During a visit this past May, I spent a day in my favorite place in Israel, the Judean Desert. My guide and I were off-road, deep in the desert, when a Bedouin approached and invited us to his nearby encampment.
We spent an amazing hour with his family, eating strips of pita with goat butter and drinking sweet tea. I must have a dozen photos with his kids, who just loved clustering around this strange American.
Two weeks earlier, I and three friends were exploring the remarkable Jewish catacombs in Bet She’arim. They appear to be a favorite site for Israeli Arab couples to shoot their wedding photos. As we were climbing out of one of the catacombs, a friend’s leg buckled, and he fell to the ground. A nearby wedding party rushed to his aid, helping him regain his footing even though they were dressed to the nines. That we were Jewish didn’t seem to matter one bit.
These two acts of kindness defy the stereotype of Israel’s Arab population. Too often, much of Western media presumes overt tension between Jew and Muslim with hatred simmering beneath the surface. Unfortunately, during election campaigns, too many Israeli politicians fan these same flames. While tensions do exist, the exceptions are numerous and important.
On October 7, one of the first IDF units to respond was commanded by Lt. Col. Nader Eyadat. Their swift action blunted the terrorist attack. Colonel Eyadat is a Bedouin, as are many of the soldiers under his command.
The Druze, who are subject to compulsory military service, don’t hesitate to proclaim their support for the Jewish state, and their willingness to die defending it. It is not uncommon to find Druze officers commanding front-line combat units. Even Palestinian Muslims can be found in the IDF.
Major Ella Waweya
Major Ella Waweya, a member of the IDF’s Spokesperson Unit, is a Palestinian Muslim. She proudly recounts encouraging another ten Palestinians from her hometown of Kalansuwa to join the IDF. One of Israel’s most popular newscasters, Lucy Aharish, is a Palestinian Muslim, as is Khaled Kabub, a respected member of Israel’s Supreme Court.
Palestinians are more integrated into mainstream Israeli society than most non-Israelis realize. The local pharmacy is likely staffed by a Palestinian pharmacist, and Palestinian medical personnel are found in most Israeli hospitals.
There is no question that many Israeli Palestinians do harbor Hamas and PLO sympathies. Yet, recent polling by the Center for Democratic Values and Institutions shows that a record high percentage of Israel’s Arab citizens now identify with the Jewish state. All of this occurs despite Israel doing little to encourage support among its Arab citizens.
Nothing symbolizes this lack of concern more than the 2018 Nation-State law that declares Israel to be the nation-state of the Jewish people. Though largely symbolic, nowhere does it recognize Israel’s Arab population as full citizens of the Jewish state.
Arabs saw its passage as a hard slap in the face. A number of Druze officers immediately resigned from the IDF. The sense of betrayal expressed by one deputy field commander is heartbreaking:
“Until today I stood in front of the state flag proudly and saluted it. Until today I sang ‘Hatikvah,’ because I was certain this was my country and that I’m equal to everyone.” Just this July, a new Druze reservist association, while pledging loyalty to the Jewish state, pleaded that they be treated as equal citizens.
Gang violence is rampant in many Palestinian communities, and the murder rate rivals that found in many American cities. Israeli governing coalitions continually promise to do something but little changes. Expending resources in these communities is not a priority.
Going along Abraham's path
These issues need to be addressed. Not only is it the right thing to do, but it might help Israel in unexpected ways.
Israel’s future, I believe, rests on cementing its relationship with the nations of the Abraham Accords. It is time for Israel to stop looking back at its Western roots and begin embracing its Middle Eastern future.
A meeting that occurred at Kibbutz Sde Boker in March 2022 underscores this point. For the first time, Arab foreign ministers met with their Israeli counterparts on Israeli soil. Yet just a month before this historic meeting, Amnesty International, the epitome of Western liberal thinking, branded Israel an apartheid state. These regional nation-to-nation relationships have already benefited Israel.
During the bloodiest days of the current Gaza conflict, Jordan, even though it had withdrawn its ambassador, scrambled its jets when 350 Iranian projectiles were heading toward Israel. In mid-June, the United States hosted an unpublicized meeting in Bahrain between Israeli and Arab defense officials to discuss regional security. That meeting included representatives from Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and even Saudi Arabia.
The more Israel’s Arab partners see the Jewish state incorporating its Arab population more fully into the very fabric of its social, economic, and political life, the easier it may be for these Arab nations to incorporate the Jewish state into the very fabric of the region’s social, economic and political life.
Not only would this regional integration benefit everyone, especially by spurring economic development through technology transfers, it could even open a new path for resolving the Palestinian conflict. An absolute prerequisite for ending the cycles of violence is for the Palestinian leadership to accept the reality of a Jewish state. Maybe by seeing the concrete benefits of cooperation, they may finally do so.
The writer, an American political and public affairs consultant for 30 years, was political director at the Republican National Committee in 1992 and had previously taught political science at colleges in New York and Ohio.