Israel's "Palestinian Arabs": What, me worry?

It appears that not only do 70% of Israel's Jewish population view the Arabs of Israel as a threat to the continued existence of Israel as a Jewish State, but even Israel's General Security Service (GSS) - AKA the Shabak - have come to a similarly frightening conclusion.

GSS: Israeli-Arabs are Existential Danger to Israel

An internal General Security Service document says that Israel's Arab population is a "genuine long-range danger to the Jewish character and very existence of the State of Israel."

A recent meeting in the Prime Minister's office presented Prime Minister Ehud Olmert with worrisome data in various spheres, including increasing Israeli-Arab solidarity and identification with terrorist elements, Hizbullah and the Hamas government in the Palestinian Authority.

And yet, the country's leadership continue to turn a blind eye - including some otherwise well-educated and well-intentioned people, like former Defense Minister, Moshe Arens:

Equality of obligations

...The fact that the authors of these proposals insist on referring to Israel's Arab citizens as "Arab Palestinians" serves as a reminder that they see themselves as Palestinians who, by force of circumstance - in their parlance, as a result of the "disaster" of 1948 - are now citizens of Israel in "their own land..."

Are we destined to live with a large minority in our midst that feels dissatisfied with its lot and identifies with Israel's enemies rather than with Israel itself, whose citizenship they share with the country's Jewish citizens?

There is little reason to expect that even if and when an agreement to establish a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria and Gaza is signed, such an agreement would spell the end of the difficulties that characterize the relations between Israel and its Arab citizens. On the contrary, it may very well exacerbate them.

Arens asks the question that poses perhaps the greatest threat to the Jewish State of Israel today, namely, what to do with the large (and growing) percentage of non-Jewish citizens of Israel who are openly against Israel existing as a Jewish State.

Or, in other words, which takes precedence, Israel - the Jewish State, or Israel - the democratic state? And, do the Arabs of Israel have the right to full equality, including the right to become a majority and democratically vote to turn Israel into Palestine?

Let's see what Arens' solution to this vexing quandary is...

During my second tenure as defense minister I encouraged the formation of an infantry battalion made up largely of Bedouin youngsters who had volunteered for a three-year service in the IDF..., which I had hoped would lead in time to obligatory military service for all Arab youth...

In fact, it is difficult to foresee the integration of Israel's Arab citizens into society without them sharing equally in the obligations of citizenship. Without it, divisions will remain, and possibly widen, between those Israelis who are prepared to defend Israel and those who are not.

Is the reason for the lack of allegiance to the State of Israel on the part of Israel's Arab citizens a result of their not being invited to enlist in the IDF (where they would have the opportunity to fight against their Muslim brothers)?

Or, could it be that so long as Israel continues to exist as a Jewish State - thus eliminating the possibility of any true equality - these (Israeli) "Arab Palestinians" will, at best, remain coldly neutral, and at worst, act in an openly hostile manner against the interests of the Jewish State?

Have a little respect for the Arabs of Israel - they don't hate us because we haven't given them an M-16 or paratrooper wings, but because they believe that we have stolen their Homeland from them, and until this "disaster" is rectified we will have no peace!

Arens' question of what to do with Israel's Arabs still stands, any other suggestions?

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