US embassy cable - 05TELAVIV3041

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TEL AVIV 003041 
 
SIPDIS 
 
TAGS: CVIS, IS, ISRAELI SOCIETY 
SUBJECT:  Israeli Arab Town of Shefa' amr Rolls out the 
Welcome Mat for Tel Aviv Visa Unit Employees 
 
1.  Summary.  In an effort to enhance the decision- 
making process for visa adjudicators interviewing 
applicants from Israel's minority Arab communities, Tel 
Aviv's Visa Unit recently organized a professional day 
trip to the Israeli Arab town of Shefa'amr.  Twenty- 
four Foreign Service Officers, Consular Associates and 
Locally Engaged Staff participated in the high level 
visit, arranged by a local businessman and educational 
activist.  A senior lecturer from Tel Aviv University 
delivered a background lecture on Israeli-Arab issues 
prior to the visit.  Not only did the day succeed in 
breaking down negative stereotypes and building human 
bridges, but it also gave first-hand context for 
making visa decisions for an applicant pool that 
represents one of the more marginalized segments of 
Israel's multi-ethnic society.  End Summary. 
 
2.  As a scene-setter leading up to the visit to 
Shefa'amr, the consular section invited a J-1 visa 
recipient and research scholar, Professor Eliezer 
Rekhess, Senior Research Fellow at Tel Aviv 
University's Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and 
African Studies, to give a lecture.  Dr. Rekhess, 
Director of the Program on Arab Politics in Israel, 
specializes in the political history of the Arabs in 
Israel, the Islamic resurgence in Israel and 
Palestinian affairs.  Not only did he increase the 
staff's interest in participating in the professional 
day but he also enhanced their knowledge by providing 
basic demographic information and a broad socio- 
economic context. 
 
3.  The Arabic name of the town, Shefa'amr, means "the 
spring of Omar," and refers to the sweet spring water 
that supplies the city.  Its Hebrew name, Shefa'am that 
means the "trumpeting of the people," harkens to the 
period two thousand years ago when the Jewish religious 
court known as the Sanhedrin left Jerusalem and settled 
nearby.  The fact that the town has two names 
epitomizes its complicated history as an Arab village 
in a Jewish state.  Its current inhabitants are all 
Arabs whose religious composition is 55% Muslim, some 
of whom are Bedouin; 30% Christian and 15% Druze. 
 
4.  On the day of the visit, renowned Arab hospitality 
was on full display when Non-Immigrant and Immigrant 
visa staff members arrived at the Israeli-Arab town of 
Shefa'amr, a municipality of 35,000 inhabitants, 
nestled into the hills northeast of Haifa.  Our guide 
and host, the local owner of a coffee and spice- 
processing factory that employs some 40 workers, Mr. 
Samer Nachly, arranged a cross-sectarian visit that 
included a recently constructed mosque, a hundred year 
old church, a Druze meeting hall and, even the town's 
abandoned synagogue, whose Muslim caretaker prides 
himself for ensuring that the building's infrastructure 
endures.  The town's Jewish inhabitants left the mixed 
town for Haifa in the early 1920's to work in the 
refinery and chemical factories. 
 
5. Concrete results of grass-roots activism can be 
found in an elementary school building that is being 
constructed with private funds.  We learned that the 
Government of Israel (GOI) provides infrastructure and 
tuition funds for the town's government schools but, 
for private education, covers only 65% of the tuition. 
A group of Christian parents, whose children attended a 
church-funded school, have raised monies for a new 
building after a wall of the old school collapsed one 
night...thankfully sparing their children any injuries. 
While new proposals of the controversial Dovrat 
Commission would increase GOI funding of private 
schools to the same 100% received by public schools, 
these parents prefer to retain control of their 
curriculum, methodology, and unique minority 
environment, so our host believes they will reject the 
offer. 
 
6.  During the visit, Consular staff also met the 
following people: the town's mayor; the Arab deputy 
director of Internal Medicine at Haifa's Rambam Medical 
Center; a pantomime artist who is the director of the 
country's first pantomime group from an Israeli Arab 
town; the director of the country's first and only 
Ministry of Education sanctioned Arab conservatory; 
local educators, women and university students. 
 
7.  Among the issues discussed during the day were the 
financial and social problems that Israel's Christian 
citizens face as a minority within a minority.  While 
some young Israeli Christian Arabs hope that performing 
voluntary military service might mean better job 
opportunities and integration, older members of the 
community voice great skepticism based on the tenuous 
socio-economic status of the country's Druze and 
Bedouin -- communities that must serve in the military. 
 
8.  Comment:  On solely economic grounds, it is 
difficult for Israeli-Arab applicants to overcome the 
presumption of intending immigrant status due to their 
marginalization in Israeli society.  As a result of 
this professional day visit to the vibrant town of 
Shefa'amr, consular officers now have a broader, deeper 
perspective on the close social and family ties within 
Arab communities which may supplement economic 
conditions as compelling reasons for applicants to 
return from travel to the U.S. and more illustrative 
social context within which to make visa adjudications. 
End Comment. 
KURTZER