Israeli and 
League participants on the goals and means of "strategic 
connections" between Israeli Arabs and the wider Arab world. 
 
3.    (SBU) Although greater recognition from the Arab League 
has been on the wish list of certain Israeli-Arab leaders 
such as Darwashe for a long time, contacts state that not 
everyone within the Israeli-Arab sector sees this conference 
as the right step to take.  They point to a disagreement 
among politicians, academics, and NGO leaders over whether 
the conference will strengthen the Israeli-Arab agenda within 
the wider Arab world or, conversely, weaken the Israeli-Arab 
bargaining position in wider Israeli society.  Dr. Hanna 
Swaid, chairman of the Arab Center for Alternative Planning 
and former mayor of Eliaboun, told us that most Israeli Arabs 
do not want to involve themselves with the "collection of 
dictatorships" that is the Arab League.  He believes that 
most Israeli Arabs see themselves as part of Israel and 
prefer to deal directly with Israeli Jews and the GOI in 
order to address their socioeconomic issues.  He said 
anything that creates a real or perceived hostile separation 
between Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs -- such as this 
conference -- only gives the GOI an excuse to treat Israeli 
Arabs as second-class citizens. 
 
4.   (SBU) On the other hand, Dr. Thabit Abu Ras, Ben Gurion 
University professor and co-director of the Shatil 
Organization for Equality, told us he will attend the 
conference because it is important for the GOI to see that 
"Israeli Arabs will be heard, if not in the Knesset then by 
the Arab states."  He believes that the participation of the 
MKs from the "four major Arab parties" proves that most 
Israeli Arabs want to be recognized as Arabs in the wider 
Arab world and address their problems of status in that way. 
Co-chair of the Sikkuy human rights organization Shuli Dicter 
concurred that this feeling is widespread among a small but 
growing stream who believe it is not possible for Israeli 
Arabs to gain equality as Israelis, and who wish to create a 
new national identity separate from both Israelis and 
Palestinians.  He stated that a similar disaffection is held 
not only by Islamists but also by more mainstream 
organizations like Ittijah, a long-standing umbrella NGO 
covering a wide range of issues. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
********************************************* ******************** 
Visit Embassy Tel Aviv's Classified Website: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/telaviv 
 
You can also access this site through the State Department's 
Classified SIPRNET website. 
********************************************* ******************** 
KURTZER